“A Dear Rhino Dave” e-mail that I thought other members of the herd could benefit from.  It’s a common challenge.  Remember, you’re a positive Rhino with six inch skin!

FROM A CONCERNED MEMBER OF THE RHINO HERD:

Congratulations on opening another restaurant in West Chester, Dave.  I wanted to get your thoughts in terms of organizational change if you had some time. I have been at my organization now for six years and my first four years we had unprecedented success.  Now after making a few changes we are now looking at the lowest level of success.  Here is what I am thinking...

1.  Many of the departments who are struggling have the same managers, yet some are more successful than others.  I know you need quality employees, but I don't see that changing dramatically in the near future, so where do you begin to attempt to turn it around?

2.  We struggle to attract and retain quality managers, partly because the pay is bad. So how do you become something people want to be a part of?  How do you create demand so to speak?

3.  As a company, my goal was not to shoot for being great at a couple things here and there, but rather focus on broad based success. I think (as you do) success breeds success, but when success is relatively few and far between how do you build?

The reason I spell this out is I'm looking for a possible new approach to our organization.  I want to divert the focus away from our losses and bring back our expectation of broad based success.

RHINOS THOUGHTS ACCORDING TO DAVE MAGROGAN:

Thanks for e-mailing me, Rhino! First create a new vision for your goal. Make the vision a priority for all managers and employees. Make it simple and make it reflect what you are trying to achieve. It needs to be simple and powerful, easy to communicate. Communicate the vision in all your emails, memos etc.

Next, get a small team on your side. Create a small tribe of people at various levels to champion and support your vision. Get them working on the grassroots level to attract change.

Then, you can’t forget to celebrate the victories! Celebrate even the smallest success to build confidence and let everyone know the new vision is working. After celebrating a victory, push even harder so people don't rest on the success but seek more of it.

Finally, focus on the positive things that occur and expect/demand more of them.

As far as attracting talent, a lot of it is just that; attracting top talent by mentally bringing them to you. Remember you send out powerful subconscious signals and you attract other people that resonate with your signals. Seek out passionate, positive people that seek to rebuild and create change; people that want to be part of something bigger, not just a paycheck. You not only will create demand, but also will create the vision and the atmosphere needed to succeed. People will want to be a part of it. It can be very lonely in the beginning, but people will come.

When success is few and far between, don’t only focus on the occasional wins, but also the improved performance. If they missed their goal by 1%, but they were 15% better than the last quarter, celebrate that they are closing the gap. If your goal is to win first, then to fail less is a success. If they improve bit by bit, they will eventually win.  The bottom line is focus on the smaller improvements at the start, then the bigger gains once the basics are better.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to buy everyone my book, Do It Rhino Style! Another tool to help them to clear the clutter and attain their goals! It's also a great way to show them that you believe in them and that you are all Rhino and not about to give up on them or your company, so why should they! They may have lost a game or two, but the season’s not over!

Good luck and keep charging!! You are doing great things and the Universe will reward you. Keep the Law of Cause and Effect front of mind!

Charge!
Dave