StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Article | Feedback

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 4 – Initiator Feedback

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StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Article | Condition Report | FeedbackActive employee engagement is critical to corrective action program effectiveness. Not only are engaged employees more dedicated to reporting the occurrence of adverse conditions and trends, they are more also more committed to identifying and implementing corrective actions. Subsequently, leaders should proactively involve employees throughout the corrective action process.[wcm_restrict plans=”48844, 25542, 25653″]

Ongoing condition report initiator feedback is one method of maintaining employee engagement with the corrective action program. Such feedback acknowledges the employee’s contribution during each step of the corrective action process including:

  • Condition Report Initiation: Acknowledgement of the issue by the initiator’s supervisor. When necessary, the supervisor requests additional elaborating/clarifying information from the initiator to be included with the condition report prior to its screening.
  • Condition Report Screening – Cancellation: Notification that the preliminary investigation revealed the problem to be a non-issue or below the issue reporting threshold. This feedback is often provided by the corrective action program supporting application.
  • Condition Report Screening – Closure: Notification that the preliminary investigation revealed the problem to be a duplicate of a previously submitted condition report or that no further actions were required and the report has been tagged and closed to trending. This feedback is often provided by the corrective action program supporting application.
  • Condition Report Screening – Resolution Assignment: Notification that the preliminary investigation revealed the need for additional corrective actions. Information identifying the work order(s) associated with these corrective actions is frequently included. This feedback is often provided by the corrective action program supporting application.
  • Corrective Action Completion: Notification that a corrective action related to the condition report has been completed. This feedback is often provided by the corrective action program supporting application.
  • Condition Report Closure – Condition Resolution: Notification that the condition report has been closed because all of the associated corrective action work orders have been completed. This feedback is often provided by the corrective action program supporting application.

Final Thoughts…

It is common for condition report feedback to be provided by the corrective action program supporting application. While efficient, this type of feedback is typically not the most effective or engaging. For more significant issues, managers should consider providing personal issue and resolution status feedback to the condition report initiator. Furthermore, these interfacing opportunities should be used to further engage the employee in developing and implementing the corrective actions.

On an ongoing basis, managers should encourage condition report initiators to follow-up with status and resolution questions or concerns and to engage with those working to resolve their reported issues. While such engagement should occur at any time, moments when feedback is provided should serve as a prompting for additional initiator interaction.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”48844, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Jeffrey Gitomer

The overlooked power that may be your sales kryptonite.

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I see, therefore I learn.
I see, therefore I think.
I learn and I think, therefore I reason and respond.
THE POWER: That is the power of observation.

How are you taking advantage of that power?
How would you rate your power of observation?

What are you looking at?

How does what you see impact your world, your education, your sales, your career, your success, your family, and your life?

HISTORICAL OBSERVATION: In 1939, when Napoleon Hill completed the best sales book ever written, How to Sell Your Way Through Life, he included “The habit of observation,” as one of the 28 qualities all master salespeople must possess. Here are his exact words: Habit of observation. The super-salesman is a close observer of small details. Every word uttered by the prospective buyer, every change of facial expression, every movement is observed and its significance weighted accurately. The super-salesman not only observes and analyzes accurately all that his prospective buyer does and says, but he also makes deductions from that which he does not do or say. Nothing escapes the super-salesman’s attention!

HISTORICAL OBSERVATION: Ten years ago people looked around and used what they saw to both learn and reason; to think and create experiences; to learn lessons and grow. Life lessons.

PRESENT OBSERVATION: Today everyone has a smartphone and a tablet, and the power of observation is fading into the lure of the electronic siren.

Yes, I look at my iPhone too, but I’m consciously trying my best to limit my ‘stare time.’ I’m only interrupted when my phone rings or if I get a text.

Yes, I use apps as a necessary means to wake me up or help me find my way, and I use my phone as a camera, documenting what I observe and occasionally posting my observations on Instagram (@jeffreygitomer). I get no social media notifications, no email notifications, and none of the other dings, bells, or whistles that are offered on the electronic siren.

REASON: Interruption of thought is where focus is lost.
REASON: Interruption of thought is where ideas get lost.

