Mike Walker Creative

I have been fortunate to be able to do some work with the Dallas Cowboys franchise.

When Bill Parcells came in to take over the coaching he had a phrase he used to pound in to the players heads, “don’t eat the cheese”. When things started going well and the press would start giving out accolades he would remind his stars especially…”don’t eat the cheese. Your cheeks will get fat from eating the cheese”.

What he was trying to tell his guys was this, be careful about reading and believing your own press. You’re never quite as good as they say and never quite as bad.

Eating the cheese can be incredibly destructive to any organization. I have seen it first hand in several organizations. Some of the strongest teams with the most momentum have been undone because they started believing their press. They got distracted by the success and quit doing the things that got them there. The guy or girl who outworked everyone else suddenly became the one crying for another assistant so they could spend less time doing what made them successful in the first place….their cheeks got fat from the cheese.

Just because something worked for several years doesn’t mean it will keep working…which means YOU have to keep working to stay current and keep yourself and your company on the leading edge.

Don’t eat the cheese.

Having worked with churches and non-profits I have dealt with a lot of volunteer situations. One thing that always concerned me was burning people out. Most volunteers I worked with had full time jobs as well as families, then on top of that many organizations will ask for a commitment of 15-20 hours a week additional as a volunteer.

My concern was always burnout. As a leader in a volunteer driven organization it’s imperative that you not only recruit volunteers, but you should also be responsible to manage them. This includes having a feel for how they are doing. A close friend of mine has volunteered at a church for some time and loved the work. The church kept using this person over and over without ever keeping tabs on how she was doing. Being young she hasn’t learned how to balance things yet so consequently she ended up on vocal rest which has affected her school life, personal life, and professional life. If we are going to take on the responsibility to recruit and use volunteers we have to be responsible enough to look out for them when they may or may not look out for themselves.

We have all heard the latest buzz in marketing…branding. It’s not your tag line. It’s not your logo. Simply put your brand is your promise. As an organization you are making promises to your customers every day. Most of the time organizations are unaware of this. The tricky part is that your brand is not what YOU say it is…it’s what THEY say it is. If enough people believe a certain thing about an organization then it likely becomes part of your brand. Many companies try to control their brand, but to have the most success you should seek to influence your brand. Make sure that the things you are going to promise as an organization are going to be delivered. Another way to think of it is this, brand management is less about marketing and more about relationship management. Imagine telling an individual how important your relationship with them is, but then you never call and you never spend any time together. What the other person would feel is that it’s not really important to them. In essence the promise is broken. What Starbucks, they tell us every day that their brand essence is all about a great coffee experience. If they spent the next year investing in sandwiches and cold drinks or got rid of all the things that we have all come to know as a great coffee experience, the music, the atmosphere, the baristas who know our name, etc…..what would we begin believing about Starbucks? Sure they are open to new ideas and products, but at the end of the day they are ALL about a great coffee experience. As an organization what are you all about? Are you keeping your promise?

In the past several months I have been doing a lot more reading in my spare time. I recently finished a book called The Starbucks Experience. I have always been a fan of the way Starbucks does business and this book really gives you a great look in to the 5 principles that has made their company great:

• Make it Your Own
• Everything Matters
• Surprise and Delight
• Embrace Resistance
• Leave Your Mark

If you are looking to take your organization or yourself to the next level I would highly recommend this book. Check it out!

I was recently brought in by a church that was experiencing some “technical difficulties” after moving in to their new building.

Upon arriving the staff informed me that they were fairly frustrated and they were not sure what to do. As the conversation moved on they kept expressing over and over how frustrated they were because they had just spent a huge sum of money and didn’t feel like their systems were all that great.

After about 2 hours of letting them vent I began to dig a bit in to what all had been put in to play. What I found was that they had some pretty amazing sound, lighting, and video systems put in to play. In fact, they had very little to complain about.

I pulled a team of trusted friends together who were audio engineers, lighting programmers, and video engineers. We were able to come back in and run through a weekend with their staff while operating their recently purchased gear.

At the end of the weekend the staff pulled me aside to tell me how everything looked and sounded different that weekend and wanted to know what we did different. Imagine the surprise of the staff when I informed them that we didn’t change a single thing. Which then posed the question….well…then what was the difference?

The ONLY difference was that we had great people at key positions. Great gear is only that….great gear. If you don’t have properly trained people then you will end up with a very high priced frustration.

Take some time and do an evaluation of where your staff is and what they are really capable of. If you don’t really know how to evaluate them then bring in someone who has a better idea how to bring some light to the situation.

If your staff isn’t where you thought or hoped they are not all hope is lost. Invest in your people. Bring in a team of experts who can help bring out the most in your team….after all….it ain’t all about the gear.