Year: 2010

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Sally’s First Day

Woman Sits in Front of Black Laptop Computer

Sally was so excited she couldn’t sleep. She kept playing the next day over and over in her head. She would arrive to her new job (her first “real job”) exactly ten minutes early dressed in the new business suit she received as a graduation present accessorized with a brand new leather Franklin Covey planner. She couldn’t help but to smile as she imagined being greeted by excited coworkers while receiving the full red carpet treatment she would receive as the newest employee at Dream Company, Inc. Her day would be busy and filled with introductions to co-workers who couldn’t wait to hear all the ideas she has to make things better at Dream Company, Inc.

When the alarm sounded the next morning at 6 a.m., Sally sprang out of bed as the excitement of the day masked her fatigue of a restless night sleep. As planned, she arrived at Dream Company, Inc. promptly at 7:50 am.

If your company was Dream Company, Inc., how would Sally’s story go from here? How long would it take for the honeymoon to end? Would Dream Company, Inc continue to be the dream she expected? What about her motivation? Would her immediate manager or peer group have a negative or positive effect on her? How does your culture support Sally?

Feel free to write the ending of the story and post comments about story telling in learning.

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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.

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Hands, Feet and Heart

Women colleagues talking while listening to their feelings and needs

“When you work, you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music” Kahlil Gibran

It’s been said in various faith traditions that God works through our feet and hands. Every day you get an opportunity to express God’s gifts through your work. As you share your gifts with the world, you are manifesting the Divine expression of Who You Are.

  • Do you see your work as an expression of your Divine gifts?
  • Do you see yourself as a Divine Being moving in the world?

You may find yourself caught up in your mundane tasks, the daily busyness, the time pressures or your performance goals that you pay more attention to what your hands and feet are doing (or your mouth and mind) than what your heart is doing. Our heart is what helps us connect to others and share our Divine Essence here on earth. Your ability to care about others, to deeply listen to someone, to offer acts of kindness are simple ways that God moves through you out into the world. Your feet and hands do the work, but your heart is what makes it all matter.

Here are some tips you can practice this week to engage your heart while you are working:

1. Listen when someone is hurting

2. Tell someone what you appreciate about them

3. Sit quietly and radiate loving kindness

4. Breathe deeply when someone criticizes you

5. Offer an apology when you react out of stress

6. Forgive someone who takes credit for your work

7. Forgive yourself for being less than perfect

8. Be patient with someone who unfairly judges you

9. Look past someone’s shortcomings to see them as a Divine Being

10. Build a temple of peace in your heart

I offer this revised Passover blessing for you to remember how to use your hands and feet and heart at work:

‘May I remember to use my powers to heal and not to harm,

to help and not to hinder,

to bless and not to curse,

to serve You O Spirit of Life’

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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 book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

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Incentive-based Compensation

Young professional in her office

Many startup businesses set up incentive or commission-based compensation systems for their initial employees. This is often done because they can’t afford to pay staff what they’re worth. As an enticement they offer the opportunity to earn much more than a smallish base salary if these early staff achieve great success. This is common in the for-profit world, for business managers and sales staff; and today many nonprofits or hybrid organizations are exploring this kind of compensation also, mostly for the same reasons.

We tend to get two questions about incentives: Do they work? What percentage?

First, yes, financial incentives work. Offer to pay someone extra if certain results are achieved, and they will go the extra mile to accomplish those results. But only if those results are achievable and clearly, verifiably and consistently measured, if the people offered the incentives have the right skills, and if the rewards are commensurate with the level of effort required. Otherwise – and this happens many times — people get motivated to do the wrong things (sales staff argue about accounting issues and who gets credit for the sale), or they get set up for failure (it’s too difficult to hit targets so they become resentful). So if you use incentives, define your targets carefully and use them with people and situations where there is a reasonable opportunity to succeed. Otherwise you’ll waste money and poison the well, both problems startup business cannot afford.

Secondly, it can be equally challenging to figure out what percentage to pay. Many questions need to be addressed first. What’s your profit margin? How hard is to get a sale? Does the product mostly sell itself or is the sales person the key to success? What do other companies selling similar products pay their sales staff? In most cases, sales commissions are based on sales rather than profits, in part because sales are easier to measure and verify than profits. You don’t want your sales person fighting with your numbers person on how net profit was calculated.

