Year: 2010

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Three Things You Should Know About Communicating Credibility

An-employer-taking-notes-while-communicating-with-this-employees

As leaders of an organization, as trainers and managers, or anyone single employee in our organization, it is essential we are able to communicate our credibility and by doing so reflect positively on the credibility of our organization.

We all want to communicate well. It is the key to our success. If we do it well.

Like a tree falling in the woods a thousand miles away that no one hears, if your audience numbering one or a thousand doesn’t “hear” your message the result is the same. Nothing happens. You’re credible in your mind only.

“If I follow the script,” you think, “everything should fall in place.” But it doesn’t. “Why? How can I fix it?” You say it is an established program proven to work. You say all the right things. It should work.

Ever say something you regretted because you didn’t consider your audience? Everyone has had those embarrassing moments. The difference between us and the animals is our big brains and our mouths (often big) that can form words and sentences to communicate ideas—not just immediate needs or express emotions, and yet sometimes we speak on automatic to get the job done. So, we are “embarrassed” by not seeing the “who” we are talking to until it is too late.

We have made a habit of going about our business and forget the basics of communication. In any organization we make a plan. We probably make a “big picture” communication plan so we know how we will get the word out, but what about our messengers? The messengers need to plan how to communicate that plan, or any plan, or any instruction, or any sales pitch, in the same way. Look at the factors involved. What is my purpose, who am I talking to, how do I say what I need to say?

There are three things you should know to effectively communicate your credibility:

  1. Know your audience,
  2. Know your subject, and
  3. Know your self.

Understanding what I want to say seems easy at first, but that may depend on the “who.” Of course, you have to know what you want in the communication. And if we don’t know “why,” then we shouldn’t have the job we do.

It may sound little like Abbott and Costello’s famous bit about “Who’s on first, but this is all about communication or miscommunication. If the classic situation didn’t ring true to us in some way, it wouldn’t be funny. After all, miscommunication and misunderstanding are at the heart of comedy. However, it is credibility we are after.

We have to know about our audience to know how to present our subject to that audience in a way that has the desired result. And since we are doing the communicating, shouldn’t we consider ourselves part of the equation? We are the catalyst. We make the message memorable by adding the spice of our education, our expertise or our experience, and the bottom line: our credibility.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

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Myths about Background Screening

HR-in-an-organization-doing-a-screening-program.

In the newest edition of the EmployeeScreenIQ Verifier, Kevin Bachman discusses a few background screening “urban legends.

  • ” Below is a list what is discussed: “I hear everyone uses credit reports to make hiring decisions. I should too.”
  • “These new database products I hear about are great!”
  • “My applicant’s data is secure. Right?”
  • “I don’t bother with employment verifications. Everyone says companies don’t provide anything!”
  • “I called his references. He sounds great!”

These myths are assumptions made many in HR departments. I have previously written about some of the things that I wish I knew about background screening prior to being employed by a leader in the industry. With background screening being such a vital part of employment screening, it is important that HR Pros and Recruiters understand the truth around them. Check out both my previous post and the Bachman’s legends to see how much you know. If you need more information visit www.employeescreen.com.

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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 available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

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Making the transition from manager to director

Thinking like a director

Directorship is very different to management. Directors act differently and have different liabilities and duties. They need to think differently.

Good managers are often invited onto boards. They need to make a critical shift in their thinking if they are to be successful in their new environment.

The biggest shift is the move from personal to group accountability and authority. Whilst many managers in modern corporations have experience as team members and are accustomed to being personally rewarded for team achievements many are not comfortable with an environment where they bring no personal power into the boardroom.

Board Leadership

As a leader (and directors are leaders) you are never powerless; you may, in some circumstances, lack authority. This is especially true in circumstances where an individual director wishes to influence the course of events. He or she has no authority over the board but, working through the proper processes and providing insightful contributions to the board debate, is able to make an impact. Some managers find this confronting and dislike the sensation of needing to bring the group to consensus before a decision is made and the board authorises a course of action. These are often the naturally authoritarians but can also be people who, as managers, were very democratic. The difference is that even a democratic manager has the final say on issues that are decided whilst in the board there is never any guarantee that your most persuasive arguments will convince the board to follow your chosen course of action.