IF you are focused, observation can trigger a number of powerful mental responses:

  • An idea
  • A past experience
  • A fact you want to convey
  • A developing strategy
  • The capture of a thought (voice to text please)
  • It enables you to deepen the conversation
  • It helps you make a point
  • It solidifies your thinking
  • You can uncover a motive
  • You can find common ground
  • You can build rapport
  • You may even get an AHA! from unfinished thoughts or projects.

Observation is both seeing what’s around you and thinking what’s about you. When you’re thinking and staring off into space, you may not be looking at anything in particular but your mental observation is being called into play.

REALITY OBSERVATION: I see people get off a plane and walk into a wall while reading or texting, and they think nothing of it.

Smartphone or no smartphone, in my experience I have observed that most people are not observant, let alone paying attention to their surroundings. The smartphone has merely increased that lack of observation, not created it.

Whatever the outcome is from your observations, they have added to your wealth of knowledge.

The reality is I’m writing this article that will get millions of views, be made into a YouTube video, appear in my weekly email magazine, become a power lesson on GitomerVT.com, and later appear in one of my books. All that will occur while most people are staring at their phones. And while I realize that’s a general observation, there is no doubt the world has become much less observant in the last five years. Especially the sales world. How observant are you?

The reason I’m writing this is because I just returned from eight days in Paris. Arguably, the most beautiful city in the world and most people there were NOT looking.

“Dude, look at your phone later. YOU’RE IN PARIS!”

No matter what I recommend, each of you reading this will justify your own situation and circumstance: whether it’s speed of response, need to communicate with customers, need for immediate information, or the simple desire to be ‘in the know’ and ‘in the now.’ You will remain with your head buried in your phone, not paying attention to the world around you (with the things around you) and cheating yourself out of your competitive advantage. But, that’s just my opinion.

QUICK TIPS:

  • Access your phone when you’re home or in your office ONLY.
  • Access information when you want to, not when you hear a beep.
  • Turn off social media notifications during the day.

NOTE WELL: Yes, speed of response is important, but if you must ding, use it as a choice rather than a must.

MENTOR LESSON: “Antennas up!” my mentor and friend, the late, great Earl Pertnoy used to say with a smile. It was one of his early pieces of advice to me. He said, “Pay attention to every detail around you. People and things”. So, I always did. And, I still do today.

That simple, but powerful piece of advice has helped me earn a fortune. And it can do the same for you.

Free GITBIT: Earlier this year I wrote more on the power of observation. If you want more on the value of paying attention to your surroundings, go to Gitomer.com and enter the word OBSERVE in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com.

StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Article | Condition Report

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 3 – Employ Multiple Condition Report Types

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StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Article | Condition Report TypesEffective condition report forms balance the need for data with the ease of problem reporting. Enough data must be collected to enable problem investigation, prioritization, and resolution. Concurrently, the administrative burden of completing a condition report must be minimized to facilitate issue reporting.

Information needs vary based on the type of issue being reported and the associated regulatory requirements. In order to ensure the appropriate information is gathered while also minimizing the administrative burden, situation specific condition reports should be used.[wcm_restrict plans=”48836, 25542, 25653″]

Basic Condition Report Type

Most organizations employ a basic condition report type that requires only the minimum data common to all condition reports. (See StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program article, Minimum Condition Report Data Requirements) This data includes:

  • Condition Report Author
  • Location, System, Equipment, Component, Procedure
  • Description of the Condition
  • Date/Time of Condition Occurrence, Discovery, or Condition Report Creation

These basic forms may also include a few optional fields to facilitate condition report review, processing, search, and analysis including:

Functional Report Types

While most performance deficiencies can be effectively captured using the basic condition report type, a few specialty reports are best supported by a unique condition report type. Examples of these reports and their associated issues include:

  • Basic Condition Report Type – Adverse equipment (maintenance work requests), analysis (engineering work request), document (procedure, manual, drawing, etcetera change requests), behavior (human performance errors), event (adverse operational incident), and trend (aggregate performance trend analysis) reports
  • Software/Technology Report Type – Information technology trouble report or change request
  • Customer Trouble Report Type – Customer service work request or trouble report

Regulatory Report Types

Some business units, divisions, or locations are subject to specific regulatory regimes associated with their industry, operations or location. To the extent that these regulatory requirements demand additional information, reviews, and/or analysis, regulation-specific condition report types should be developed.

