Posted by BJ on 30 May, 2008 under Musings | 
You may have seen my recent post regarding the hotel that highlighted their having been voted “Best Hotel Showerhead” on a billboard at the airport. That particular hotel used this as a differentiator. “Bully for them!” as my grandfather might have said.On that same trip, I stayed in a hotel which was highlighting an achievement that was too old to be relevant and, rather than making me feel good about the place had the opposite affect. That is, it caused me to question whether I should be staying there.
Behind the front desk at this hotel hung a single, small plague. It was an award for “Best Customer Service”. That would normally be worth highlighting. But this award was from 1997… 11 years ago. Suffice to say, this did not make me feel I’d be receiving stellar service. Quite the opposite, I wondered how they could have gone so many years without receiving any other awards.
*For those of you who might be wondering, the showerheads weren’t all that great. The bed, however, was heavenly!)
Posted by Jon on 28 May, 2008 under Word play & writing |
BJ and I often play with techniques drawn from the world of improv, many adapted from the work of our good friend Izzy Gesell (author of the highly-recommended “Playing Along“).We’ve been having fun with our colleagues recently, having asked them to suggest “the worst opening line imaginable in an Executive Summary.”
I started the ball rolling by proposing either: “”We were quite astonished to receive your RFP after all of our recent troubles” or “This project is doomed to failure.”
Here are a few of the team’s submissions – we’d love it if you commented with your own ideas!
Graham – “We’re really sorry for submitting this proposal so late.”
BJ – “While we’ve never done what you’ve requested before we’d sure like to give it a try.”
Natalie – “We didn’t want to bid for this project initially but as we weren’t busy we thought ‘Why not?’”
Natalie – “While we might be twice the price of our (less than gr8) competitors, you will find our attention to detail ‘n’ quality 2nd too none…”
Graham – “Disclaimer: Please note that we accept no responsibility for any content written herein. We have no trust in our team and didn’t :ave time to read the document either.”
Richard Jenkins, in the UK, offered a real-life example:
We have been supplying goods and services to the <Customer> group for over 10 years. Despite this, complacency is something that is never considered an option.
Richard Buijs has the last word, though, with:
“Our company was founded 50 years ago.”
Actually, much as I love this as an example of bidder-centric writing, I rather hoped that Richard would submit something in Dutch, as he runs our business in the Netherlands. I think he would have stolen the prize with an opening line that was in a language that few if any of the readers could read.
Over to you to join in!
Posted by Jon and BJ on 27 May, 2008 under Proposal Guys news |
A few of you have asked whether we could email new posts to you when they appear on the site, to save you having to check back every couple of days.We’re pleased to say that we’ve now worked out how to do this! (Thanks, Vic – that’s Jon’s wife, technical expert behind our decidedly non-technical efforts here on the blog). Just click here – or where it says “Subscribe to our new posts” at the foot of the page and choose “EMAIL”.
We’ll only send you the posts themselves – if you want to see comments, you’ll need to check back to the site itself. If you ever need to unsubscribe (and why would you do that?!), there’s a link in each email. And we promise never to use your email address other than to send you blog entries.
Posted by BJ on 26 May, 2008 under Musings |
I was very impressed by one hotel’s differentiator, which I saw on a billboard at BNA* recently.The distinguishing feature the hotel highlighted was their showerheads, as the billboard proudly proclaimed, “Voted “Best Hotel Showerheads!”
Does make me wonder what other criteria this survey might have included and how many this particular hotel didn’t rate to reach for this one. But I do give them points for knowing enough to highlight a differentiator. And if I’m ever hankerin’ for a great shower, I might just stop in the place.
*BNA is, as everyone knows, Nashville International Airport in Nashville TN. Oh. You didn’t know that? Then this would be a great example of why one shouldn’t assume a reader knows what a particular abbreviation stands for.
Posted by Jon on 24 May, 2008 under Interviews and the Panel, Proposal Guys news |
You’ll doubtless have seen our series of interviews with proposal professionals from around the world here on The Proposal Guys. Now it’s our turn to have been put under the spotlight, for the latest edition of “Final Draft”, produced by the APMP in Houston.
Michael Kent, our interviewer, posed some fascinating questions, and we think he’s done a great job on the article. If you’re interested, you can get the newsletter from their site! (Note: Link opens a PDF document.)
Posted by Jon on 22 May, 2008 under Word play & writing |
Knowing that errors in documents raise a smile (alongside that “there but for the grace…” feeling), here’s my recent favourite, from a proposal that I was reviewing for a client:
“All of our call centre staff are bi or multilingual.”
(Some may even be both, I guess).
Posted by BJ on 20 May, 2008 under Processes & best practice |
You might become aware of a change in team dynamics when team members begin acting subtly different towards each other. Or perhaps you notice that some members are holding whispered mini-meetings and others are pouting and feeling left out. Or it come to your attention that the old team isn’t what it used to be when you hear the screaming down the hall and you discover the two people involved are people you thought were good friends who respected each other.At some point there comes a time when every team needs to have a ‘clearing of the air’. This is especially true for teams that work closely together for a long time.
Holding a session to get things out in the open and discuss and resolve them is a good idea. Doing so without careful preparation and a set of guidelines is downright dangerous.
While going through some files recently I came across a set of guidelines I developed for facilitating a team’s feedback session. These guidelines really helped make the session successful and it occurred to me that it might prove helpful to those of you who wish to conduct a team feedback session.
This simple guide sets out tenets for the session and provides suggested “ground rules”. I suggest you revise these as needed to fit and meet the particular team’s needs.
If you do use these, we’d love to hear how your session went.
Tenets
- We recognize that -
- We do great work together.
- We all have talents and strengths.
- We all do things that prove challenging to our colleagues.
- This is about improving our working relationship and becoming an even stronger team!
- All members will have ‘done their homework’ (and will have given careful thought to what they wish to present to the others.)
- Any/all relevant topics are to be considered/included.
Ground Rules
General
- One person speaks at a time.
- Topics will be discussed until they are completely presented and considered, while respecting time constrains. (As we recognize that is dangerous/irresponsible to provide comments and NOT complete the discussion)
- If a ‘time out’ is requested/required, by whomever and for whatever reason, we will take a break. (amount of time TBD)
- All aspects of the session are confidential will not to be discussed with others outside the session.
When you are receiving feedback
- Be open and receptive (be aware of body language)
- Listen – rater than just hearing the high level and formulating a rebuttal (Respond with “Yes! And…” rather than “But…”)
- Ask questions to clarify/help understanding.
- Present relevant information
- Avoid defending/justifying your position. It is not necessary. (If this happens, first person to realize it should call it)
***You DON’T need to accept everything that is said (in fact, you shouldn’t!), but you do need to hear it and understand it.***
When you are providing feedback
- Be positive.
- Be respectful (be aware of tone of voice, body language, words used, emotions, etc.)
- Be sensitive to other’s feelings.
- Be candid, open and honest (clarity and directness being more important than the avoidance of hurt feelings.)
- Provide specific, relevant examples if possible.
- Avoid personal attacks/assumptions as to what’s behind behaviors, etc. (Stick with the facts/ feelings)
- Speak in the ‘I’ rather than the ‘You’. (Use I feel, I think, I need, – rather than the ‘You did… You are… You think… etc.)
- Offer suggestions for improvement, from your perspective. (i.e.; ‘It would be helpful to me if you…)
