Month: May 2010

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How to Change Your Strategic Plan

A business team coming up with a strategic plan

Few plans are implemented as intended. That’s one of the reasons that people lose faith in planning. They expect their plans to be implemented exactly as described in the plan. One of the unfortunate aspects of this situation is that many consultants assert that “planning doesn’t work.” It does work when it’s done well.

During Planning, Clarify How to Change the Plan Later On

When doing the planning (when identifying goals and other priorities to address and how to address them), also talk about how to change your plan as it’s being implemented in the future.

A good approach is to require that any changes be approved by the Board if the changes might be to the overall mission, vision, values and top-level goals, but not to the action plans. (Action plans usually are about how each goal is to be achieved.)

Include a Date on the First Version of the Plan

When the Plan is approved by the Board, be sure the cover of the Plan includes the date of approval. Include that date on each page of the Plan.

Include a Revision Page Near the Front of the Plan

On that page, list the original date of approval of the first version of the Plan. Then for each approved change, on the Revision Page, list the date of approval of the change, and the pages that were changed and how.

Update the Revision Date On Each Page of the Plan Document

For example, on each page, put the last date of approval of the last change to the content on that page.

If Frequent Changes Are Made, Produce a New Version of Plan

If changes are made, for example, more than once a quarter, then produce a new Plan document that includes all the approved changes, and on the cover of the Plan include a new date. On its Revision Page, explain that a new version was produced and reference the previous versions.

If Changes Require Board Approval, Re-Issue to Stakeholders?

If changes were to top-level, strategic matters (mission, vision, values and goals), and you had issued copies of the Plan to various stakeholders, then consider issuing a new version to them as well, along with descriptions of why you produced the new version.

A plan should be a set of guidelines to follow during the year. The Plan should not be considered as a law or regulation.

What do you think?

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

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The Bloom is off the Tylenol Rose

Team members having a brainstorming session

For nearly 30 years the heroic story of Johnson & Johnson quick action to remove Tylenol from the shelves after a deadly tampering incident has been folklore in business circles. So what do we make of the news today that The Food and Drug Administration is considering “additional enforcement actions” that might include criminal penalties against the Johnson & Johnson unit that makes Tylenol.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal:

According to written testimony of the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner prepared for a U.S. House committee hearing later Thursday about a wide-ranging recall of children’s Tylenol and other medicines, the agency said it was working with the company “to address its systemic quality issues.”

On April 30, McNeil Consumer Healthcare announced a recall of more than 40 kinds of liquid formulations of infant and children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl products because of manufacturing problems at its Fort Washington, Pa., plant, which remains shut down.

“FDA is also considering additional enforcement actions against the company for its pattern of non-compliance which may include seizure, injunction or criminal penalties,” Joshua Sharfstein said. “Over the last several years, FDA has had growing concerns about the quality of the company’s manufacturing process,” he said.

What happened to the fabled J&J Credo? What is going on within the culture that is causing J&J to be seen by the FDA as slow to address quality issues?

Every manufacturing company faces quality issues that impact production. Companies with a healthy ethical culture however have the ability to respond quickly to issues internally, as well as keep regulators and externally stakeholders appropriately informed.

After seeing the issues faced this year by stalwart brands such as Toyota and now J&J, one wonders whether their core values are being taken for granted?

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David Gebler is the President of Skout Group, an advisory firm helping global companies manage ethics risks. Send your thoughts and feedback to dgebler@skoutgroup.com.

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Guest Authors Welcomed for Crisis Manager Newsletter

Male business professional struggling with a crisis

My twice-monthly newsletter, Crisis Manager, is distributed by email and then is archived indefinitely at my website, where the newsletter page gets brisk traffic second only to my home page.

I welcome guest authors who would like to get some promotional value out of being exposed to my readers. The criteria:

  • The article must in some way be related to any aspect of crisis management — crisis prevention, crisis planning, crisis response, etc.
  • Length — no less than 500 words, as long as 2,000 words
  • Submit anytime to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Familiarity with the ezine is important, of course, so peruse the Crisis Manager Archive, where you can also sign up as a subscriber.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

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How Financial Sustainability is So Misunderstood

Banknotes on top of a laptop

Finances Are Just a Symptom, Not a Solution

When people think of financial sustainability, they usually think of getting enough money to pay bills for the long-term. Then they focus on strategies to keep getting enough money. That’s the wrong approach.

