Baseball, the Miners and LaserShip--On Opportunity and Performance

   Hitting like never before, a here before relatively unknown San Francisco Giants outfielder, Cody Ross, has become the “October Surprise” of the baseball play offs. 

   Perhaps you have not been paying attention, but Cody Ross has hit four home runs in the play off games, more than anyone else. He's driven in six runs and has collected seven hits, including a game-winning single in the divisional round that knocked out the Atlanta Braves.

   No one saw this performance burst coming.  In a 12 year professional career—7 of which he spent in the minor leagues—Ross has been passed around to 5 organizations. The only reason he ended up in San Francisco this season is because the Florida Marlins put him on waivers.

    "I have no explanation,” says Ross.  "I'm not doing anything different. I just try to hit the ball as hard as I can every time."
 

  Timing is everything in both life and baseball, and Ross has chosen the right time to excel.

  Average people are put into situations all the time in which they have the opportunity to rise up to a higher level of performance.  The keys are being able to recognize that time—the opportunity—and to actually be able to turn hit the ball—the performance. 

  Many involved in the Chilean mine incident fit this description. 

§         The President of Chile was new and untested—until he got a chance to step up to provide the leadership and the decision making that led to a successful rescue. 

§         The below ground mine supervisor, Luis Urzua, was just an average guy—just 2 months on the job, new and untested—when he got the chance to step up and provide the leadership that kept the miners alive, together and hopeful. 

§         Jeff Hart was drilling water wells for the U.S. Army as a contractor in Afghanistan when he got the opportunity to fly to Chile and man the drill; Mr. Hart spent the next 33 days on his feet, the chief operator of the drill that finally provided a way out for the trapped miners.  "He's become our hero,” said one of the miner’s family members. 

   Timing and being in the right spot at the right time may be everything life, but Giants Outfielder Cody Ross, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, Miner Luis Urzua, and Drill Operator Jeff Hart, have all chosen the right time to excel.

  You never know when the opportunity will strike—without warning you are called upon in a situation to step up or step away.  While LaserShip is not rescuing trapped miners, we do have our challenges each and everyday—opportunities—for just regular people to step up to an extraordinary level of play—the performance.

  It is in a challenging situation or a crisis when leadership is discovered and most tested.  Leaders always emerge whether they have been formally chosen or from the natural effects of chance and circumstance. 

  Whether you are in an entry-level or non-management position with our company, a first level supervisor, or a manager, we have plenty of opportunities to step up to a higher level of performance: Whether it is responding to a customer with greater speed and empathy, checking and rechecking the final details of a flight option before assigning a job, making a note to follow up on a matter before the end of the day, catching a missorted package before it goes the wrong way, sending just one more communication to update a customer….   

   Leaders are not appointed; they usually are in the right place, at the right time, with a burst of performance.  Like Cody Ross, no one saw it coming, but when given the opportunity to be the hero of his team he stepped to the plate and hit the ball. 

Business Lessons from the Chilean Miner Rescue

   One of the most remarkable sagas has ended with success; that many miners, at that depth and after so many days have ever been successfully rescued.  The entire rescue operation seemingly went as planned.  Surely there are lessons that our business can learn from the handling of the Chilean Mine Saga.

PLAN AHEAD

  Clearly, one issue that a mining company might have to deal with is a cave-in that might trap workers.  They don’t want it to happen, but better to be prepared.  With that in mind, the San Jose Mine was equipped with emergency shelters that were reinforced and stocked with emergency provisions.  The miners were in one of these areas when the collapse happened and were able to keep themselves alive with the emergency provisions until they could be found and other provisions could be sent to them.

    Obviously, our regional parcel distribution company will never have to deal with trapped workers!  While no company, team or individual can foresee every possible bad scenario that might affect our business, we can prepare for the most likely.  We should take a look around and see what issues might affect our business. Recognizing where our business might be susceptible to a crisis and taking steps to prepare will help us cope when a crisis emerges—not only with the crisis for which we planned, but also for the one we may not have.

ASK FOR HELP

   The one thing, perhaps above all others, that helped to save the lives of the Chilean miners was that the Chilean government asked for help.  Companies from all over the world were asked for help and they were able to come up with rescue plans and equipment that saved the miners many months sooner than originally thought.

