Month: January 2013

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Flu Season Creates Crisis Management Needs

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Impact of flu bigger than most realize

Flu season is upon us, and it’s an ugly one this year. According to the latest reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7.3% of U.S. deaths last week were a result of the flu, slightly above the official epidemic threshold.

What does this mean to your organization? You’ve probably already noticed an increased number of call outs, and you can definitely expect to see more. In fact, according to Flu.gov’s Business Planning page:

Each flu season, nearly 111 million workdays are lost due to the flu. That equals approximately $7 billion per year in sick days and lost productivity. Through education and planning, you can help protect your employees from the seasonal flu.

With this flu season already shaping up to be more dangerous than most, what can you do to protect your employees and customers while keeping your organization afloat?

Inform: We’ve already blogged about the CDC’s excellent information-centric approach to crisis management, and the educational resources gathered at that organization’s flu page is a virtual treasure trove for anyone looking to protect their workforce from disease.

Prepare: Flu season comes around the same time every year, and if you wait until your office is half empty you’re going to have a bad time of it. Prepare remote access (easier than ever thanks to broadband connections) where possible and plan ahead to have reinforcements in case you need them. Don’t expect to be able to pull a load of temps from an agency at the last minute either, talk to a few services beforehand and you can have them essentially “on call” when your office is hit with a wave of the flu.

Internal issues aren’t your only concern, however. Your suppliers or contractors are likely to be experiencing flu-related interruptions of their own, and there’s no guarantee that they will be able to keep up their responsibilities 100%. Just as with the temps, speak with a few alternate sources early and set up a “just in case” plan with them.

Don’t forget the customers: Whether your serve the public or offer B2B services, your customer’s needs are liable to change during flu season. You might experience a surge in home delivery requests, or perhaps a sudden rise in the number of phone calls and emails your customer service department has to handle as people avoid leaving the house. You know your customers, and you should be able to sit down and brainstorm as to what their wants and needs will be. Of course, if you haven’t already been tracking data for trends throughout the year, now would be a great time to start. The better you’re able to meet the needs of your customers, the more positive reputation you’ll grab, not to mention the return business.

The flu is the perfect example of a crisis that you simply can’t prevent. Think ahead, plan ahead, and follow through. Leave enough flexibility to roll with whatever punches may come your way, but if you truly put time and effort into covering all your bases, you should make it through the season unscathed.

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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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The Role of the Trainer Should Not Be Underestimated

The-Role-of-the-Trainer-Should-Not-Be-Underestimated

Jackie Apodaca, an assistant professor at Southern Oregon University, writes in BACKSTAGE, “The Role of the Actor in Society Should Not Be Underestimated.” Theatre is a fine art and that is how she talks about it. I want to show how theatre (acting in particular) embodies some similar charactistics, applies as a practical art–and training–trainers like actors in particular have a pivotal role in not only business, but also in society.

“On the heels of sorrow in Connecticut, this year’s holidays were a strong cocktail, with a dose of hangover before the celebration even began,” she begins. For us this is a metaphor for when the economy is tentative.

If you are in a show this season…don’t underestimate your contribution to the well-being of those in the audience or alongside you onstage. You are pulling people into a performance, providing a respite from the complex and sometimes excruciating reality outside the theater doors. — Jackie Apodaca

Of course, she talking about actors, but are trainers not far off from the same thing? When I quote Apodaca I can’t help, but quoting from the choir (now there’s a switchback of a metaphor). She continues as I, a former actor (later trainer) knew she would,

Actors are storytellers, temporarily extinguishing our worries as they play out alternate realities on stage or screen. Sometimes a performer holds up a mirror, shining light on hidden societal sins, but often he or she helps us escape, reminding us of happier times or our greater human potential. With actors carrying our frustrations, fears, desires, and hopes, we can let go of the fight—at least for a little while. — Jackie Apodaca

The one thing about theatre is that it is cathartic. Theatre, through its actors, carry the society’s problems away. Hence, Apodaca, exclaims, “The role of the actor in society should not be underestimated.”

