I really like these 10 guiding business principles that San Antonio, TX headquartered insurance company USAA lives by:

• Exceed customer expectations
• Live the Golden Rule (treat others with courtesy and respect)
• Be a leader
• Participate and contribute
• Pursue excellence
• Work as a team
• Share knowledge
• Keep it simple (make it easy for customers to do business with us and for us to work together)
• Listen and communicate
• Have fun

Too many companies don’t make it simple for their customers to do business with them.  Is it easy for your customers to:

• Buy from you?
• Make returns?
• Get pricing and terms?
• Receive timely responses to their e-mails?
• Quickly get answers when phoning your company?

You can find more examples of companies with impressive guiding principles in the book, 1001 Ways To Energize Employees.

Here are 10 tips for how to maximize employee involvement:

1. Have active ways to listen to your employees.
2. Check often with employees to see if the information you are sharing with them is what they need and what they want.
3. Share information about customer satisfaction with employees.
4. Discuss financial performance with your employees and be sure everyone understands the importance of profitability and how they can contribute to profitability.
5. Allow ad hoc teams among employees to form to address organizational problems and work with those teams to tackle the identified issues.
6. Encourage employees to make suggestions for improvement whether those ideas are large or small.
7. Take an idea from one employee and share it with other employees and teams and let everyone make a contribution to build upon that idea.
8. Train!
9. For long-term employees, find ways to keep their jobs interesting through new assignments and challenges.
10. Conduct meetings around specific issues and brainstorm solutions.

“Involving people in the business is the most effective way to produce an organization in which people know more, care more, and do the right things,” said Edward Lawler III, Professor, University of Southern California, as quoted in the book, 1001 Ways To Energize Employees, by author Bob Nelson.

National Volunteer Week is April 21-27.  The week when nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. will celebrate and honor their volunteers.

If you are not already volunteering, what a great time to start.

And, if you are a workplace leader who supports a volunteer program at your business, you already know that by encouraging employees to give back to your community you are:

• building teamwork
• motivating employees
• attracting new hires

In fact, job seekers much prefer companies that have a strong volunteer program. And, a growing number of businesses are rewarding employees who volunteer by giving them extra vacation time and other incentives.

Fortunately, throughout the U.S. there are hundreds of volunteer opportunities where employees can contribute individually, or where leaders can organize teams of employees to volunteer together on a routine and scheduled basis.

To find organizations in need of volunteers, go to Volunteer Match and type in your zip code.  You’ll be presented a list of nearby volunteer opportunities.  Also, you can find opportunities on iParticipate.

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.” — Colin Powell, quoted in the Nashville Tennessean.

“If you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else.” — Author Douglas Adams, quoted in The Boston Globe.

“When you re-read a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.” — Clifton Fadiman

The next time you are interviewing a candidate and you want to access  their leadership skills, consider asking the candidate these questions:

1. What personal qualities define you as a leader?  Describe a situation when these qualities helped you lead others.
2. Give an example of when you demonstrated good leadership.
3. What is the toughest group from which you’ve had to get cooperation?
4. Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?  What was your approach?  Did it work?
5. Describe a situation in which you had to change your leadership style to achieve the goal?
6. One leadership skill is the ability to accommodate different views  in the workplace, regardless of what they are.  What have you done to  foster a wide number of views in your work environment?

Thanks to Sharon Armstrong, author of The Essential HR Handbook, for these helpful questions!

Eager to ask your customers questions they aren’t used to hearing?  Consider this advice from author Paul R. Timm. He recommends a different twist on asking your customers questions:

• stop asking your customers the “typical” questions and instead ask them open-ended questions.

Here’s specifically what Timm recommends:

Don’t Ask:

• How was everything?
• Can I get you something else?
• Did you find everything you need?
• Will that be all?
• Was everything satisfactory?

Instead Ask:

• What else can I do for you?
• What else can I get for you?
• What else can I help you with?
• What else could we do to better serve you?
• How else can we be of help?

These open-ended questions will let your customers really express their ideas, opinions and needs. Timm is the author of, 50 Powerful Ideas You Can Use To Keep Your Customers.

When I think about excellent mentors in the business world, I think of Debbie Laskey, who has mentored many people during her career. Debbie is passionate about mentoring. So, she’s an ideal person to answer the following five questions about mentoring:

1. Why do you enjoy being a mentor?

Since I have been in the workplace for nearly two decades, I have had the opportunity to learn from a number of individuals. Some were supervisors, some were executives, some were co-workers, and some were employees who reported to me. However, the mentorship relationship is different than those relationships. As a mentor, I have been able to share what I’ve learned with individuals (mentees) who are at the beginning stages of building a business. They have an insatiable appetite for suggestions and always appreciate ideas – even if they don’t apply them immediately. Mentees have no agenda and no time for unnecessary drama. While they may question suggestions, most of the time, they have an open mind, and this characteristic often leads to long-term success.

