Month: November 2012

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Tis the Busiest Time of the Year

Are you ready for the December rush? As ready as you should be? This is an important time of year for nonprofits as well as individuals and it needs focused attention on soooo many things. There are year-end programming events and fundraising things to do. But you can always do more. There are some easy things to do that may just go a long way.

I am writing this on so called “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Thanksgiving. Sales today are expected to top $1.5 Billion – 20% more than last year. I believe it. I find that although I have purchased things online for years I shop this way much more frequently than I used to. It’s kind of nice to have things delivered to your door. This is also true with charitable giving. What this means for most nonprofits is that it is a good investment to greatly improve their internet savvy. But Rome wasn’t built in a day and you can’t get in the fast lane in just a few weeks. You can, however, do a few simple things to enhance your online presence and fundraising results without spending a lot of time or money. It is so much easier to make a donation online than respond to direct mail and this is the age of convenience.

I am recovered from cooking Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd and in the next two weeks I will facilitate a Board Retreat and be an “Expert” at the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits Annual symposium. I have started my Christmas shopping including some special gifts bought at the annual Newark Museum Shopping Spree. I even got up early on Black Friday and bought a new laptop. Desperately needed – my old one said enough already.

December has so many “Must Dos” that sometimes I feel I am constant motion. This is true for nonprofits too. You probably have your annual direct meal appeal out and are beginning to process the returns, your Fall fundraising event is behind you and plans for year-end festivities for those you serve are underway. Enough on your plate? All done – NOT!

There is that other group that needs attention in December. They are your online “supporters” (supporters may or may not be donors yet) who you only have contact with online. They may check out your website without you even knowing it. They may like your page on facebook but never post a comment. They may google something -your name comes up – and they browse your website. They may be checking out your name because they heard you provided food or a warm place to recharge their cell phones during Sandy.

So the question is what will they see? Do you have holiday and current news on your homepage or a report – without a picture – of an event last April? Is your Donate Now button right there on the homepage or three clicks away? Are you ready to post on facebook throughout December – not just asking for donations but with program updates and a link to your donate page.

I could keep on writing about what you should do in December but I’ll keep it simple. Keep these facts in mind: 40% of all individual donations are made in December. 22% of online giving is done in the last two days of the year and that the biggest day of the year for online giving is New Year’s Eve. So here are just three easy things that you can still do before year end:

  1. Update your home page with recent pictures, news and year end planned activities
  2. Plan on sending an eNewsletter – brief – one topic and brief appeal in next couple of weeks
  3. Write a brief eNewsletter – key word here is BRIEF with one topic only- news or a year end activity to be send on December 29-30th. You can write it now and queue it to be mailed then so even if you are on vacation it will go out.

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

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High Marks for Bloomberg on Sandy Crisis Management

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Helping New York weather the storm

New Yorkers are no strangers to crisis, but Hurricane Sandy truly put the city’s crisis management skills to the test. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was at the helm, and faced close scrutiny regarding his handling of the entire situation.

The verdict? The veteran mayor turned in a powerful performance, navigating the perils of crisis communication and disaster management with confidence. In an interview with The Financialist, Bernstein Crisis Management president Jonathan Bernstein shared his thoughts on one of the reasons Bloomberg’s crisis management was so successful:

“There is no city in the country that has had as much practice as New York in crisis management,” says Bernstein. “Those speaking for the City of New York, and certainly Mayor Bloomberg, had a good plan in place which they began implementing well in advance of the storm.”

The old adage “practice makes perfect” applies, well, perfectly, to crisis management. Of course, it’s much less strenuous to hone your crisis management skills in simulations and training exercises than in the midst of a major incident; that’s why smart organizations, from city governments to retail chains, devote time and resources to regular practice – ironing out the kinks and confusion before it really counts.

You can’t prevent every crisis, but with the right mix of preparation, action and communication you can certainly mitigate their effects. Well done Mayor Bloomberg.

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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, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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A Best Practice: Four Traits You Have to Train In-House

A-Best-Practice-Four-Traits-You-Have-to-Train-In-House.