Nor should the role of the trainer who needs to lift the spirits of company personnel, improve morale, increase productivity, improve company image image, etc., be underestimated either. In essence, trainers breathe life into what may be going through the woes of “fears,” and give its workers “hopes” and “desires” beyond where they stand today. The workers can let go of their frustrations–let go of the “fight.” While it may seem a bit hokey, the trainer’s job is not unlike the actor’s to be a motivator, to bring excitement, adventure, romance, and life to the workplace.

Just as our theatre professor says, “Although it’s easy to get caught up in celebrity and fame, the timeless function of the actor is to take on communal pain and provide catharsis, or emotional and spiritual purification, for every person in the audience.”

For our trainers, we can’t let this underestimated power go to our heads, but remember our roles in a humbler way. Trainers must show and lead the way in the same way that “actors are essential to the psychic health of our world;” trainers doing their job well are essential ingredients to a thriving and growing company. In my view: as important as the leaders themselves.

While “sometimes maddening as a career, acting remains a sacred art.” I didn’t stay a professional actor because the idea of waiting on tables for the next job was never appealing, but often that is the life of most actors. I wanted a calling less mad. I went into radio and television, the military and civil service, and yes, I became a trainer among other things. Was any of it less mad? I don’t know. But I learned from it all. Life may not always be fair, but it always teaches. And all it teaches is deserving.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

As you know I have a kind of “Cave Man” wisdom of doing what works, of looking at the training world from different perspectives. Hopefully, some of them make it through to you and are of some use. Be kind enough to check out my website where you’ll find some more of my thoughts and some free e-books. Happy training.

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Matt Cutts outlines Google’s stance on providing SEO quality indicators

Hands holding up letters saying SEO

Guest Author: Abbas Hussain

In the most recent round of his webmaster Q&A sessions, Google’s Matt Cutts fielded a query, which dealt with why his company does not currently offer any kind of calculator service, to indicate just how well optimized particular sites are and where there is room for improvement.

The questioner argued that without such a tool, site owners have to guess at the quality of their SEO efforts and can often end up languishing low in the search rankings, even if they believe that they have taken the right steps.

Mr. Cutts addressed the issue at hand by first indicating that there are certain tools available to webmasters which can provide a good indication of the quality of the SEO that they have conducted on their site. This includes Google’s notifications system and the various services within Webmaster Tools.

However, Mr. Cutts said that Google does not believe in assigning an exact numerical value to the SEO quality of a particular site or page, because he believes that doing so would only lead to an influx of spam domains, which exploited the particular nuances of a search algorithm, rather than producing genuinely organic results that are relevant to users.

Mr. Cutts made clear that Google is not against the SEO efforts of webmasters and is, in fact, in favor of optimization when it is being carried out by legitimately useful sites which have honorable intentions. He calls this ‘productive optimization’ and sees it as something that a small business can harness, to improve the standing of its sites in the SERPs.

Google’s Refusal To Create the Calculator

So it seems that the real reason for Google’s refusal to create an SEO quality calculator is that it wants to keep spammers at bay, by not giving them direct access to the data that impacts the rank of particular sites. It also wants to make it as simple as possible for scrupulous site owners to take advantage of its engine, which is why its Webmaster Tools are on hand to provide relatively comprehensive feedback, if not exact numerical values, relating to SEO performance.

Mr. Cutts pointed out that there is invariably a conflict between wanting to minimize the impact of spammers, while maximizing search tools for all other webmasters, with Google trying to walk the line as best it can.

SERPs

Some critics have pointed out that Google might be stifling those sites looking to obtain a better organic search rank, as a result of its changes to how SERPs are displayed.

By displaying fewer results on the first page and failing to introduce infinite scroll technology for standard search, unlike the steps taken to improve its image search feature, Google might be making it harder for small sites to establish themselves and become visible.

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

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Author Bio:

Abbas Hussain is a blogger who passionately shares information about SEO for Integrity SEO Experts.

