Category: Organization Development

Any business serious about Change needs to create a Change Vision which is an expression of the harsh reality and the change intention. Executed well, a Change Vision Statement will send a strong message for everyone in your business to rally and support the the transformational journey.

This is not to be confused with a company Mission Statement that may already exist within the business. A Change Vision should be crafted specifically to gain support and gather momentum relating to the Change Agenda.

To help you come up with a “Killer” Change Vision for your business first you need to understand a few things about what motivates people to take action about a business situation. Though this entirely depends on individuals, it’s safe to deduce that in general:

• A few people are inspired by a desired outcome.(e.g. number 1 in your market segment, or first to launch product XX)
• Some are inspired mainly by avoiding an undesirable outcome. (e.g. company shutting down / redundancy / retrenchment)
• Most people however are motivated by a combination of both.

Try to come up with a Change Vision Statement that addresses both the desired positive outcome and the “to be avoided” negative outcome in your business today.

10 Things a “Killer” Change Vision Statement should accomplish

A CI Vision Statement Should:

1. Be Short and to the Point
2. Be Motivational and Inspirational
3. Captivate the intended audience
4. Be Timeless (must still be applicable months or years into the Change Journey)
5. Be a Unified Voice of the business (not a departmental opinion)
6. Identify with a Common most urgent goal
7. Cross Boundaries and Diversities
8. Create a Sense of Urgency
9. Be A Call to Action
10. Be Genuine, Believable and spoken straight from the Heart

Having created a compelling Change Vision Statement, what’s the best way to share it with everyone across the business? Do you just hang a poster at reception?

We asked uk immigration solicitors in london the same question

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For more resources, see our Library topic Quality Management.
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BBB in crisis management mode after being caught taking cash for ratings

Over the years, Bernstein Crisis Management has often had the challenge of protecting businesses from the abuses of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the less-than-honest organization whose mission is supposedly to protect the public from bad business practices, so when I spotted an ABC News story calling out the service, my only thought was, “about time!” A quote:

The Better Business Bureau, one of the country’s best known consumer watchdog groups, is being accused by business owners of running a “pay for play” scheme in which A plus ratings are awarded to those who pay membership fees, and F ratings used to punish those who don’t.

To prove the point, a group of Los Angeles business owners paid $425 to the Better Business Bureau and were able to obtain an A minus grade for a non-existent company called Hamas, named after the Middle Eastern terror group.

“Right now, this rating system is really unworthy of consumer trust or confidence,” said Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal in an interview to be broadcast as part of an ABC News investigation…”

Additionally, in my experience, the BBB does not consider a complaint resolved until the COMPLAINANT considers it resolved — no matter how wacko or vengeful the latter person is.

Although the BBB vehemently denies that it is possible to buy higher ratings, claiming the example cited was due to a salesperson’s error, the ABC investigation actually managed to capture video footage of business owners being told that their grades could be raised if they paid hundreds of dollars in membership fees. With such damning evidence being thrust into the court of public opinion, the shoe is now on the other foot, as the group that has put unfair pressure on so many business owners is forced into crisis management mode in an attempt to protect both revenue and reputation.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Doing your Non-profit AGM on the cheap is not for everyone. If you use your AGM for a fundraiser, or are totally dependent upon private donors, then this wouldn’t be for you. But if you are a small or fledgling non-profit, this could help immensely.

When I first ran a very small non-profit, actually having an AGM event caused us hardship because we were very project funding based with little to no additional funding for special events. So it’s a good idea to look at how you can reduce your costs for your AGM event if you are in a similar situation. This is how you can do it:

• Get a free vendor – Often if you are a community based organization, you can develop or already have developed relationships with local schools, community clubs, churches or seniors centres. These types of organizations are often willing to let you use their facility for little to nothing for using it because they see your organization as a valuable, contributing member to the community.
• Make refreshments in house – Instead of paying a lot of money to hire a caterer or even to buy from a restaurant, why not purchase the basics needed and have staff and volunteers prepare the refreshments. This will take more coordination, but it is also an opportunity to empower your clients by asking them to help with the event and take ownership of it. Recommended types of food would be: sandwiches, veggie platters, cheese and crackers, pickles, fruit platters, coffee, tea or juice.
• Sponsor funded AGM Report – Printing can be expensive, but there are ways to get it at little or no cost to your organization. Often local politicians have small pockets of funding that they can tap into, or they can often use their own printing budget to do the printing of your AGM report for you, provided you give them credit on the report as a sponsor. Or you could consider developing a partnership with a corporation or local business that deals in photocopying and ask them to contribute the photocopying of the AGM report, with credit on the report as well.
• Recruit Entertainment – Instead of hiring someone to be the entertainment at the AGM, why not look for local talent that is willing to do it for the exposure. Often, local schools, church groups, or even residents are willing to perform at your AGM for free. It is a win win situation, they get exposure and you and your guests get the enjoyment of their talent.
• Donated door prizes – We always found that the lure of door prizes often helped to draw our community into our events. AGMs can be pretty boring otherwise and you want your clientele and the surrounding community to participate. So you can approach local businesses to ask for donations of door prizes and offer to put up their names on a sponsor list at the event. Businesses enjoy being included in community events and you get door prizes that will help to increase the numbers attending your AGM.

