No, I am not talking about Johnny Carson. Or even that character “Little Johnny” who is always in the “dirty jokes.” I am talking about Johnny the Bagger.

A collegue of mine forwarded me this video. He required all of his employees to watch it, and I do not think it is a bad idea for everyone to watch. I was pleased when I opened it to see that Ken Blanchard, one of my favorite authors, was credited on the first slide.

I hope you enjoy. It goes to show that thinking outside the box can truly make a difference when it comes to servicing our customers. Especially the “thinking” part – most of us stop trying to think of new ways to make customers feel special.

I hope you enjoy: Johnny the Bagger

I just completed reading, “The Secret: What Great Leaders Know – And Do”, another excellent Ken Blanchard book. This is not to be confused with another book of the same name by Rhonda Byrne, which I have not yet read. Blanchard teams up with Mark Miller who is the Vice President of Training and Development at Chick-Fil-A. Ken and Mark tell a story of a young manager named Debbie who is struggling in her new position. She enlists in the company’s new leadership mentoring program and is partnered with the head of the company (Jeff) where he teaches her the basic principles of leadership using the SERVE model. Jeff created the acronym, SERVE, to help him in remembering the five key practices of great leaders.

The “S” stands for “See the Future.” We have all heard this before. All great leaders seem to have outstanding vision toward the future and are seemingly able to see things transform before they actually do. As a leader in small business, we must create and maintain a vision of what we want our businesses to be. If it very difficult to travel the long road of success without knowing where you are going. Find out where you want to go, create a map, and stick as closely to your planned route as possible.

The “E” stands for “Engage and Develop Others.” For small business owners, this means that you must have the right employees in the right roles. You must hire the right people. Never underestimate the cost, financial, emotional, physical or time, that you incur from hiring the wrong people. Also, make sure you involve your team members along the way, making them part of the decision making processes. If you are going to achieve the vision you set forth above, you need the buy-in of every employee you have. You need to have as many people working toward your vision as possible.

The “R” stands for “Reinvent Continuously.” In your business, are you still doing things exactly the way you did 10 years ago? In order to maximize your success and to achieve the vision set forth above, it is important to always be looking for new ways to do things – regardless of what those things are. Always be looking for new ways to improve yourself and to learn more ways to do things. A line that stood out in the book for me was, “If you stop learning, you stop leading.”

The “V” stands for “Value Results and Relationships.” Notice how the line is not just value results. If all you care about is results, your employees will quickly realize this. Would you be motivated if you knew the only thing your boss cared about was results – regardless of its affects on the employees? This is where the leader must be able to listen, invest time getting to know his employees, care deeply for them and to accentuate the positive in the things that they do. See: Whale Done!

The second “E” stands for “Embody the Values.” In order to reach your full potential as a leader, your employees must trust you and they must trust what you say. If you tell your employees that customers are important, but your actions suggest otherwise, then your customers are not going to be very important to your employees. You need to profess what the core values of your business are and embody them. Live these values yourself and set the example for your employees.

I highly recommend this book for anyone in a leadership role – especially if you are new. The book is an extremely fast read – possibly a one nighter – at only 115 pages. If you have ever read a Ken Blanchard book before, you know that the story pulls you in unlike few management/business books do.

Did you ever wonder how the trainers at SeaWorld are able to get the oceans top predator to perform with such excitement and enthusiasm? How do they get the whales to swim and jump on cue in one of the most sensational shows ever?

Whale Done! explores the training programs at SeaWorld and uses modern management theory to relate those same techniques into our relationships with other people. The SeaWorld trainers work to catch the whales doing things right and reward them…thus making it desirable for the whales to continue to do things right.

In our lives, we typically manage by what the authors call the “GOTcha” approach. Do your employees only hear from you when you catch them doing something wrong? Do you make a conscious effort to catch the people in your life “doing things right” and reward them for it? Far too often, I catch myself using the GOTcha approach rather than the “Whale Done!” approach.

It was also interesting that much like people, every whale preferred different types of reward. Some of the whales liked to be rubbed on the head while some preferred completely different types of affection or to be played with. Humans are similar in that some employees just like to be recognized for their efforts, some may like some extra time off of work, or some may be simply motivated by money. The point is that everyone is different and it is important to find out what motivates the people in your life.

Since the book was first published in 2002, many companies have used the Whale Done! philosophy to establish recognition programs for employees. One such company is Bob Parks Realty in Smyrna, Tennessee. At this firm, winners of the award are chosen by the agents in all of their offices who vote on the employee who is the most helpful to others and has the most positive attitude. You can read more about this award and congratulate Kathy Tyson, this year’s winner on her blog.

Whale Done! is a great book for anyone who has to deal with other people on a daily basis – which is just about everyone. The lessons that are learned will help the reader to better manage their relationships with employees, co-workers, friends, spouses, or children. I especially recommend this book to small business owners who need to be able to leverage the power of positive relationships to maximize the effectiveness of their companies.

The book was co-written by Ken Blanchard, who has written multiple best sellers in the area of management and leadership. His co-authors also included top SeaWorld trainers Thad Lacinak and Chuch Tompkins. The 128-page parable is especially a quick and easy read. I think most readers will find the “story” enjoyable in comparison to many of the dry books out there on management theory.