What good looks like

Introduction

There is a story that has been going around the internet for years which talks about a very important piece of machinery that was difficult to fix. Eventually a grizzled technician came to fix it. The technician walked around it for 5 minutes, tapped it with a wrench and the machine restarted. The technician gave the customer an invoice for $10,000. The customer immediately complained about being charged $10,000 for 5 minutes work. The technician's response was "I am not charging you $10,000 for 5 minutes work, I am charging you $5 for tapping the equipment and $9,995 for knowing where to tap" (or to put it another way - he charged the customer $5 for the 5 minutes work but $9,995 for the 30 years it took him to learn where to tap). You, my readers, are professionals and, I am sure, have all been on both sides of that experience or similar ones.

As a manager, the calls never stop: recruiters providing people, equipment suppliers who want to buy or sell equipment, financial advisors and many people who seem "curious about how you are dealing with your [insert any manufacturing issue here]". There are also a lot of people who suddenly want to "get to know me and the work I do".

In the modern world, for most of us, one of the most precious things we have is our time and as managers, we have all (unfortunately) learned to limit our availability in order to be available for the most important people, in my opinion these would be ... our family ... our employees and our customers.

Some of these callers add real value .... and some do not. In recent weeks I have noticed somewhat of a backlash on LinkedIn, often posted by people not unlike me, who see these mainly as intrusions, and then for each posting like that, there are the others who say things like "how would your sales people like to be on the receiving end of comments like that" or "you have obviously never had to put food on the table by selling". This, of course makes me feel bad, and I try to remember that as leaders we need to be assertive but also kind - kindly assertive or assertively kind! I also have friends who are sales people and truly see themselves as there to help their customers solve problems. For example Charles Hicks who defines it as "I add value by evaluating your technology needs and understanding how I can help your business run more efficiently and profitably".

I decided, with the help of a renowned psychoanalyst, to put together a model created of 4 criteria - here then is the TJG Access Model. Essentially it works like this - adhering to any of the following 4 'codes' grants you access. The codes are "Pay, teach, entertain , inspire".

Pay!

This is the first option and of course the most common. My time is always going to be dedicated to the organization I am working for or supporting, and to the ultimate boss - the customer. I will always make myself available to customers even though some have noted that my straight talking can be a little too direct and I often do not have the answers they want to hear.

In addition, like the technician in the story above, there are a few areas where I "know where to tap" and I am always happy to provide consulting. However, if, like the people who are 'curious' about XXX, you just want to use my time for market research then that is not going to work, simply because it is not fair - not to me, not to my employer and not to the people I work with.

This does not apply to employees or contacts who want to learn from me ... this is completely different and I will speak to it under the "inspire" heading

But payment can take other forms ... sometimes it means paying it forward. Here are two companies that got my attention, my time and ultimately my business by 'paying' me with a couple of 'goodies' in unusual and creative ways.

The first is a company that sells promotional items, mainly pens - the are called "National Pen" (shameless shout out #1), and they used to send me complimentary items - mainly different pens with my company name and address already printed on them. Every week or so something else would come and I would give it to someone in the office to try out. I knew exactly what the quality of many of their products looked like and what our name looked like on it. When I needed branded pens ... guess what? First I asked the people in the office which one they liked best and then I placed an order - no search, no comparison and no discussion.

The other company is called logo-knife.com (shameless shout out #2) - they sent me a promotional item that is actually useful: an unsolicited sample pocket knife with "your logo here" etched on the blade - I have probably ordered 2000 units from them over the years.

Both of these companies gave me something of value to get my attention and lets face it - in the world of promotional items ... who does not need and value a pen and a pocket knife. They paid it forward in a classy way ... and sold their product without ever making a call.

Teach!

I think as leaders, if we are not constantly learning we are failing and falling behind. The trick can be to find the right teachers, people with gravitas who actually want to share their knowledge.

Recently I shared a space with a retired professional who was like an amplified version of me. His career was twice as long as mine, his span of control had been 30 times bigger than my biggest one, we shared the same philosophy and approach but his knowledge and experience were encyclopedic. The man liked to talk and in his presence .... I liked to listen. Everything he said was worth hearing. In fact I considered it a privilege that he was willing to share so much with me.

I am always looking to learn new things and this was a golden opportunity.

Back to the cold calling we started with - if you can teach me something ... you have my attention ... and rightfully so - because you are giving of yourself and its only right that I reciprocate! This is the space where the the really good sales people exist - those people who are truly solving problems.

Other examples of teaching - the engineer who showed me how something fitted together, the supplier who explained their process so I could be a better customer, our salesman who showed me why our product was unique and my personal favorite - the supplier who had a quality issue and demonstrated a corrective action procedure so impressive that it became our teaching tool and created a solid bond of respect between our companies and between their President and Inside Sales Manager and myself. If either of you are reading this post (VW or MH) feel free to comment!

Entertain!

This is another area that can take many forms

• When a supplier holds an annual expo, or invites me to their reception at Fabtech or another trade show ... this is entertainment but it is also learning
• Once of my suppliers was owned by the 3rd generation, a person of considerable charm as well as knowledge - meeting him at the reception he held at the annual trade show was well worth anyone's time - he bantered and it was a pleasure to listen, and a privilege to have access to the president of the company. His stories were both funny and inspirational and always entertaining! (RS - this is you!)
• And then there are the born entertainers - who among us has not met them - those people with the natural talent to make a conversation enjoyable!

Inspire!

Inspiration is interesting because it can come from so many sources:

• I have worked for and consulted to companies that were purchased from the founder. In several cases - the founder was kept on the payroll as a kind of part-time consultant. It was fascinating! They had no day to day involvement but were simply around to provide a 'feel good' factor for long term employees and as a source of inspiration and information. In one company, many times, I would stop by D's office to ask a question as to why something was as it was, he never failed to offer inspirational advice
• But inspiration can come from so many sources: the employee who is thoughtful about improving their workspace and process. The employee who builds a fixture so good and clever that quality issues disappear and time is halved. And of course those inventors/entrepreneurs who create whole industries.
• Inspiration for me also comes from coaching and mentoring - in the 'pay' section I promised to come back to teaching and mentoring more junior employees. I see this as not just my responsibility as a leader but also a sound commercial action. If I can help someone through my experience and also inspire them ... I may have just made big strides to creating a future leader in the company. This can be key to long term succession planning, and yes, there is a personal payoff too - there is very little more inspiring for me than spending time to support someone, watching them learn and apply what they have learned. When they then execute better than I would ever do ... then my work here is done!

Summary

Therein ends my simple model for accessing time and attention, I want to invite you to pay, teach entertain and inspire each other up this rocky path of manufacturing and operations