The Groove

I was sitting in my office today and I could not get a Jeffrey Gitomer quote out of my head. Mr. Gitomer stated that, "the only difference between being in the groove and being in a rut is the depth of the hole." What? Why was this wacky quote sticking with me? I couldn't understand why it was resonating with me at that moment. I had to figure it out. When I first read this comment, I filed it as just another consultant cliché. So why was it now dominating my thoughts?

Then it hit me. I remembered when I was a teenager getting stuck in a snow bank I remembered that my solution was to put it in drive and hit the gas. When that didn't work, I did what every teenager does; I hit the gas again. The only thing I accomplished was turning a groove into an impassible rut. More importantly, I remember my dad's only comment, "if hitting the gas made the problem worse the first time, what made you think hitting it again would solve the problem."

There it was. A literal example of a metaphoric comment. I then thought back seven years to my first conversation with the Staff at Sign Craft. In this meeting, I made it clear that " satisfaction was strictly forbidden". I could see in their faces what they were thinking - "What a pompous jerk". In fact, some of the employees took this comment as a personal attack and accused me of threatening their jobs. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was actually giving them the key to job security. The world is always changing and there are so many examples of leaders falling because they did not keep up with the changing landscape of business.

My job in 2001 was to move Sign Craft out of their rut and find a new groove. Being open to change was not good enough, Sign Craft needed to demand change. This does not mean that we did not celebrate our successes, it just meant that even in success, we looked for ways to improve. It also meant that we needed to evaluate everything we were doing and determine those that were not working and do something different.

That was seven years ago and the Company has come a long way. However, my message to the staff will still be "satisfaction is strictly forbidden." This has been my message every year. Our objective is to stay in the groove though the implementation of continual improvement. We recently completed our evaluation of the organization and staffing of the combined Sign Craft /Atlas. We completed this task in four steps. First we determined the best structure for the combined company. The next two steps were to determine the necessary skill set for each position and then to match the skill sets of our staff to those positions. The final step was to put the right people in the right positions.

To implement this process properly, we had to set aside our feelings towards our staff and concentrate on what was best for the business. This was difficult, but necessary. The final result we believe will be the foundation for a better and stronger Company going forward. Several people were moved into positions that better fit their capabilities and chances for success. The bottom line is we are better suited to meet or exceed our customers expectations.

My commitment to the Guardians of Sign Craft is that I will never be satisfied. I will continue to look for ways to improve the overall organization. Our focus in 2009 will be to on solving our customers pains with regards to signage. All of our efforts will be focused on continual improvement, primarily in the areas of communication and delivery. 2008 was a great year. We increased revenues in tough economic times, we completed two acquisitions, we strengthened the quality of our staff, we improved our IT capabilities and systems and added some very strong clients to our family of customers. I am certain that we all are aware that the economic climate for 2009 is not pretty. This does not give us a free excuse to accept mediocrity. By removing the word "satisfied" from our vocabulary and focusing on continued improvement, we will improve our products and services to our customers and increase our potential for growth.

I am proud of the accomplishments of our Guardians in 2008 and look forward to continued successes in 2009.