Episode 45 – OpEx with Marianne Rutz – The Key to Happiness

Hello everybody - thank you for spending time with me today. This is Episode 45 of the Operational Excellence Show! Would you believe it! I sometimes have to pinch myself!

When I set out this podcast it was a passion project. Never in a million years would I have dreamt of what it would lead to. More to this later in this final Episode of 2020! When this podcast airs on 4th December 2020 for me the most magical season of the year will just have started. I love Christmas time!

I will have followed through with the Swiss Wiihnachts Chromli baking (meaning Christmas Biscuits baking), my Advent Calendar for the family will be stoked, my Kitchen Window will be decorated as a Christmas Window and my door will have a beautiful wreath. But that in itself doesn’t make Christmas magical! Since I am self employed I make a point in advising clients of Rutz Consulting that we will not start new projects this side of Christmas. I see it as my role as the CEO to allow my team the opportunity to down tools and spend time with their loved ones. And I need this time myself.

Earlier this week, a leading Scottish Business Coach asked me what I was aspiring to with my firm? Quite simple – I want to make a difference to the wonderful people that deliver customer service in the contact centre setting. This difference starts with gratitude! Gratitude is the key to happiness!

Even in difficult times like 2020 – where so many people have suffered the loss of a loved one, loss of their job maybe, struggled with loneliness or depression – Gratitude can change your day!

My Grandma – I called her Oma – taught me years ago that when you get up in the morning, when your first foot hits the floor say “thank” and when your second foot hits the floor say “you” and then just make it a walking prayer to the bathroom. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. 5 years ago I was recovering from major bowel surgery to remove my cancerous tumour. I knew I had to get strong and as fit as possible for Chemotherapy to start in January 2016. At that time I took this walking prayer every day – as it was possibly the darkest  time in my life and I was at  my weakest, physically and mentally! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you – after all – I was still alive and for that I was eternally grateful.

Your journey might be a different one  – but the principle is the  same… when we focus on what we have and the blessings we have been given, the gifts that we have, the family we have, the friends, the meaningful and purposeful work we do, the  incredible team we work with and the wonderful people we meet, when we focus on gratitude then our troubles become so much smaller! If you only prayed these few words “thank you God” over and over again you will see a difference in your day to day living. I’d like to invite you to do just this – in this Christmas Season. Practice Gratitude. 

When you are reflecting on your year and you are planning for 2021 I would like you to perhaps go and listen to a number of the Operational Excellence Show Podcasts.

Here are some of my favourites:

If you are looking to make sense of your career and maybe think of changing jobs – In Episode 18 – Playing to Win vs Playing to avoid Losing –  Sandra Green, a certified executive coach – talks about how to shift out of overwhelm, Self-Doubt and ego-led decision-making so you can have far greater impact and love for your work.

Or go to Episode 11 – where you can learn how Executive Coach Gregor Finlay helped me to grow in my role, overcome insecurity and strive as Site Director in Accrington! You might want to update your LinkedIn profile. In Episode 16 Shelly Hutchinson shares how you can enhance your career using LinkedIn and in Episode 42 Louise Brogan shows you what you can do with LI when working within a corporation!

If you are reviewing the delivery of your service, the framework you are using or how to streamline your operation I recommend you listen to Episode 12 where Bart Hendrik Huisman of Signify and I discuss the set up of a truly Global Contact Centre. To understand our LEAP Delivery Framework circle back to Episode 25 where I show you how Leading People, Executing Process, Amplifying Profit moves your needle in the right direction!

One single  resource  that will help you to increase your contact centre output is the creation and use of an operational manual. In Episode 28 I explain step by step how you cut the elephant into pieces and produce this Ops Manual you are ought to have, but never had time to get done. Hint – it’s not you personally that is doing the work! It’s your team under your direction!

If you are wondering how to get through dark hours, burnout or stress – in Episode 20 my former Boss BJ Kennedy candidly talks about his personal experience with burnout! “Talking the Mental Health  Truth “ encourages you to seek help and also shows you are not alone! You can find all 45 Episodes broadcasted in 2020 on our Website Rutz Consulting.

Now – people ask me a lot what it is like to be a podcast host.

45 Episodes is quite an achievement. And the very one thing I would want to tell you is…. If you really want to produce a podcast – you must be in it for the long run! There is no such thing a quick win when it comes to podcasting!
For me – I found my happy medium! I love sharing my thoughts, my guests stories and so many wonderful case studies. But be under no illusion – producing a meaningful podcast takes time. And that’s probably the piece I totally underestimated!

At the start of Season 1 I had a list of guests and topics, plus I was quite good at producing the content and delivering it to Adrian, my audio technician in good time. The more the Operational Excellence Show got known, the more downloads we got, the higher the pressure was for producing good shows! Not just in content but also with the resources for my audience to download. And let me tell you – at times I struggled! And it wasn’t at all that I didn’t have the guests… in fact by now people contact me to be on my show – which is pretty amazing!

But doing the research on the topic – to offer a broader view than my own, knowing about my guests so that I can ask meaningful questions takes up time and energy! And this means –  podcasts  have to be scheduled well in advance!

Yes  – I  hear you…. I should eat my own words! So for 2021, I am planning in quarters – with an intention to record about 6 weeks in advance! I also will become more intentional in repurposing the great content and golden nuggets of wisdom my guest share. So watch this space!

Investing in good recording equipment and software is a must (in my  humble opinion)! It turns out excellent quality and makes editing so much easier. I’m using Zencastr – which allows us to easily record 2 or more wav files, one of my voice and one of each guests voice. Which – no doubt Adrian would confirm – makes it easier to edit. If you want to hear more about how to produce a podcast, stay tuned – Adrian and I will let you into our secret hacks in the New Year! For this year – 2020 this is the last Episode of Season 1 of the Operational Excellence Show! Thank you for listening to our thoughts, the stories, the many golden nuggets my guests provided us with.

The Operational Excellence Show will be back on the  6 January 2021 – kicking of with a mini series of Inspirational Female Executives in our industry! From the bottom of my heart, have a wonderful Christmas!

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