Finally, to throw out some numbers, we’ve seen sales commissions ranging from 5% to 20% of sales. And for venture or business managers, where the commission is typically based on profit rather than sales (and base salaries are larger), we’ve seen figures in the 5-10% range. But mileage may vary, so do your homework before committing to one figure or another.

What do you think?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Business Planning.

Copyright © 2010 Rolfe Larson Associates – Fifteenth Anniversary, 1995 – 2010. Author of Venture Forth! Endorsed by the late Paul Newman of Newman’s Own. Read our weekly blogs on Social Enterprise and Business Planning. Subscribe to our free social enterprise listserv.

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Satisfied Customers – Do You Know if Yours Are?

Young confused man raises hand wondering

In our world of customer service, it is our mission to keep customers.

“It is a privilege to serve you”, that is what the Banker told me today when I called for information regarding refinancing. Do your employees believe that serving your clients is a privilege? Do your clients feel like they are appreciated?

Nowadays a lot of consumer product and service companies are asking for feedback. Some companies incorporate the ‘how are we doing’ insight as a deep part of their company culture. Salesforce.com has a place for employees and customers alike to log their feedback. In “Behind the Cloud”, http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-Salesforce-com-, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff explains how and why they spent money to build their IdeaExchange forum. Many e-commerce sites ask at the end of a sale for feedback about the shopping experience. Brick and Mortar stores are now enticing shoppers to log in and provide feedback on their shopping experience in exchange for a ‘prize’.

What about the business-to-business companies? With customers locked into contracts, the same drive to listen and improve is not always as entrenched into the company culture. We can change that. Start by listening.

CUSTOMER SURVEYS

There are several easy-to-use, cost-effective online survey solutions now to help you launch a Listening Campaign. Polaris Marketing provides you with some sample questions if you are new at this. Survey Monkey, Question Pro, and Zoomerang are just a few online resources that will not only help you with the logistics of doing a survey but also help you formulate a strategy so you get the answers you need.

Online Surveys are not the only option. Make calls to a % of your client base every quarter or send out a brief survey with your monthly invoice. Depending on your product or service, this simple effort may be a huge differentiator for you.

Make sure your survey will give you actionable feedback. In other words, ask questions that will give you answers about specific experiences as your customer so you will know what to fix. General questions like “ Are you happy with your experience in working with us” give you a good indication of how your customers are feeling, but if they answer in a negative way you won’t know what part of the experience needs fixing.

ACTION PLANS

Once you are ready to rollout a survey, you still have much more work to do. The most important element in asking for feedback is deciding what you are going to do about what the surveys say. Don’t bother asking if you don’t intend to allocate the time, resources or money to making changes.

Now it is time to put the feedback into actionable – who, by when and how – plans to make changes. You won’t be able to fix everything at once, but it is important for both your employees and your customers to see real change as a result of the surveys. Be realistic about what you can accomplish and set both short-term and long-term goals.

AND REPEAT

Now that you have launched your Listening Campaign, you will have the process for next time all mapped out. Quarterly? Semi-Annually? Annually? Whatever timeline works best for you and your business to ensure the feedback is put to use.

“There’s a big difference between showing interest and really taking interest.”

— Michael P. Nichols
The Lost Art of Listening

Barb Lyon, Consultant – Customer Service Strategies


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Managing Boundaries in Systems

Man Wearing White Dress Shirt and Black Necktie

Organization Development is all about change in work systems. Everybody talks about systems but what does that mean? General Systems Theory is an organizational theory. It is integrative, in that it is a study of “wholeness” and it is interdisciplinary. It is based on a biological derivative it is a method of organizing complexity. (And you thought it was just a word). I have come to believe that we need a more sophisticated understanding of systems and this is first and foremost a way of seeing the world.

Look around and you will see “systems” everywhere. The first thing you have to do is look for the boundaries. The boundary’s that encompass a team, like who is in and who is out, what is the purpose of the system and what are its boundaries? Information passes in and out through boundaries. Systems manage their boundaries, for better of for worse: too open boundaries threaten the system with a loss of identity, too tight and the systems tend to run down. All systems operate on a steady-state called homeostasis and they operate within norms and standards. There is a set performance level and gaining entry, as an outsider is tough because systems filter what’s plausible and realistic to them and who is not.