Question of the Day: What tactics have you used to reduce the costs of your AGM event?

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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, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

The “WOW” Effect is the New Trigger for Business.

Ok, so here’s the deal for anyone owning a business or working for one. Your business is all about solving a problem for your customer, right? Every one of your customers carries particular expectations each time they part with their hard earned cash in exchange for your products and/or service. (We’ll call your products or services “goods” for now. Goods are therefore your business’s cash cow or more specifically what puts pizza on your table).

In the past, customers were usually happy to pay for goods in exchange for your business delivering “the customer expectations”. While expectations may have varied, every experience, interaction or transaction resulted in either a satisfied or dissatisfied customer. Satisfied customers would come back and dissatisfied ones would go elsewhere. This was business then.

Today, customer satisfaction alone is not enough. Businesses need to “wow” over their customers by exceeding customer expectations and indeed surprise them. Over delivering is the new business rule. Satisfaction is a given and therefore no longer a Unique Selling Point.

Some firms using this technique include immigration solicitors oxford. as well as immigration solicitors northampton

There’s a reason for this.

The Wow Effect is now the only Guarantee for consistent Business Results driven by Passionate People working with Best Practices to deliver Quality Goods repeatedly.

How do you “wow” your customers?
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uk immigration solicitors london

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For more resources, see our Library topic Quality Management.
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I’m Brian Venge and I’m the host of this blog. You can read more about me next to my picture in the sidebar. This blog will be about various aspects of quality management, and will focus especially on practical tips and tools, including posts from guest writers. You can learn more about this blog by clicking on the About link just under the header.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Quality Management.
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Crisis management and social media are like PB&J

Ruh roh. A new survey from German consultancy Gartner Communications found that while nearly 85% of companies worldwide have general crisis plans in place (yea!), only 20.7% have social media crisis plans set (boo!). Moreover, while 71% of in-house communicators think social media will become even more important in crisis communications going forward, a staggering 78.6% said they were pretty unprepared or so-so when it comes to social media crises.

This quote, from a post on B2C Marketing Insider, illuminates a serious problem that continues to affect businesses on a daily basis. It’s astonishing that, even after seeing major global companies go down in e-flames because of their poorly planned or nonexistent social media planning, nearly 80% of communicators are not ready to respond to a social media crisis.

It’s very simple…when your stakeholders want information, they don’t want to call in and sit on hold, or listen to a droning recorded message; these days they turn directly to social media, specifically Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Being an active participant on these platforms means that when a crisis breaks, you have the perfect means to make public the fact that you are fielding stakeholder concerns while at the same time communicating your message exactly as intended. In other words, the ideal situation for 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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Airline ignores opportunity to communicate and connect via social media

You don’t have to look hard to see the prominent role Twitter is playing in major crises. When engine problems forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore last week, passengers were tweeting pictures of the damage as their plane sat on the tarmac.

In the hours after, Qantas was in a scramble, trying to combat inaccurate media reports on several fronts, including several that claimed the plane had actually crashed, and being made to look somewhat foolish as they denied any wreckage being found on a nearby island while a photo from that very island showing locals holding a large piece of debris circulated around Twitter with the hashtag #QF32.

With the story already on its way to exploding on Twitter, one would think Qantas would go to where its stakeholders were discussing things, but instead its main account, @QantasUSA, remained strangely silent on the issue, and visitors seeking information saw only earlier messages, including one that became somewhat inappropriate given the situation. Image from Tnooz.com:

Finally, late on September 4th, the airline managed to get a link to its initial statement posted on the Twitter feed. The following day, though, Qantas suffered yet another engine scare, this time with a Boeing 747, and for three days now the page has stood without a posting as the rest of Twitter is abuzz with rumor and assumption about the two incidents.

While Qantas did an excellent job ensuring the safety of its customers, its communication was sub-par at best. With such a large company, especially as a member of an industry known to hold inherent dangers, there is no excuse to not have at least one person assigned to handle Twitter postings and replies around the clock.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Probably one of the most frustrating things for an Executive Director is when their board members do not actively participate in events and fundraising. The problem is that without proper Board Training, many board members will never realize that it is a part of their role and responsibility as a board member to assist staff with types of actions.

