Project: The Walgreen’s Way: Prompt and Proactive

The enterprise started like any other. Named after the surname of a brilliant man.

This business was born of a necessity and based on education and experience. As a pharmacist, he interwove medicine and the mediocre.

A man, sick himself, found his vocation and that man was Charles Rudolph Walgreen.

He becomes the drug store and a retail location providing knick-knacks, non-pharmaceuticals and soon would food and beverages that sold just as well as his original concept.

When things were going good, things were good. But when things were slow, Walgreen did not allow the business to stop. In less than 40 years he opened 110 stores. How?

Because when things got slow, he decided to not do the norm and accept the fact that his fiscal year was safe. He questioned how could he beat the competition but also satisfy his clients and keep them happy? He questioned how could he make things better? 

Thus he created the 2-minute drill.

The drive-thru, delivery service and microwave dinners seem impressive now, but Walgreen set a standard that created word of mouth advertisement so positively it could possibly be why Walgreens is the largest drug retailing chain in United States.

So what was this drill that deserves such laud and honor?

It’s 1893 and you live close to Walgreen’s south side Chicago location and called them in for non-prescription items, Walgreen would answer the phone and repeat the items enunciating the name of the caller, their address and their desired products. Loud and clear. In doing this, Walgreen’s assistant could accurately collect all the items while Walgreen continued to keep the caller on the phone discussing weather and whatever else might be happening on the social calendar. 

All items collected, the assistant Caleb Danner, set out to make the delivery as Walgreen was still talking to the client. And then the doorbell rings. The client excuses himself or herself from Walgreen’s conversation and finds their order at the door. Astonished at the speed of delivery, Walgreen set the standard for customer service and all through his Two-Minute Drill.

So what’s your 2-minute drill? How will you set your company apart from others or improve your morale? How will you redefine customer service?

-The Green Couch

Project: How to Be Creative In a Corporate World

It is easy to lose sight of "you" in a universal system. Even in the name of solidarity, there has to be a way to find a way to capture a sense of solitary refinement; a way to create a space that is singularly yours.

Here’s how we get in touch with our space and add a touch of our taste:

• Color: We are in love with Poppin: now this is a company with an array of bold colors. Their vast supply of office accouterments can help liven up many sections of any office – both on the go, in or on the desk, supply closet and even actual furniture pieces.

• Casual Fridays (or Fiesta Fridays): While some may be finding it hard to shake off Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off, sometimes you need to shake off the stress and start off the weekend early. De-stressing at work and ensuring that you’ve established an ambiance that encourages friendship, communication and a little bit of liberation can be found in creative business clothes and some zesty food!

• Extracurricular Activities: Who said your co-workers cannot be friends? Whether it is 5ks or soup kitchen volunteerism, it is important to strengthen your relationship and build more than your company community. You are a leader in your neighborhood; respected and admired - when you step outside of the concrete walls, explore the avenues to find additional ways to be a resource. It will feel amazing to be seen as a team and feel awesome to work as a team.

• Wall Art: Whether it is post-it notes, whiteboards or chalk drawings, our hero’s quotes are the fuel to our emotional and mental fires. It can be a satisfied client, a historic fictitious character or esteemed politician or poet. Daily reading of positive words is like a personal testament to our struggles or our success similar to displaying a trophy for all to see.

Sometimes you just need to see a little bit outside of your space. Just like fine dining and acquiring new tastes, explore ideas outside of your own cubicle and see what you can find around your own box. Think what could compliment your style and take baby steps towards that goal and go beyond.

The corporate world is a necessary place - it keeps us aligned, but it is the dotted lines that tell us where we can cut, and we all like to keep a pair a scissors handy, do we not? (Good thing Poppin sells them, eh?) So find your dotted line, get creative, cut it and show off your personality in your workspace!

-The Green Couch

Project: It Takes Gutsy To Be A Good Leader, Part I

Whenever we pose the question to children what they want to be when they grow up we expect the average answer – firefighters, nurses, police officers; all good things. Sometimes we even hear a child responding they want to be an inventor – okay it is indirect mainly due to some kid’s fantasy of owning their own empire of a hybrid Willy Wonka meets Disney World. For all that I’ve been around children (and there have been a lot of sticky, stinky children, yet lovable every one of them; almost) I have never heard a child say, “When I grow up I want to be an entrepreneur.”

The things they do express, nevertheless, illustrate that they want to change the world, and that is a good place to start. The only thing is that the games we grow up playing are misleading. (Yes, another business-oriented blog focused around a game. Why? Because our roots and dreams begin at childhood, and if we can learn from our roots, our fruits will be that much more bountiful.)

To which games do I refer? How about Simon Says and Follow the Leader.

Simon Says implies that we as world-changers, entrepreneurs and leaders can tell our employees when, how, where, why and what to do – no questions asked. Monkey face? Sure, no problem. Jumping up and down too? My pleasure? Oh, I did not follow the exact rules and now I am disqualified? Okay. My pleasure, as well.

Follow The Leader is a game that has given us a misconception of what a leader is. Yes, we follow them, but that does not mean they are always physically in front us. It does not mean that a leader gets to order us like a drill sergeant, and we must mimic their every move. 

So if you thought owning your own business meant that life would be a glorified version of these games; sorry, game over. If you thought you would be in charge of people and it was a means to bossing them around…Well, it means you are responsible for their wellbeing. Are they achieving their personal and work goals? How do you ensure this is happening?

•    Do Not Be The Employee’s Pet

No one likes the teacher’s pet. Also, no one likes the employee’s pet. Singling out an employee beyond the employee of the month is more detrimental than it sounds. You cannot win everyone, and while you win more flies with sugar than with vinegar, you also create a sticky situation if your words are too sugary sweet. False reinforcement is similar if not the same as negative feedback.

Here is how the scenario ends: you have an employee that has false illusions as to what they can and cannot do. Animosity grows within your corporation and lessens the impact your company has internally and externally.

Honest and helpful guidance in a constructive manner tailored to all employees – as best as possible towards their personalities, at least within their divisions – is the best way to create a more united and established front. Take the time to understand them and help them understand one another.

•    Do Not Micromanage

Trust your employees. You gave them guidance. You gave the tools and resources. If you’ve done your part in training them, then you should be able to manage them and allow them to make their own mistakes. That is the only way they can learn. There are two types of typos. One of which is inherit – the one we as responsible adults and employers and employees try to avoid and fix as soon as we recognize in our work. While it should not be a common occurrence or an acceptable common occurrence, it happens.

The other is the kind when we are typing a proposal up, and our manager is leaning over our shoulder for the entire process, and every other letter becomes a stuttering process; a typo. Both wastes valuable time and will devalue the time and talent of the employee/employer relationship and roles.

•    Do Not Be The Water Cooler Topic

Do not complain, do not show up late, do not take sick, personal and vacation days just because you can. Do not attend the Christmas Party already drunk. You undermine your authority and lose your respect and become a boss, not a leader.

We all need someone to follow, not someone to boss us around. We can find individuals like those around everywhere. Just take a peek around the corner, in our own homes, I can even flip on a Fitness Channel and have a health guru yell at me, bossing me into a fit body.

However, we need leaders. We need people that encourage us to change the world. So we can stop playing Simon Says and begin living Simon Inspires.

So what should you do, then, to be a better leader? Do return next week to find out; that is step one.

-The Green Couch