(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “When we make a commitment…we build confidence. When we keep that commitment…we build trust.“
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
    
   Failure to get things done and failure to deal with non-performance are two of the biggest problems in business today. 
    
   The solution is simple.  Create a culture of clarity, commitment, urgency and accountability.  Every time you give someone a task or project, or when you speak with a team member about the need to improve in specific ways, ask this important question, “By when can we agree that this will be completed?”  Then document the commitment, follow up, reward success and deal quickly with non-performance.
    
   Note:   I’ve developed a brilliant 60-minute Zoom webinar on ‘Improving Clarity, Commitment, Urgency & Accountability in Your Business.’   I’m offering this virtual program for just $800.  Contact me at donald@donaldcooper.com if you’d like to chat about this for your business or industry Association.
    
3. ‘Hybrid work’ now seen as a right. Many employees now consider ‘hybrid work’ to be a right, not a privilege.  So, roughly 80% of companies in Canada are adding perks and improvements like free food, commuter benefits, better workplace set-ups and more social events to get workers to return to the office.  What are you doing top address this fundamental change in the perception of ‘work’?
    
4. Employee engagement falls in the USA. According to Gallup Inc’s latest survey,  employee engagement in the USA continues to decline.  Only 32% of US employees are truly engaged, while 18% of employees are actively disengaged.
    
   Active­ly dis­en­gaged employ­ees are so dis­sat­is­fied with their role and the business that they act­ out, under­mine their fel­low employ­ees and bad-mouth and sabotage the business.  They have a seri­ous impact on morale and the bot­tom line.  Identify them employees and develop an plan to get rid if them.
    
   Note:  To download, no charge, my insightful Biz Tool #B18, ’14 Keys to Creating a Winning Culture.’  Click here.
    
5. Think our interest rates are high? Argentina’s benchmark interest rate now stands at 81%. The country is desperately trying to fight inflation, which hit 104%, year-over-year, in March.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

What can you can learn from the excellence around you?

You can spend big bucks on a course or Boot Camp on how to create excellence in your business, or you could immerse yourself in excellence and take notes.  You could travel on Singapore Airlines. They’ve been voted the ‘World’s Best Airline’ by Travel & Leisure magazine for 27 years in a row.  There’s probably a lot to learn from them about sustained excellence.

Take a cruise on Regent Cruise Line’s ‘Splendor of the Seas’, or their new ship ‘Grandeur of the Seas’ launching this year.  Or stay at any of the wonderful hotels listed on this link https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/hotel-top-brands . 

Live with ‘amazing’ for a week or two at least twice a year and learn from it.  Let excellence seep into your bones and your heart.  Wherever you go to surround yourself with excellence, study their attention to detail, their ability to anticipate…not just react.  Their ability to make you feel valued, uplifted, safe and special at every touch-point.   

As you feel what it’s like to be surrounded by all this excellence, think about the passion and Vision of an ‘extraordinary possibility’ that started it all off and the focus, commitment and discipline that it takes to deliver ‘extraordinary’, every customer, every day.  Think about the clarity they’ve developed about who they are and who you are as a target customer.

Then think about the brilliant and meticulous design of…

• their products and services, their physical premises,
• their high standards of performance, appearance and behavior in every part of the business,
• their systems and processes,
• their supply chain and logistics,
• their screening and constant training, communication, recognizing, rewarding and thanking of their staff,
• their branding, marketing and communication to effectively tell their story of excellence,
• their measurement of all aspects of performance and the commitment to keep getting better,
• the creativity and courage that it took to be extraordinary.

While you’re on these ‘living with excellence’ research tours, look for little glitches that they didn’t get quite right yet.  What might have gone wrong there?  How might they have prevented it and how might they fix it?   Life is free research when you’re paying attention.

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.