The Trust Equation

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In the constant attempt to deepen knowledge and understanding of coaching, helping other people, and fulfill the motto of AMC of providing the 'Keys to Success', I have recently read the book "COACHING AND FEEDBACK FOR PERFORMANCE", which is part of the a series of books titled "leading from the center". It's published by Duke Corporate Education.

One area I am often running into as coaching becomes more used and better understood is the question of internal versus external coaching. The group of authors who created the Duke book try to make a clear claim for the benefits of coaching from the inside, actually going as far as suggesting that every leader and manager should be a coach for his team members.

I agree with some of the arguments made and the methods suggested, but still strongly believe that an external coach is a much better change agent for the company or organization that hires him or her (or me).

When looking through the book at the arguments for and against internal versus external coaching, I ran across the "Trust Equation". I am sure everybody reading this article is probably in agreement that trust is the fundamental and most important issue in coaching, period. What was interesting when reading the book was that the authors actually point to the creators of the Trust Equation to show the importance of trust in the coaching relationship without ever realizing that by highlighting it they provided the best argument not to have the internal manager or leader become a coach.

The equation is shown below. If you look at the parts and the explanations you will see that the driving factor is actually the level of self-orientation. The lower that level is, the higher the level of trust will be. The big, even huge, benefit of the external coach is that he or she is not part of the internal politics, wrangling, history, posturing and all the other internal fights and issues every organization experiences. That allows the external coach to have very little to almost no self-interest, other then providing good service to help the coachee.

With that factor going towards zero, T = TRUST can become almost infinitely high. Thank you very much to the promoters of internal coaching from Duke Corporate Education for providing such a great argument for external coaches. I knew we did something right. I guess it goes to show that you can find friends in the strangest places.

Here is the equation followed by explanations for each component. In words it says: "Trust is the sum of Credibility,Reliability and Intimacy, divided by self-interest. This means that that trust can become almost infinitely high when self-interest is very low, like with an external coach. Just imagine you had no self-interest when coaching. With that value being zero, trust would really be without limit.

C + R + I T = _______ S

C = Credibility

Credibility has to do with the words we speak. In a sentence, we might say, "I can trust what she says about intellectual property; she is very credible on the subject.

R = Reliability

By contrast, reliability has to do with actions. We might say, for example, "If he says he'll deliver the product tomorrow, I trust him, because he's dependable."

I + Intimacy

Intimacy refers to the safety or security that we feel when entrusting someone with something. We might say, "I can trust her with that information; she's never violated my confidentiality before, and she would never embarrass me."

S + Self-orientation

Self-orientation refers to the focus of the person in question: in particular, whether the person's focus is primarily on himself or herself, or on the other person. Increasing the value of the factors in the numerator increases the value of trust. Increasing the value of the denominatorthat is, self-orientationdecreases the value of trust.

The Snowblower Versus Skid Steer Snow Plows

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Snowblower or skid steer snow plows...what should you use? It is a question often asked by skid steer loader owners before every winter season. The answer depends on the kind of work the operator wants to do, and what his customers want him to do with the snow. Can the snow be piled up or does it need to be spread around? Will the skid steer snow blower suit their needs, or will the snow plow?

Anyone who grew up in in the northern part of the US remembers the giant mountains of snow in the grocery store and mall parking lots when they were kids. Sometimes these mountains seemed almost as tall as the store itself. A lot of kids climbed the giant snow piles, playing king of the mountain, and heaving snow balls at each other. Some of these piles were so big, they would last well into May.

Two problems, from an adult's point of view, is that 1) these piles take up valuable parking spaces, which if a retail store already has limited space, it can be made even worse if the piles are larger than normal; and, 2) if the snow melts, the water can refreeze creating dangerously icy conditions for people walking in the area. This is especially a problem in smaller parking lots , like at an office building or school. Even today, regular plow operators do not have much choice. They need a place to pile the snow.

Skid loader owners do have a choice. They can attach a traditional snow plow to their skid steer loader, or they can use a skid steer snow blower. A skid steer snow blower is a much larger version of the walk-behind type. A skid steer snow blower can blow the snow into grassy areas, far from the parking lot. This keeps most of the snow off the parking lot, which saves parking spaces. It also means the water drains away from melting snow, and keeps it off the lots, so it will not freeze over.

Snow removal can be a good source of income for skid steer loader owners. The powerful skid loader and skid steer snow blower or snow plow is a better tool for the job than a pickup truck and plow. But should you buy a skid steer snow blower or plow?

