Throw Back Thursday: "Sitting Back On Your Laurels Is A Sure Fire Way To Lose In The Long Run"

"Most employees think of their employer's budget as a bottomless pit and can be very careless spending money that's not theirs. But you should manage their budget as if it's your own wallet."

Good Morning Folks,

As I begin my third year blogging, we are looking back at some of my favorite posts. So for a Throw Back Thursday may I reprise a post from last year showcasing the autonomy every single FSO employee no matter rank or position, is empowered with to make a difference for you. We want our folks to be proactive always looking for new, better and more efficient ways of doing things. Here's the post from April 2014:

==> Shout Out Wednesday: Measurable results. Value add. I love it!

For years my brand has represented perfection. It has been synonymous with the best service and best people ever. 

Whether a salesperson, an experience associate, a records manager, an informationalist, or messenger, what makes our folks so special is their ability to think beyond their daily tasks and think like our clients. 

"What would the client want? What do they need? How could I be more proactive in their eyes? How could i really impress them?"

Today I wanted to salute one of our FSO rockstars who put this promise to practice. He put together the list cost savings initiatives and ideas that follows. 

They were all truly worth reviewing, reading and most importantly ACTING upon. Not only do they address cost savings, but they are also environmentally sound. I really appreciate that.

We know that productivity is about all about delivering quality and value and working smart. (With a smile!)  This list exemplifies the value of hiring a true STRATEGIC partner who never stops looking out for you, who always take that extra second to ask and then ACT! 

In his words, here are some things our star does day to day with keeping costs in mind:

==> Reuse Boxes for shipping. Boxes from Reprographics Dept or Boxes from Vendors and Staples reuse them for shipping INSTEAD OF ORDERING BOXES WHICH CAN BE COSTLY.

==> Ship via UPS Ground when possible. In most cases it is fast and cheaper!

==> A lot of time I use pens from vendors give us pens. I make good use of those pens and keep them until no longer good to use. Imagine where most employees take their employers pens home without a second thought, if everyone from FSO brought their own pen to work and used that pen. Money would be saved.

==> I try to use my cell phone when making personal calls. I want to be respectful of that.

==> I think when wanting to get something done and it may involve usage of the company the simple thing to do is ask your boss or supervisor instead of just doing it.

==> Using brown packing paper instead of bubble wrap.

==> Also reuse packing from incoming shipments.

==> I feel the less we have  around our desk areas the better I feel. Keep things simple and neat.

==> When setting people up with UPS Campus Ship, I set it up so that the option to ship via UPS can be defaulted to shipping UPS Ground but the other options are still there.

==>  find that since there is less to ship to the Tampa, Fla Office I will just mail it via USPS Mail instead of UPS.

==> We use to ship Tampa Mail via UPS 2nd Day Air. When I ship now I ship UPS Ground.

==> Something I should do is bring my own cup in for Tea instead of using the paper cups all the time. Something I should do!!!!

==> Use less printing and do more online. This is something I need to do. It is helpful to print things out for updating the shipping system but less printing would be helpful by all.

==> Turn lights off!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how many times I have walked by desks and cubes and work areas where no one is there but desk and cube lights are burning away. Shut lights off when not in use.

==>  Recycle. People should be more aware of what they throw in the trash. Is it trash??? Is it plastic, Metal, Batteries, Bottles, Cans, Paper??? Can these items go to recycling. Think Green!

==> Avoid future Healthcare Concerns. Think Organic!!!

These are excellent ideas, and very valid points. Most employees think of their employer's budget as a bottomless pit and can be very careless spending money that's not theirs. But you should manage their budget as if it's your own wallet.

Not only do these ideas address cost savings, but they are environmentally sound. I think the last point about Healthcare always deserves more attention then companies pay to it. As the expression goes, "if you don't have your health"….

Perhaps the real takeaway is this: "don’t romanticize the past of your business. Just because something worked 5 or 10 years ago doesn’t mean it will work in the future. You have to constantly change as the world changes, and sitting back on your laurels is a sure fire way to lose in the long run."

There is great merit in exploring the talents demonstrated here, developing them, encouraging them in every employee  and taking them to the next level. And bringing out the best in this often forgotten hourly demographic is where FSO stands apart.

With good leadership, as we prove every day, regular people can accomplish greatness when they work together as a team doing what they do best. 

Indeed - the mark of a true leader is getting others to perform beyond their own expectations. Parents and sports coaches alike can agree to this. 

Measurable results. Value add. I love it. 

Now lets put more ideas into action that I'll look forward to sharing right here.