The “four traits” are quite simple and probably unbelievable, but please hear me out. Here’s the rundown:

  • Train your people to be kind.
  • Train your people to be honorable.
  • Train your people to be fair.
  • Train your peope to be honest and trustworthy.

 

These may seem to be no-brainers, but today aggressive sales doesn’t work like it used to and people push back. People are working too hard for the money they have.

I think Penske has a good thing going with its car dealerships. No gimmicks like “no negotiating” as some car dealerships do and then treating the customer as if they are doing them a favor.

As a psychologist, I am always interested in what makes people act the way they do in social and work situations.

At work, training and how supervisors use that training have a lot to do with the shaping of the company image.

I am usually prompted to write a training blog when I see evidence of training not taking, but this is the opposite. In fact, I would call it a best practice, especially for a large diverse transportation company such as Penske that owns many car dealerships in the United States and several overseas. Penske has other varied interests. It is by every definition a corporation.

Here’s how I discovered the fantastic “four”or five traits…

In Turnersville, New Jersey, there is an automobile mall consisting several brands including Acura, Cadillac, Nissan, Cheverolet, etc. These are huge dealerships in themselves co-located in one area. Other dealerships have sprung up nearby to take advantage of the advertising of the “Turnersville Auto Mall.”

My wife and I were searching for a more economic car for to drive for work, but she fell in love with a used Saab covertible we discovered. I convinced her she was worth it so we pursued it. Here’s the rest of the story.

It is an in-house trainer’s dream. Each dealership receives the same training and it shows. The owner of all the dealerships: Penske. The training: corporate.

There did not appear to be animosity or competitiveness among the sales personnel of the several dealerships. It was the first time I had witnessed a car salesman who was not pressuring us to buy.

I usually hate the high pressure sales I have felt doing this before and have been known to exit the minute I felt too much information was taken down before I could even look at a car. This was not one of those times.

Even the dealership as a whole seemed honorable. One car we were interested (in the Acura dealership lot), had been promised over the phone to a couple in Delaware and the dealership was giving them time to come in. That ethic is to be admired.

With that knowledge in hand, we went to another dealership or two, still in search of a used Saab convertible or something that impressed us as much. Later, when we returned to the Acura dealership, the used Saab convertible we had test drove earlier had indeed been purchased by the Delaware couple. We, of course, were disappointed, but there was another newer Saab convertible to see at a bit higher price. We discovered that we actually liked it better.

All this time the salesman had not pressured us to explore beyond the price range we gave him until we asked, and only then did he show us what he had in a higher price range. When time came for negotiating the price, he took on the negotiating on himself to make it affordable to us. He didn’t know that later, as soon as we got what we considered a fair price, that we intended to pay it off in full, but then again we didn’t know we were purchasing a vehicle from a huge corporate conglomerate either…that is until we had a problem with Saab at home.

Now, we didn’t purchase the extended warranty and we had the car over a month so when the blinker started acting funny–blinking on its own, winking at other cars, I had to take it to the local Saab dealership. Turns out it needed a module replaced that cost more than $400. My wife immediately said, “But the dealership where we bought the Saab said it would pass inspection,” and I replied “maybe we should do that.” It doesn’t hurt to ask.

So, I cancelled the prepaid order with the Saab dealership and took it back to the Acura dealership where we bought it; after my wife had talked to them and it sounded like the dealership might actually honor that statement. We didn’t state the obvious: our state has stopped inspections, except for the exhaust system, but light blinking on its own was still a road hazard. The service manager called me into his office after talking with the general manager and warranty manager, and said the dealership would pay half.

Still, they had every reason to say, “No.” And that would be the end of it. We would have paid a little extra to take the risk–oh well. I started to think how we had been treated from the beginning: with great customer service and honorable treatment that only comes from great training.

From the salesman, the serviceman who wrote up the ticket, the sales manager, the warranty manager who offered the extended warranty we turned down, the service manager and the general manager–all seemed to be on the same page. The customers mattered–even when they could be wrong as we were. The dealership went above and beyond, but that means to me the Penske as company probably does the same with most of its customers.

