Year: 2010

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Share Your Business Success

A placard about success

Just like a big box of chocolates on Christmas day, any kind of Business Improvement Success is meant for sharing.

Sharing successes has numerous benefits in any business. These include raising “the awareness for change” across the business, closing knowledge gaps as well as inspiring others to take interest and use the same methods tools & techniques.

In sharing business related successes, I always find 4 key pieces of information are of most benefit to my recipients. These 4 elements allow my intended audience to relate to and understand all the important steps that eventually paved way for the good results

I call this the SOAR Model for sharing Business Improvement Success, an acronym representing the 4 pieces of information which are: SITUATION, OPPORTUNITY, ACTION & RESULTS

SITUATION

SITUATION is the “Before” scenario, providing a background to the success story so the audience can relate to what prompted the events to take place. Always describe the situation before any work was started and explain why it was necessary to take action. This could take the form of a “problem statement”. Photos, if applicable are a great way to illustrate the before scenario.

OPPORTUNITY

Describe how the Improvement Opportunity was presented, prioritised and agreed by the team and any supporting evidence such as data collected (e.g. Pareto charts). It’s also good to describe which other ideas were proposed and eventually discarded and the rationale behind your thought process including all the supporting data.

ACTION

Spell out exactly what actions were carried out by whom and when. Make this compelling and interesting. Also include details on how the team had to deal with any setbacks and obstacles. This is the section to convince the doubters that everything is possible.

RESULTS

This is the part you tell the whole world your fantastic results evidenced by the data recorded and showing the exciting trends and charts and how you surpassed the agreed Improvement Objectives. Its bragging time!

SOAR like an eagle.

How do you share success?

We have read with interest the response from Immigration Solicitors Luton

They have recently teamed up with uk spouse visa experts

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For more resources, see our Library topic Quality Management.
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P = Purpose

A focus, purposeful young female in an office

Wanting to have a sense of purpose at work is one of the key drivers for the spirituality in the workplace movement. You might have heard this question before, “What gets you out of bed in the morning (especially Monday morning)?” Those with a sense of purpose, who have a reason for being, want to get up in the morning. It might not look like they are doing anything more purposeful than anyone else, it’s just that they consciously choose to bring purpose to their work and life.

How did you find your sense of purpose?

For me, I’ve always been on this search to discover my purpose. As a little girl my father would tell me that God had a special purpose for my life. I had no idea what purpose meant, but it sounded important. Then I grew up to understand what purpose was and wanted to find out what mine was. Hundreds of books and hours later, I’ve come to a much better understanding what it means to live with a sense of purpose.

We have thousands of little choices to make each day. How do we know that we are going in the right direction? We don’t, unless we’ve put some thought into the direction or purpose we want for our lives. I have found that having a sense of purpose has changed my whole perspective in how I see my work. The long hours, tedious tasks and endless emails make it all worth it because I’m striving toward a fulfilling a great sense of purpose with my work. I know this vision won’t happen overnight, so every day I take pride with whatever work I’m doing. When I choose to look at my work as just what it is on the surface – just menial tasks or busy work – that is all it becomes. It then begins to feel something that is “beneath me” or something that I shouldn’t have to do. However, when I shift my perspective and see that the one stone that I’m laying right now – that tedious task – is part of this incredible mosaic that I’m purposefully creating.

Do you do have purposeful work OR do you bring purpose to your work?

I say the answer is both. The most ideal is when you can do both, often times it’s a harder journey to find the first one – the purposeful work – that will also pay the bills. Yet we always have a choice each day to bring purpose to our work. For example, maybe you are cleaning an office building. You can see it as just that – that you clean offices OR you can see it as you help create this incredible environment that allows others to tap into their greatest potential at work. Let’s use the analogy of an mosaic. Up close, cleaning an office, is like one plain stone. But when you step away to see how your work fits together in the bigger picture – you can see the beautiful mosaic.

