Year: 2010

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Overcoming Social Media Concerns

Social media icons on a mobile phone screen

One of the biggest concerns companies have about venturing onto social media is a fear that detractors, competitors or others who dislike their brand will comment publicly, venting their problem and leaving open the door for a lot of negative viral buzz. Their thinking is that if they aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or any of the other major sites, those naysayers or disgruntled types will have no public venue through which to flog them. The fatal flaw in this strategy is that angry consumers or clients don’t need a home base through which to damage a company and its reputation. They have their own home base through their individual social media platforms.

This quote is from a featured article in the latest Crisis Manager newsletter. Written by much lauded online branding and marketing expert Cindy Ratzlaff, the article explains in clear terms why avoiding social media not only fails to stop stakeholders from speaking poorly about an organization but actually inflames what would otherwise be minor issues because they are left unheard and unresolved.

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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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Top Viral Ads of All Time

Astonish woman with shocked expression

Fascinating! One of the most fun and challenging aspects of marketing – now exposed. Ad Age magazine just published their professional look at successful viral ads.

According to Ad Age reporter Michael Learmonth, 100 million views is the top tier of viral. The very top of the top is, “Will it Blend?” by Blendtec. It’s a brilliant creative that’s been around for four years. The company found a winning formula and stuck with it.

Interested in tracking the top viral ads? Keep this link among your favorites and enjoy the wonder of those who achieve the top viral distinction – against all odds: Ad Age’s Viral Chart.

The Top 10 Viral Videos of All Time

Brand Campaign Agency All Time Views* Launch Date
Blendtec Will It Blend? In-house 134,256,499 10/30/06
Evian Live Young BETC Euro RSCG 103,867,704 6/4/09
Old Spice Responses Wieden & Kennedy 57,132,669 7/12/10
Pepsi Gladiator AMV BBDO 46,742,892 1/1/04
Microsoft Xbox Project Natal World Famous 42,698,599 6/1/09
Dove Evolution Ogilvy & Mather 41,100,418 10/1/06
T-Mobile T-Mobile Dance Saatchi & Saatchi 35,487,575 1/15/09
Doritos Crash The Super Bowl 2010 Goodby Silverstein & Partners 34,168,845 1/5/10
Old Spice Odor Blocker Wieden & Kennedy 33,986,750 3/31/10
DC Shoes Gymkhana Two In-house 32,872,531 9/3/09
Source: Visible Measures

For the full Ad Age article, see The Top 10 Viral Videos of All Time

How to make an ad go viral

Your marketing message doesn’t have to be a video to go viral – but it helps. Basically, several common elements are essential to launch your ad to viral status.

  1. It’s emotional. Both positive and negative emotional experiences are ripe for passing around. In fact, the more emotionally intense, the greater likelihood that it will travel.
  2. It performs a public service. “Just click here and this sponsor will donate a can of dog food to the rescue shelter. Then forward to six friends.” Awwww. Who can hit delete?
  3. It’s funny. We all need an ear-to-ear feel-good during our harried and overwhelming schedules.

What’s your favorite viral ad? Why?

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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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Coaching Your Top Performers

A coach with his student

A guest post by Terrence Seamon

I recently watched a documentary on TV about the finalists in the 2009 international Van Cliburn piano competition held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas. These young virtuosos were incredibly talented, the best pianists in the world from many countries including the U.S., Japan, Russia, China, Italy, South Korea, and Bulgaria. Extraordinarily competitive, hard working, and driven to be the very best, these world class musicians are top performers. And they thrive on performing, practice, coaching and feedback.

We have all known top performers. Some of us have even been top performers at one point or another. Top performers, such as the Van Cliburn pianists, your top salespeople, or a rising star with “hi-potential,” can benefit by coaching as much as anyone. Perhaps even more so if you look at the parallel to the world’s top athletes, e.g. Olympians. Every skier, skater, swimmer and diver that competes in the Olympics has a coach and receives coaching. Although these athletes are the very best in their respective sports, they are driven to stay on top, to enhance their performance, to learn new things, and to stay mentally tough and focused. So they “get” the value of coaching.

In business organizations, Managers are often at a loss as to how to coach these “stars,” especially those that seem arrogant and immune to influence and change. Yet those employees need coaching as much as anyone. The key is to understand them, especially their needs and drives. And apply such principles as:

Communicate and Connect – The only way to know what your top performer needs is to connect with her and open a channel of honest communication between you. Get to know the top performer. Learn about her goals. Ask how you can support her. Build trust.

Ask for their ideas – Top performers get to the top by consistently delivering superior results. They are also constantly improving what they do. Seek their ideas for improvement. When you are faced with a thorny problem that has no obvious solution, ask the top performer for their thoughts.

