Barbara Glanz: Spreading Contagious Enthusiasm

Francine Lazarus, the Assistant Principal at Muller Elementary Magnet School in Tampa, Florida, has spearheaded the first school initiative I am aware of to adopt the “Johnny the Bagger®” philosophy in a school system. “Service from the Heart” is their theme for the 2010 – 1011 school year.

They are going to focus on 6 core tenets of service, both internal and external:

• Service to Students
• Service to the District
• Service to Parents
• Service to the Community
• Service to Colleagues
• Service to Yourself

They plan to educate students on the service concept as well, and they will be rewarded when they display positive service behaviors.

This is the email Francine sent to me about specific things they are doing:

Hi Barbara,

I plan to recognize teachers who go the extra mile each week in my weekly staff newsletter and we will also share this initiative with parents in our monthly school newsletter.

It just so happened that I was in town on August 16 when they kicked off this initiative, so I offered to stop by and speak to the teachers.

The marquis when I arrived at the school!

I love quotations, and I always leave a “Thought for the Week” on my answering machine, so I am always looking for good ones. I was delighted to find Bounty paper towels last week that were covered with these inspiring and fun thoughts:

* Let your dreams guide your steps.
* Laughter is life’s sunshine.
* Each life needs its own quiet place.
* Breathe in the joy of the moment.
* Smiles are for sharing; always carry a spare!
* Peace is a journey, not a destination.
* Discover the magic within yourself.
* Find the wonderful in today.
* Let the world surprise you every day!
* Gratitude is an attitude of love.
* Be beautiful. Be yourself.
* Make a difference.
* Dare to live well!
* Bless this mess!
* Good moods are contagious!
* Dance in the direction of your dreams.

Is there one you especially like? Just goes to show that you can find inspiration in MANY places!

This is one of the flip charts my daughter, Erin, did for me. They really brighten a classroom or ball room!

We have come to the end of our week of family vacation at Mandorla Ranch about an hour outside of Missoula, Montana. One of my clients offered me a week with all my children and grandchildren at her lovely bed and breakfast in the mountains, so we were all together for a vacation for the first time in nearly 5 years–the Gawliks: Gretchen, Randy, Owen 5, and Simon 2 3/4, from Portland, Oregon; Erin Glanz from Portland, Oregon, and the Glanz family: Garrett, Ashley, Gavin 12, and Kinsey 9, from Seattle, Washington and me from Sarasota, Florida.

The whole family in Montana

(Just a note: This was an interesting barter situation. My client is the Executive Director of the Educational Travel Association. She asked if I would be the keynote speaker for the Travel Learning Conference’s 25th anniversary in February of 2011 in exchange for a week for my family at her ranch. It was a win/win situation for everyone, and a creative idea for all of us during these tough economic times!)

I had asked each family to plan a family activity that would be fun for everyone, so the first morning Ashley and Garrett organized a “Family Scavenger Hunt.” We were placed in teams, and each team had to either find and put in their bag or take a picture of special things around the ranch, including a stuffed badger, a gold rooster, a man with a funny mustache (Randy!), an old wagon wheel, different colored rocks, 3 horses, and so on. We all had lots of fun, and the competition was fierce!

The family room at the ranch

The bar in the family room

Randy, my son-in-law is a skater, so after lunch we went to a skate park in St. Ignatius, then for huckleberry shakes (a specialty in this part of the country), a gorgeous scenic drive through the national Bison Range where we saw a black bear and elk but only ONE bison.

A stop at the bison range

The only bison we saw!

Click to read the rest…

Barbara is honored and thrilled to be voted by meeting planners as “one of the best keynote presenters ever heard or used!”

MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS MAGAZINE, July 1, 2010

FEATURED ARTICLE: “Planners’ Favorite Speakers”
Loren G. Edelstein. July 1, 2010

Meeting planners were asked, “Who is the best keynote presenter you have ever heard or used?” Here’s what meeting planners told us (listed alphabetically).

