Have you ever wondered why some individuals, organizations, or countries are more successful than others? It is not a secret! They are successful because they think and act more effectively. They do so by investing in their most valuable asset—people.
I have
spoken to executives in major corporations all over the world and asked them a
question: "If you had a magic wand and there was one thing you could
change that would give you a cutting edge in the marketplace, increase
productivity and profits, what would that be?" Their answers were
unanimous. They said they would like to change their people's attitudes. With
better attitudes people would be better team players; cutback on waste and
become more loyal. In general, their company would be a great place to work in.
Experience has shown that human resource is the most valuable asset of
any business. People are more valuable than capital or equipment.
Unfortunately, human resource is also the most wasted of resources. People can
be your biggest asset or your biggest liability.
TQP — TOTAL QUALITY PEOPLE:
Having attended a number of
training programs such as customer service, selling skills and strategic
planning; I have come to the conclusion that most of these are great programs
with one major challenge: None of them will work unless they have the right
foundation, and the right foundation is TQP. What is TQP. Total Quality People
are people with character, integrity, good values, and positive attitudes.
Don't get me wrong. You do need
the other programs, but they will only work when you have the right
foundation—Total Quality People. For example, some customer service programs
teach participants to say "please" and "thank-you," and
give smiles and handshakes. But how long can a person smile if he does not have
the desire to serve? Besides, people can always see through a fake smile. When
the smile is not sincere, it is irritating. My point is, there has to be
substance over form, not form over substance. Without a doubt, people who serve
customers should say, "please" and "thank-you," smile, and
so forth—these things are important. But keep in mind that they come a lot
easier when accompanied by a desire to serve.
Someone once approached Blaise
Pascal, the famous French philosopher, and said, "If I had your brains, I
would be a better person," Pascal replied, "Be a better person and
you will have my brains."
Great organizations are not
measured by wages and working conditions, they are measured by feelings,
attitudes and relationships. When employees say, "I can't do it,"
there can be two possible meanings. Either they are saying they don't know how
to or they are saying they 'don't want to'. If they are saying that they don't
know how to, it is a technical training issue. If they are saying that they
don't want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don't care), or a value issue
(they don't believe they should do it).
The Calgary Tower stands at 190.8 meters. The
total weight of the tower is 10,884 tons, of which 6,349 tons are below ground
(approximately 60%). This shows that some of the greatest buildings have the
strongest foundations. Just like a great building stands on a strong
foundation, so does success. And the foundation of success is attitude.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH:
I believe in a holistic approach.
We are not just arms and legs, eyes and ears, a heart and a brain, but a
complete human being. The whole person goes to work and the whole person comes
home. We take family problems to work and work problems to the family. What
happens when we take family problems to work? Our stress level goes up and our
productivity comes down. Similarly, work problems too have an impact not only
on our family but on every aspect of our lives. Personal, professional and social
problems impact each other.
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