Utilize their capabilities – If there is one thing that top performers hate, it is to be under-utilized. Challenge them and push them. Keep raising the bar.

Show your appreciation – Do you want to retain your top performer? If so, let them know you appreciate them and the contribution they make to the team and to the organization.

Expose them to new – Top performers love to learn new ways, especially if they sense that the new approach will enable them to stay at the top in their field.

Recently on LinkedIn, someone asked: What do you do if a top performer is resistant to being coached? Should you simply get out of the top performer’s way? Should you “carry water” for them? Cater to them in order to keep them happy and prevent their jumping ship?

There is always a need for coaching, in my mind. But it’s vital to assess what the performer most needs. Without a clear and agreed upon need, this star performer may just get irritated with you. And they may resist your coaching. Ask yourself: Could the behavior that seems to signal “resistance” be something else? Could it be impatience? Could it be arrogance? Maybe the performer is unconvinced that the coach has anything of value to offer.

Coming back to the Van Cliburn winners, the three medalists were selected from 12 finalists. As the documentary unfolded, the filmmakers gave us a profile of each competitor. While nearly all fit the profile outlined above, there were a couple who did not. Yes, they were incredibly talented and Olympian in stature on the world classical music stage. But they were full of themselves. They wouldn’t listen. They were resistant to coaching. And they lost.

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.

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Leading Dynamically: Achieve What Others Say is Impossible

A dynamic leader having a meeting with his team members

Written by Kristine Quade, JD, MSOD, HSDP

Environmental conditions are changing rapidly; in these shifting conditions, traditional leadership models are not working. Information is available to everyone, at any time. Social networks are eroding the established hierarchy. Product development cycle times are increasing at a shocking pace. Market conditions are being set by a different set of rules. How can any modern-day leader function effectively given these enormous challenges?

In these turbulent times where outcomes are unpredictable, those who lead dynamically are succeeding. Dynamical leaders pay attention to three conditions to ensure an effective, highly functioning organization: coherence, resilience, and fitness. The leader who masters these conditions will achieve what others say is impossible!

Coherence

Coherence can be thought of as an interdependence of parts. An organization needs to be coherent with market conditions to remain a player in a given strategic space. Departments need coherence to ensure a strong coordination of activity. Teams need coherence of behavior to effectively work for the organization’s benefit. Patterns that build coherence are those that keep communication open and honest, ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities, build shared identity, and create a rhythm of high performance.

Resilence

Resilience is the ability to integrate, re-calibrate and recover quickly when challenged. The normal inclination is to fall back to familiar ground, carefully exploring until the change becomes familiar once again. Resilient leaders are constantly placing themselves in unfamiliar conditions, stretching their capacity to absorb and adjust. They seek what is different in perspective, approach, or opinion; connect across boundaries; and explore new ideas and technologies like a curious scientist. Resilient leaders are constantly looking for constraints in their thinking, decision-making, relationships, and behavior. They actively explore their filters, viewpoints, and judgments, constantly seek ways to break constraints and keep themselves open and adaptable. Patterns that build resilience include utilization of multiple perspectives, ongoing learning, and establishing feedback mechanisms for recycling learning back into the system for continued expansion of potential. The cycle of exploration and knowledge generation comes from external markets, interactions with customers, attention to shifting conditions, and curiosity of teammates. A resilient leader notices patterns of creativity, exploration, collaboration, and integration.

Fitness

Leaders who understand fitness are not thinking about athletics. Instead, they are constantly scanning their environment for potential surprises. They regard blips and trends as pieces of a larger puzzle to be solved. They know that these changes offer valuable information that beckons them to make meaning for their organization. These leaders have inquiring minds and seek to build organizational cultures that candidly talk about what is being noticed, are patient with different perspectives, and discern emerging patterns from random blips and trends.

How does paying attention to coherence, resilience and fitness ensure the capacity to accomplish what others think is impossible? Some leaders choose to focus their attention on building coherence. They focus on clarity of mission, vision, values, process improvements, performance objectives, and measurements. YES! These are needed and necessary. But they are not the only conditions for success. Coherence forms the ground floor of an effective organization, but what keeps an organization alive is resilience and fitness—the ability to adapt to what is important.

Sad as it may be, the environmental conditions we are experiencing now prohibit many organizations from developing a five-year strategic plan that is fully executionable. Dynamical leaders know their approach to business opportunities require constant vigilance for shifting environmental conditions and the ability to adapt with urgency. Operating in these conditions means that leaders must expand their focus grow their organizations capability to be resilient and fit into an environment of rapid change.

If you wish to learn more about this type of thinking and how to become a dynamical leader, check out the schedule for presentations and/or workshops on http://www.DynamicalLeadership.com .