1. Strategy for Sustainability — Be Realistic

If an organization is trying to do far too much, it will likely not have enough resources, including not enough money to do what it wants to do. The solution is not to keep trying to get more money, the solution is to do less. Yeah, that’s right, do less. Cut back on the number of goals and priorities to address OR extend deadlines in which to address them.

2. Strategy for Sustainability — Ensure High-Quality Programs

If your organization does not have high-quality programs and services, then clients’ participation will eventually decline as will funding. That’s why it’s so important to do a few things very well, rather than a lot of things not so well. The solution is not to keep trying to get more money to offset deficits. The solution is to pick which programs you can do very well, do them — and keep proving your strong results.

3. Strategy for Sustainability — Financial Planning

Two of the best practices are achieving a financial reserve and doing contingency planning. Many leaders even laugh when they hear suggestions to establish a reserve. Too often, that’s from a mindset that all money must soon be spent because that will accomplish even more positive results for the community. The irony is that that approach too often hurts the community because the nonprofit remains in financial crises, which can hurt programs and services.

4. Strategy for Sustainability — Think “Organizational Sustainability”

When Board members and other nonprofit leaders talk about sustainability, they’re ultimately worried about having enough money to continue to support the organization. So remind them that financial sustainability is really just part of organizational sustainability. Help them talk about being realistic, ensuring strong programs, and doing financial planning for reserves and contingencies.

What do you think?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

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A Definition and Implementation of Organizational Change

Executive members discussing about implementing an organizational change

Every now and then I gift myself with the luxury of time available for reflection, and I “mine” my own learning of what existed? What made that effort a successful change process? Why did that one and that one work well? First of all, my experience is that organizational development work is a very fragile enterprise.

  • People run out of energy
  • Key executives change positions
  • Consultants burn out from their constant marginality
  • Timing is everything: Marv Weisbord talks about “harvesting” as a stage of readiness.
  • LUCK often plays a large role.

Patterns in The Process

So in this fragile endeavor, there are patterns, which I have experienced, which are repeatable and above all very cyclical. And they are all combinations of action and learning. See the model, “Definition and Implementation of Organizational Change.”

To work with a client you have to develop an inquiry relationship, together you have to be able to diagnose the situation and look at alternatives. All of this work comes down to the consulting relationship and our ability to build a mutual and collective capacity to do inquiry: into individual, group and organizational conditions requiring the focus and the attention of the work. This joint inquiry results in a vision, a sense of what the leadership feels it needs to do.

Learning It By Doing It

The vision is the trigger of the Design and Start Up phase. When leaders start to public their vision they discover the implications of the change and as they discuss these, there are additional values that get clarified and the vision has to clearly define the intent of the effort.

As the leadership group starts to involve others, the focus shifts to: Evolving the Intervention Strategy. I always talk about this as “the trip planned” and “the trip taken”- there are always differences between what I expect and how we need to capitalize in the moment to shift an understanding of what might be needed to support the change. When we are clear about this we move forward with the design into Implementation, we execute the process, we do it and we learn and adjust the change and only then does the momentum change from cycling backwards in feedback loops, to moving forward and looking downstream.

Adjustments Along The Way

As I experience this I have learned that through each of these phases we see ourselves and others and the problem before us in different ways as we move through the change process. It is the inquiry relationship that is the foundation of the work that follows. Who has done serious inquiry and not come out changed? Through this we learn to see things we had not previously appreciated and we realize that much of what we thought we knew was based on assumptions, which I now see. There is no going back from that. If done well, it provides the courage to begin design and start up of a needed constructive effort, which involves influencing others in system change.

What do you think?

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

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Jim Smith has over 40 years of organization development experience in a wide range of organizations. He can be reached at  ChangeAgents@gmail.com

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Four Types of “Broken” Boards

A deserted board meeting

Over the years, I’ve noticed four common types of “broken” Boards. One of the ways you can recognize them is by the comments that members make. Here’s the types of Boards and what you might hear members saying.

1. Detached Board

  • “Why are you calling me to come to a meeting? What Board are you talking about?”
  • “We need a strategic plan. Let’s have the CEO just write one for us.”
  • “I’ve not heard from CEO, so everything must be fine.”

2. Servant Board

  • “I’m here to help the CEO in any way I can.”
  • “All the CEO has to do is ask.”
  • “How can I help?”

3. Personalities Board

  • “Recruit Jim for the Board! He’s a nice guy.”
  • “Get whoever will come to meetings!”
  • “Keep him on the Board! He’s a ‘big name’.”