But there are some strategies that can be used to successfully involve board members in these activities. They are:

• Board training and orientation – Ensure that your board, both returning and new board members participate in board training and orientation. This is an opportunity for them to be reminded that assisting with fundraising and events is a part of their job descriptions.
• Put it on the board meeting agenda – If the Executive Director and the Board Chairperson inform the board when events are coming up and ask who will be able to attend and help out. Make certain you remind them that if they can’t participate in this event, they will be expected to participate in the next event.
• Invite board members to sit on planning committees – When you invite board members to help to plan events, it gives them a sense of ownership over what is happening and encourages them to get involved and stay involved.
• Send out invitations to the event – Make sure your board members all receive an invitation. Include an RSVP request and a polite note informing them if they have not attended previous events, that you would appreciate their participation.
• Give a presentation – Ask members of your board to give a presentation about something exciting that is happening in your organization, or ask them to make a speech. It’s hard to say “no” if you are expected to speak at the event.

Question of the Day: What other strategies have you used to encourage your board members to attend your NGO’s events and fundraisers?

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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, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/

Popular drink maker’s poor crisis communications could be its downfall

You would think one of the nation’s largest independent PR firms would know better than to argue with a reporter, but when Edelman PR, which represents Phusion Projects, makers of the controversial caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko, contacted the writers of a Seattle Weekly blog asking them to change the wording of a post, they only provided fodder for another damaging post. Here’s the full exchange, from the Seattle Weekly:

The flack took issue with Caleb’s statement that Four Loko “has the alcoholic equivalent of five or six caffeinated beers.” (No objection was made to his describing the drink as tasting like “Thor’s piss.”) Said Edelman:

This statement is not correct…Please remove this error from the online version of your story and please use the correct information from the materials we provided.

We looked at the materials provided, which said a can of Four Loko is 12 percent alcohol by volume. Well, that’s almost three times the abv of a can of PBR. And a can of Four Loko, at 23 ounces, is roughly twice the size. So that works out to five or six beers’ worth of alcohol per can.

But hey, we’re always open to a second check of our math. OK, we replied, How many beers would you say a can of Four Loko is equal to?

It depends on the beer–domestics or the high-end crafts or imports.

How about an “average beer”?

What’s an average beer? A Bud or a craft /Euro beer with considerably higher alcohol content by volume?

Given that your typical Phusion Projects customer isn’t likely to be choosing between Four Loko and a Grolsch, this response seemed evasive to the point of silliness.

Indeed, the Edelman representative insisted that wine was the better analogy, as if the Four Loko customer might opt for a light Pinot instead.

A can of Four Loko is equal to about 2 glasses of wine.

But even that’s complete horseshit. Yes, Four Loko has about the same alcohol by volume as your average wine. But your typical serving of wine is about 5 ounces. Which means there’s actually close to five glasses of wine in a can of Four Loko.

Behavior like that of the Edelman representative is what earned PR professionals the unsavory nickname, “spin doctors.” At this point, Phusion Projects is facing criticism of its drink purely for its physical dangers, but by attempting to muddy the facts about their client’s products, Edelman is actually laying the foundation for another crisis. With several high-visibility hospitalizations in the past weeks being attributed to Four Loko, Phusion Projects would be better off acknowledging the possible problems and publicly working with officials to find a solution.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

One interview gone wrong can cause a crisis management nightmare for your organization.

Bad interviews have been responsible for igniting countless crises. A few errant words, and what would have otherwise gone largely unnoticed is suddenly an international sensation. The latest example of this is the case of UK nuclear sub commander Andy Coles, who ran his £1.2 billion ship aground late last week. A quote, from a Herald Scotland article by Helen McArdle:

In a previously unpublished interview with a newspaper before the incident, Commander Coles reportedly admits previously ignoring advice not to sail the high-tech vessel in bad weather and says it has proved difficult to manoeuvre.

He also says he believes he is getting too old for the job. “When I leave her next May I probably won’t go to sea on a submarine again,” he said. “I’m 47 now and I think it’s time for someone younger.”

Cdr Coles, who is nicknamed Stumpy because he lost one of his fingers as a child, complains that the advanced nature of Astute’s periscope means that even minor mistakes by him can instantly be witnessed by crew members when the information flashes up on the submarine’s high-definition television screens.

He said: “In the old days you could spin round, see you’d had a close shave and think to yourself ‘I’ve got away with it.’ Now everyone knows.”

Scary statements from the man responsible for the well being of the UK’s most powerful attack submarine and her crew. Both the interview and the Commander’s actions have made the Royal Navy, which was seemingly unaware of the interview, appear weak and foolish in the public eye, creating a rough crisis management scenario. One advantage the Navy holds is a strong foundation of trust and good will with the people, which will help to direct blame towards Coles and prevent any significant reputation damage.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]