The role of the Chairman

Sometimes an experienced chairman can assist a director in making the transition to ‘board thinking’. This is usually best accomplished by a private discussion after a board meeting in which the director has failed to achieve an outcome. These conversations are difficult as the director concerned will feel threatened by the failure. It is important that the conversation be supportive and, where possible, that the chairman highlight issues raised by the director which, whilst not having the outcome that the director desired, have been picked up by management and will be used to enlighten risk management as the company progresses with implementation.

These conversations are only possible in a board with strong collegiality and mutual respect between board members. They will never work if the board is divided or simply failing to work as a team. Boards with shareholder representatives or other nominee directors will find these conversations more difficult than those where the members have selected each other.

When to intervene

Specific indications that a board member is ready and able to be coached in accepting the group decision (and their inability to override this) are hard to define; they may include approaches to other board members whom the director feels are more sympathetic to their point of view, statements to the group in general about concerns or risks raised by the decision, and/or deferential and submissive behaviours that are just slightly out of character (caused by the director attempting to reintegrate with the group after the potentially divisive decision). Responding positively to these indicators will assist the director in coming to terms with their board role.

Behaviours that indicate a board member is not likely to be receptive to coaching are more overt. They include refusal to stop arguing their case, lobbying outside the board meeting for the decision to be overturned, undermining the decision, upsetting the chain of command by direct communication with staff involved in implementing the decision and/or lobbying stakeholders or regulators o encourage them to step in an overturn the decision.

These behaviours do not, however, indicate that a chairman should back off and allow the director to continue. Rather than coaching, in this instance, the chairman must make a firm statement regarding behaviours that will not be tolerated on his or her board. It is helpful to have a written charter to which the director has already subscribed to back up this statement. If a board lacks a charter and finds itself in this position it can rely on external codes of accepted practice but should note that these are less powerful than a specific charter written by the board to describe how it will regulate its own conduct. Directors who place a high value on authority will often be comforted by a display of authority from the board chair. When things are proceeding well again the chairman can attempt to have a coaching conversation to ensure that the director is aware of the issue and also of the board’s intent to support him or her as they deal with it.

Setting standards

Resolute adherence to good practice coupled with an understanding that the change from management to directorship is difficult and can be traumatic are required to assist novice board members, especially those who have been good managers in the past, to become excellent directors in the future.

What do you think?

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Julie Garland-McLellan has been internationally acclaimed as a leading expert on board governance. See her website and LinkedIn profiles, and get her book Dilemmas, Dilemmas: Practical Case Studies for Company Directors.

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Capital Campaigns #5: Choosing Your Campaign Objectives

Choosing-Your-Campaign-Objectives.

A basic concept of capital campaigns is that you shouldn’t need to go beyond the smallest number of major donors necessary to reach your goal.

Referencing Tuesday’s posting, however, the decision you must make is what you want to accomplish with your campaign.

If you want to keep it simple, and all you want/need is to raise a specific dollar amount, that’s at one end of the scale — nice, short, simple and really, really, inexpensive.*

At the other end of the scale is the involvement of “the whole community/constituency.” That’s where you create an elaborate campaign leadership structure, run your campaign over 6 or 12 or 24 months, involve as many volunteers as can be put to work productively, and get as many people as possible to become donors … at a significantly greater expense than the bare bones scenario.**

Depending on the organization and its community/constituency, there may be many good reasons for involving a greater number of people than needed to reach your campaign goal.

In any community/constituency there are likely to be more important/influential/wealthy people than can be appropriately fitted into the basic campaign leadership structure, but they are people you might want to have involved … just to get/keep them involved with the organization.

But, any time you recruit leaders to be part of a campaign, you must have a legitimate, productive, worthwhile activity for them to lead – an activity that will add significant dollars to the amount raised. And, those leaders must get appropriate recognition for their leadership and accomplishments.

To legitimately expand your leadership cadre, you must expand the numbers of potential campaign donors to be solicited. You might also want to expand your campaign donor base to get as many members of your community/constituency involved in the process/project. Community buy-in, a feeling of ownership in the organization and the project, engenders greater long-term community/constituent support.

And, any time you get people to give to a campaign, no matter the amount given, they must feel that their contribution is helping the campaign reach its goal … and helping the community being served by the nonprofit.