An example

I’ve been working on a project redesigning some curriculum, a program called Renewing Life, for Pathways, a nonprofit organization. It’s a nine-week program that integrates the mind, body and spirit created for those (and their caregivers) with serious or life-threatening illnesses. My main contact at the organization is a volunteer, Sharon Bertrand, who is leading the redesign process. She is an incredible writer and very passionate about what she does. This project is purposeful to her, it is one of the programs that she used in helping to heal herself from MS five years ago. It has such a deep sense of purpose for her that she is willing to volunteer her time not just 10 or 100 hours, but close to 1,000 hours just this past year! She sees the purpose of this project to bring it to the world and knows it can change lives like it changed hers. The completed manual, superbly written and beautifully designed, is the gift given to those who experience the program. The stones were each of the hours she put into reading, researching, editing and piloting this program. Had she just looked at these stones while working, it would have not given her the drive she needed to finish the project. But she saw the end result, the gorgeous mosaic that has not only help fulfill her purpose, but will bring purpose to all the lives who touch it.

Final thought
My hope is that you will take time to appreciate each step or stone along the path of your journey. As you step back, reflecting on your life’s journey, you will see the purpose of your life coming together in a beautiful mosaic.
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 movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.

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

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5 Ways To Ensure A Non-Profit Board Candidate A Good Choice

How to ensure a nonprofit's future

It often isn’t hard to find candidates for non-profit board seats. However, how do you know that they are the right candidate for the job? It’s important to prescreen your candidates to make sure you are getting ones that understand the role of a board member and understand how to work efficiently and effectively as a board member.

There are ways that you can use to screen candidates to ensure they are the right person to sit on your non-profit’s board of directors. They are:

  • Put out a call for resumes – Always ask to see the resumes of your potential board members. You need to know their experience and what they bring to the table. Also if someone is unwilling to provide a resume, then they probably aren’t good board material.
  • Interview candidates – Candidates for your board should be interviewed to get a feel for how they will fit into the existing Board of Director’s culture. Your nominating committee should handle this task and perform it in a very professional manner. Provide candidates with board scenarios and see how they handle the situation. This is a take on behavioural interviewing.
  • Survey potential board members – By surveying them, you can ask more questions like who their contacts are and how they envision themselves contributing to the organization as a member of the board. You can also ask questions about what skill sets they bring to the table that may be beneficial to the organization in areas such as professional development and fundraising.
  • Request references – In the case of board of directors is the only time that it would be smart to request both professional and personal references. By doing this, you get a feel for who this person is on both a professional level and on a personal level, which will help you in identifying how the candidate will blend with the existing personalities on your board.
  • Don’t be afraid to turn people away – By turning away candidates that don’t fulfill the criteria that you have developed for this particular board member, you are ensuring that you get only the best candidates accepted onto the board. The more screening you do, the more success you will have at creating a successful board and the more people will want to be a part of it.

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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, Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca Website: http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

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Free Social Media Monitoring

Woman checking social media with her phone

Set Up a Social Media Listening Alert System

In the last post, we discussed the importance of listening to the online conversations about your company, brand, products and service(s).

This post will walk you through the set up of a completely free social media monitoring system that is fully automated and customizable for your unique needs.

Start With the End in Mind

Decide what information is most important to receive. Decide on keywords most commonly used to relate to different aspects of you and your business. Examples of keywords to monitor include:

  • Your company name
  • Your brand name(s)
  • Your product and/or service name(s)
  • Your domain name(s)
  • Names of competitors
  • Keywords specific to your industry and/or niche

When you read the results, you can determine if you chose the right keywords. If you receive information that isn’t helping you, giving you news, or up-to-date insights, consider adding or changing keywords for awhile. It may take a few weeks or months to hone the list, but it’s well worth it, to keep you informed.

Basic Free Monitoring Tools

Set up these tools in the order below, and you’ll have a fully automated social listening, tracking and reporting system. In order to make them all work together, you’ll first need to set up a Google Account. Then feed the rest of the tools into Google Reader:

  1. Google Reader – Set this up first. It will collect the links found in the keyword searches and feed them to you. Google Reader is an RSS Feed Reader, sending updates as they occur.
  2. Google Alerts – This is a fundamental tool, and without it, you won’t have a full reporting system. Select ‘comprehensive search’, and choose to receive alerts by RSS Feed. For each keyword, click ‘create alert’ and ‘view in Google Reader”.
  3. Google Blog Search – Very important, since many opinions, rants, and even raves appear in blogs. “subscribe” and select RSS.
  4. Social Mention – Searches include social networks, such as Facebook, You Tube, LinkedIn, etc.
  5. Google News – Stay informed about your industry, niche and competition.
  6. Twitter Search – Searches Twitters’ massive content. Choose to add this to your Google Reader account.