Despite the piles, the snow plow is still a useful skid steer loader attachment. If it were not a useful snow removal tool, it would not be so widely used. A snow plow can push a tremendous amount of snow off a surface in a short amount of time. It is good for snow removal on streets and in neighborhoods.

But the skid steer snow blower can go where no snow plow can. Nearly every neighborhood, street, and parking lot bears the marks of winter, a series of plow cars deep cuts in the asphalt or lawn, caused by the sharp edge of the plow blade. To be fair, snow plow pros have a difficult job, avoiding curbs, lawns, and other obstacles when they are all covered up with the white stuff, but a skid steer snow blower can avoid most of that.

A skid steer snowblower can be driven right up onto sidewalks and pathways. It can be driven into tight spaces and driveways without damaging the underlying surface. And, thanks to the adjustable snow chute, the snow is removed, blown, and evenly distributed where you aim the skid steer snow blower chute. This means you can blow snow farther away from the parking lot and avoid making the space-wasting piles.

Skid steer snow plows are great high-volume snow removers. But when it comes to precise removal, a high quality skid steer snow blower is ideal. Still, there is something nostalgic about the snow piles.

The Right Antique Pedal Car Parts Will Bring a Smile Back To Your Child's Face

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There no doubts the immense popularity as well as value of an antique pedal car. This can in fact easily be seen when one goes hunting for such cars and are confronted with a host of companies that deal in such cars as well as in manufacturing reproductions of the antique pedal car. There are also several places where you can find antique pedal car parts as too antique pedal cars.

Expensive and Limited Choices

Even today, you can go out and purchase a new antique pedal car though you may find that it costs a lot of money and the choices available are rather limited. If you have a young kid that loves cars then presenting your child with an antique pedal car can be one of the best presents you can ever give them.

However, it is just as easy for your child to damage or render useless certain antique pedal car parts for which you will have no choice but to purchase good replacement parts. Of course, you could argue that a majority of antique pedal cars are well constructed and can withstand a fair bit of wear and tear and can handle the stress put on them by a child at play.

However, know where to purchase antique pedal car parts is certainly helpful because you never know when the need for such antique pedal car parts will arrive. One possible resource for buying antique pedal car parts, American Pedal Cars provides you with a list of vendors selling antique pedal car parts and in addition they have their own collection of antique pedal cars for sale as well.

You can use their lists to find sources that will help you restore as well as refurbish the antique car. Whether you need antique pedal car parts for an antique style jalopy or you need it for your 1932 Ford Roadster or for any other popular antique pedal car, this is one site that is certainly worth checking out.

Companies such as C& N Reproductions, Inc. that has an exhaustive collection of antique pedal car parts and Cowboys and Kidillacs that sells hubcaps, windshields, steering wheels and a lot more can certainly prove to great choices when it comes to buying antique pedal car parts.

In regard to looking for antique car restoration parts your first thought would be that you should contact professional restoration people that deal with nothing but restoration works. This is a good idea but you should also be prepared to face disappointments because finding the appropriate parts is often a lot harder than you may have bargained for.

The Real Costs of Employee Turnover

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Employee turnover is unavoidable. It is a fact of business life as are its associated costs. Or are they? The costs of employee turnover can be staggering, ranging anywhere from 1/2 to 5 times an employee's annual wages dependant upon his or her position. It is neither possible, nor desirable to completely eliminate turnover from your organization. Some of the costs associated with employee turnover are unavoidable and must be expected to occur in the normal course of business. BUT NOT ALL THE COSTS!!! You can do something about these turnover costs...

Before you can start to combat the costs of employee turnover, you must be aware of what these cost are and what they entail. There of course are some obvious costs that come quickly to mind, but there are also numerous other costs that you may have never considered that can have a serious impact on your bottom line.

The Hard Costs:
Turning over one employee can cost around ? of a low skilled hourly workers annual wages plus benefits, while losing a member of C-Level upper management can cost 3 to 5 times his or her annual wages and benefits.

Consider this: if your firm has a turnover rate of 25% (about the national average) and employs 40 employees each earning $25,000 annually, your costs of turning over 10 of these employees over the course of a year will be at least $125,000! What could you do with an additional $100,000+ in resources?

Severance pay can also be a huge part of employee turnover costs. This is especially true with highly skilled employees and high-level management. These are wages on which you will never see any return on you investment!

