Archive for category: Filosophy

There is no point in deceiving ourselves. American public opinion rejects the market economy, the capitalistic free enterprise system that provided the nation with the highest standard of living ever attained. Full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties.

Seen from the point of view of the particular group interests of the bureaucrats, every measure that makes the government payroll swell is progress.

The cyclical fluctuations of business are not an occurrence originating in the sphere of unhampered market, but a product of government interference with business conditions designed to lower the rate of interest below the height at which the free market would have fixed it.

A short time ago the demagogues blamed capitalism for the poverty of the masses. Today they rather blame capitalism for the “affluence” that it bestows upon the common man.

If one rejects laissez faire on account of man’s fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.

Credit expansion is the governments’ foremost tool in their struggle against the market economy. In their hands it is the magic wand designed to conjure away the scarcity of capital goods, to lower the rate of interest or to abolish it altogether, to finance lavish government spending, to expropriate the capitalists, to contrive everlasting booms, and to make everybody prosperous.

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy v2013-12

March 24, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion If you want to be happy practice compassion

Dalai Lama

Confidence is the companion of success

Author Unknown

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes

St. Clement of Alexandra

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy v2013-11

March 15, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Happiness is not a matter of events, it depends upon the tides of the mind.

Alice Meynell

Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it.

Omar N Bradley

A successful man continues to look for work after he has found a job.

Author Unknown

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WH Filosophy v1.7

March 9, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.

Milan Kundera, Czech writer

Profit is the result of risks wisely selected.

Frederick Barnard Hawley, American economist

The time is now

Friday Filosophy v2013-10

March 8, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

I love life because what more is there.

Anthony Hopkins

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.

Harvey S. Firestone

Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is final.

Roger Ward Babson

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy v2013-09

March 2, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Buddha

Success is a journey not a destination.

Ben Sweetland

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.

John Paul

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy v2013-08

February 25, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

A belated Friday Filosophy with my apologies.

Always remember the future comes one day at a time.

Dean Acheson

Great efforts from great motives are the best definition of a happy life.

William Ellery Channing

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.

Mother Teresa

And in keeping with the Oscars

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

Abraham Lincoln.

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy v2013-07

February 15, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, don’t think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.

Samuel Johnson

Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.

Author Unknown

Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.

James Cash Penney

The time is now…..

TESTIMONIALS

Introducing our Colleague John Sessums

Our new guest writer John Sessums is the owner of Mechanic and Techs LLC, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. John's career spans 38 years involved in equipment dealership management, and he is also an AEMP Certified Equipment Manager. As a Senior Product Support Manager and later as Wholegoods Sales Manager, Johns's focus has always been on increasing sales by providing superior customer support. Once retired, he formed Mechanic and Techs and now offers a unique buffet of affordable Product Support Growth Solutions. M&T provides Consulting, Recruitment, Speciality Job Boards, On-Line Search Systems, LWS Skill Assessments/Training/Testing for those in Service, Parts, Sales, and Rental.

I have been a past student of Ron Slee's Quest Learning Centers, and I credit that training as the foundation of my success. As a Regional Manager of Product Support and later as Whole Goods Sales Manager, I have sent many of my employees and managers to Ron's training seminars to learn from the GOAT himself. They each returned with a three-ring green binder that held the secret of success for themselves and their employers. Using Learning Without Scars, all companies looking to grow now have a proven method to succeed.

Every dealership is looking to grow, but most are more focused on handling day to day issues

Six years ago, after 38 years in the heavy equipment business, I launched a recruiting company focused primarily on recruiting higher-level equipment technicians. Our team created a buffet of employee management services for equipment dealerships across the country centered around LWS.

About two and a half years ago, Ron and I discussed a client who was having trouble finding the number of techs they needed. As we talked, I shared with Ron my main challenge was locating and vetting qualified people. Like everyone else, I had to take a candidate's word that they actually had the skills they claimed to have.

Considering my company offered a performance guarantee, I needed a proven method to confirm a candidates' knowledge and skill level before recommending them to clients. Being an old equipment guy, I also knew guarantees and refunds were great, but what I valued most was hiring qualified and committed people the first time. After talking with Ron over several weeks, I knew I had found the exact answers I needed.

Ron and I took part in an equipment industry article about five years ago about the coming technician crisis. What will now follow will be a rapid rise in wages and a gradual decline in overall tech competency and efficiency. As with technicians, the last train carrying needed Product Support replacements has already left the station and is rapidly heading towards that same bridge. Thankfully, all manufacturers offer excellent technician training, so that crisis will hopefully even out over time.

LWS will be at the forefront of product support employee training. Ron and his team have been busy formatting and transferring his thirty-plus years of knowledge and teaching onto the new LWS site for the past several years. Ron's training seminars, books, and consulting have been considered the Gold Standard for Capital Goods dealerships across the U.S. and translated into several languages worldwide. Senior managers in dealerships across the country have vetted and approved the LWS courses. An equipment industry senior service management expert developed the Technician Assessments. While the site's content was time-tested, duplicating Ron's unique delivery method and personality online took time to perfect. You can now visit Learning Without Scars and view firsthand what our friend, along with his daughter Caroline, and the entire LWS team have been up to for the past few years. I think you will be very impressed.

Our company, Mechanics and Techs LLC., was designed and is staffed by seasoned semi-retired equipment industry corporate managers. We have successfully managed multi-branch Service, Parts, Outside Product Support Sales Teams, New and Used Sales teams, Rental groups and worked with a wide variety of brands and types of equipment and trucks.