I asked the service manager how the dealership was trained and he said all the dealerships were trained together and had the same training. That made a lot of sense for consistency sake.

In the end, I had been ready for the Acura dealership to say, “No.” They had every right, but instead, we split the cost, and I was given a loaner car and the dealership had my Saab driven back to the Saab dealership to be fixed. By the way, that loaner car: a beautiful 2012 Acura TL series.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

As a former commercial and theatre actor and professional speaker, training at the corporate level so teaching English, speech and theatre at the university level seemed logical and I have loved both. Today, I write mostly and have published four books: my best selling–The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, a scary novel of the near future–Harry’s Reality, and two theatre books.

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Yahoo! Tackles Crisis Management

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Compassionate and conscientious email staves off reputation crisis

In a recent article on the Bernstein Crisis Management blog, we discussed a crisis management email from Twitter that was missing a core component – compassion. Now, we’d like to show you an example of a company absolutely nailing it that was brought to our attention by friend and colleague Bruce Bonafede.

Here’s the email that went out to members of Yahoo! Sports’ Fantasy Football league following a Sunday outage – the absolute worst day of the week for their system to crash:

Dear Yahoo! Fantasy Users,

As I mentioned in my earlier email, Yahoo! works hard to provide great experiences for our users every day. For you, we understand that Fantasy is a core part of your daily routine during this time of year. On Sunday we experienced technical issues which caused the Fantasy experience to be inaccessible. We’re sorry. Our entire team worked tirelessly to re-establish the service – however, we had a significant outage. We know this created inconvenience and frustration for millions of our fans, and we feel we owe you an explanation.

So what happened? At Yahoo!, we have giant machines called “filers” that process a lot of the real-time data and stats for us and for you. We do millions of calculations every hour for our games, and normally our machines can handle this with no problem. Recently, we discovered a hardware issue in one of the filers that caused the other one to overload. We replaced some hardware, re-configured the setup, and did some testing. However this Sunday – at approximately 12:15 p.m. Eastern – the new configuration failed. This created an overload on storage capacity and took the Fantasy part of our site down.

We had dozens of engineers from various teams working together to try to determine the cause and fix it. One option was to fall back on another data center, but that would have meant shutting the game down and losing scoring data. We wanted to avoid that at all costs. Ultimately, we were able to move our mobile apps to a back-up data center, free up storage to get the PC version of the game working, and get the mobile apps up in a “read-only” state – meaning you could see scores and data, but you still couldn’t set lineups and interact.

We spent Sunday night and most of Monday looking at dozens of potential causes. Monday afternoon, we stress-tested our system. Everything seemed to be in working order, so we turned on all our mobile app functions in time for Monday Night Football. Everything performed as expected and continues to do so. We’ll have all hands on deck this coming Sunday to closely monitor performance and ensure we can respond quickly in case of any abnormal activity.

We know many of you have questions about your leagues and games, so we’ve also set up a FAQ here that will explain how we are going to handle various scenarios.

Finally, we know we failed you this weekend, and there’s no way to fix that. As a token of our appreciation for your patience and continued support, we wanted to give something back. First, we’re offering a complimentary football weekly Scouting Report for the remainder of the year. Hopefully this will help you down the stretch. The report includes weekly expert analysis, rankings and news to help you make smart decisions. Second, we are offering all our users a 20% discount for the rest the year at the Yahoo! Sports Store.

For any updates, we will keep you informed on @YahooSports and facebook.com/yahoosports.

We won’t stop working to provide you with new and improved features that help you enjoy your Sundays.

Thanks again for playing and for your patience.

Best,

Ken Fuchs
Head of Yahoo! Sports

Prompt, compassionate, honest, informative and interactive. Yahoo! checked off on every one of the Five Tenets of Crisis Communications and it shows in the quality and effect of the email.

Kudos Yahoo!, excellent crisis management!