The costs of recruitment: Each time an employee is lost the hiring and selection cycle must start again. These costs can be significant: advertising costs to announce your job opening to the masses, cost of recruitment agencies, background checks, reference checks, drug testing, cost of overtime pay, temporary help and much more.

Hiring costs: Once you've made a hiring decision, the costs of turnover don't stop, but rather continue. Sign on bonuses, relocation costs, and any increases in salary level necessary to attract new talent all add up quickly. The time spent by HR managers to orientate and train the new employee can also be costly and unnecessary. These are all tangible costs that could be avoided with a better employee retention.

Other Costs: Some Food for Thought
There are clearly a number of turnover costs that can be easily quantifiable, but these costs often times are just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous turnover costs that will never appear on any balance sheet or income statement that can have a serious impact on your firm's bottom line.

First of all consider the affects on productivity that are caused by turnover. It takes on average 8 weeks to recruit and hire a new employee. During this time production can seriously falter. Other employees have to pick up the slack in production, often taking on tasks and responsibilities they are unfamiliar with or untrained in. This can drain team morale and further hurt production. The negative affect on production caused by turnover doesn't stop when a new employee is hired. There is always a learning curve associated with any job; for some it can be short and insignificant, while for many others it can be a considerable period of time. During this time it takes a new employee to "get up to speed" with the rest of the team, production will never be as good as it could be.

There can also be a significant loss in business due to employee turnover. Many employees enjoy a loyal following of customers with whom they share a real connection. The father of a close friend of mine is a great example. As a parts dealer for an automotive service center he worked with many customer on a regular basis and formed a real bond with these customers. They trusted him and knew they he would do whatever possible to help them. When this individual left that position and went to a competing service center, so did almost all of his loyal customers. Little did the firm know that the customers were loyal to the employee, not the company - and they paid dearly when they were unable to keep him on board.

Another serious cost to companies when they loose employees is the loss of organizational knowledge. Many employees are able to become experts in the field they work in and when they leave, so does that knowledge. These employees are no longer available to share this knowledge and mentor junior members in the company. Once again these costs are near impossible to quantify, but there is sure to be an affect on the bottom line.

What You Can Do About It

The stakes are clearly high when it comes to retaining good employees within your organization. Undoubtedly some industries are more susceptible to experience higher turnover than others. Turnover in the Accommodation and Food Service and Leisure and Hospitality industries average over 50% annually. If you compete in these industries, or any other industry susceptible to high turnover rates, you know and expect that turnover is going to be a challenge, but it doesn't need to cripple your company's ability to be successful.

A Harvard University study reports that 80% of employee turnover can be attributed to mistakes made during the hiring process. The implications of this are huge: up to 80% of your turnover can be blamed on hiring mistakes. The problem lies in the employee selection process. Simply put the wrong people are being hired for the wrong jobs.

A Michigan State University indicates that traditional hiring techniques - r(c)sum(c) reviews, interviews, and reference checks only provide a 14% likelihood of a successful job hire. ONLY 14% !!! Your odds of winning a hand at Blackjack are significantly better at around 40%. If you rely only on traditional hiring practices you are truly gambling with the future success of your organization.

The Michigan State University study does offer hope in regards to these horrendous odds of hiring the right employee. The effective utilization of powerful personality assessments are shown to increase the likelihood of a successful job hire to 75%!!!. The power of these assessments is staggering and provides a powerful insight into the values, behaviors, and attributes the job candidate possesses. This information can than be compared against a Benchmark established for the job position and an informed hiring decision can now be made. The results are incredible.

The Quatra Series Pantograph Lifts from BendPak - Raising the Bar

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The distinctive Quatra series lifts by BendPak revolutionize the lifting industry by offering a 12,000-pound lifting capacity and a true vertical lift for a more compact footprint, better accommodating smaller service bays and work areas. Their unique quad-opposing pantograph scissors design eliminates restrictive arm structures found on other scissors car lift types that typically get in the way. Quatra lifts provide you with full, unobstructed vehicle access and effortless workspace entry and exit. More space means more freedom for you to work and work efficiently which increases productivity and most of all, your profits. No other scissors lift on the market offer the freedom that BendPaks Quatra series lifts provide.

The Quatra standard length XR-12000A and extended length XR-12000AE were designed for vehicle alignments and general service work and accommodate a wide variety of wheelbases. Integrated recessed full-floating front radius plates and oversized rear slip-plates enable you to perform four-wheel alignments on a full spectrum of vehicles ranging from full-size work trucks to modern mini cars. Either model is compatible with all leading alignment instrumentation, including new 3D systems and camera type wheel aligners.