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*The vast majority of campaigns come in at a cost of under ten-cents-on-the-dollar-raised; most campaigns come in at under a nickel.

**When you calculate return on investment for any but the most basic campaign, dollars-raised is only one factor. There’s no real way to calculate how what was spent on staff, publicity, mailings and events will result in more/greater contributions in the future – but, without doubt, there will be a return on that investment.

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Watch for Part #6 of Capital Campaigns, next Thursday, November 12th.
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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your basic fundraising program, your major gifts fundraising program or a capital campaign? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

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5 Strategies to Create Active Members on Your NGO Board

board members in a meeting

Probably one of the most frustrating things for an Executive Director is when their board members do not actively participate in events and fundraising. The problem is that without proper Board Training, many board members will never realize that it is a part of their role and responsibility as a board member to assist staff with types of actions.

But there are some strategies that can be used to successfully involve board members in these activities. They are:

  • Board training and orientation – Ensure that your board, both returning and new board members participate in board training and orientation. This is an opportunity for them to be reminded that assisting with fundraising and events is a part of their job descriptions.
  • Put it on the board meeting agenda – If the Executive Director and the Board Chairperson inform the board when events are coming up and ask who will be able to attend and help out. Make certain you remind them that if they can’t participate in this event, they will be expected to participate in the next event.
  • Invite board members to sit on planning committees – When you invite board members to help to plan events, it gives them a sense of ownership over what is happening and encourages them to get involved and stay involved.
  • Send out invitations to the event – Make sure your board members all receive an invitation. Include an RSVP request and a polite note informing them if they have not attended previous events, that you would appreciate their participation.
  • Give a presentation – Ask members of your board to give a presentation about something exciting that is happening in your organization, or ask them to make a speech. It’s hard to say “no” if you are expected to speak at the event.

Question of the Day: What other strategies have you used to encourage your board members to attend your NGO’s events and fundraisers?

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

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By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

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Job Satisfaction: Is it Time to Stay or Leave?

Young-business-woman-checking-satisfaction-checklist-box

Have you lost that “loving” feeling?

You’ve survived the layoffs, cut wages, reorganizations and other company changes. You‘re stressed out, fed up and ready to bolt.

On the other hand, the economy is going nowhere, the analysts aren’t sure if we’re in recovery, recession or something in-between and you’re being told “you have a job, be happy.”

So, should you stay or leave? Before you make that critical career decision, take a deep breath, assess your situation and do a cost benefit analysis.

First, consider the reasons to stay. For example:

1. Relationships matter more than money.
You may think you can find a job that will pay you more, but you will be leaving behind a wealth of relationships. When weighing your options, don’t forget the value of the network, the friends and professional colleagues you have now.

2. You are doing well compared to your peers.
Research shows that many people under estimate their skills and their prospects and over estimate others. Take the time to do a realistic assessment of what you have to offer and its value in today’s marketplace.

3. The grass is not always greener.
People, who are desperate to get out of a job, tend to see potential opportunities only outside their company. They enthusiastically take a new job and then realize they’ve gone from the preverbal frying pan into the fire.

Now, consider the reasons to leave. For example:

1. Your relationship with your boss is damaged beyond repair.
You have tried to mend it but you’re getting stonewalled. Yes, she may be a jerk but she is the boss and in a power struggle, you will probably lose.

2. Your values are at odds with the culture.
For example, your company is hierarchical and you want more influence over your job. It’s very hard for one person to change a culture unless he’s the CEO or has been brought in to change things.

3. Your stress level is way off the charts.
It’s affecting your physical or mental health and your relationships with family and friends. You’re burnt out, burnt up and dread going to work.

So what will it be – stay or leave?

In looking at the reasons to stay and the reasons to leave, which will have the best impact on your personal and career satisfaction? What will provide you with the most benefit today? What about tomorrow?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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Holiday PR Tips

Tips of scrabble letters on a blue background

Media Tactics That Get Attention

Holiday media is crammed with advertisers claiming to offer the latest and greatest everything for everybody. Get out your boxing gloves, because it’s a seasonal fight for media space and consumer attention.

How do you get a word in edge-wise? What’s holiday newsworthy, and how do you rise above the competition with editors who are equally bombarded (and equally stressed)?

