Mark Riffey

All aboard for onboarding

I experienced an onboarding recently. It was good, but it could have been great. A great onboarding takes some thought. It takes thinking like a customer – a NEW customer. Sometimes we have a hard time taking that time machine back to when we were newbies. Making it good Making an onboarding good is work. You have set context for the very foundation of operating / using whatever you’ve sold.…

Have you tried managing?

If you talk to someone who complains that their company is out of control, the reason is not always obvious. Once you pin them down about the reasons for their problems, you’ll find that they aren’t managing. We rarely think we’re doing enough managing to deal with these issues. If pressed about whether we’re managing the cause of these problems, we’ll own up to it. We often know the problem and…

Your other important job

A friend commented this week that the tone of my writing has changed. They’re right. I’ve been challenging your leadership and decision making skills more than usual recently. I don’t mean you specifically… or maybe I do. These two responsibilities are the differentiators between “ok companies” and the good/great ones. When I write on these two topics, I’m not only challenging you, but myself as…

How much time each week do you spend thinking about important things? I don’t mean baseball or fishing or camping or whatever (they’re important too). I mean thinking about the most important aspects of your business – whatever they are. If it could talk, your calendar might argue with you about your answer. Take a look at it. Does your calendar include time dedicated to considering your most…

Back in ’95, I talked to my employer at the time about working for them from another location. Not from home, but from a different state. At first their response was a muted “Yes”. In retrospect, I should have drilled down a bit more into that reply. I didn’t because sometimes we hear what we want to hear. A few months later, I was ready to make that move, so I asked about firming up the details.…

Team building? Skip the hustle & chaos

I recently met an entrepreneur who recently discovered long-term planning. I don’t say this to make fun of them. I say this because it’s great and because some of you might be in the same spot with your team. The conversation started with “The first time I ever thought more than four weeks ahead was today.” (in the context of their business) If you’re thinking, “That’s not me, I have plans at…

Getting what you want?

You may have heard a Gandhi quote about change. The odds are good that you know the quote most frequently attributed to him: “Be the change you want to see in the world“… Did you know there’s no proof he said that? This, despite the slew of motivational posters, books, and keynote addresses referencing it. What he did say was this: “As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the…

Do you scare off applicants?

I’ve talked to several young people in the last month or so who are looking for new gigs. Some were college grads, some not. Each of them had some level of imposter syndrome. And yet, they all had skills, experience, and training in their chosen field. Ever feel you’re not qualified to be in the role you’re in, or that you’re applying for? Wondered, waited, and expected someone to figure out…

When obvious is invisible

Have you ever had an interaction with a vendor that you don’t understand? As in, “How could they be this clueless?” I had one of these conversations lately, and suspect I’ve been the subject of them as well. Missing the obvious A few weeks ago, a nice lady asked us if we would stop sending mail to her deceased husband. His account already showed “retired/deceased”. This was odd, since we’d not…

Follow up to make the sale

This weekend, we drove to Seattle to look at a camper. Why? Because the only salesperson who followed up was in Seattle. As I mentioned here a few months ago, I’m looking for a camper. I knew there was going to be some lead time due to current market conditions. I started placing phone calls back in December. I called people in Missoula, Boise, and Seattle. At first, I got a few follow ups. I…

A loss you can’t afford

Have you ever lost something you couldn’t afford to lose? When asked this question, most of us think of a favorite dog, our wallet, an heirloom (like that folding Sog pocketknife… sigh), or similar. While a personal loss hurts our heart or wallet – business people often point to a bigger pain. The loss of a critical employee. We’ve talked before about taking care of these people re: finance and…

Follow the paper trail

Everyone has heard the phrase “follow the money”. There’s a reason for this – it leaves a trail to the truth. Similarly, business processes reveal themselves and who is involved when you follow the paper. Yep, I’m referring to software estimates. Software people are generally terrible at creating estimates. Or at least, creating accurate estimates.Software people know this, of course. You’ll…

Think like an owner

Jack Stack, of “The Great Game of Business” (GGOB) fame has a saying: “Share the insomnia”. In other words, if something is keeping you up at night, why not share that concern with your team? To be clear, Stack does not mean that you should share something simply to scare or worry your team and provide them with no other information. He also isn’t suggestion you share the cause of your insomnia…

There are two trains of thought on what you should work to improve about yourself and your business: strength vs weakness. Some say you should work on your strengths. Others recommend working on your weaknesses. As you might expect, this isn’t a binary choice – and there’s something missing. Work on your strengths The work on your strengths folks, which I am mostly on the side of, describe the…

Do you filter applicants?

Earlier today I was speaking with a friend who is looking for work. He mentioned something about interviewers asking for salary requirements. Personally, I always found that question lazy and a little aggravating. Not because of the question itself, but because there are better ways to ask that that yield a more complete answer. The salary requirements question rarely needs to be asked. Most of…

Was 2020 your best year ever? Was it your worst? I’ve talked with people dealing all three types of results, except that those conversations don’t really describe three types of results. It’s more like two easy to understand types of results and a wide spectrum of results between those two extremes. After an “eventful period”, I always wonder what people and companies will do next. As you get…

A linchpin makes it all come together

Is there someone in your company whose abrupt departure would cause unholy chaos? Seth Godin called them a linchpin. You probably aren’t worried about staff members quitting right now. Many employees are simply hoping they’ll be kept on the team until the vaccine does its thing and life resumes to whatever the next normal looks like. Similarly, many employers are hoping business remains strong…