   Asking for help is not a sign of weakness—in fact, in our company, it is a sign of maturity and good judgment.  Thinking that if you keep things in-house/in-office will only make things worse.  Reaching out to others who have experience—and we have plenty of that—with the crisis you’re facing lets people know you’re interested in what is good for the company, not just perceptions.  This applies at every level, from dispatcher to project supervisor to manager:  In any tight spot it is best to let others know, seek solutions and resources that will help you out and avoid a full blown crisis. No body ever got into trouble by asking for help.

KEEP COMMUNICATIONS OPEN

   When a crisis happens, people are going to want to know what’s going on.  In Chile, the families, the press, the Chilean President all needed to be updated on what was happening.   All parties were kept abreast of the efforts to find the miners right after the collapse.  When they were found alive, a camera was among the supplies sent down so that everyone could see the miners and be reassured that they were okay.  This feed was also given to the media so they would have information as well.   Finally, the miners were kept up to date to ensure they knew they weren’t forgotten.

   If we don’t let people (colleagues/customers) know what’s happening, then people are forced to either assume everything is okay or assume the worst.  Neither is good.   Think about our customers: We always want to be speaking for ourselves; when we don’t, people want to know what we are covering up (if you don’t believe this just read some of the Amazon blogs—Amazon customers will assume, believe and say the most amazing things about us).   Even when we do not have an answer, it is best to say that we don’t but when you get it you will let people know.  Then follow through.  People want timely information and honesty.  Give it to them.

FIX PROBLEMS

  "This has all turned out as we agreed it would when we first spoke,” said Luis Urzua, the last miner out, to the President of Chile. “Let's hope that this never happens again.”   The Chilean industry, the company that owned the mine and the mining industry are all working together to make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

   No matter what the crisis, there is always something that people with responsibility could have done to prevent a crisis.  If a courier has a vehicle breakdown, the first thing a customer will say is “this hasn’t happened before?  Why did you not have a back up plan for such a seemingly common occurrence?”  The point is to figure out anything you could have done better and fix the problem. You don’t want to have the same mishap happen again to the same customer (and in the age of blogging, every customer is the same customer) because you didn’t take steps to remedy the situation.  Also, fixing the issue really makes you better prepared for any type of crisis. 

    It is a rare opportunity to be able to learn lessons from a situation that could have gone so badly, but turned out near perfect.  But, the rescue of the Chilean miners lets us do just that.  Without great crisis management, this story could have been told very differently.  Now, the real question for us is: “What crisis situation that we will face in the future will turn out equally as well because we planned, acted and communicated.

Clutch Players Succeed Under Pressure: Anyone on the team can be the “Clutch”

   A clutch hitter is a baseball player with a knack for coming up with the “big” hit when it is needed the most.  More generally, a clutch player is someone who succeeds in pressure situations—one who does well when the game is on the line. 

  We don’t play baseball here, but you (any of you) can be the one that makes the big play in business.

  Being the team’s “clutch” is not just a triumphant sports moment: the home run that wins the game or the basket or stolen pass at the buzzer…. It’s the precisely executed series of plays in football, not the Hail Mary.”

   Clutch has a secondary meaning which is "to grab" or "to grip" and therefore it can also be referred to as that crucial time when every move is critical; when a strategy taken succeeds or fails.

   Often performance in important situations is attributed to some pre-existing ability or character trait that results in particular players coming through with clutch plays on-demand. However, a study of clutch plays in the late innings of baseball games found there wasn’t a clutch hitting ability—those who made clutch plays once were not statistically more likely to do so the next time.  In other words, any one of us is just as likely to be the clutch player on our teams. 

  However, clutch is not just luck.  There are some people who are so much better under pressure than other people. It is the ability to do what you can do under normal conditions but under extreme pressure.

The Traits of a Clutch Player

   You can increase your chances of being the team player who steps forward in a clutch situation with the “big play.”  Being a clutch player is a combination of five traits:

1.Focus:  It is the basis on which all clutch performances are built. Focus is an overarching way of being that allows you to hone in on the one thing that matters the most and block everything else out.

2.Adaptability: They key is while it is important to have a strategy, under pressure you have to work toward a goal regardless of how you do it: fighting the fight, not fighting the plan. 