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Consider Children and Volunteers in your Year-End Giving Strategies

This post was supposed to be Part 2 of Proposal Development for grants. I’m moving that post to February 7th, however, so I may share a couple of personal insights on year-end giving.

The holiday – and year-end giving – season is over. We’ve all packed away our lights and decorations, year-end donor lists, and holiday cards, safely storing them ‘til next year.

Before we move on and start working our 2013 fund development plans, I want to share some personal experiences and two insights that relate directly to year-end giving. Specifically, why children and non-board volunteers are important groups to consider in your year-end solicitations.

Like many families, my husband and I make year-end gifts to non-profit organizations; and, when my daughter was six, we started to include her in the process of selecting to which organizations we would give.

She has had a love affair with penguins since about age two, so she always selected wildlife organizations, and we would make a sizeable gift to the organization she selected.

This year, it hit me: if my daughter has a significant impact on my year-end giving, then this might be happening in other families, and it could be a good strategy to use in a year-end giving campaign. My fundraising expertise is in grantsmanship, but relationships are at the heart of all fundraising, and as with grants, the gift is much more related to what the donor wants to give than what the NPO wants to receive…

Insight #1: When developing your organization’s year-end giving campaign next year, consider appealing to all members of your donors’ families, even those too young to have a bank account.

This year my family also started volunteering for a wonderful animal welfare organization, Stray Rescue of St. Louis (strayrescue.org). We became direct service volunteers by fostering four puppies and helping them find their “forever homes.” Lots of work, lots of puppy kisses, lots of fun.

When I asked my daughter (now age nine) to select the organization she wanted to donate to, I expected the usual penguin/wildlife organization. Without hesitation, she selected Stray Rescue…

Insight #2: OK, this is incredibly obvious, and I should have thought about donating to Stray Rescue before my daughter suggested it, but consider soliciting your direct-service volunteers at year-end. They already know and love your organization, and will probably want to support you financially in addition to their gift of time. Lots out there on this topic, just search, “converting volunteers to donors.”

Bonus Insight: Ask your volunteers to share their (positive) experiences with your organization on their social media accounts. I started volunteering for Stray Rescue because a friend of mine kept posting pictures of her foster puppies on Facebook!
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Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop, enhance and expand grants programs, and helps them secure funding from foundations and corporations. Contact Lynn deLearie.
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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Orica Takes Medicine the Hard Way

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Editor’s note: The following case study was submitted to us by Crisis Manager reader Antoni lee, managing director of Australian communications firm Rhetorica. As Mr. Lee told us, “While the incidents themselves may now seem minor to some, the reputation and business damage is ongoing and significant.”

Orica Takes Medicine the Hard Way:A Case Study in Poor Crisis Communication Management

Plant Discharges Cancer-Causing Chemical, Fails To Warn Public

At 6.30PM on August 8 2011, a loud bang came from Orica’s ammonia plant at Kooragang Island (NSW). Over the road, Karl Hitchcock’s kitchen shook.

One of Mr Hitchcock’s contractor buddies ran in saying, “Don’t go outside. It’s raining acid.”

The next day, Mr Hitchcock noticed yellow spotting on parts of the boat parked in his front yard, and when he went over the road to work, he found a green film covering some of the plant equipment.

A kilogram of chromium-six had sprayed into the atmosphere, with some 60 grams of it falling locally onto the surrounding suburb of Stockton.

Neither the company nor the state government communicated with local residents until three days after the leak.

Panic and Speculation Fills the Information Vacuum

In the absence of official information, locals and the media were left to speculate — and to “freak out.”

In their distress, people naturally wondered: What had gone wrong? Had there been a leak? Was it toxic? Had it been contained? Was it safe to go outside…to work…to school? And frustratingly, Why hadn’t authorities or the company given locals any information about what was going on?

Immediate and intense media scrutiny filled the information vacuum. The narrative inevitably became about the evil chemical corporation versus “victims” in the local community.

