McKaulfey's Pearl

Ambra Pira and her "Pearl" named McKaulfey's Pearl placed 4th at the Texas Rose November Horse Trials. If I remember correctly it is her 1st recognized horse trial. I'm hoping that her mother Angie shares some photos and/or video! Way to go Alfie!!! :)

Flagged abusive

I've been told the blog was flagged as abusive by someone. It's nice to know it isn't any longer

Organizational image, behavior and public relations

I read a lot and it is almost exclusively nonfiction. When I start a book of fiction I have to continue to read it until I've completed it. That means I stay up very, very late and don't get enough sleep. I can't put a good book down. I started to read up on management ideas, styles etc. because there are a ton of bad managers and some of them ended up being mine. It piqued my interest and then it lead to organizational behavior etc. Anyway, a heck of a lot of it is just plain common sense.

I was in a conversation about organizations with someone today so it's been on my mind. We were talking about negative public images, how they occur, why they occur etc. An organization (corporation, non-profit, etc.) can slip into a negative public image quickly and unnoticed. If you have rude, incompetent, or arrogant people that deal with your clients/customers/patrons/members you are asking for trouble. A customer's first impression of the organization is often created by one of these people. The person may already have an opinion about you before they've had any contact with you. But one way or another you want people's first contact with the organization to be pleasant.

What a person perceives the organization to be may or may not be true but that is irrelevant because perception is reality. If the person encounters a rude arrogant employee they will perceive you to be rude/nasty/unfriendly/unapproachable/unhelpful --- the list is endless. The powers that be (board, management, officers whatever) set the tone for the entire organization. If the board reacts or responds to problems by trying to cover things up, attempting to keep people quiet so word doesn't get out, or worse censure/punish/fine someone (employee,member/client) word will get out and immediately you've gotten another negative impression by the public/other members/clients etc. So they think you're nasty because the person(s) they had experience with or heard about, and now on top of that they think you are spiteful and vindictive. You can keep digging yourself into an unending spiral of bad to worse perceptions. The more you hit back, become defensive, retaliate the worse you look.

So what should you do? First and foremost you need to set your ego aside. You already know what is wrong with your organization, you have just been unwilling to accept the information. The complaints about your employees, the lack of service, the rudeness are actually gifts. The complaints or other things you've been trying and failing to keep quiet tell you exactly what is wrong and all you need to do is decide how you are going to fix them. Stop the knee jerk response of censuring people and listen to them instead. Decide to be an organization that provides quality, friendly service and then do it. Easier said then done of course but it is doable.

I think Bill Gates said it best - "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." It's your choice. Do you continue down the negative path or can you turn it all around and completely change the image you have created?

A super condensed version I guess. Whew, now maybe I can move on and think about something more 'on topic'. LOL

Some stuff

It's been awhile since posting anything. I blame facebook :)

Brody had a long, long trip but was none the worse for wear. There was food during and after the trip so he was happy. I guess he settled in quickly and was very gentle when he met the young daughter. The biggest new thing for him was the tricycle moving up and down the barn aisle. We don't have any little kids riding tricycles. He's seen kids when visitors included children but none of them ever brought their tricycle with them.

Marcia reports that Kieran has started his new job. He has been ridden for the first time and did wonderfully. Marcia has him looking fabulous. I keep forgetting to ask if he and brother Liam get along now. When Kieran first arrived Liam didn't seem to like him -- or maybe he just didn't like having new competition. ;-)

I made some decisions about the 2011 breeding season. Tristan will be standing stud April and May only so anyone interested in breeding to him will need to move quickly! The stud fee is $1000 except for purebred Irish Draught mares. The stud fee for RID mares is by private treaty. I have taken Una off the market and plan to breed her next year. I have officially retired Maggie and Portia. They both have earned retirement. The decision to breed Ellie, Alanna and Grania is still up in the air.

Brody

Brody just left on his next big adventure. He is off to a fabulous new home in Canada. We worked on familiarizing him with the Canadian dialect this week. He's got the 'eh' down perfectly. :)

The Spiderman

Spider just left for his new home in California. He was his typical sensible self, loaded nicely and then started on his hay. I'm hoping that his winter coat won't cause him too much trouble in the warmer climate. :) So long sweet boy.