Our Guiding Principles
1. Nurture yourself- mentally, physically and spiritually. You get one shot at life in the world. Define what is important and go after it and with all your might.
2. Guard your habits- bad ones are easy to develop and hard to break. Good ones are hard to come by and even harder to keep.
3. Pray and meditate over difficult decisions. At the end of the day make a decision. You will sleep better.
4. Remain current on professional management principles. The world is constantly changing. Apply new management techniques in a logical and practical manner. Remember the world changes faster than people.
5. People are our “number one” asset. Take care of them and they will take care of our customers. Loyalty and team spirit must be developed at every level. If you are not directly taking care of a customer then you need to support who is.
6. People grow by making decisions and assuming responsibility for those decisions. As a manager, you should judge yourself by the growth of your people. Make it crystal clear what each person is responsible for and what decisions you reserve for yourself.
7. Criticism: Don’t criticize the person; however, fair evaluation of the performance is critical. Remember, whatever you say as a manager is remembered for a long time. Talk to people and not about people. There are few secrets in an organization.
8. See the good in people and try to develop those qualities. Note the deficiencies and try to support them.
9. Inefficiency: If an employee cannot perform a job it is unfair to leave him or her in that position. Find a job the employee can do or terminate them now. Do not wait. The longer you wait the more the employee will resent the decision.
10. Manage your time.
a. Hold short conversations- to the point
b. Make every minute on the job count
c. Work fewer hours-some of us waste half of our time
d. Spend more time with family and friends. A rooted person is a better manager
11. Delegate and hold accountable for the results. Two people doing the same task or attending the same meeting cost twice as much.
12. Details:
a. The details are critical
b. Allow the person performing the task to handle the details. Challenge the person to look at the task from all angles and anticipate all questions
13. Ideas and Competition:
a. New ideas and practices keep the company alive and growing
b. Know your competition well
c. Encourage everyone in the company to develop new ideas. Expect all managers to develop new practices
14. The greatest injustice is to have a manager doing an employee’s job. This is inefficient, it stifles the employee and it robs the company of its future.
15. Be objective and keep a sense of humor. We are all just passing through at this particular point in time. Work is only a means to an end.
a. Do the right thing
b. Do the best you can
c. Treat others the way you want to be treated