For Example,

Consider the internal consulting team where we developed, what we called our PWI Index. PWI was shorthand for a “perceived weirdness index”. What we recognized was that to cross the boundaries and be accepted as useful by the technology groups – you had to be enough like them, so they would allow you to cross the boundary and perhaps have influence upon them AND you had to be enough different to make a contribution. We were a pretty creative group, as people tend to be doing this work. The people in this consulting group were funny and they were irreverent. We knew in a trivial sense that crossing boundaries we had to put on different costumes. Working with the administrative groups, it was all suits and Land’s End; working with the lab folks (where the real work was happening) it was sneakers, sometimes without socks. A wise man once said to me that to do this work required social sensitivity and behavioral flexibility. You have to be astute in sensing the social norms and flexible enough to cross boundaries and not lose yourself.

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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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Team Building vs Team Development

An-office-team-engaged-in-A-team-building-activity

Travel budgets slashed, bonuses unlikely and the prospect of redundancies. Now is probably not the time to ask for cash to fund the annual team building day but it might be the precisely the right time for some team development.

Team Building vs Team Development
Team Building vs Team Development

The phrase team building has risen in prominence in recent years as employers realised the value of a happy workforce where, despite their differences, team members are able to get along. For many, team building is simply about getting away from the office for a celebratory meal, drink or day out and there is some value in this. It creates a social context and allows colleagues space to become friends.

In the same way that a builder differs from a developer in the property world, team development is similar but distinctly different. Builders will turn up and build a wall, whereas a developer sees the potential for that wall to become a terrace of houses. Team development is a process in which a team takes time to explore its potential – how it can become greater than it’s been before. Continue reading “Team Building vs Team Development”

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Asking For The Major Gift – Part 2 of 3

solicitors-trying-to-convince-donors-for-fundraising

Raising money from wealthy people is not the same as asking buddies at work to kick in a few bucks or selling cookies. The size of the gifts expected in those cases is rather small and not a lot of cultivation goes into the process.

People who are major gifts prospects have (more than likely) been Asked before. They know what the process entails and they are expecting to be asked. If they didn’t want to be part of the process, they would likely have made that clear at some point.

So, we come back to the question of how to ask for the gift.

Let me first give an example of phrasing that SHOULD NEVER be part of the Ask: “Anything/any amount you can give would really help!!”

The Ask must be for a specific dollar figure. It must be for an amount that (both solicitor and donor will know) will make possible one-or-more specific activities or programs that are essential to the mission of the NPO and will provide specific types of help to a particular constituency. It must also be a gift amount that will have an end result desired by the donor – helping a specific group of people and/or having his/her name prominently displayed.

It’s usually a question of credibility. When it becomes time for the Ask, the cultivator/solicitor and the prospective donor (should) have had a number of conversations about the NPO’s plans/programs/financial needs and/or the donor’s needs as relates to the NPO.

The prospect has been evaluated, the total amount of money to be raised (the goal) for the current fiscal year (or for a specific project) has been determined by a development planning process that “relies on” receipt of a specific number of gifts at specific dollar amounts.

In addition, and just as important, the prospect already knows (as a result of those conversations, noted above) what it will take to make “it” happen. The Ask is not just for a dollar amount; it is for a specific dollar amount that is needed to ensure creation/enhancement of a program/activity/service and/or the naming of a program or a (part of a) building.

To ask for any amount less than what will do the job is to say that all the preceding conversations have been nothing but hot air, that there’s not really an important need to be satisfied and people to be helped, that the NPO and the cultivator/solicitor aren’t to be taken seriously !!
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Watch for Part 3 of this topic – This Friday

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

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Get Your Career Back on Track

Man Wearing White Sweater and Black Shorts About to Run on a track

career back on trackDoes this sound familiar? You’ve spent the last several years working hard but never seem to get ahead. You’ve avoided the corporate ax, all right. You’ve seen others come and go and, at times, you’re grateful just to have a job.

But there are some moments when you cannot help but admit that you feel let down. Why aren’t you getting ahead? Here are 7 tips to get your career back on track and moving forward.

1. Take a hard look at where you are.
Are you getting paid a salary that is commensurate with your contribution to your company? Can you point to a list of successes that somehow added to the company bottom line or mission?

