The Waiting Room Online

San Francisco

I am in San Francisco at the moment doing some work and noticing the differences between the US and NZ...

Everything really is bigger here - especially the food servings, and consequently the butts! San Francisco according to many Americans isn’t the US at all but a weird bunch of trendy lefties borrowing a little space by the beach! There certainly are some sights that is for sure - but I guess that is what makes this city exciting?

There are bums and billionaires side by side but most people are just good hard working types enjoying a vibrant city with all it has to offer here. The population in the city itself is only twice that of Christchurch, but the feeling is much bigger and the thinking matches it.

While Christchurch argues amongst itself about trains, green areas, one-way systems, etc. Places like San Francisco just get on and build subways, tram cars, freeways, fantastic parks, forests and beach facilities.

Christchurch is/was/will be a beautiful city... I just hope we can have the future thinking of our forefathers when they set aside the botanical gardens and planted it out knowing they would never see the results themselves - only their grandchildren would...

Posted by SA

Pizza for you and your crew!

Every Friday (for the month of May) we are shouting you and your work crew pizza!
Richmond Dental Centre in Nelson were our first weeks winner, with Linwood Dental winning last week - make sure you get your Bib order in this week to be in the draw!
(The more you order, the more the entries you get!)

Some music to get you in the pizza eating mood....

 

Q.D.F (Quote Day Friday)

 

PS- We hope every Mother has a wonderful relaxing day on Sunday...

Mums definitely deserve it & the below words sum it up nicely..

"I am a cook, a housekeeper, a parent, a teacher, a referee, a nanny, a nurse, a handy man, taxi, a maid, security and a comforter.

I don't get holiday, sick pay, or a day off, I work through the day and some of the night, I am under paid and over worked...

I am a Mum and I LOVE every minute of it!  Now tell me your job is harder than mine....."

Forever Learning

For the month of May our team are celebrating Core Value #5 - ‘Forever Learning’. We believe it is important to grow both personally and professionally. To constantly challenge and stretch ourselves and not be stuck in a job that we hate where we don’t feel like we are growing or learning.

We believe everyone on our team has more potential then they realise and we endeavour  to help one anther to unlock that potential. Exercising the mind can lead to brilliant ideas and innovations(take for instance our ‘Quoasters’) that will make us an even greater company.

The following clip shows that age is not a barrier to learning, by simply looking, asking and sharing knowledge a ‘whole new world of possibilities’ is there for the taking.

 

Avoiding false metrics

Great Blog from Seth....

At the local gym, it's not unusual to see hardcore members contorting themselves to fool the stairmaster machine into giving them good numbers. If you use your arms, you can lift yourself off the machine and trick it into thinking you're working yourself really hard.

Of course, you end up with cramped shoulders and a lousy workout, but who cares, the machine said you burned 600 calories...

The same thing happens with authors who put themselves and their readers through the wringer to get a spot on the New York Times Bestseller list (more on this here). Danielle LaPorte built a huge campaign around putting her book on the list, she succeeded in selling a huge number of hardcover copies in a week (far more than most other books) but didn't make the list because of a secret editorial decision that she's not privy to. At the same time, other authors who do a better job of decoding the secrets end up on the list with far fewer sold.

The point isn't that the list is crooked and unfair (though it is). It measures how good you are at getting on the list, not how many copies of the book your readers buy. The reason to avoid the false metric is that it messes with your shoulders, with the way you approach the work, with the real reason you did the project in the first place.

A third example: many car brands now go to obsessive lengths to contact recent car buyers and ask them to rate their buying experience on a scale of one to five. They use these rankings to allocate cars to dealers, ostensibly to reward the good dealerships. Of course, the dealers are in on the game, and instead of doing the intended thing--providing a great experience--all they do is work hard to get people to give them a five when a drone in a call center makes the call. Many of them will clearly state to a customer, "If anything has happened today that would prevent you from giving us a five when they call, please tell us right now..."