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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, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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Employee Retention: How Do We Motivate Good but Jaded Old-Timers

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“I have over 100 staff nurses and one-third have been here longer than 10 years! This is a stressful environment with long hours and lots of overtime. I need something other than salary increases to hold them here and that they won’t think is stupid or useless.”

Retention of specialized talent in a price-competitive market is always a challenge. Some workers are just looking for more money and will simply follow the dollar. For others, money isn’t as important as:

  • Flexibility and Support
     Can you give your nurses any control over what hours they work? Minimize their hassles by going to bat for them? Modify the traditional shifts because of childcare or transportation issues?
  • Acknowledgement of Their Dedication
    Can you arrange for recognition from your hospital administrators, board, and doctors? Make the local community aware of their contributions through pictures in the newspaper, signs in the parking lot, luncheons at the chamber of commerce?
  • A Bright, Cheery Environment
    What about pleasant music, pizza or ice cream surprises, potluck lunches, occasional fun activities? Yes, these things work with hardened old-timers.

Management Success Tip:

Ask your valued people what they like about working with you, and then give them more of what they like. Ask what they don’t like, what gets in their way, and then reduce those factors. Remember, it’s more than money today. People want to enjoy their work and make a meaningful difference. Your environment provides excellent opportunities!

Also see Employee Motivation, One Size Doesn’t Fit All; Morale Boosters For Tough Times; Seven Ways to Keep Your Staff Energized; How to Motivate Your best and Brightest; Recognition: Get People to Give Their Very Best

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

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“Crossing the River” – My favorite team building activity

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Every trainer and facilitator has his/her favorite team building activity. Some facilitators like the more active interventions such as rope courses; others prefer the more “touchy-feely” ones like trust walks; still others like using blind-folded instruction, or simulations like Gold of the Desert Kings.

Of course the most appropriate team building activity for a group depends on a number of factors, including your overall purpose, the nature of the group, the amount of time you have, the limitations of the space, etc.

Yet, of all the team building activities I have experienced, my favorite by far is an activity called Crossing the River. I’ll describe the exercise first and then I’ll tell you why I think it is so great.

Objective Have all members of the team cross the river at the same time.
Preparation Create three islands by taping together four 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper for each island. Create a pebble for each person by cutting sheets of paper in half length-wise to form 4.25 x11 sheets. Create one rock (an 8.5 x 11 sheet) for every six participants. Tape off an open area at least 10 medium strides (25-30 feet) long and six strides wide. Place the islands as shown in the diagram.
Instructions Have all participants stand on the left side of the bank and hand out a copy of the instruction sheet to each person and review the situation and rules together. Then give two minutes for questions. The clock starts after the last question is answered.The Situation
You and your teammates are on one bank of a poisonous, deadly river. The river is so contaminated that if any part of a person’s skin or clothing touches the river, they will die instantly! Each of the people on your team must cross from one bank of the deadly river to the other. You have 20 minutes.

The Rules

  1. No part of a person’s skin, clothing or personal articles may touch the river. The only items that can survive in the river are islands, rocks and pebbles.
  2. Islands, rocks and pebbles are safe spots (touchable).
  3. Islands in the river may not be moved.
  4. Rocks may not be moved once placed in the river.
  5. Each team member owns a pebble.
  6. Only the pebble owner, may place a pebble in the river, take a pebble from the river, or move a pebble once it is in the river, and he/she may do so using his/her hand only.
  7. All team members must step out of the river at the same time.
Execution During execution, pay close attention to group dynamics. Some items to be conscious of in particular follow.
Points for ObservationCommunication

  1. How long did it take for there to be a single conversation going?
  2. Did everyone who wanted to speak get an opportunity to be heard?
  3. When suggestions were made, was a response given every time? (Or did some people’s suggestions get listened to while other’s were ignored?)

Planning

  1. Was a plan created? Who initiated the plan? How many people were involved in developing the plan?
  2. How was agreement reached? Did the group check to ensure understanding and agreement from everyone before acting on the plan?
  3. Did the plan provide a complete picture of how to start and how to end?