NGO representatives and self-proclaimed experts readily fed hungry media stories about company practices, its history of breaches, chemical dangers, safety oversights and failures — and the need for better, stronger regulation.

Among the reports were claims that Orica had also leaked arsenic, ammonium nitrate, sulphuric acid and mercury vapour in a series of breaches at plants across the state.

The Wash-up is Never Clean or Easy

Google readily locates the harmful effects of chromium-six: skin allergies, nasal septum perforation, lung cancer, asthma symptoms, thick rashes, scarring and crusty skin sores.

Thankfully, no-one (that we know of) was physically harmed as a result of the Kooragang Island accidents. What did happen? While Orica survived and is performing strongly in several areas, it has suffered financially and its reputation is damaged:

  1. Local resident pressure and global media coverage embarrassed and forced the State’s newly elected Premier, Barry O’Farrell, to apologise to the public and to commit to an overhaul of state environmental law.
  2. Initial Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Department of Health reports damned the company.
  3. In the face of publicly perceived arrogance and incompetence, Orica shut its Kooragang Island plant for several months. The Premier threatened the company with loss of license to operate.
  4. The short term hit to company revenue was $90 million.
  5. In the wake of heavy criticism, Orica’s Australian chief, Graeme Liebelt, left the company six months earlier than planned.
  6. A subsequent NSW upper house committee enquiry strongly criticised the Minister for Environment, Robyn Parker, as well as Orica, for the “unacceptable delay” in notifying the public and for causing “unnecessary community distress”.
  7. The company was fined some $9 million.
  8. Class legal action is pending.
  9. Orica is spending (at least) tens of thousands of dollars trying to heal the lack of trust it now has with local communities.
  10. Resulting legislative changes require companies to report faster and impose heavier fines for breaches. The EPA has more power.

The Hard Lessons Everyone Already Knows

After a crisis, everyone has an opinion about what beleaguered companies did wrong and what they ought to have done. Judgments always cover not only the crisis incident, but how the company responded (or not).

Karl Hitchcock again: “People eat their vegetables out of their gardens. And this stuff would have went all over them. I think they handled it very poorly. The communication is what really got me.”

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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by Antoni Lee, Managing Director, Rhetorica

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Managing Documents

Two young men reviewing documents

How do you manage your documents to provide consistent and accurate communication? Depending on your organization, how do you control documents in your Technical Communications or Technical Writing Department if some groups or branches have different procedures for writing, gathering data, maintaining, verifying, or even for getting feedback? This can occur in an organization that is involved with a lot of different products. Think of a manufacturer which sells various electronics or other goods all over the world. Each division has to have their own set of priorities, procedures, guidelines, manuals, etc. What do you have to take into consideration in order to handle all the documentation that has to occur for each area?

Here are some things to think about and questions to ask before deciding on how to manage documents, from choosing a CMS (Content Management Tool) to developing your own methodology:

  • Will it be able to manage master documents that will be reused in other documents?
  • Will it be able to manage reviews, approvals, automatic notifications, version control, sharing, project plans (for meeting timelines), various image-type files, and meeting compliance?
  • Will it be able to help you organize documents and provide easy accessibility to all documents (old and new)?
  • Can updates to a segment of a document be carried through to other associated documents?
  • Can alerts be set up to aid in communicating security issues, tracking updates, releases, or even new documents?
  • If your organization is global, will all the documentation be done in the US or will some be written overseas? Is translation software available or will the local team manage their own documents? And if so, how are change or update notifications handled?
  • Do you want to create an internal or web-based (an intranet) directory for each organization or product division and have it broken down into sub directories?
  • Do you need a database-type tool or repository where files are indexed for faster retrieval?
  • Do you need to set up a hierarchy or a content structure where the main product is on top and similar products below it with a documentation breakdown for each segment of the products? Each segment being anything from requirements, specifications, training, processes, procedures, marketing, etc.
  • Do you need to work with mappings of documents or where documents link to associated documents?
  • Finally, how much can you afford and what do you expect on your return on investment?