After you have these set up with feeds going to your Google Reader account, you can organize Google Reader into folders and maintain an easily-accessed archive.

Now you’re set up to listen, monitor the social media conversation daily. Soon it will become a regular part of your day.

What type of listening has been most helpful to you and your company? What have you done to counteract the negative mentions?

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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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Capital Campaigns #10: Structuring the Solicitation Process

a-solicitor-meeting-with-a-prospect-

There are a number of rules for the solicitation of gifts/commitments to a campaign:

A solicitor…
(1) Must make his/her campaign commitment before s/he can solicit commitments from
others;
(2) With few exceptions, can only ask for commitments equal to or less than that which s/he has made; and,
(3) Should be the best person to be asking a particular prospect for his/her commitment.

Simply, a solicitor, to be credible, should be able to tell a prospect that s/he has already made his/her commitment, and s/he must be able to avoid having the prospect ask, “Why should I make a gift that of that amount when you didn’t?” And, the solicitation is more likely to go smoothly/successfully if the solicitor and prospect have a prior (positive) relationship.

(4) There is also a rule that limits to 5-6 the number of prospects assigned to any one solicitor at any one time. Volunteers should feel that it’s relatively easy to solicit the few prospects they’ve been assigned … and you want to avoid solicitor burnout.

The number of volunteer solicitors needed in any one Division depends on the number of prospects in that segment of the constituency. For example:

If a Division has 186 prospects, approximately 36 of those
individuals would need to be recruited to be solicitors.

That’s 1 Division Chair … who recruits/educates/solicits
6 Division Co-Chairs or Vice-Chairs … who recruit/educate/solicit
30 Division Captains … who solicit the remaining 150 prospects.

There are, of course, exceptions – any number of prospects can be assigned to a solicitor (a few at a time), depending on the willingness of the solicitor, his/her level of success in prior solicitations and the quality of his/her relationships with other likely prospects.

It’s also possible that you can have some solicitors with only 1 or 2 prospects to approach – simply because of the relationship (or lack of such) between the volunteer and prospective donors.

5) Each solicitor should have a pledge card/form for each assigned prospect … with the name of the prospect already on the card. During the solicitation, after the specific dollar “Ask” has been made and agreed to, the solicitor brings out the pledge card and asks for a signature.

(6) If, for whatever reason, a prospect is not ready/willing to sign the pledge form, it should never be left with the prospect. The solicitor must make another appointment to come back to get the card signed. Leaving the card risks never seeing it again.

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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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What’s the Difference Between Training and Teaching?

Pregnant-woman-doing-yoga-with-personal-trainer-yoga-trainer

My last two blogs focused on “acting” and “speaking,” and how those areas affected trainers. Trainers admittedly use both skills as well as organizational and facilitation skills, which could circle back to basic communication. Rather than go all the way back, I want to focus on another concept: teaching and teachers. Is it fair to compare training and teaching, and teachers and trainers?

To keep it simple, I’ve used a definition from MSN Encarta:

  • Training is (1) acquiring of skill – the process of teaching or learning a skill or job, (2) improving of fitness – the process of improving fitness by exercise and diet.
  • Teaching: (1) a teacher’s profession (2) something taught.

It seems training encompasses teaching; therefore, we, trainers, teach something. Does that mean we teachers also train? “Sure, sometimes,” we say. If we stick to our definition, teachers do not always teach a skill or a job, not specifically. So, we hesitate to say plainly, “Yes, we teach and we train.” Traditionally, it always seemed to me we trained a skill (specific) and taught an education (general). Is reading a skill? It’s called a skill. Accounting? Skill or knowledge? You need both. Entrepreneurship? Leadership? I can get really philosophical.

Do we train what we learned on the job and teach what we learned in school? And, the second definition on training, “improving of fitness” makes me think. Teachers improve the fitness of our minds… Contradictions abound based on perception and experience.

Okay, what’s similar? We both have classrooms and we may use interactive activities. Our end goals may be different. It may be obvious that teachers present more knowledge that may be waiting for our final adaptation of that knowledge further down the road in life. I saw a hand go up. “But… But…” Yes, trainers, consultants and coaches do that as well.