Note that these condition report types are typically associated with only one or a few business units, divisions, or locations and their availability should be limited to those entities so to minimize the administrative burden of the other organization groups. For those organizations using corrective action program supporting software, this can be achieved by limiting access to condition report types based on login location. For paper-based systems, only applicable condition report type forms should be made available at each organization location.

Final Thought…

A large number of condition report types also represents a high administrative burden. In our experience, use of more than a few condition report types confuses employees who are then less likely to report deficiencies, events, and performance improvement opportunities. For this reason, care must be taken when introducing specialty condition report types.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”48836, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Jeffrey Gitomer

The ‘why’ of sales and selling will lead you to be the wise salesperson.

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I sat in a Jim Rohn seminar one day in 1995 and heard him say, “Formal education will earn you a living. Self-education will earn you a fortune. You decide how much of a fortune you want to earn by how willing you are to self-educate.”

I was frozen in my front-row seat.

A stunning piece of ‘obvious’ that created self-awareness that remains with me nearly 20 years later.

INSIGHT TO PERSONAL WISDOM: The toughest educational questions in sales are the ones you have to ask yourself – self-educational questions if you will.

Here’s a set of the toughest question you can be asked:

  • Why are you having trouble making connections?
  • Why are you still making cold calls?
  • Why are you having difficulties setting appointments?
  • Why are you unable to get to the decision maker?
  • Why are your presentations boring?
  • Why is your closing percentage nothing to brag about?
  • Why are your follow-up calls going unreturned?
  • Why are your emails getting deleted?
  • Why are your customers price-oriented?
  • Why do you lose sales to inferior competitors?
  • Why do you lose customers to a lower bid?
  • Why does your competition win?
  • Why are you unable to get referrals?
  • Why are you unable to get testimonials?
  • Why are you unable to build trusted relationships?
  • Why are you complaining about circumstances you can change?
  • Why are you unable to achieve your sales plan?

What are the answers to those questions worth? Jim Rohn already told you: A fortune.

I have studied sales for more than 40 years and salespeople for more than 25 years. The difference between their success and failure is found in front of and behind the word ‘rather.’ It’s an educational process that starts with self-evaluation and opens the door to discovering your own answers.

Below is what I have found to be a salesperson’s biggest downfalls and pitfalls (and their biggest opportunities). The challenge for salespeople of all kinds is to ask yourself “WHY?” and educate yourself in the process…

  • Why are you trying to be informative, rather than inquisitive?
  • Why are you trying to be reactive, rather than proactive?
  • Why are you trying to be defensive, rather than offensive (in a positive way)?
  • Why are you trying to be aggressive, rather than assertive?
  • Why are you blaming circumstances, rather than taking responsibility for your actions?
  • Why are you talking, rather than doing?
  • Why are you going for the sale, rather than going for the customer?
  • Why are you ‘make your quota,’ rather than building a relationship?
  • Why are you manipulating the conversation, rather than harmonizing with the prospect?
  • Why are you trying to find the prospect’s pain, rather than finding their pleasure?
  • Why are you trying to overcome their objections, rather than lowering their barriers to purchase by reducing their risk?
  • Why are you trying to ‘make the sale,’ rather than uncovering their motive to buy?
  • Why are you focused on price rather than value?
  • Why are you ‘numbers-oriented,’ rather than ‘relationship-oriented?’
  • Why is your social presence and online reputation not existent, rather than being number one in your industry?
  • Why is your online presence lacking, rather than having a dominant Google and social position that your customers and prospects would respect?
  • Why are you trying to measure customer satisfaction, rather than seek and earn, and then measure customer loyalty?
  • Why are you asking for referrals and testimonials, rather doing everything you can to earn them?

Take each ‘rather’ and think about it twice: once seriously and once strategically. Then make notes on where you are in relationship to each process. Rate yourself and make an action plan to improve. Then ask your peers or partner to evaluate your self-assessed findings. They may (probably will) differ from yours.