Execution

  1. Was there a leader or multiple leaders? How was the leadership chosen? Was the leadership followed?
  2. How willing were people to rely on one another, to help one another and physically support one another?
  3. Was the goal achieved? How much time was required? What was the key to achieving or not achieving the goal?
Debrief At the completion of the exercise, debrief with the team. Have them identify their own observations. Be sure to offer your own observations as well. Following observations, have them identify their learnings, and how to apply their observations and learnings to the workplace.

Crossing the River is ideal for 8-16 people. If you have up to 24, you can choose several to be observers and assign them different sections of the Points for Observation. If you have more than 24, you can split into multiple teams that do the exercise all at the same time, each with their separate “rivers” they have to cross. I have done this with 16 teams simultaneously in a very large room. As each team completed, they let out a team cheer.

What makes Crossing the River so great for team building?

  1. The goal requires team planning and execution; the team has to come together for success.
  2. No one can do it on his/her own; the team either succeeds or fails together.
  3. The exercise breaks down barriers; it requires people to share their thoughts, share their resources, and share their space.
  4. And perhaps most interestingly, the time limit creates a sense of urgency that frequently results in people defaulting to the same behaviors that do in the workplace: those who typically takeover, do so in this exercise; people who drop out, also do the same; people who frequently serve as naysayers, often take on this same role when faced with Crossing the River.

For years I have been looking for a second team building exercise as good as this one. If you have one I would love to hear from you.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Facilitation.

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Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., “The Facilitation Company” and author of the brand new “The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition”, “The Secrets to Masterful Meetings”, and the brand new “The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy.” Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. They are also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

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U is for Unique

A unique red pawn among white pawns

Think back to that U is for Unique the advice you received before you delivered your very first presentation. Your supervisor probably said; “There is nothing to it. Just get up there and be yourself.” That was actually pretty good advice, but you might have discounted it because it sounded so obvious, and because it seemed so difficult to be yourself when you were probably shaking and wondering “Who am I, and what makes me think I can deliver a presentation?”

Since then you have learned a lot about presenting. You know how to create eye-catching slides. You know how to take a breath when you feel nervous, and how to speak even when your heart is racing. But did you ever learn how to be your own, special, u is for unique self when you speak?

Each of us wants to be amazing, motivating, and inspiring to our audiences. But when we are unsure of our content, or when we lack confidence, we chicken out. Yes, we do. Our messages get lost, our voices get softer and more hesitant, and we lock up our hands and refuse to gesture. We play it safe. We hide behind a mask. We make ourselves small and weak exactly when we need to speak up and shine.

If you want to be your own unique self, you will need to move beyond “playing it safe” and enter the world of “being authentic-no-matter-if-it-isn’t-perfect.” It is a scary place, but the rewards are so worthwhile when you get there. There is no road map or GPS to get you there safely; you have to find your own way. After all, you are unique! But here are some guidelines to help you stay on the path to being your own wonderful self when you speak.

Start strong. Take a breath. Think about your audience and what they need from you. Remember your planned lines; they speak from your heart and welcome your listener into your presentation. They are sincere. They are real. You are in the moment.

Turn your fear to power. You feel adrenaline coursing through your body. Is it fear…or is it really power? If you say it is fear or nerves, it is. And if you tell yourself it is power, it really is. Enjoy that feeling not of weakness and fear, but of anticipation and power. Put a smile on your face. Take another breath and release it. Game on!

Turn your passion on. You do care about your subject matter….don’t you? Why wear a mask and try to be perfect, or correct? Instead, share with your audience why this is so important, and how it will impact them, or us. Yes, you have many facts and figures to share. But your audience is far more likely to remember the stories you tell and the images you leave with them. Don’t be afraid to use your feelings to sell your ideas.

Turn your topic into a compelling message. Topics are boring, messages are far more interesting. What is the significance of this content? Why are we talking about this today? Why should I listen? Why should I care? What do I need to do? Where are we going? Now, take the answers to these questions and craft them into a compelling message that takes you less than a minute to say. And say it with conviction.