(You can read the whole list on the link below; however, these are the impressive names just before and after Barbara):

Bill Gates (Microsoft chairman; )

Rudy Giuliani (former New York City mayor; )

Barbara Glanz (improving employee morale, retention, productivity;)

Dr. Al Gobar (real-estate economist; )

Doris Kearns Goodwin (presidential historian, political news analyst; )

Al Gore (45th U.S. vice president, author of An Inconvenient Truth; )

To read the entire list, which includes a number of Barbara’s NSA friends, go to www.meetings-conventions.com/articles/planners39-favorite-speakers/c35020.aspx

I just finished a heart-lifting experience of working for several days with Togo’s in San Jose, CA. They are a sandwich company with high quality ingredients which uses a unique deli style 1:1 service model. Unlike Subway and Quizno’s, they offer a personal connection between the sandwich maker and the guest. The company was founded in 1971 outside San Jose State University, by a young college student with a big appetite and a little money. He also had a clear vision of Togo’s as a service organization:

It was really fun working at Togo’s. We put on a show daily, dazzling the customers with our sandwich making skills, speed of service, and friendly interaction. There was a lot of camaraderie among the crew members and the atmosphere was a bit like a circus and the customers were part of the festivities.

Jeff Sweetman, Mike Cobler, the Founder of Togos, and Barbara

However, over the years, that vision became increasingly blurred and service became re-defined as a set of tasks instead of a passion to serve. So, our cause was to bring a team together for a day to craft a new service vision, mission, values, and plan that would re-energize the franchisees and employees and give them a laser focus on their strengths – quality of food, speed, one-on-one interactions, and an edgy, fun atmosphere. And what a day it was!

Jeff Sweetman, the Director of Franchise Services, took the lead in this process by holding town hall meetings with many front line employees, surveying all Togo’s sandwich club members, and collating all the complaints since the beginning of the year. It was amazing how closely this feedback correlated! We also met with the founder of Togo’s, Tony Gioia, the CEO, and several members of the Executive Leadership Team to get their support and buy-in. Finally, a team was hand selected, consisting of several employees, some key franchisees, and several corporate staff, and we spent the day focusing on our objectives. The team is called “The Johnny Project” based on my story of “Johnny the Bagger®”, showing how one person can change a whole culture.

Some of the Togo's Franchisee Team

Barbara was recently featured in the “Gulf Coast Business Review Meeting Planners’ Guide 2010″ in an article titled, “Make Your Presentations Sizzle!” by Heidi Kurpiela. The Headline:

“International motivational speaker and self-help author Barbara Glanz shares her presentation wisdom. One of her ‘musts’: Touch people’s hearts.”

She goes on to explain, “Here’s why she is regarded as one of the best:”

* SHE’S FUN.
* SHE MAKES THE CONTENT PERSONAL AND RELATABLE.
* HER ADVICE IS EASY TO FOLLOW AND SHARE.
* SHE USES SENSORY STIMULATION.
* SHE’S GENUINE.
* SHE EXUDES CONFIDENCE.

A sidebar includes “Barbara Glanz’s Do’s and Don’ts:”

DO’s

* Organize your thoughts before speaking.
* Share a few powerful personal stories.
* Practice what you preach.
* Be positive and energetic on the podium.
* Give people ideas and advice they can implement.

DON’Ts

* Don’t wing it.
* Don’t focus only on yourself.
* Don’t cram too much rhetoric or theory down people’s throats.
* Don’t lay it on too think.
* Don’t shamelessly pitch your own books and DVDs.

If you would like to read the whole article and get more specific ideas, go to pages 8 and 9 http://www.review.net/legal-notice-uploads/GCBRMeetingPlannersGuide.pdf.

To learn even more about Barbara’s work, go to www.barbaraglanz.com

Yesterday I got an email from a person from Walmart who had heard me speak at the Society for Human Resource Management convention in San Diego last week. He had purchased my book, “The Simple Truths of Appreciation — How Each of Us Can Choose to Make a Difference” and these were his words:

“I just finished reading your book ‘The Simple Truths of Appreciation.’ I am in the middle of an e-mail to a colleague who has been a sounding board and truly become a good friend. I am sending him a note to thank him for being an important part of my life. I have a couple of others that are on my ‘hit’ list today to send e-mails to as a result of reading your book. I have a lunch appointment with a young man who is an HR professional with another company. Plan on appreciating him for the contributions he is making to our local SHRM chapter. I am also thinking through how to put my “personal signature” on all my work. This is fun stuff! You have a true gift, Barbara. Your ability to make people feel special is infectious. Thanks for making the (my) world a better place!”