Make more money by going straightup.

Quatra series car lifts deliver straight-up vertical lifting unlike parallelogram style scissors lifts that require more floor space due to their lateral lifting characteristics. Because there is no forward or rearward movement, the result is a more compact footprint to accommodate smaller service bays and work areas.

Compared to parallelogram and other traditional scissor lifts, the Quatra series delivers:

Increased work space below the car lift and around the runways

Unobstructed access points for easy entry and exit - front, rear and both sides

Up front walk through for making unhindered wheel alignment adjustments

Better by design

With an excellent combination of speed and ergonomic design, BendPaks Quatra pantograph scissor lift models improve technician efficiency and productivity which helps you improve overall profitability. Featuring rapid rise and descent speeds, they position vehicles smoothly to any desired height with simple to operate controls. A sophisticated yet simple six-cylinder master-slave hydraulic circuit provides precise equalized lifting without the need for complicated electronics that often fail when subjected to high-use and soiled work environments.

Both the Quatra XR-12000A and XR-12000AE incorporate a full-menu of engineering and design enhancements that provide long term ruggedness and increased dependability. From the hydraulic cylinders and safety locking mechanisms, to fluid controls and pneumatics, all integral system components are enclosed within the runways to help protect them from harmful corrosives and operational damage. With few moving parts, and an uncomplicated fluid power system, BendPaks Quatra alignment lifts offer the most economical and dependable method of lifting, delivering you many years of trouble free service.

Its all in the approach

When it comes to positioning vehicles on the auto lift, there is no other lift on the market that makes it easier. They feature extendable, hinged, collapsible, and stowable approach ramps - an industry first. The extendable approach ramps deliver a range of motion from 59" all the way up to an incredible 76" overall length in mere seconds. Not only do these user favorites make it convenient to drive ground hugging cars on the lift, when space is tight, their collapsible and stowable design means youre able to close the shop doors at the end of the day.

In short, the Quatra series lifts by BendPak are the solution for customers who want one of the industrys most comprehensive auto lift packages with productivity and more importantly, profitability enhancing features.

Balanced Lifting

Quatra lifts are equipped with an intelligent hydraulic regulating manifold featuring four, two-position ball valves to balance hydraulic pressure accurately between the master and slave cylinders for precise, equalized lifting of the runways. The manifold valve assembly is located at the power console with removable cover for simple routine maintenance and adjustment.

Its what we do

It's not by chance that BendPak is the global leader in lifting systems. Our passion extends well beyond the products we build - it originates from the natural way we do business. BendPak has earned a reputation for consistent quality through decades of manufacturing experience and uncompromising in-field support. We thrive on continually building our reputation of service excellence by finding better ways help our customers reach their goals. Our lifting products are designed from the outside in, driven by real customer insight. This focus on customer-driven engineering and product management allows us to better understand how our equipment is used so we can design products to meet and exceed our customers ever-changing needs. All across the globe, customers recognize our distinctive blue lifts and ask for them by name because they represent a combination of performance, productivity, reliability, and value unlike any other car lift brand on the market.  

Business solutions that are easy on your wallet

Trained, knowledgeable BendPak representatives are positioned throughout the world to best meet our customers needs. Our highly trained authorized dealers not only help you identify the right equipment for your business, theyll connect you with flexible payment options to make acquiring that equipment easier. Various financing packages and leasing opportunities customized for virtually any budget help you fulfill your equipment needs while meeting your financial goals. Our business solutions dont end there. We work with distribution channel partners around the globe who share our dedication to excellence. We also support our dealers with effective, informative marketing and the powerful BendPak brand which carries the strength of a proven market leader.

The Problem With Business Is People!

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The problem with business is people as the old joke goes however there are truth in those words. I deal with failing companies as a line of endeavor and from experience I can tell you that the single largest factor in companies that fail are the people. This is not something that I say lightly; generally speaking the root cause of the problem generally lies with the management and more time than not their lack of "people skills". I have been in situations where managers adopt the "flog them until they drop" approach to managing the workforce. These situations never produce the desired result in fact they tend to stifle any positive outcome.