Set up a plan as to what you want the CMS tool to do for you and decide if it is the right fit for the organization. Also, is the tool you need user friendly enough, helpful, and will you be able to train others on it? No matter which tool you eventually decide on (either purchased, developed, or open source), make sure you have at least a uniform style guide for each division to use for consistency and clarity in writing, formatting and styling. This is especially relevant for global companies. Make sure your organization has the right tool or necessary processes set up to be able to answer ‘yes’ to the above questions.

If you have any suggestions or other ideas, please leave a comment.

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Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For

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The outstanding boss is more than a good manager; she’s a good leader. Pay attention to these 10 tips and be the boss everyone wants to work for.

1. Have a vision.
Before you can lead your people, you’ll need something to lead them to. Where are you going? How will you get there? How will you know when you have arrived?

2. Let people see their value.
Show them constantly how their jobs and your department are contributing to organization’s overall goals. Let them know what they do matters.

3. Give yourself permission to lead.
Overcome the discomfort of having a measure of control over another person’s life. It can be unsettling at first, but it is necessary for quality leadership.

4. Be in the eye of the hurricane.
When things go wrong, you can turn your attention to assigning blame or solving the problem. Good bosses choose the second and do it calmly and deliberately. In times of crisis people need a solid, confident presence to lean on.

5. Give yourself time to lead.
Set aside a portion of your day for nothing more than being with your people, hearing their problems, reinforcing the vision and communicating your support.

6. Get in up to your elbows.
Work hard with your people; relax with them; laugh with them. If you show that you’re really not above them, you will enhance their commitment to you.

7. Deal with surprises.
People and issues arrive unannounced. It’s your job to filter them for urgency and importance and help employee stay focused on priorities not problems.

8. Give up your old job.
You have a new job so don’t hang on to your old one. This can be hard. It’s because of your previous success that you’ve been promoted. But failure to let go of your old job causes more problems than anything else.

9. Don’t play favorites.
Not only has your job changed; your workplace relationships have changed. Yesterday you had co-workers; today you have employees. While it’s only natural to like some individuals more than others you no longer have that luxury.

10. Finally, manage.
Your employees will expect you to deal with poor performers at work. If they see someone getting away with it, they may think that they can as well. If you’re fair and decisive, your good performers will give you their hard earned respect and best effort.

Management Success Tip:

Regularly take stock of your leadership. Reflect on your progress every quarter. Identify issues that require close attention and ways to deal with them before they grow into big headaches. Also see What Makes a Great Boss, Staying Sane While Leading Others and Managing Is Hard Work: Avoid These Mistakes.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

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Can Your Company Do This?

two-successful-businessmen-discussing-business

Welcome to 2013! It’s not only a new year, it is a new age. Although the Mayans started it, I think it is only fitting that the rest of us join in. In business, I declare that we are entering the age of Intersectionalism! No longer will one discipline or idea have the scope to move business, society, civilization, and individuals forward. Nor can we simply be generalists. We must activity bring together different ideas, disciplines, knowledge domains and let them impact each other to create something new, bigger, more robust and responsive to the needs of the situation.

I began the practice of Intersectionalism in 2005, totally unaware of its potential, and find that intersections of five are the perfect size. So let me begin the new year describing the business intersection that I am most passionate about – the intersection that creates the Agile Enterprise. Lets take a look.

First let me admit that I have been behind the curve on this one. I was so wrapped up in trying to create adaptive organizations that I missed the whole agile movement. There now exists an extensive body of literature that I am loving and leaders, we need to get up to speed fast.

Why? Because this movement is replacing Fredrick Taylor’s “Scientific Management.” To be clear, it’s not dead yet! But the Agile Manifesto started an alternative way of working collectively and in true collaboration that is as right for today’s environment as Taylorism was at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

More importantly, Agile conceptually creates an intersection that has room for the key management theories of the day (Figure above).