4. Micro-managing Board

  • “Give us your todo list every week!”
  • “Give us your manager’s todo list every week!”
  • “We want to know when you’re in the office and when you’re not!”

In Contrast, the Strategic Board

In contrast, in an active strategic Board, members’ comments would be like the following:

  • “Are our products and services high-quality? How do we know?”
  • “What’s our role? What’s the CEO’s role?”
  • “What’s the status of implementing our Strategic Plan?”
  • “Are we attending to the most important matters? How do we know?”
  • “We’ve got some Board members who don’t come. What are we going to do about it?”

The best way to “fix” a “broken” Board is Board development, not a Board orientation or Board training. See my post Board Orientation vs. Training vs. Development.

What do you think?

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

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Are You Challenging Your Winners?

Runners-on-the-finish-line-

A few days ago, I attended a track meet for 4th and 5th graders. After standing several hours in the 80 degree sunshine that afternoon, I with a group of fifteen other family members cheered on a 4th grade track runner. During the first few laps of the boys’ 1600 meter (yes that’s one mile for 4th graders) race, the 4th grader ran at a comfortable pace taking up the third place spot. Then during the final meters of the race, he found the extra energy to take first in the final second of the race. Immediately after crossing the finish line, he raised his hands in victory with an expression of great pride while sixteen members of his family stood on the sidelines cheering, laughing, and even crying. He was immediately greeted with hugs, smiles and high fives as he exited the track. He received immediate positive feedback for a job well done.

Just an hour earlier, the 4th grade girls’ 1600 meter race took place with a little different outcome. Four girls started the race and within minutes one girl took a clear lead. Within the first 400 meters of the race, the 4th place runner was a clear 200 meters behind the 1st place runner with the 2nd and 3rd place runners side by side in the middle of the two girls. There was no exciting finish to this race and the observers didn’t see the winner raise her hands in victory at the end. What was seen however was clear support for the last placed runner, who never gave up running even though she was clearly 300 meters behind the other runners. As soon as she came off the track, she was given immediate positive feedback for her perseverance and effort in the race.

What was most interesting about the winners of these two races is that the winner of the boys’ race achieved his personal best time that day. The girls’ winner was several seconds over her best time.

The bottom line here is this. Winners gravitate toward winners. They challenge each other and they push each other to give a little extra at the finish line. When winners lack challenge, they glide through the race. How are you challenging your winners? Do you know the potential of the members of your team?

Your thoughts are always encouraged.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is currently employed as the Human Resource Manager at EmployeeScreenIQ, a global leader in pre-employment background screening.

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Free Shred Day – How a Bank and Records Management Company Team Up to Help the Community

Shredded paper

Email Marketing Takes a Twist in Nashville Tennessee

One surprise email fought 64 others that day for my attention – and won, hands down. The subject line: “Free Shred Day”.

I thought, “Hmmmm, “FREE” – really?” and clicked on it. Sure enough, it looked like they meant it.

WOW. No limit? Don’t remove clips? That got me excited – so much that I forwarded the email to TEN friends. One of them was storing fifteen years’ worth of very old business files. I couldn’t wait for him to open this email.

And since I help companies market themselves online and offline, I knew that these smart business managers had a viral marketing success story here. I wanted to hear more about it.

We Head to the Shred

So I packed my truck, and we headed to Civic Bank & Trust, where they set up an amazingly efficient and secure operation. Since we had so very many boxes (they said we were their biggest load yet), they directed us to the Richards & Richards secure straight truck trailer, which they unlocked – and formed a brigade to unload us, smiling the entire time.

A Marketing Success?

After they relieved us of our doc boxes, sipping on their lemonade, I offered my business card and asked Sheila Gilliland, Marketing Consultant for Civic Bank, to fill me in. How did this event get started? What were their marketing objectives? How was it going?

Sheila’s answers were a marketer’s dream. Richards & Richards, an office records management firm, is a client of Civic Bank, and they just started talking about it. The bank is always on the lookout for a great way to help the community. They are a community-based bank, and so their marketing is really all about community outreach. If the community wins, they do too.

Positive Word-of Mouth

The bank relies on positive word-of-mouth and places only one solitary paid ad in its entire marketing plan. Way to go.

This very successful shred event was a first for the bank, but not for Richards & Richards. Andy Moon, Richards’ Security Consultant, informed me that they hold free shred days at least twice a year. Their last event yielded 337 vehicles and unloaded over 53,000 pounds of documents. They saved a bunch of trees, I might add.