We combined our many years of hands-on dealership experience to create a unique selection of affordable Product Support Growth Solutions specifically designed for our equipment industry clients. We provide Consulting, Recruitment, Specialty Job Boards, Web-Based Online Candidate Search Systems, LWS Skill Assessments/Training/Testing for those in Service, Parts, Sales, and Rental.

We will introduce you to more of our services, in more detail in the coming weeks and months. I look forward to having Mechanics and Techs working with learning Without Scars for years to come. Thanks for welcoming us as a Colleague.

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January 25, 2022

How critical is it to review employee performance? Part One

This week, guest writer Sonya Law walks us through the critical importance of the employee performance review in part one of a series.

It is very critical: you need alignment between the people and the work that needs to be done to achieve the strategy. Your people are your number one strategic competitive advantage. When businesses can unlock potential of all people it has a multiplier affect to the bottom line.

Its very important to have a business whose people are performing and heading in the same direction. It’s an obvious thing you can’t get anything done without the engagement of your people.

There are a number of factors for that too, which exist in today’s organisations:

No clear direction: Often what happens is there is not clear direction from leaders.

Feedback loop: There's not always a feedback loop between the manager and employee on a regular and consistent basis.

Celebrate achievements: Also, one of the things organisations don’t do very well is celebrate their achievements.

Value your people: And the valuable work that employees do over the last 6 to 12 months is not recognised and highlighted in their mid-year or end of year review (EOY) or at all.

Re-engage: Recommitting your people to the purpose and the strategy and their role in it is not something that is commonly practiced and should be.

As leaders, we get caught up in operations, in our own role, blinkers on, it’s very easy to fall into that trap especially during the pandemic, where for a lot of leaders it’s about keeping your head above water. It is the role of management to let people know what their contribution is and what their value is to the team and the organisation. Most people join organisations because they want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

So, it’s a really good opportunity to acknowledge those things as well as ASK your employees at the End Of Year (EOY) review:

What are the roadblocks you are experiencing in your job?

What are their ideas in terms of efficiencies and continuous improvement?

Ideas on how they could do their job better? Innovation?

Ask them if they would like to do more training, learn something new, that is going to help them to do a better job?

Open up a feedback loop: Say to the person how can I as a manager, help you to perform in your job?

Ask them are they open to opportunities for challenge and stretch goals?

It’s good to, in that conversation talk about challenges and stretch goals. What I am hearing from a lot of people lately that they are in a job, where they are somewhat happy, well paid, and it’s kind of easy and they are not really being challenged or stretched. So, they actually want to leave their organisation for an organisation that challenges and stretches them.

This is the responsibility of the manager to unleash that unrealized potential or capacity within the organisation and when we don’t capture potential it really hits the bottom line. In terms of productivity and efficiency, and revenue per headcount, so it is the role of the manager to always be thinking about how can I unlock the potential of my people. It starts and ends with potential.

Bias is a block to unleashing the Potential of employees?

As leaders, we experience bias in our decision making all the time, we put people in boxes because it enables us to make sense of the world and provides certainty something that still plagues us during the pandemic. Or we are too lazy to think about what that person’s potential is within the organisation. Managers who are disengaged have a detrimental impact on the overall performance and wellbeing of their team and organisation.

What can we do as leaders to overcome this bias?

To be aware of how limiting it is when we put people in a box, when we sit down at EOY review we need to appreciate that they are not the same person as they were when they started in the role and with the company.

Important preparation tips for Managers:

Awareness of our own biases

Look at your employees with fresh eyes

Go in with the mindset like you are interviewing them for the first time

Don’t assume, that their past performance is a reliable indicator of future performance.

We need to go into the EOY discussion with the employee as if we don’t know them because, our biases, and our assumptions, and experiences overpower where that person is.

This practice will ensure a successful EOY review on both sides. With the knowledge that people grow and change as people within an organisation. Consciously or not, we are putting people into boxes that underutilizes our Human Resources. By holding a space for employees, it enables you to assess their performance.

Exert from a Candid Conversation with Ron Slee:

(www.learningwithoutscars.org Podcast button)

Ron: The EOY and mid-year review is all about the employee, its not about the manager, and many times, most times, I don’t believe the manager knows how to do it?

Sonya: This is true. Some managers don’t want to do it, they find it intimidating.

Ron: Have you seen that?

Sonya: Yes, they just want it over and done with and tick the box, and send to HR. Often it comes back with limited feedback or comments. Yes, they talk with the employee and tick it off and go back to their job. They are often uncomfortable with having conversations about barriers they might be experiencing, professional and personal development questions, conflict in workplace and delivering feedback. Those skills are important but a lot of managers don’t like to do it, or want to do it.

Ron: Why?

Sonya: It opens them up, they won’t always have the answers.

Ron: We have to be vulnerable to each other. If I asked what I could do to improve my relationship with you as a worker of mine, that employee has to trust me explicitly, implicitly if they are going to tell me the truth. I don’t know that, that kind of trust exists? I get a paycheck, I don’t want to do anything that is going to jeopardize that paycheck, I need the paycheck. The employee is coming to the discussion nervously and anxiously, and the boss thinking what a pain in the neck. I am busy don’t they know that. We’re on the wrong foot from the start?

Sonya: True, there is also a power disparity which makes it difficult, in the workplace, often if face to face in the bosses’ office, manager title on the door, its intimidating. The employee just wants to get home, take a paycheck and goes into survival mode, which is quite common. Fear kicks in and fight or flight depending on the degree of trust.

In my next article we will explore this more on how to have a successful End Of Year (EOY) review in

Part Two: How to build trust and get the most out of the End Of Year (EOY) review.

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For our course lists, please click here.

August 31, 2021