The system of false metrics doesn't create a better buying experience, it creates a threatened customer with pressure to give a five.

And my last example: The Arbitron radio rating system used to rely on diaries in which it asked radio listeners to write down which station they had listened to during the day. Several consultants came along with a service that they guaranteed would raise the ratings of any station that hired them. The secret? Repeat the station's call letters twice as often. It turned out that more repetition led to better recall, which led to more people writing down the call letters which led to 'better' ratings.

A useful metric is both accurate (in that it measures what it says it measures) and aligned with your goals. Making your numbers go up (any numbers--your bmi, your blood sugar, your customer service ratings) is pointless if the numbers aren't related to why you went to work this morning.

Q.D.F (Quote Day Friday)

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can.”

- Sydney Smith

This quote reminds me of our Core Value #5 Forever Learning.

Are we soaring like Eagles yet?
We believe it is important to grow both personally and professionally. It is important to constantly challenge and stretch yourself and not be stuck in a job where you don't feel like you are growing or learning.
We believe that inside everyone here is more potential than even they himself/herself realises. Our goal is to help employees unlock that potential. We know that exercising the mind will lead to brilliant ideas and innovations that will make us an even greater company!
It has to be a joint effort - you have to want to challenge and stretch yourself in order for it to happen.

Leadership

Chinese philospoher Lao Tse says:

To lead people, walk beside them... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honour and praise. The next, people fear; and the next people hate... When the best leader's work is done the people say "We did it ourselves"

Read more about Leadership here...

FREE PIZZA

Every Friday for the month of May, we're shouting a lucky customer Pizza for lunch!  Simply order your your Italian made Kotuku Bibs to go in the draw...

When we think of Italian Bibs our mind wonders to all good things Italian and we can’t help but think of Italian pizza. It was this train of thought that got us thinking (& then dribbling) which made us realise these (highly absorbent) bibs would also come in handy when eating pizza! So every Friday in the month of May we are going to shout a customer pizza for lunch. To go in the draw you need to have ordered Bibs that week and we will call you Friday morning if you’re the lucky winner! To make it really easy, you can choose the pizza place and decide what you want. We will make sure it’s delivered at lunchtime for you.

Nittygrittys:
The more bibs you order the more entries you receive!
Pizza Shout will happen Friday 4th, 11th, 18th and 28th May 2012
Maximum Value of $80.00 per week
You can choose your favourite pizza local
Check our FB for the weekly winners!

Q.D.F (Quote Day Friday)

Not really a quote but definitely some great advice (Think: under promise, over deliver).  At Medical House we are constantly trying to improve ourselves and give a little more.  Our Core Values provide the wisdom to help us achieve success and CV #2 Deliver Awesome Service definitely aligns with the above advice....

CV #2

We deliver awesome service internally with co-workers and externally with our customers. Creating service experiences that generate word of mouth referrals.
Awesome service means that we won’t let you down… there will always be an outcome – even if it isn’t pretty, but we will not leave customers, co-workers or business partners in the lurch.
Delivering awesome service differentiates us. It means being a little unconventional and innovative. Going above and beyond what's expected and really loving how it changes people!

“I’ll have an O for AWESOME.”
David Tua (1992-Wheel of Fortune)

Peak Healthcare

Late last year Medical House was introduced to a business called Peak Healthcare. Based in Auckland, Peak Healthcare is a business of various medical practices across NZ.
Our first dealings with Peak was with their Tauranga practice called Centralmed. Right from the start we knew we were in for something unique with Centralmed and it continues still.
Linda and the team at Centralmed are a delight to deal with and share our love of having fun whilst at work, enjoying life and like us are very easy to deal with.
Their one pet hate was back orders, so we listened! So far no back orders and we will fight to the death to avoid them!
So, a huge thanks to the team at Centralmed - We enjoy having you on board and we cant believe there are nutters out there like us!

Posted by KG