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Steve Wolinski provides leadership development, organizational change and talent management services to numerous public, private and non-profit organizations. Website, Email.

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Choosing Happiness

The words "choose joy" written on a paper

There are plenty of things to worry us, just turn on the TV or radio news. During times of uncertainly or stressful work conditions, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget who you are as a spiritual being. You may be asking, ‘OK, how do I feel happiness when I have deadlines in front of me or we are buried in work?’ I suggest you look at what you are bringing to the table. Look at how you are demonstrating happiness at work. When you bring your Light to work, you light up the workplace around you.

Think of three things you can do this week to bring your Light to work. Maybe it’s something small like smiling when you see a co-worker who’s stressed, maybe it’s offering to help someone on a project they are working on. Maybe you need to stretch yourself somehow to show you care about someone at work. Look around your workplace and be intentional this week to do some small act of kindness. You’ll feel better by doing it. Then when you catch yourself upset about something, choose happiness. Ask yourself, how can I choose happiness (joy, love, peace) over this? Caroline Myss reminds us, “Happiness is an inside job”.

Next time you go into a meeting, pay attention to whether you are worried or looking for good things to happen. You solicit more ideas and information when you believe someone has something positive to contribute. The Self-fulfilling Prophecy is powerful- what you expect is usually what you receive.

Think of a time recently when you responded to someone’s questions and ideas- was it with a sense of caring and understanding or was it with a sense of tension and fear? I’m guessing you are more open to hearing people’s ideas and seeing new possibilities when you are in a positive frame of mind than when you are worried, grumpy, or frustrated. You’re far more likely to get someone to help you out or focus on your needs when you are open and supportive of them.

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. It has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Martin Seligman, considered the founder of Positive Psychology, has written extensively on Authentic Happiness as a way to feel more satisfied, to be more engaged with life, find more meaning, have higher hopes, and probably even laugh and smile more, regardless of one’s circumstances. What helps you be authentically happy?

I’ll end with this quote “ Happiness is best kept when given away”. When do you give away your happiness? Let us know what happens when you do. Enjoy the journey!

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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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Philippine Police Overhaul

Police officer on a motorcycle

In a move aimed at improving both skills and image, higher ups in the Philippine police forces have directed commanders to review their forces for crisis management capabilities. The Manilla Bulletin reports:

Police Regional Office 6 (PRO 6) Director, C/Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. during last Tuesday morning’s turn over of command ceremony at the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) specifically mentioned the “continuous retraining of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Public Safety Battalion units on anti-hostage and terrorism operations especially in bus, building, boat and airplane assault tactics.”

Following the recent hostage debacle top cops in the area had little choice but to take action, but it remains to be seen whether this is a true overhaul or merely a well-timed PR move.

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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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Who do you serve?

A-female-staff-in-an-HR-department

The workplace today is filled with its own set of politics and “workplace dynamics” as it sometimes called. There are power structures within the organization both formal and informal. Often times the informal leader has the strongest voice while the formal leader struggles with the very concept of guiding others or having them “follow them.” I have witnessed position power be overruled across industries and within multiple organizations by those persons in organizations that people follow despite their title or position. It is very likely that if you are an HR professional or employee anywhere that you too have witnessed this in your own organization.

Another question that is often asked that is also dictated by these power structures is, “who do you serve?” Many HR professionals believe they are working for their internal customers. Many claim to have gotten into the profession because they like helping people. (No judgment on that answer, I myself initially chose this profession due to the “human” aspect.) However, I wonder how many HR professionals out there are serving “the people” or “their internal customers?” At the end of the day, is that really the job of HR?

If you are and HR professional, what do you see as your “job”? Who are serving? Is it you job to serve the business or the people?

Your thoughts are 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 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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5 Page Business Plan: Wave of the Future?

Three businesspeople standing in front of a building

Lately I’ve been rethinking business plans. On the one hand, in the consulting and academic world, what is meant by a business plan is a fairly comprehensive research project with thorough analysis of issues including customers, markets, competitors, pricing, marketing strategies, risks – always followed with detailed multi-paged financial projections looking three to five years into the future. To create this kind of a plan, management works on it for months, or hires a consultant to do it for them. Either way, it’s not unusual to invest a hundred hours or more into creating it.

On the other hand, in most of the business world, what is generally meant by a business plan is a brief written statement indicating goals and overall steps for achieving those goals. The goals might relate to customers, sales, units sold, profits, facilities. It looks out a year, maybe two. This is something the owner or management puts together in a few meetings, when then gets updated every year or two.