Feature News Releases

Media Editors look for outstanding stories that will engage their readers’ emotions. You can get a feel for this prior to creating your news release:

  • Review their past feature stories for examples of what they deem worthy.
  • Look at their website or blog for more clues.
  • Call the Editor and ask! They’ll actually tell you exactly what they’re interested in.

For example, if you’re targeting a local newspaper that’s circulated to the general public, it may be a deeply-felt human interest story related to the holiday season. To make your story stand out, bring it home to the reader by highlighting heartfelt experiences of helping real people in severe or unusual need. Make it interesting by making it really different. For instance, in this year’s economy, it could be a family that’s newly homeless due to job loss and how your company helped them. And be sure to tie it to the holiday season. How can your company help give them some happiness this season, despite their circumstances?

Customize Your Holiday Media Campaign

Media Editors can spot a generic and inauthentic news release in about two seconds. Your one-size-fits-all story just won’t hit the mark most of the time. So DON’T send the same story to every media outlet.

Do some homework, and craft your basic story to the individual media type and their audience. For example, publicizing an event that’s open to the public and benefits a charity may be perfect for a public service space on a radio station. It could be written as an invitation with background information. That same press release targeting television could be more effective if something visual is highlighted, such as the faces of the children involved, and the happiness they feel. TV might cover the event and run it afterwards, instead of before.

Online Press Releases

For holiday press, human interest stories have an excellent opportunity to go viral. Write your story, make it short, and include photos. Release the story:

  • On your social network platform
  • Distributed to free online press release sites
  • Through your email database
  • In your newsletter

The chances of it going viral increase if you:

  • Run some kind of a contest (Photo submission? Story submission?)
  • Utilize video (make it funny!), or
  • Offer something free.

Timing and creativity are super important. So be BOLD!

What catches your eye during the holiday season?

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

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. 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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Being Patient with Life Lessons

Life cycle on a gray background

Excerpted from Linda’s forthcoming book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand”

A colleague taught me an expression I really like- “You are a perfect expression of who you are at this moment in time. You can be nothing other than that.” If you continually judge people based on their worst behavior, you won’t find the gift that they offer. Rather than staying stuck in your judgments, shift to see a troublesome co-worker as capable of being kind, caring, or compassionate. Even if they don’t exhibit these qualities in the moment, see through their behaviors to what lies beneath- a soul being experiencing life.

Accepting others’ frailties and faults requires patience. We all have things to learn. And we encounter those who help us learn our spiritual lessons. Imagine a co-worker you really would like to change. What are they there to teach you? What are they mirroring for you that you need to see in yourself? They have been brought to you at this divinely inspired time for your growth and learning.

For example, if you are supervised by someone poorly skilled, there may be a lesson in there for you on patience or tolerance. Rather than stewing in frustration at someone’s incompetence, especially if there is nothing you can do about it, remind yourself, “We’re all doing the best job we can at any moment.” I also like this quote “Have patience with me, God isn’t done with me yet.” What a great reminder that we are all a work in progress!

When you get frustrated with someone who seems to learn their lessons more slowly than you would like, look back at times when it took you several dozen or several hundred attempts to master an important life skill or spiritual lesson. Honor and bless their journey of learning, as you deepen your own. Find patience and forgiveness in that moment and practice letting the rest go. Staying attached to your frustration or resentment doesn’t do you or anyone else any good.

If you can find ways to help someone learn skills they seem to be lacking, then provide that assistance. Just remember, people generally receive help only when they are ready to shift out of their past patterns. You can’t teach someone who isn’t ready to learn. Instead of worrying about what the other needs to learn, focus on the spiritual work waiting for you. Till your own fertile soil and see what you can get to blossom there.

I love this quote as a greeting for others. Imagine how different our work environments would be if we saw each other in this way every day:

I greet that place in you wherein resides the Center of the Universe

I greet that place in you wherein resides Truth, and Beauty, and Peace and Love.

I greet that place in you where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me,

We are One.