Richards and Richards, also a locally-owned company, smartly uses Facebook, Twitter and email blasts to attract shred day participants.

New Client Acquisition

According to Andy, the shred days yield new customers, typically anything from a small florist to a huge hospital.

Sheila reported a few days later that the event was fruitful for them, too, with at least one new client and seven inquiries – in just two days after the event – likely more now.

See the full story and details on how to get a Free Safe Box from Civic Bank in Nashville TN.

What innovative marketing campaigns have touched your community?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Cows Can Be Purple

Diverse children drawing and painting together

My grandmother was born in an ethnic neighborhood of Chicago in 1900 and had never seen a live cow growing up. In first grade her class was given cut-out farm animals and told to trace and color them. She had a cow to draw and painted it purple because she liked the color purple. The teacher ridiculed my grandmother for coloring a cow purple and exclaimed that ‘cows aren’t purple’. The teacher ripped up the cow in front of the class and told my grandmother to start over, this time painting the cow brown or black.

Luckily for my grandmother, at age ten her best friend convinced my grandmother to take an art class with her. From there my grandmother found a deep life long passion for art. She went on to study in France and become a professional painter, and later in the 1960’s, she became a pioneer in the field of art therapy. My grandmother’s biography, written when she was in her 80’s, was called “Cows Can Be Purple”. My grandmother was able to move past the message quite clearly given to her that she should not be creative in what she drew.

Were you ever given messages of what you can’t do? Are you still carrying around those messages? Perhaps when you were young, adults you trusted or respected squashed a dream or stifled your ideas. You may know people who have had their dreams stepped on or who put a box around their ambitions because it wasn’t accepted by others. Too many times we carry those messages of what we can’t do with us for years, never examining or questioning whether they are true for us or not. What a waste of potential talent, energy, and joy.

I will write several blogs about the self-limiting beliefs we carry and how those hold us back from fully living and being true to our passions and purpose. For now I want to invite you to step into the potential that awaits you. What possibilities are there that you’ve been waiting to explore?

Here are some suggestions for looking at the world through the lens of potential and possibility. First, challenge your mental framework by asking yourself – What If?

* What if I didn’t buy into a self-limiting belief about myself –that I’m unmotivated, not smart enough, unloved etc.

* What if I stopped seeking other people’s approval or stopped worrying about disappointing others?

* What if I was infinitely supported by the Universe to follow my soul’s calling?

* What if I believed I was talented, loved, lovable, creative? How would I live if that were so?

Try these questions out for a while and see what bubbles up for you. Maybe you’ll hear that inner calling to try something that you’ve been thinking of doing for some time. Perhaps you’ll feel the nudge that’s been pushing you to step out a bit farther into the unknown. See if there are things rumbling in your soul that you feel you need to discover. Answer these questions and sit with what stirs for you.

I leave you these words from the poet Rumi:

Be melting snow, wash yourself of yourself.

A white flower grows in the quietness,

Let your tongue become that flower.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Assessing HRD Needs

A team of three assessing their HRD needs

Here is a little case study on HRD needs, I thought you might like to do a little challenge and see what answers/solutions you all come up with…Enjoy….

Opening case study – HRD programs can be key components when an organization seeks to revitalize itself and change its organizational culture. For instance, Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline based in Hong Kong that serves over eighty-five destinations on five continents. In 2003, Cathay Pacific carried over 10 million passengers, and also maintained a considerable cargo operation. Worldwide, approximately 14,000 people work for the airline. A survey in the 1990s revealed that travelers felt that Cathay Pacific service was good, but not as warm and friendly as customers desired. Some even described the service as “robotic.” This led to a reexamination of how the company recruited, trained, and managed its employees.

One major change that Cathay Pacific made was in its in-flight training department. In the past, trainers devised and followed careful lesson plans. This was intended to provide a set standard of service on all flights. However, to increase customer retention, especially among business travelers, Cathay Pacific decided that something more was needed.

Questions: Assume you are a training manager at this airline. First, how would you go about designing a needs assessment for the airline? What methods would you use to design training that emphasized exceptional customer service? Second what type(s) of training would you recommend for flight attendants, if the new goal was to provide exceptional customer service? How might the training programs themselves have to change in order to promote innovation and collaboration among flight attendants, as well as from the trainers?

Have Fun, and Live Large and in Charge…

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881 or 248-277-2966
– Read my blog: Training and Development