The Agile Enterprise

This intersection brings together five big ideas to create a workplace environment that really rocks!! It has the capacity to address, and maybe even solve, the enormous challenges humankind (and by default the planet) faces. But capacity is not capability…that still has to be taught, learned, implemented, embedded, and enacted. No small task for our Scientific Management mindset!

Systems Thinking: Systems are the dynamic interactions that produce what we “see” as cause-and-effect events. Without a systems mindset we believe the obvious and miss the root causes (subtle feedback loops, unintended consequences, and mental models) that actually create reality. From a systems perspective we can attain value on the global level, but it comes at the price of optimization at the local level. This is a tough concept for leaders and managers who have been taught that the whole equals the sum of the parts, and have been optimizing parts their whole career. It means a whole new way of decision-making, resource allocation, portfolio management, and strategic planning. For ways to do this contact Pegasus Communications, malpert@pegasuscom.com, 781-398-9701. Recommended reading includes: Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, Russell Ackoff et al, Idealized Design, and Nonaka and Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company.

Agile Framework: This framework reorients what we do and how we do it. It is a way of working that engages employees, builds trust between people as well as on the organizational level, and it thrives in complex environments – there, that takes care of the top three challenges of management today! The best way to introduce this framework is the Agile Manifesto:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

One key outcome of the Agile Framework is the process of Scrum, both have much to contribute to organizations, leaders, and business at all levels. For now, let me admonish you to “BE agile rather than do agile.” To learn how 1) read the full manifesto, www.AgileManifesto.org, 2) visit the Agile Alliance, www.agilealliance.org, and 3) and take a course from the Scrum Alliance, www.scrumalliance.org. Both alliances have national meetings, so leaders you can learn by submersion if you are courageous.

Lean Processes: This discipline took on new meaning for me when I read Mike Rother’s book Toyota Kata. Lean is based on two pillars, Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, which create a system of lean processes. Starting to see the intersection? Lean and systems combine to create thinking tools that allow you to map your business and discover where you are adding value and where you are allowing waste (time and effort) to dominate. Lean establishes what I think of as “the working surface” within organizations, the place where the saw meets the wood, the mind meets the challenge, the process meets the target condition. There is so much written about lean that I will only reference Rother’s book and send you to his presentations (http://www.slideshare.net/mike734).

Design Thinking: I could wax eloquent about this domain and how it defines the intersection. Design Thinking contributes significantly to how the other domains are performed. Let me also point out that this domain challenges the leadership techniques that have been engrained in leaders today. Readers, pick up Roger Martin’s The Design of Business, Stickdorn and Schneider (eds.) This is Service Design, and IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Tool Kit (online free at http://www.hcdconnect.org/toolkit/en). For courses, Human Centered and Service Design is popping up everywhere and watch for leaders like Tim and David Kelley and Thomas Lockwood speaking at OD and leadership conferences.

Leadership and Management: The last component of this intersection is the one that has to adopt the other four to make a real difference. Yikes! That means you dear reader. As we look at this intersection we see that how and who are tightly coupled. Rother covers this in his book in the section on Toyota’s Coaching Kata which is integral to the achievement of continuous improvement. Agile and Scrum have a defined role for coaches and mentors. And no where is this better described than Dan Pinks book, Drive. But the leader of the pack is Gary Hamel, see his book What Matters Now, and more importantly spend time on the Management Innovation eXchange, http://www.managementexchange.com/.

This is a lot to take in, and it is the topic of my contribution to this blog for the forseeable future. For those of you with questions, comments, or needing help contact me directly.

Dr. Carol Mase, carol.mase@cairnconsultants.com, 215-262-6666

PS: my website is completely out of date due to this new Age

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New Job and New Boss: Get Off On The Right Foot

employees-working-in-an-organization
Carla, a system analyst, has just been hired after months of job search. She ‘s highly motivated to succeed because her last position did not work out as she had hoped, particularly with her boss.

She requested career coaching to help her start out right foot. Here are 5 questions I suggested to help her get to know the lay of the land and make a good first impression with her boss.

