... That is what the SBDC for Enterprise Excellence is all about. The era of stable, low variety, long production run is over. Today, customers demand ... and get more. Businesses are forced to discover new ways to realize a competitive advantage. Those that do are excited about their future ... And what they can become.

To compete in today's market, you must integrate your vision, culture, processes, and technologies. This is where Enterprise Excellence comes in.

Enterprise Excellence is dedicated to the long-term improvement of companies seeking a competitive advantage. We accomplish this through a package of products.

You pick and choose what works best for you.

Contact us, and let us discuss what we can do to help you transform your organization to an Excellent Enterprise.

Monday, May 30, 2006: Test blog on SBDC websites. Journey To Excellence workshop will start on Oct 10-11, 06. Please contact Jo An Weddle at (817)272-5930 or click the email link at the bottom of this page. Thursday, June 8, 2006: Update websites: add a Call Us Now banner, Google map link to ARRI, update Journey To Excellence calendar. Thursday, Aug 24, 2006: JTE secured online registration thru Cvent will be added soon. Please call us instead while we are setting up for this method. Thurday Nov 9, 2006: How to Handle Difficult People--The Put-Down Artist * The put-down artist is hard to please. Whatever the suggestion, he/she will figuratively throw cold water on it with comments like, "We tried that and it doesn't work." "Management will never support it." The put-down artist may be a control freak, but it could also be a technique to steer the team into seriously evaluating whether their idea is worth defending. Whatever the reason, this behavior often has an unwanted dampening effect on the group's enthusiasm. The leader needs to immediately suggest that there may be other opinions in the group, and the leader should ask for them to be voiced. Or, the leader can zero in on the put-down artist and ask him/her for an idea. As a technique to minimize the negative effect the team members may feel, the leader can explain, in the presence of the put-down artist, that he/she is really a "devil's advocate," a valuable part of the team process. This explanation might relax the team members because they are less likely to take the comments as a personal attack. As for the put-down artist, being called a devil's advocate is likely to be viewed as a badge of honor and another reason to work harmoniously with other team members. * From “Timely Tips for Teams” a monthly newsletter published by QCI International. If you enjoyed this article you may sign up for your own subscription. All you have to do is click www.qci-intl.com/home.htm or cut and paste this address into their Web browser to go to our Web site where YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN SUBSCRIPTION.