Turn data into story. Oh, those spreadsheets. How fascinating—not! Break away from the data for a minute, and tell a story. Provide an example. Use a metaphor. Create a chalk talk right on the slide, or on a flip chart. Start a discussion. Bring someone up front to help you with a demonstration. All these will make the data more memorable, and set you apart from all those who speak to spreadsheets and bullet points. Well played!

Signal your humanity with humor. OK, I know it is risky. So, don’t tell a joke. (Really, don’t tell a joke; save it for lunch or after work.) Show a pertinent cartoon, or play with your words, or laugh at yourself, or exaggerate until it is funny. Remember, good humor is clean and doesn’t hurt or embarrass anyone. It is also done with a light touch. When it works it is magic. If you don’t know what kind of humor you are good at, take a class, or ask someone you trust to help you find it. And ask them to tell you when you miss the mark, so you can correct and use humor well and appropriately.

Share the road with others. You may be standing up front, but the presentation isn’t really all about you. It is all about the audience. Without them, there wouldn’t be a presentation. So play nicely. Ask them questions, invite their questions, answer them patiently, listen to them when they share their thoughts, learn from them and with them. Presentations can be democratic affairs where everyone takes a turn, and they are so much more interesting that way.

Arrive at the end with power and clarity. As you come to the close of your talk, you may be short on time. You may be relieved that the end is near. Take a few questions. Then sum up one final time. Instead of saying, “well, that is about all the time we have,” remind people of the key message or theme that you started with, creating a kind of bookend close. We tend to remember what we hear first and last, so make that last line a shining one. Smile. See, you are unique and you delivered a powerful presentation.

Are you beginning to see what your adviser meant by “be yourself?” You had what it takes to succeed all along. You just had to find it and believe in it. Now, go out there and “just be yourself.” You will be great!

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A Perspective on the Microsoft Store Experience

Microsoft store icon

Connect with Customers

Guest Author: Joe Cecere

Joe Cecere, President, LITTLE & Co

Using the Microsoft Store experience to connect with customers

For many shoppers, sterile stores and flat websites don’t do today’s technology justice, they need a hands-on environment. The Microsoft Store invites shoppers to experience technology at their own pace, letting them touch, play, experiment and learn. These real-life experiences help mitigate the risks associated with big purchases. The comfort of trying something in-store and learning about the product from the experts instills confidence in purchase decisions and the brand itself.

Leveraging an engaging environment

One of the more distinctive things about the store is how alive it feels. It’s a vibrant, stimulating environment that entices the explorer in all of us. Shoppers don’t just browse, they engage—playing games in the “living room” setting, interacting with the large video walls and participating in various in-store promotions and contests.

Empowering employees to complete the experience

With all the options available to us, choosing the right products and services can be an overwhelming and unpleasant task. Once you talk to one of the experts at the Microsoft Store, you understand why they don’t sell everything. They handpick the best-of-the-best technology to offer shoppers solutions that will enhance their overall experience as Microsoft users.

Utilizing in-store exclusives to maintain relevance with brick-and-mortar

One of the benefits of going into the Microsoft Store is experiencing the full Microsoft ecosystem and how the various sub-brands work together to help people make the most of technology. The Surface launch adds to that ecosystem, giving shoppers another way to harness the power of everything Microsoft offers.

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

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About Little & Company:

Since 1979, Little & Company (www.littleco.com) has been showing companies of all sizes how design-driven businesses can exceed customer expectations and deliver significant results. Utilizing a unique combination of strategic resources, designers and writing talent, the firm creatively solves business problems to help clients across industries — including Target, Medtronic, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, American Craft Council and many others — to launch, grow and strengthen their brands.

The result is a flourishing collaborative environment that readily benefits clients ranging from retail and healthcare to financial services, education and a handful of high-profile non-profit organizations. Little & Company is a Nationally Certified Women’s Business Enterprise.

Little & Company was named one of Minnesota’s Top Marketers by Minnesota Business magazine and the AdFed chapter of Minnesota, and was recently featured in the September issue of Twin Cities Business Magazine

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Program Or Project ?