THE SECRET TO EACH SALE: Be in a winning position BEFORE the sales call to put yourself in a winning position during the selling process.

All you have to do to be a TOP 1% performer is: do the ‘rather.’

I have just given you an education, an evaluation, and a set of strategies that will educate you in a way that is both understandable and actionable.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com.

Richard Milam

3 Reasons to Automate Your Business in 2015

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If you’ve added ‘being more efficient’ to your list of New Year’s resolutions recently, you may be struggling to find ways to generate more productivity with little effort. Chances are, the solution (and the problem) is literally right in front of you. Your mouse and keyboard are major sources of inefficiency. Communicating with colleagues, manipulating spreadsheets, entering customer information into a CRM… these are all examples of time-consuming manual processes that can be done better and faster by someone (or something) other than you.

If your idea of fun is copying and pasting text all day then by all means, continue doing what you’re doing. But we’ve got some thoughts on why you should at least consider ways to automate business processes in your organization and be more efficient in 2015.

[wcm_restrict]Reason 1: To Err is Human. It’s Also Expensive.

Here’s a fun table. It’s a compilation of error rates by business task, as reported by studies over the last 30 years or so. In one study, (Edmundson, 1996) error rates for medication prescriptions were 1.6 percent. Error rates for expert typists ranged as high as 6 percent. In general, the human mechanical (i.e. by hand) error rate for data entry tasks is 0.5 percent. Seems small at first, but what if you’re entering order data from 100 online transactions into your CRM? Or, if you’re compiling stock performance for 100 different mutual funds from an online investment website? What if you’re changing prescription doses for 100 patients? That’s 5 errors that have the potential to cost you money and maybe lives. You can expect to make 5 errors per 100 records any time you’re manually changing information. The fun part is: You’ll never know which records or pieces of data will be wrong. Get yourself an automated solution that enters and changes data for you automatically, and you’ll never have to worry about data errors again.

Reason 2: Have Time to Kill? Neither Do We.

Here’s the great thing about never making an error: You don’t need to waste time fixing them. If you’re lucky enough to catch an error (see #1 above), and it’s a critical one, you’ll need to go back and do the job again. In some industries like health insurance, where the cost of a reprocessed claim is 4 times that of one that gets approved the first time, that rework time can be a killer.

Think of an automation software solution like a ‘digital employee’ – someone who basically does the most unpleasant parts of your job for you so that you’re free to do other things. Digital Employees generally work faster than humans in most web or Windows applications, so more gets done faster without rework. Even if it DIDN’T work faster, you’d still be free to perform other tasks while your software solution did all the typing, copying, and pasting. Automation basically returns 100% of the time spent on manual unstructured processes back to you so that you can go serve customers, win business, or take a vacation.

Reason 3: It’s Easier Than You Think.

A good automation software solution can be installed and put to work inside of a few hours. Sure, there are some solutions out there that require coding or programming to operate, but the kind you’re looking for can be ‘taught’ to perform tasks simply by clicking and dragging your mouse to objects on the screen. The software should then present you with a narrow list of actions that work with the object you’ve targeted. You shouldn’t have to scroll through 200 possible choices when all you need to do is click a ‘Submit’ button.

Automation software solutions that actually work like ‘digital employees’ use a series of steps (called a script) to perform a task. They work off of those scripts diligently because it’s what you have told them to do. And they do it flawlessly. If concerns over learning curves and installation times are preventing you from automating your workflows and business processes, choose the right solution and put those fears to rest. Then go forth and do more in 2015.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]

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About the Author

Richard MilamRichard Milam, Founder and CEO of EnableSoft Incorporated (www.enablesoft.com). EnableSoft, is engaged in offering game changing software products and services to the business and financial services industry, healthcare and a dozen other markets. EnableSoft serves over 500 corporate clients worldwide. Prior to founding EnableSoft in 1995, Richard was a partner and served as Senior Vice President of FiTech PLUSmark, Inc. Richard designed and implemented a business plan to offer bank merger data conversion services which resulted in the successful merger of over 50 financial institutions.