Inspire a Nation, Fulfill Dreams and Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here

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"No matter what happens today, I will make a difference, 
in whatever I do."
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Always Do The Right Thing

"It's about how we treat and care about our people. How we motivate them and continue to develop our folks.  Folks do the right thing. Trust and believe in your leadership. Always do the right thing and love life."

Good Morning Folks, 

Greetings to the greatest people in the on site outsourcing business. I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and was able to spend a bit of time relaxing and clearing your mind so you are fresh and ready for another awesome week at FSO.

As we grow and look forward to a prosperous future, we will never forget the Personal, Passionate & Productive mindset from which we began.

We promised you that from the beginning that we will improve service, reduce/control cost and take care of the people. We are taking a step forward to never losing sight of the promise by going back to the basics.

Because our employees are our connections to clients, we need to ensure that they have a clear understanding of what FSO does, stands for and is achieving for you each and every day. That’s why we established Mitch’s Institute of Training (MIT). 

Across FSO USA, we have been making great strides in our commitment and the Power of Focus to impact the Client Experience and ensure that we execute and deliver operational expertise. These past two weeks have been packed full of strong activity, great meetings and the launch of the MIT will be one of if not our strongest commitments and training tools to ensure everyone across FSO is continually learning and growing

One thing we know and that is momentum is how businesses thrive and grow, and our momentum is rocking – so Train the Trainer is in full motion through our MIT and we begin the next phase. Just imagine ONE TEAM across FSO that know everything about the company there are part of and what we stand for and what and how we sell and why clients bought us and why prospects buy us and how that carries forward from our sales front end to perfect execution and delivery on the back end through operations – our Promise to Promise – our re imagine – our Solutions and our Ideas, Innovation and client Cost Saves. 

The first MIT meeting allowed for our employees to walk away with eye-opening insights. The floor was opened to exchanging stories of success, to getting to know each other better and to finding inspiration in the powered of shared experience. Missy Adriazola, our Director of Training put it this way:

"We kicked off MIT 2 weeks ago with Mitch sharing his vision of FSO- past, present and future.  It is crucial that everyone plays their part for the future and growth of FSO.  But, with that comes learning about what we do, and how we do it.  Last week, with Round 2, Bomsi shared a little more detail about the company history and the expectations ahead.  And, since we’ve all learned “what” we do, who FSO is and Mitch’s vision, it’s time to get to work on the “how to” portion of training.

As head of training at FSO, I could not be more excited to share that there are great things in the works for the next round of MIT.  The promise to practice from the training team is that we ensure that you all have the tools you need to perform at your best and teach your teams to do so each and every day.  We are ONE team made up of individuals who CARE about each other and our clients. This is a huge differentiator in the marketplace and how FSO sells and closes deals daily.  We hire those who have the DNA of fire, skip and twinkle.  We look for those who are hospitality driven and go above and beyond every day." 

As we continue to build our company culture together, which you know includes positive energy, honesty, trust, respect, integrity/ethics, warmth, transparency, and CARE. You will only be able to achieve success in your role through solid communication - but talk is cheap. The question is: do your words matter and influence the outcome? Do you really connect with your team? Can we be doing better?

• How the operation could run better, more efficient?
• Are there better ways we can be organizing our areas better?
• Are there ways we can order things like supplies and equipment to save our clients’ money?
• Can we be more productive in the way we maintain the cleanliness of all areas?
• Service with a Smile means just that and how are we ensuring every contact with an end user or guest is perfect and special?
• What ways can we improve Hospitality?

There is nothing to wait for or direction needed from our clients in finding ways to (re) Imagine and make things better – your ideas and expertise is exactly why we are entrusted to run our clients operations – they outsourced to us and we must take the opportunity to show them why their decision was the best they ever made and we will deliver on our Promise to Practice.

You will know you've connected with your team when: they go the extra mile and always give the extra effort, they say positive things and provide unsolicited appreciation, they demonstrate trust and have an unguarded openness, they express themselves and communicate frequently, they feel good about their role and their value to FSO, they have positive energy, and you have growing team synergy. 

Our company is all about PERSONAL. Love our employees and love our clients.. and we should never stop thinking of how to wow them. The Power of Focus and the Power of Positive Energy will always be key to our future success. 

MIT presents us with an opportunity to take time and (re) IMAGINE the services we provide to our clients, and the road we pave for our employees —with the idea that we are one team, one family.

Thank you for your partnership and continued support. We look forward to sharing our success as the MIT program moves forth and grows.

Have a great week and thanks for being a part of our amazing journey.

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing" ~~ Albert Schweitzer

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