Maybe there is only a perceived difference based on the label that we put on what we do. In my home, I am a dad with my kids (my students), but sometimes I’m the judge, the facilitator or the referee. Come homework time or crisis time, I am the teacher. If I am showing my son how to operate a computer program or the lawnmower, or demonstrating to my daughter how to analyze a script and give her insight to help her act the part she has, is that more training than teaching? I think we are more apt to call it training if it is more specific—especially to a job, but we all teach.

How we teach, especially if what we give our students is interactive and given to them to learn by doing, we may want to call that training. But in teaching manuals, textbooks on learning—it is kinetic learning, just one of several ways people learn. Others learn better by listening or seeing rather than doing. If you are a trainer or a teacher, you know this. So, maybe, how-to is training. And, why is teaching. Maybe, it doesn’t matter. I hope I’ve given you something to thing about.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Training and teaching is who I am, and I hope I’m good at it. Whatever we call it, I’d rather do that than anything else–except maybe write. My best seller is The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. One of these days, I hope to have a couple companion guides. Interested in the way humans behave and create, I publish Shaw’s Reality, where I post various commentaries on teaching, training, writing and publishing, and talk about reality from various points of view. Those who follow my blog attempt to read between the lines of film, theatre and novels, or anything that has a reality beneath the surface. Here you will also find clips and discussion about my YA science fiction/dystopian novel, In Makr’s Shadow, where I explore human nature, essentially what is beneath the obvious storyline. By the way, the novel is available from all major booksellers electronically.

I welcome your comments and discussion.

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The Employee Handbook- Is There an Update Needed?

Two-employees-going-through-their-company-employee-handbook

So what do you say when an employee asks, “What’s the policy regarding [insert any random employee concern here]? If the answer starts with, “Well, the handbook says […], but we usually we just do it this way. Then you may be in trouble. Or, have you ever given the answer that you believed to be correct just to have the employee state, “well, the handbook says I am entitled to […].” And as soon as it is out of their mouth, you say, “well, that is not how we do things.” Or, instead of saying a word, you pull out the handbook and frantically search to find the source of their comment certain that you are going to prove them wrong. If any of the above scenarios sound familiar to you, your handbook or your handbook compliance may need a tune-up.

Having an accurate, up to date handbook has many advantages in the workplace. It provides employees and supervisors with guidance on how to handle situations as they arise. However, compliance with the policies contained within consistently across the organization can be even more important to mitigate risk to the organization. And while mitigation of risk shouldn’t be the only priority of HR professionals, it is a necessary part of the job. And even if you are not concerned with risk mitigation, just having the consistent compliance with policies provides a better workplace for employees. They like knowing what is expected and what consequences will occur for not meeting those expectations.

Below is a list of things to consider when creating, updating and communicating your employee handbook or Standard Operating Procedures. What can you add to the list?

  1. Have it reviewed by an attorney.
  2. Review it at regular intervals to ensure policies are current and up to date.
  3. Have a plan in place to address updates to policies. How will the updates be communicated to the organization?
  4. Ensure the communication of all policies to everyone in the organization.
  5. Provide training to supervisors and company leaders on the importance of consistently following all policies.
  6. Keep a log of all updates and changes to all policies.
  7. Don’t lock yourself into consequences you don’t want to enforce. Doing so, will encourage non-compliance and get you into trouble.

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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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Celebrate What’s Right

Man Raising Right Hand in the Office

One of the best motivational movies I’ve seen in a VERY long time is with DeWitt Jones, a National Geographic photographer, called Celebrate What’s Right with the World. I can’t recommend this movie strongly enough. I’ve seen it over a dozen times and still find it heart- warming and inspiring. The photography is amazing and DeWitt’s quotes are so memorable. I use this movie regularly in my training programs on Appreciative Inquiry.

In one scene DeWitt has been assigned to take photographs of a field of dandelions and wasn’t excited to do it that day. He comes back a few days later and the dandelions had all turned into puff balls. He is about to leave and a little voice in him said, “Come on DeWitt, I know this isn’t how you planned it. But what’s here to celebrate?” He stays to take a bunch of photos and when he shifts his angle looking up at the sun, he captures a beautiful shot of a puff ball silhouetted in the sunlight.