These are two very different meanings of the term business plan, and I’m beginning to wonder if both are missing the mark. The comprehensive plan isn’t all that practical for small businesses or nonprofits that lack the time or dollars to do all that work, however valuable it might be to do so. And the brief plan can be very superficial to the point that it does little more than set ambitious goals with minimal guidance on what to do when the business encounters those pesky potholes in the road.

So here’s my idea for a third kind of plan, taking the best of both worlds. For now I’m calling it the Five Page Business Plan. Keep it short and simple, but still useful. It involves doing “just enough” research and analysis into “just the right areas” that will matter for achieving success with this business. Summarize all that in three pages of text, then a page of financial projections and a page about the expertise of the management team and the facilities and key equipment that will be utilized.

Can this offer the best of both worlds? It just might. Will it attract investors? I don’t know, but I do know they’re more likely to read it than the 38 page variety. When I get the chance, I’m going to convert some of the comprehensive plans I’ve written over the years into that format. The idea is to see if it’s possible to get into five pages all that is really important in a business plan. I think it can be done.

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 my weekly blogs on Social Enterprise and Business Planning

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5 Strategies for Non-profits to Use to Get Rid of a Deficit

Business professional developing strategies for nonprofitsl

I came across an article on “The Chronicle of Philanthropy” dated back to March of 2009 about non-profit deficits and how in the USA, the deficits are resulting in loss of programming, staff and services. You can find this article at http://philanthropy.com/article/Nearly-a-Third-of-Charities/63052/ .

In the non-profit world, “deficit” is almost a dirty word, falling into the ranks of other taboo words like “advocacy”. The article speaks of how one third of the non-profits in the USA had operating deficits in 2008. While in Canada, when I did research a few months ago, most said in census that they expected their funding to remain stable or actually increase. But non-profit deficits are what you have to deal with no matter where you are located in the world.

Some organizations that I have worked with, have run deficits for short times, but immediately developed a plan on how to get rid of the deficit. The most I have seen in a deficit is about 3% of the organization’s annual income. This is still manageable. But there are probably other non-profits in the world that run a deficit more often and with a higher percentage of their annual income. But if a non-profit is running a deficit, there are a few actions they can take. They are:

  • Reallocate some core funds – If your non-profit receives core funding, then you may be able to reallocate some of the core funds to cover the deficit, by finding economies in your core expenditures.
  • Donor fundraising – If your organization relies on donors, then it’s important to kick up your advertising campaign and get your board tapping into their contacts to help raise money to cover the deficit.
  • Grant fundraising – There are some grants out there that don’t have a lot of turnaround time. Most funders will not cover deficits, but if you find a funder who will pay for a part of a program that your core funding now pays for in the fiscal year that you are running the deficit, then you can direct those extra funds where you need them provided it abides by the agreement entered into with the first funder.
  • Bank line of credit – You could go to your financial institute and see if your organization can get a line of credit. Keep in mind, banks don’t lend you money when you need it, they loan it when they know you have income that will come in shortly that will cover the loan. So if your deficit occurs because of the timing of funder payments, you may be able to get a line of credit from your bank.
  • Go to your funder – If all else fails, contact your funder and explain the situation and see if there is anyway, your organization’s next funding cheque can be sent out sooner, explaining that it is a result of cash flow problems, if that is the problem.

Question of the Day: What strategies have you seen non-profits use to rid themselves of a deficit situation?

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

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Virgin Islands Hotels Weather Storm

Building Under the Cloudy Sky with Lightning

Hotels in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a popular tourist destination, were given a scare this week when the eye of Hurricane Earl passed within 65 miles of heavily populated St. Thomas island. While the clear need for crisis management was acknowledged by all, the way individual hotels handled the situation varied widely. TMC News has the story:

“There are certain core strategies that all the hotels keep,” said V.I. Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty. “But I think each of the branded properties have a certain corporate culture with how they deal with visitors. You’ll find variances from one hotel to the next, and you’ll see that difference with any type of crisis.” On St. Thomas at Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort and Spa, which caught the worst of the hurricane-force wind from the north, hotel visitors were given bag lunches, asked to stay in their rooms at 2 p.m. and were told an automated phone message service would inform them about dinner plans. No alcoholic beverages were served.

Less than five miles away at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef and Morningstar Beach Resort, which is on the St. Thomas south side and faced milder winds, there wasn’t an empty seat inside the lobby, as hotel guests socialized while playing board games, dominoes and cards. The bar was busy, the gift shop was thriving, and there was no talk of a curfew.

Luckily for everyone involved, the true capabilities of the hotels were not put to the test as the hurricane turned away from the islands and storms in the region began to dissipate. Although the storm’s brief business disruption may cause short-term financial losses as customers shy away from the region, there shouldn’t be any significant effects felt by local businesses.

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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.]