1. What are your expectations?
Get clarity on a number of things right from the beginning. It could include flexible or strict working hours, resources that will be provided, people you will be working with as well as your position tasks, responsibilities and authority.

2. What’ are the top priorities for my job?
Oftentimes, bosses assign employees more work than they realize. Asking him or her upfront what takes precedence makes your boss choose among the many projects you may have been assigned, This is important so you know how to budget your time. You want to know the top priorities and focus your time, energy and resources on these.

3. What are the department’s top priorities?
Figure out how to help him succeed in his job. If you understand what’s important to your boss, this will help you to meet and exceed his expectations. You also are striving, in the first weeks and months at your new job, to confirm that he made the right hiring choice

4. How will I and what will I be evaluated on?
It’s important to know how you and your boss will gauge your performance. You need to know what you’re working on matters and how your results will be measured. The more concrete information you have about performance expectations and outcomes, the greater the likelihood of meeting them.

5. How do you prefer to communicate and how often?
Realize that bosses, like most people, have different expectations in terms of frequency and method of communication. Does the boss want you to check in every day, every week or only when a specific project is happening? Does he want you to swing by unannounced, make an appointment, send an e-mail or call first?. So ask and adjust accordingly.

Career Success Tip:

Every boss is different and every company is different. Make sure you’re on the same page otherwise you’re in for a rude awakening . Therefore, when you first start a new job, always check your understanding and get feedback.

For example, after your boss has explained something to you, it’s beneficial to summarize what you’ve heard so that the boss knows what information you retained and can fill in the details where you may have missed something. You can say something like, “Let me see if I understand this correctly … am I missing anything? Also see Tips for Starting a New Job.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

  • For more resources, see the Library topic Career Management.
  • Start with the Career Success System.
  • Sign up for Career Power: 101 success tips.
  • Need a speaker? Get the Edge Keynotes-webinars-workshops.
  • Find career and leadership boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
  • Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle career and leadership coach.
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Can One Non-Profit Donate Money To Another?

I was asked if one 501(c)(3) non-profit can give money to another 501(c)(3) charity. With the usual, and necessary, caveat of, “I am not attorney, nor am I giving legal advice,” I responded that, “Yes, when the transaction advances the donor non-profit’s charitable mission, a non-profit can donate money (and other resources) to another non-profit.”

In some instances doing so is an essential part of a non-profit carrying out its mission. Example: An orchestra could donate funds to an organization that seeks to develop overall marketing and PR education and outreach to that city’s arts and culture population.

Along with that necessary start to the process, the donor non-profit needs to make absolutely certain that there is:

1. No conflict of interest. Any person or persons responsible for the transfer of the donated funds must not personally (their families, friends, associates, etc.) benefit in any way. Example: The donated funds are used to purchase equipment in some way connected to business interests of a Board member of the donor non-profit

2. No violation of donor restrictions. While exacting restrictions are not generally connected to most donations, nevertheless, the risk is that some donors would not approve of their money, in principle, going to another charity they did not choose, no matter how it fits or how worthy.

3. No misuse of the donated charitable resources by the receiving non-profit. Should the receiving non-profit subsequently have publicized financial problems, even though the donated funds were not in fact misused, the overall perception of the receiving organization trumps the reality. Perception is everything. There could be serious trouble for the donor non-profit requiring it to justify its support of the ailing organization.

4. No question that donating funds in any way will imperil the donor non-profit’s own financial health. In other words, that the donation was not excessive, or beyond the realm of good judgment.

Of course, there are always exceptions, and at times such arrangements can be mutually beneficial. But, from what I have mostly come to know, the donation-to-another-charity question is most often asked by people who hope the answer is “No” because they are unhappy about, or uncomfortable with, a proposed action of this type. I know I would be as director of development, especially when challenges are possible by my donors asking that I explain the above point 2. I would not want to risk hearing, “Not with my money, you won’t!”
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If you have a question or comment for Tony, he can be reached at Tony@raise-funds.com. There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website: Raise-Funds.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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