I really like the phrase from the video “What’s here to Celebrate?” I have that question posted on my bulletin board by my desk and it’s helped me on more than one occasion. When I feel tired, overwhelmed, bored or worried, I stop and ask ‘what’s here to celebrate?’ I’m amazed at what I find within a short period of time that is worth celebrating or giving thanks. Some days it’s an unexpected phone call, other days it’s someone who’s got information I need. Frequently I find that if I shift my perspective just a little bit, as DeWitt does with his camera, I see the world from a different angle or through a different lens- more open, receptive, perhaps even hopeful. We all carry multiple lenses to see the world. Which lens do you use? hopeful, welcoming, joyful or cynical, angry, and skeptical.

As you plan or attend various celebrations this season, celebrate the small stuff too. What has gone right in your world recently? How do you celebrate the small things that are working in your life? During this time of Thanksgiving reflect on all the ways you are supported, guided, blessed or loved.

For the next week, take time each day to ask yourself – what’s here to celebrate? Then do something to celebrate, even if it’s giving yourself a pat on the back. Better yet, celebrate the accomplishments of someone in your office and you both will feel better.

Bright Blessings to you. Here’s a trailer to the movie – enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGOMoLV0nxk[/youtube]

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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.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN-LgN19-Cc[/youtube]

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Why is Social Media Listening Important?

Young lady on her phone on social media live stream

You Need to Know What People Are Saying About Your Company

People are talking about you. Word-of-mouth. It happens in person and online. Before the internet it was much harder to find out what they were saying. But now that everything is posted – and permanent – it’s relatively easy to find out what people say about you, if you know how.

Did you know that you can set up a fully automated system to let you know anytime anyone says something online about:

  • you,
  • your company,
  • your brand,
  • your products, or
  • your competitors?

Social Media Conversation Monitoring

You can’t control the conversation, but you can listen and be alerted immediately when people write about you on:

  • Blogs
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Articles
  • Comments
  • Ratings, and
  • Anywhere people post content.

You can’t control it, and you don’t really want to control the conversation. By really listening to what people say, you can learn an awful lot about what you’re doing right (so you can keep doing it, or do it even better), and especially what you’re doing WRONG. This is perhaps the most valuable information, although often the hardest to hear.

Do You Live Up to Your Marketing Messages?

Your audience will point out, for the entire world to see, anytime your promises (marketing messages) don’t match your service (operations). If you know what you’re doing wrong, you can FIX IT.

If you want to make a splash online, listening is essential. In the next post, I will show you how to set up a fully automated system for getting immediate alerts on the topics of your choice – absolutely FREE.

Have you found negative information about your company online? If so, what did you do about it?

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

.. _____ ..

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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The Role of Grants in the Capital Campaign

businessman-carefully-composing-a-business-grant-proposal

While most grant maker guidelines — foundation, corporate and certainly government — specifically exclude capital campaigns, there are some few that will consider a proposal requesting campaign support.

Applicants need to identify those in their funding source research. The proposal will be a restatement of the case statement and should be formatted according to the funder’s guidelines.

Before applying for grant funding, it is wise to have completed the silent phase and include fundraising progress in the proposal. Grant funders to campaigns generally don’t like to be first and they don’t like to be the largest contributor. Showing them that lead gifts are in hand and that the campaign has generated at least 50% of goal is an important strategy consideration when including grants in a campaign portfolio.

What about all those grantors that exclude campaign funding? Many campaigns today are not just for “bricks and mortar.” They are structured to include programmatic themes. These may include scholarships, endowment support, special projects of many types, as well as general support — and also buildings.

In applying for support to funders that exclude campaigns, the proposal writer should focus on the specific components contained in the overall campaign, and structure the request for the specific project or projects. As long as the proposal is consistent with the grant makers’ guidelines, it may be considered even though the program is part of a larger campaign.

As always, the applicant should try to make personal contact with the funder to discuss the project. It’s fine to mention the overall campaign in that conversation, and that reference can be echoed in the proposal.

Will grants “count” toward the campaign goal if the funder is not making a grant to the campaign itself, but is supporting a project within the campaign?
A review of the CASE* Standards will provide guidance. Most grants can be considered if the campaign is of the “count everything” variety. Even some government grants may qualify — especially if they are NEH type challenge grants. Gifts made in response to the challenge, and the NEH payments will count.

* (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education)

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your grants program? Email me at Andrew@GrantServices.com..