Artists Frame Service

I recently read how a parent that criticizes all the time really can screw
up a kid’s development, self-esteem and confidence. It made me wonder where
do you draw the line between helping your kid learn and develop versus doing
damage by criticizing? I have to believe that part of the answer is to be
sure there is also positive reinforcement, but as importantly it’s knowing
when being critical will not be productive.

Management is similar. I will say though, whether it’s taping a box or
cutting a mat, there’s a good way and there’s a best way. I would be
hesitant to hold back my criticism if I thought something could be done
better. I think for a company to be as good as possible, criticism needs to
be encouraged, valued and listened to. As the customer, when a company is
gigantic, there’s little chance that your opinion is going to make it to the
person who makes the decisions.

For example, I’m a big fan of American Express cards – that is, of course
until I need to call the number on the back of the card. It is minuscule.
Even with reading glasses. There seems to be plenty of room on the back of
the card to make that phone number bigger. On more than one occasion I have
complained to the person on the phone, and almost every time, they have said
I was not the first person to say that. It makes me wonder, how many
thousands of people have complained about it and what would it take for
someone to make the type bigger? One advantage of being a smaller company is
that I have changed things that just one customer has complained about.

Compliments make me feel good. Criticisms make my company better. I value
both.

We’ve been interviewing a lot lately for a few open positions. There’s a
stark contrast between looking for people in December and January. It would
seem that people that already have jobs are not looking for jobs in
December. In January, you may be getting people that made a new year’s
resolution to get a new job. Why people want a new job is always
interesting. I have found, contrary to what you might think, that looking
for more money is not why people are leaving their jobs. Frustration with
what goes on at the company, lack of support, and lack of advancement
potential just to name a few. One candidate said something that I found
poignant. She was interviewing for a higher level sales management position
and she said she wanted to find a job where she would have a “seat at the
table”. She was looking for a company where she could make daily decisions,
not a place where she just took orders from the top.

I thought that was interesting. I would like to believe that most of my
employees feel like they have a seat at the table. That their input is
encouraged, valued and counted on. Our turnover here is very low and I do
believe that one of the key reasons is that people feel included and that
they are sitting at a very large “table”.