2. Before a mentee enters into a mentoring engagement what should he/she ask himself/herself?

Before a mentee enters into a mentorship engagement, he or she must write down five objectives and a realistic timeframe. Is one objective to finalize a business plan or marketing plan? Is one objective to determine how to build a database of leads? Is one objective how to develop strategic partnerships? Whatever the objectives are, the mentee must know what they are before the mentorship begins– or the mentorship will fail before it even begins. And, how long should the mentor and mentee continue to dialogue? Three months? Six months? It is critical to set a timeframe so that the mentor can stagger the talking points and action items.

3. What type of person makes an effective mentor?

The art of being an effective mentor is dependent on five things. First, a mentor must make a time commitment to the mentee, so he or she needs to have time available. Second, a mentor must be able to communicate easily and clearly. Third, a mentor must be knowledgeable in a myriad of areas. Fourth, a mentor must be a problem-solver. And fifth, a mentor must like the role of cheerleader. While it might make sense to have a mentor in the same industry, that’s not always the best solution if you can find a multi-dimensional business leader.

4. Of all the mentors you have had in your life, what did you like most about the one who you believe was a good mentor to you?

My most important mentor has been my father. He demonstrated an amazing work ethic, and that dedication has been part of my professional life since my first job. He also taught me the importance of client service (aka, customer service), and the importance of returning phone calls and emails as soon as possible. Also, since my father was a CPA, he was always reading about new tax laws, so he taught me at an early age to stay up-to-date on my industry and trends.

5. If you can’t find a mentor within your workplace, where are good places to find a mentor?

Network with your contacts through social media. Post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ that you’re looking for a mentor. In addition, check out MicroMentor.com. This site offers a variety of mentorship connections. Lastly, once you’ve benefited from your mentorship, pay it forward. Be a mentor to someone else!

These quotes truly inspire me:

“The three common characteristics of best companies — they care, they have fun, they have high performance expectations.” — Brad Hams

“The one thing that’s common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don’t like to do.” — Michael Phelps

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” — Harry S. Truman

“The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” — Peter Drucker

“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Good leadership isn’t about advancing yourself. It’s about advancing your team.” — John C. Maxwell

“People buy into the leader, then the vision.” — John C. Maxwell

“Great leaders have courage, tenacity and patience.” — Bill McBean

“People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.” — Paulo Coelho

“We live in a time where brands are people and people are brands.” — Brian Solis

“In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons.” — James MacGregor Burns

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” — Albert Einstein

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” — Auguste Rodin

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” — Arnold H. Glasgow

“I praise loudly, I blame softly.” — Catherine II of Russia

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” — Mohandas Gandhi

“A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.” — Voltaire

“The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable.” — Paul Broca

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” — Arnold Glasow

“Managers assert drive and control to get things done; leaders pause to discover new ways of being and achieving .”– Kevin Cashman

“It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. All that matters is where you are going to.” — Stephen Covey

“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” — Samuel Johnson

“Strength doesn’t come from what we can do. It comes from overcoming what we once thought we couldn’t.” — Rikki Roberts

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” — Alfred North Whitehead

“The most powerful predictable people builders are praise and encouragement.” — Brian Tracy

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them and to let them know that and trust them.” — Booker T. Washington

“Ask because you want to know. Listen because you want to grow.” — Mark Scharenbroich

“If you want execution, hail only success. If you want creativity, hail risk, and remain neutral about success.” — Marcus Buckingham

“To get the best coaching outcomes, always have your 1-on-1′s on your employee’s turf not yours. In your office the truth hides.” — Marcus Buckingham

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” — Alan Kay

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” — Bill Cosby

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never failing, but in rising again after you fall.” — Vince Lombardi

There are so many good things to learn in the book, Helping People Win At Work, by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge. Among those is the section about how to define meaningful work.

Their definition consists of these seven attributes.  Work is meaningful when it:

1. It is conducted in a manner that is “good and proper” in all respects.
2. It positively affects our company and our communities, giving our work an impact that extends beyond ourselves.
3. It provides learning and growth, offers challenges, requires creativity, pushes us to surpass limits, and creates exciting results.
4. It provides recognition and rewards for our achievements.
5. It allows us to succeed as a team while excelling as individuals.
6. It allows us to enjoy the ride, bringing humor and fun into our work.
7. It fuels passion!

In addition to learning a lot about the ways businesses are creating experiences for their customers in Brian Solis’ new book, What’s The Future of Business, you’ll be treated to dozens of compelling leadership, life and business quotes, such as these:

• “People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.” — Paulo Coelho

•  ”We live in a time where brands are people and people are brands.” — Brian Solis

• “In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons.” — James MacGregor Burns

•  ”The only source of knowledge is experience.” — Albert Einstein

• “Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” — Auguste Rodin

• “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson