December 15, 2008

Table of Contents:

Keeping Up: Current Events

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A recent study by The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average person working 45 hours per week earns 44% more than someone who works 40 hours.

Charles Schwab, in an interview with Fortune on the state of the stock market “It will get better definitely after Obama has his team together and is able to submit to the public what he's going to do. He's got some wise people around him who will probably put together a pretty comprehensive and thoughtful strategy, and I think that will add exactly what we need to improve confidence.

Got Talent? - Keep Your Best Employees

The company is facing a difficult time. You are tense about the future of your department. Your staff is getting nervous, and as a result, no one is concentrating on productivity. Here are some ways to stop feeding the worry cycle and get your ship righted:

Keep fear from causing you or your staff from disengaging. Remember, the degree to which employees are concerned about losing their jobs varies inversely with the degree to which they are concerned with doing their jobs, and taking care of customers. And they’ll be looking to you, the management, for signs—Are you conveying fear or hope?

Higher Returns in Harder Times

Situations are complex, especially at work. There are countless circumstances to deal with every week. Which ones should you take on? Which ones should be let go? The truth is that there is no right answer, because there is no way of ensuring how the conversation will turn out, even if you give it your best shot.

Regardless, when you do make the decision to take on a situation and communicate your angle, ask yourself; is the real conflict inside of you? Sometimes what's difficult about a situation is much more related to what is going on inside of you, versus what is going on between you and someone else. In this case, focusing on the conversation isn't going to pay off. You may as well complete the conflict within yourself.

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Editor's Note

A positive message...

Reading Inc. Magazine a few days ago, I saw a quote from management guru Tom Peters that I thought you would like to share with your customers. It is so perfectly appropriate for the current economic climate - AND so refreshing to hear - especially for us in the training space!

Here is the timely wisdom, including the lead-in from Inc.:

Among all management gurus, Tom Peters is most associated with managing during bad economic times. His "In Search of Excellence" was published amid the sharp recession of 1982, and "Thriving on Chaos" debuted on Black Monday in 1987. On TomPeters.com, he recently wrote about running a business in a time of "significant and sustained economic disarray."

" Instant, mindless cutting of R&D or training or salesforce travel in the face of a downturn is often counterproductive - or, rather, downright stupid. Tough times are in fact golden opportunities to get the drop, and the longterm drop at that, on those who respond to bad news by panicky across-the-board slash and burn tactics and moves that de-motivate and alienate the workforce at exactly the wrong moment."

Book Report

How to Get Your Customers Swearing by You, Not at You
Nancy Friedman

Why should you train your employees for service excellence? The service experience that your customer has just undertaken, or is about to undertake, will determine much more than whether or not they come back to you in the future.

That service experience dictates how quickly they come back, how many colleagues they share the story with, and how likely they are to be up-sold or cross-sold. But it doesn’t end there. It also has a lasting effect on the person who is delivering the service. The more positive experiences your employees have with customers, the more likely they are to have additional positive experiences with customers. It all culminates into a giant ripple effect that makes or breaks businesses without them ever knowing about it, or recognizing the source.

Read more...

Situation Room
New In-House System

You are the Director of a large information management division at your company. Your staff consists of a Manager of Inventory Systems and a Manager of Order Processing Systems as well as a team administrators and programmers. You report directly to the VP of Operational Technology.

Your department is nearly three quarters of the way through the most important project you have been given since taking your post. Your division has been charged with creating an in-house system to replace the model you currently use, which is hosted on the server of a vendor. Recreating the system to include what your company needs without losing the current system capabilities is crucial. Your entire department is spending at least a quarter of their time dedicated to this project.

It was recently announced by corporate management that your company is being purchased by a competitor from the same industry. The companies are approximately the same size but have completely different approaches to the marketplace. There is no avoiding some culture clash.

Out of the acquisition planning process has come a directive that similar headquarters administrative departments from the two formerly separate companies, such as Finance, HR and IT, will be combined, and "excess" positions will be eliminated. Preliminary expectations are that you and your VP will be retained, but about one half of your existing staff (including one of your managers) will be let go and several of the other companies programmers will become part of your new organization.

Additionally, the senior corporate management team has stated that the combined departments must quickly become effective teams that find and fit together. Obviously, you realize that these changes will have major effects on both your staff members and on your ongoing project.

At this point you are safe, however you need to determine quickly how to make two different staffs from two different approaches come together and get them on track for your project to be completed. As a leader, what would your teambuilding approach be to this situation?

Send in your solutions!

Author Profile

Daniel Goleman

When thinking back on the field of "soft skills" one realizes that there has been very little new ground broken in the last 40 years. Management, Leadership, Sales, Teams, Communication – these are all crucial topics however none have been introduced as much as they have simply evolved to reflect the professional eras as we've moved through time. With one exception.

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