I had the benefit of working for a company and in particular a manager early in my professional career who taught me what I have referred to throughout my life as Leoisms. The first one is benefit of team building. He explained it to me like this, picture it like a football team and you're the quarterback. If your team mates are with you then they will perform their jobs at the best of their ability and protect you from getting sacked. However on the other hand if they don't have any skin in the game then you are going to get killed. The second lesson had to do with playing the career game and I quote. As you go through your career and life in general remember that "it will be as easy or as hard as you choose to make it" and the people that you have to dismiss in business are not the ones who cause you problems, it's the people you don't".

I am not advocating that the managers in the house so to speak walk out of their office and lynch their subordinates that is not the idea at all, rather just the opposite. Please remember that we cannot succeed in business without having the team on our side. This can often cost no more than just treating our co-workers with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

Most of us have had a Leo in our lives if we reflect back on our career the question is were we listening and if so did we understand?

The truth is that in corporate America we haven't gotten better at understanding this in fact we have gotten worse. I like to call it the "Corporate Divide". As time has gone forward and the size of typical business unit's increase we have left some of the fundamentals behind and created a greater divide between management and the workforce. The problem originates when we as managers spend too much time staring at the results and too little time understanding what generates these numbers in relationship to the human element.

If you take away nothing else from this article then understand the importance of the people who we depend on day in and day out to perform the task necessary to profitably operate a business. Get involved with your work force; take an interest in who they are and what they are. You will not believe the benefits to your business that it will generate.

This is a lot more than just a philosophy it is an absolute requirement. Don't believe what I say well then consider this, I took a business unit that I managed for one of the big three automakers and doubled its revenue in less than 18 months. How you ask, it's easy I got the employees on board. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this and most of them are so easy and inexpensive that it would amaze you. I had eight sites that I managed and each month I would go out and hold a site meeting where all the employees were required to attend. It only takes about 20 minutes from the day but the rewards are much bigger then you might imagine. During those meetings I would review the prior months results and tell them what we were doing poorly and how we could fix it and then I would finish up by telling them what we were doing right and give them a pack on the back. I would also remind each one of them that there is no such thing as an un-important job in the plant. Each and every one of them had a part to play and that it was important and I wanted them to know that. After these meetings I would spend about 30 minutes each with the site manager and site controller and the remainder of the day I spent on the floor asking the people how they could do their job better. The fact is they all know but no one ever asks them. You will not believe how fast you can turn a business around just by performing this very simple task. The net result here is that the numbers start heading in the intended direction.

Your mission for the day, get your team mates on the train heading in the direction that you want to go. The people you work with will excel if given the opportunity to do so.

The Power Of Starting Your Own MLM Co-op Advertising Program

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I have seen firsthand how powerful doing things for your MLM downline can be for personal sponsoring and building depth in your group. In this article I want to offer a few tips on why you should start your own MLM co-op advertising program.

1. People who join MLM programs will pay you to do things for them. With all of the tools available online from MLM companies building a successful downline is as easy as mastering traffic generation strategies. Commit to doing a handful of free and paid advertising and you can drive traffic to your downline websites.

2. You should have a system in place and start by promoting a landing page. The landing page should have a lead capture form on it that sends the prospoects contact information to an autoresponder for future follow up.

Many MLM companies provide excellent landing pages and also have a autoresponder follow-up system in place for their distributors. This makes it very easy to just promote each individual MLM distributors landing page as the leads are funneled directly into the autoresponder system.

3. Use a co-op rotator either provided by your MLM company or by getting an outside source such as Page Swirl. These are very easy to manage because you just input the website URL of each individual distributor and then promote the rotator URL.

This is a fair way to run your MLM co-op program because each distributor receives the same amount of traffic. If you wish to sell shares in your program you can balance that out by sending more traffic to the person who has purchased the most shares.

4. Billing for your co-op advertising program is easy to do through PayPal. You can set it up on a monthly subscription to automatically rebill if you choose to do so.

This makes it very hands off for your downline to join your co-op, and then forget about, it because you are consistently promoting their MLM business for them.

5. You should do all types of advertising. Traffic exchanges, exit pop-ups, text Link ads, article marketing, discussion forums, social networking, blogging, and pay per click advertising are all very easy to do because now you just promote the co-op rotator URL.

Think about what you are really doing for your group! Most people will never learn how to do Internet marketing correctly. By providing this valuable service you will increase your personal sponsoring as well as increase the retention rate or your downline.

People join MLM companies because they want to make money. Most of them never make any money because they never sponsor anybody.

By taking your Internet marketing skills, and using then to help people sponsor via the Internet, you will have a more successful MLM business yourself. This is the power or starting your own mlm co-op advertising program.