Namaste

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

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her first book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

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PR Gone Loko

Crisis on a black background

Popular drink maker’s poor crisis communications could be its downfall

You would think one of the nation’s largest independent PR firms would know better than to argue with a reporter, but when Edelman PR, which represents Phusion Projects, makers of the controversial caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko, contacted the writers of a Seattle Weekly blog asking them to change the wording of a post, they only provided fodder for another damaging post. Here’s the full exchange, from the Seattle Weekly:

The flack took issue with Caleb’s statement that Four Loko “has the alcoholic equivalent of five or six caffeinated beers.” (No objection was made to his describing the drink as tasting like “Thor’s piss.”) Said Edelman:

This statement is not correct…Please remove this error from the online version of your story and please use the correct information from the materials we provided.

We looked at the materials provided, which said a can of Four Loko is 12 percent alcohol by volume. Well, that’s almost three times the abv of a can of PBR. And a can of Four Loko, at 23 ounces, is roughly twice the size. So that works out to five or six beers’ worth of alcohol per can.

But hey, we’re always open to a second check of our math. OK, we replied, How many beers would you say a can of Four Loko is equal to?

It depends on the beer–domestics or the high-end crafts or imports.

How about an “average beer”?

What’s an average beer? A Bud or a craft /Euro beer with considerably higher alcohol content by volume?

Given that your typical Phusion Projects customer isn’t likely to be choosing between Four Loko and a Grolsch, this response seemed evasive to the point of silliness.

Indeed, the Edelman representative insisted that wine was the better analogy, as if the Four Loko customer might opt for a light Pinot instead.

A can of Four Loko is equal to about 2 glasses of wine.

But even that’s complete horseshit. Yes, Four Loko has about the same alcohol by volume as your average wine. But your typical serving of wine is about 5 ounces. Which means there’s actually close to five glasses of wine in a can of Four Loko.

Behavior like that of the Edelman representative is what earned PR professionals the unsavory nickname, “spin doctors.” At this point, Phusion Projects is facing criticism of its drink purely for its physical dangers, but by attempting to muddy the facts about their client’s products, Edelman is actually laying the foundation for another crisis. With several high-visibility hospitalizations in the past weeks being attributed to Four Loko, Phusion Projects would be better off acknowledging the possible problems and publicly working with officials to find a solution.

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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. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

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Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You….

Young lady ponders on a question

 

It’s appropriate penning this blog on the Day After the Day of The Dead election date. The votes are in, the surprises are in. The Republicans are back — in most places! Seems like only yesterday they were here (shall we call them Zombies?!). Is this the change we can believe in? For many Democrats who served for decades and are suddenly today looking for a new line of work, it probably is.

Let’s go back to a seemingly simpler time when an elected politician stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Great words that echo through time and transcend partisan political lines. Of course it was John. F Kennedy who uttered them near the close of his inaugural address in 1961.

But this blog is not about politics, or great American rhetoric (or zombies), it’s about PR issues, so let’s look at this sentence. It’s as powerful a piece of American patriotism, summoning fellow country men and women to serve their nation’s ideals in whatever capacity that has ever been written. But Kennedy didn’t write it. His speechwriter, Theodore Sorenson, did. Sorenson died the day before the election. But his gifted use of language in this one line of a speech, simple but poetic, clever but not self-serving, brief but powerful and enduring, will live on.

Strong writers breathe life into words. If your public relations m.o. doesn’t start and end with a proven writer crafting your headlines, making the content in subsequent paragraphs stand out and leaving a memorable impression on those who read your news releases, Tweets or other communiqués, you are already at a disadvantage.

We’re not talking about having the commas in all the right places (that’s what good copy editors are for). But we are talking about what one longtime business journalist in the Twin Cities always insists on, whether it’s his own copy, that of a fellow journalist or a PR person that just bombarded him again with a pitch and press release: “Make it sing!”

Despite the preponderance of words in all the communication channels of the 21st century — and the corrosive effect text messaging is having on language and attention spans — good writing is still a highly valued skill, and a talent that can’t always be taught. Treat your written PR pieces for the gems that they should be. And if you have a truly gifted writer on staff, bump that scribe a raise, before he or she runs off for another profession.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Public and Media Relations.

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Martin Keller runs Media Savant Communications Co., a Public Relations and Media Communications consulting company based in the Twin Cities. Keller has helped move client stories to media that includes The New York Times, Larry King, The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, plus many other magazines, newspapers, trade journals and other media outlets. Contact him at kelmart@aol.com, or 612-729-8585