3.Discipline:  Winning the battle of you against yourself

4.Presence:  Keeping one’s mind only on the task at hand, pushing everything else—even fear—aside.

5.Fear: Harnessing (not succumbing to) the fear of failure as a motivator to keep on track.

Overcoming the Obstacles to Being Clutch

   Over-thinking the situation and overconfidence are the two biggest potential hazards to becoming a clutch player.  Over-thinking is when the potential clutch player spends too much time thinking “this is the big game,” and forgets to focus on the challenge at hand right now.  Overconfidence is perhaps the larger obstacle; when you spend too much time thinking you are the clutch player and too little time actually making the play—or getting in the way of those with the real solution.

   Our business is a series of plays—and like baseball we win some and we lose some…hopefully with the tilt toward winning.  We didn’t get to where we are just because of one big sale or marketing play, one “perfect game” day of 100% on-time performance, or one most big score that set us up profitably for the rest of the year; we got to where we are by a series of plays—some big, some ordinary, but all important.  Performance is the sum of all of our actions over time.  But, when the situation is right—that big moment when success is needed now—someone, maybe even the least likely team member, will step forward with the big play.  Anyone can be clutch. 

Blockbuster Lessons

   Blockbuster in bankruptcy: What Went Wrong?

   Blockbuster owned the industry.  So what when wrong?  Fundamentally, Blockbuster did not pay attention to their customers, did not ask questions of them, never listened, and alienated many with their polices. 

   How people wanted movies to be delivered to them changed.  The Saturday afternoon trip to a strip mall to select a movie—and then return in the next day or face a steep fine—was supplanted by a faster, more efficient and customer friendly model which NetFlix championed—select online, get it in the mail and return it the same way with no late fees (later netFlix shifted to an even better model of online streaming). 

  All this is a lesson for any customer service oriented company that wants to survive and win.  Businesses need to ask their customers honest questions, really listen to the answers and be prepared to change.  There are a lot of good questions to ask.

  Some of the ones that we in our business might ask include:  

·                    Are you happy with us?

·                    What can we do better?

·                    Does our technology do what you want it to do? 

·                    How can we do things better, faster and cheaper for you?

·                    Which of your service providers is your favorite—why?

·                    Where is technology (the economy?) taking your business?

People expect good customer service everywhere.

Think about your average day—maybe you take the bus or train to work; you certainly buy a coffee or lunch; at work you depend upon the support of others. You expect your train or bus to be on time, clean and be a reasonable cost. You expect your coffee to be hot and delivered quickly. You expect your work mates to work with you, enabling you to get the job done.  

It is well worth remembering that we all have expectations about everything in our lives—and we become frustrated when our expectation are not met.  

This understanding is the beginning of empathy—truly identifying with the emotions people project when confronted with disappointing situations. 

Empathy is the key ingredient to extraordinary customer service and your understanding of where it comes from will make sure that we truly make us stand out from our competition.

Stay Positive, Stay Healthy

    Scientific studies show that mood and the personality traits of either optimism or pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being. Positive thinking is a key part of effective stress management. Positive thinking doesn't mean that any of us at LaserShip keep our heads in the sand and ignore the stresses of our daily work lives and situations. It just means that we all need to approach any difficult situations in a more positive and productive way. 

    With all this in mind, take a refresher course in positive thinking. Learn how to put positive thinking into action in your own life, and reap the benefits. 

                                       Understanding Positive Thinking and Self-Talk

    Self-talk is the endless stream of thoughts that run through our heads every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of our self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that we create because of lack of information. 

    For any one of us, if our thoughts are mostly negative, our outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. On the other hand, if our thoughts are mostly positive, we are more likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking.
   
   If self-talk is mainly negative doesn't mean you're doomed to an unhappy or unhealthy life. You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. The process is simple, but it takes time and practice — you're creating a new habit, after all. Here are some ways to think and behave in a more positive way:

• Check yourself. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you're thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them.
• Be open to humor. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you feel less stressed.
• Follow a healthy lifestyle. Exercise at least three times a week to positively affect mood and reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. And learn to manage stress.
• Surround yourself with positive people. Make sure those in your life are positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people, those who believe they have no power over their lives, may increase your stress level and may make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.
• Practice positive self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about yourself.