When trying to change my printer settings I received a message stating that I needed a username and password for the printer application. Now I knew I was in trouble given that I had never created a username or password for the printer. After spending 40 min of totally unproductive time reading the Brother printer manual and trying everything I could think of, I emailed the online Brother support. To be honest I had extremely low expectations (a) of a prompt reply (five days ago I had phoned Serengeti Eyewear International and am still waiting a reply) and/or (b) of actually solving my problem. Less then six hours after my email I received a reply. Through a series of short email correspondences over the next 30 minutes, my problem (totally unintuitive as I had to key in computer code) was solved. Well done Brother for the prompt reply and actually adding value to my day. Are you responding promptly to your customers, and what value are you adding?
Archive for the ‘Archive’ Category
F1 at Te Papa
Was in Wellington Friday so popped along to the Formula One: The Great Design Race display at Te Papa. If you have a spare hour (or half hour like me if you get bored easy) then this is well worth a look. Even a lay person like me can appreciate the engineering genius, and there are some interesting facts that you will find out too.
Eden Park
I have been observing Alan Gray, Project Director of the redevelopment of Eden Park, over the last couple of days. Alan is a superb leader and is a dictionary definition of being an exemplar. Here are some photos I took.
Teamwork at Cirque du Soleil
Millie and I were very fortunate to be invited by City Care to Cirque du Soleil: Dralion last week in Auckland. Unfortunately you couldn’t take photos – guess the flash might be slightly off putting to someone doing high-risk acrobatics. In most organisations committees rule over teams (the difference being that in a committee a person can win or lose independent of the committee whereas in a team everyone either wins or loses). Cirque du Soleil demonstrated teamwork, where if one individual failed to achieve their result then everyone in that particular performance failed. On the flipside, when everyone did their job to an extremely high level, everybody in the team achieved success to a very high level and the audience was treated to a truly inspirational performance.
Award Winning Client
To be an architect of a highly successful process, and to add value to a client is very satisfying. However, the client has to own and run with any process in which an external consultant helps set up and maintain. City Care (www.citycare.co.nz) have taken their behaviour-based safety process and made it their own, and in doing so they have improved safety (the important one!) and, as a result, they have also won a national award.
“Increasing Safe Behaviours at City Care,” an entry showcasing City Care’s health and safety system, won the New Zealand Industry Best Practice – People category at the Roading Excellence Awards on Monday 7 September 2009.The Awards, run by Roading New Zealand, recognise excellence in the planning, design and construction of significant roading projects, as well as the development and implementation of best practice and collaboration in the roading industry.
“We are proud of our company-wide commitment to keeping ourselves and our team mates safe at work and we are delighted that the award judges have selected City Care,” says Onno Mulder, City Care’s Chief Executive.
Congratulations City Care!
Irrelevant Value: An Oxymoron
My Westpac card is my secondary credit card, one which I use occasionally. The balance, as it has been for the last six months, is about $500 in credit.
Yesterday, Westpac phoned me with a “courtesy” call asking if I would like payment insurance for my credit card (insurance which, should something happen, the bank would pay each month’s minimum payment). I asked the Westpac person if anyone had bothered to actually look at the balance of the account, for if they did, they would have seen that the account has been in credit for several months. He said no one had. I asked why I would want insurance on an account which is always in credit. “Just in case,” he replied.
Value offered is only value if it is relevant. Irrelevant value is an oxymoron as it is not value at all, but rather an annoyance and a signal that you don’t know your customer or client.
What type of value are you offering to your clients?
On the Move and a Slight Change in Name
As of Friday 23 October, Millie and I are on the move. Decided it was time we needed a different view and a bit more space. The new address is 137 Clifton Terrace, Sumner, phone 03 326 4001. As part of the move, the accountant needed to do accounting “things” and so Corporate Learning will be no more. It will, however, be replaced with McWilliams Consulting. The only difference, as you can see, is the letterhead (and the new address).
From this view …
to this.
Philippine Construction
I am just back from the World Stickfighting Championships which were held in the Philippines. Here is a sample of some photos I took from my hotel.
Each day, as I walked to the tournament venue, I had to walk between two construction sites. I walked a zig zag and, as you can see from these photos, I needed to look up and was constantly scanning for falling objects. Complacency, even walking on the street, was literally life threatening.
Back at Eden Park
Was back at Eden Park last week. Take a look at the stand. What great progress they are making (compare to my earlier photos back in August) and look at how many cranes they have. I felt like a big kid in a sandpit full of toys.
Philippine Electricity
Was it any wonder that the power went off twice, each time for about 30 minutes, over a two-day period?