Just a few minutes ago, I received this follow-up email from him:

“Wow! Look at the response I got from the first ‘thank you’ email I sent today. Made me feel good! This is an excerpt of the response:

Man! Just read this and I got a little emotional… I have an all day meeting with Store managers in my region today and this is just what I needed to get me going.

That is the power of appreciation. ”

To order Barbara’s book, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/store/books

I spoke yesterday to several thousand people at the national Society for Human Resource Management conference in San Diego, CA. My presentation was titled “The Simple Truths of Service Inspired by Johnny the Bagger®,” and like the book and the story, it focuses on the ten simple truths of service, choices we have in every interaction, and how one person can make a difference.

I ended, as I do every presentation I give, with a thought from a precious friend of mine, Og Mandino, who passed away several years ago. (He told me once that he had sold enough books to go five times around the equator! His most famous book is “The Greatest Salesman in the World.”) I always ask the audience to close their eyes as I share Rule #10 from his book, “A Better Way to Live:”

“Beginning today, treat every person you meet, loved one or stranger, friend or foe, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person you meet, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster. And do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

The audience was wonderfully responsive, and I even received a quick standing ovation at the end. The rest of the afternoon people kept coming up to me as they met me in the hall to thank me and tell me how much my words had meant to them; however, one person made me realize how important it is for me to constantly be aware that I am just the messenger. (My friend Ken Blanchard’s definition of “ego” is “edging God out!”)

She shared that the night before she left for the conference, she and her husband had had a terrible fight and they had not spoken since. She said as soon as I had finished speaking that day, she went out, got her phone, and called him to talk it through and apologize. She said, “After hearing those words, my life will never be the same again.”

What a blessing it is to remind people of how important it is to love and care for one another, whether the person is a family member, a colleague, a customer, or just someone you happen to meet in passing. Like Johnny, we can ALL make a difference every single day. Whose day will you brighten today?

To learn more about Barbara’s presentations, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/programs. To order the movie or the book about Johnny the Bagger®, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/store.

The principle of giving appreciation is basic to all the work I do. As a member of Recognition Professionals International, I have been reading an interesting dialogue about the issue of rewards and recognition for managers. One member shared about a fun, immediate reward that has been instituted for employees in her company called “You Rock!” The idea is that when an employee does something special for a colleague, they receive a rock from that person to put on their desk as a symbolic reward for having done good work. Then, they are to pass that rock on in the next week to someone who serves them in an extraordinary way. Although this was not designed to include management, one of the employees gave his rock to a senior person who had not completely bought into the idea — this manager had thought it was a bit silly. After receiving the rock, however, he expressed how good it made him feel and that he now understood why this small bit of praise and recognition DID make a difference.

In his “KnowHR” blog (and reprinted in the Fall 2009 issue of the “Conference Board Review”), Frank Roche spoke succinctly and brilliantly on this point:

“I don’t remember what age I was when I noticed that people no longer told me that I was doing a great job. It’s not like I stopped doing good work — it’s that people think that once you get to a certain age or certain place in life that you don’t need praise anymore. … But what I do realize is that people need praise throughout their careers. Senior managers like to hear that they’re doing well as much as they did when they were junior functionaries. It applies to everyone — the price of praise is free. Tell someone today.”

So, no matter what our level, our age, or our job, we all need to be appreciated. Who can you appreciate today?

NEED IDEAS TO APPRECIATE PEOPLE? Each of Barbara’s books with “CARE” in the title, “CARE Packages for the Workplace,” “CARE Packages for the Home,” “Handle with CARE,” and “CARE Packages for your Customers”, all have a whole chapter on “Appreciation” filled with low cost or no cost ideas you can use every day. Also, you will love “The Simple Truths of Appreciation — How Each of Us Can Choose to Make a Difference.” It is filled with stories of ways people have appreciated one another in all walks of life.

To order any of Barbara’s books, go to . www.barbaraglanz.com/store/books.