When an organization has the function of deploying multiple initiatives, the question arises: should these be managed as projects? Or should program management enter the picture?

If there is an obvious way in which the projects are related, we may opt for program management straightaway. For example: if our organization deploys a few projects per customer, the group containing the initiatives for customer ‘X’ could be deployed as a program. Or if we perform projects containing technologies ‘A’ and ‘B’, the projects requiring product ‘A’ could be treated as a program, separate from the program containing technology ‘B’.

Sometimes it is not obvious, yet we would obtain better results if a set of projects were treated as a program. Examples:

* Projects containing the same issue (say, travel to Iceland)

* Projects containing the same pre-requisite (say, a specific expert’s approval)

* Projects expected to have a similar result (say, energy-saving)

So we could say that to make a good determination, we must analyze the big picture represented by our portfolio of projects in addition to obvious categories, to see if they would benefit from coordinated management of some aspect(s).

Once the determination is made, there are steps we can take to minimize the cost or improve the benefits of the program. Here are a couple:

Set Up Good Program Governance

Projects are ‘managed’; programs are ‘governed’. Setting up program governance means establishing procedures and structure that will help the projects in this program achieve the best possible results. For example, establishing a common risk management framework to be used on all ‘energy-saving’ projects. Or specifying procedures to be followed for all projects belonging to the ‘government’ sector.

Establish High-Level Program Plan

After governance items have been agreed, a high-level plan for this set of projects with a common theme can be drafted. In planning, program management starts to look similar to project management. A series of processes will be performed in order to yield a robust plan for the program. There are myriad articles and publications on good program management, so let us just mention just a couple that may sound familiar if you have studied project management: managing the Program Scope and Program Schedule.

A) Program Scope Management – In this exercise we determine the scope of the particular program (for example, those energy saving projects). We agree what is included; how to resource; expected benefits from this program. We also interface with other departments in the organization -such as marketing- to leverage the program to even greater advantage. Ultimately, planning the program scope will yield a Program Work Breakdown Structure, or PWBS. This PWBS is very useful, because it even mentions deliverables that should be generated by all projects belonging to the program.

B) Program Schedule Management – The schedule of the program is the timetable when the different program work tasks will be executed. It describes not just when certain program components will be deployed, but for the projects belonging to this program, the timing when certain deliverables should be produced.

Hopefully this has been a useful introduction which will provide some food for thought on projects versus programs. In future blog articles we will look at other helpful techniques in the management of a group of projects, which should help you (pun alert!) to stay with the program.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Why I Hate the Elevator Speech

Female executive giving a speech

There are career centers and networking groups all over advising us to perfect our elevator speech. Armed with this advice, many get busy writing and practicing (well, maybe practicing) their 30 or 45 or 60 second commercial. Once the speech is perfected off you go to your networking event, conference or career fair ready to make connections.

However, often times the attempt to make an introduction and get out the elevator speech (especially at career fairs) turns into an awkward combination of a flawed sales pitch and a bad pick up line. And when this attempt is followed by an immediate presentation of your business card or resume it just makes it worse!

So why is this advice so common. Well, the statistics tell us that majority of jobs are found through networking and connections. The flaw in the elevator speech advice is that is missing the actual networking and connection building premise. Networking and building connections is not about going to an event, meeting someone and then emailing them at first opportunity with your sales pitch or resume. Making connections requires two way communication. It requires give and take. If you aren’t willing to give in the relationship, you shouldn’t be willing to take.

Next time you go to a career fair or networking event, set realistic expectations about what you want to get out of the event. If you want to network to find a job, instead of practicing your elevator speech, spend some time determining your career goals and what types of experiences will help you get there. When you meet people, spend some time getting to know them and don’t offer your business card or resume without a request or without the willingness to continue the dialogue in some fashion with the person to whom you are speaking. And if you are using a professional organization to network, get involved by volunteering. There is no better way for your to demonstrate your skills to those in the profession.

Get out there and get networking!

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.