If not, start looking for opportunities to quickly upgrade your skills or take on more responsibilities or solve an ongoing problem. It’s important to be seen as a valuable asset – an indispensable employee.

2. Take a hard look at where your company is.
Perhaps your lack of progress is tied to the adverse conditions affecting your organization. How is your department doing? How is the rest of the company doing? What are its short and long term prospects? Is it time to move on?

3. Identify any wrong turns.
Have you taken a job in the past that somehow took you off into another direction, away from your goal? Figure out how you can use that detour to your advantage. Start plotting you way back to the main road.

4. Assess what you’re selling.
Update your accomplishment file. Look at it from the perspective of a potential employer, even if that’s your present employer. What skills and achievements do you bring to the table? How do you compare to your peers and more importantly to the emerging leaders? What do you need to do to enhance your competitiveness?

5. Strengthen inside contacts.
In selecting them, think primarily about two types. Those who can best promote your interests and those who are in a position to know where the potholes and opportunities are in the organization. It’s valuable to have strong ties with people in both groups.

6. Gets your name on projects.
The first thing is to get appointed to or even volunteer for projects, task forces or short term assignments. Focus on work that will give you quick results and visibility throughout the organization.

7. Strengthen outside contacts.
Keep in touch with people in your own and related fields. Go to lunch with colleagues, attend conferences and join professional groups. Bring back information to your boss, try out new techniques that can impact your department, or even give a class on something you’ve learned.

Career Success Tip

It may become apparent that your best opportunity lies outside your present organization. It may be time to move on. However, look before you leap. The grass may, or may not, not be greener someplace else.

Well it’s time to stop thinking about it; it’s time to start doing something about it. What are you going to do to get your career back on track?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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Being a project manager means

there will be times when you will not be the most popular person in the room ……

Much of the lot of the project manager is concerned with dealing with issues; that may mean bringing attention to issues, their source, impact and resolution to the table for the project team, sponsors and executives to resolve. In these circumstances, project mangers need to be: open; ruthlessly objective; focused; and visionary. Not every individual would relish this responsibility, for example, in a recent conversation with wanna-be project managers, many practical examples of issues that PMs may face were discussed – not everyone in the room was happy about being responsible for managing their resolution and what this would entail in real life.

Testing issues such as this should be an important element of selecting project managers as well as defining their responsibilities.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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K is for Kindness

Be Kind Lettering on White Surface

When was the last time you practiced random acts of kindness at your workplace? This could be a fun way for you to spread your spirit and show kindness. You can spread your kindness a variety of ways – a kind act of service, a kind word of encouragement or a kind thought that you send their way. We all know that the little things we do go a long way!

Lovingkindess

An inspiring story I heard about lovingkindness comes from the book Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out by Marcy Shimoff and Carol Kline. Not only does this story show us a simple way we can show kindness, but also illustrates the powerful impact it has on us as well. When I first heard of this story about a year ago, I thought it was a good idea. Then I heard it again a few months later and tried it a couple of times. The third time I heard it is when it “stuck” and I’ve been working ever since to make this a habit. (I also briefly mentioned this concept is in my H is for Happiness entry.)
CJ Scarlet Click here to find out more about CJ) suffered from a chronic, life-threatening illness that she cured herself within a year from by choosing to focus on the happiness of others – from family members to strangers – through wishing people lovingkindness. She shared in the book that it transformed her life when she shifted to focusing 100% on what would bring happiness to others. Here is how it transformed her, “And when I wished them happiness, I felt a wave of love for them, which sometimes led to action and at other times was just a prayer, a heartfelt desire for their happiness. I started to see everyone as beautiful.”
I couldn’t agree more! I’ve been having so much fun sending lovingkindness to all those I encounter. I figure most of us get enough negative energy coming our way, so why not spread something positive instead! I’m so grateful that this kindness habit has transformed the way I see people and has help eliminate the judgments I might have previously felt toward others.
CJ’s final thoughts from the book are a great transition; closing this entry on kindness and previewing the next entry on love. “The most powerful force for good is the loving compassion that resides in our hearts. It was the flow of love that healed my body and today has become a bubbling, clear spring of happiness in my life.”

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

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a challenge to inspire people to be more grateful.