Management Craft

Let's meet in Santa Clara!

I will be speaking at the Santa Clara University on Wednesday, October 1. Here is a description of the talk/workshop (it's longer than a talk, shorter than a workshop) from the SCU website:

Generating and Catalyzing Breakthroughs at Work featuring Lisa Haneberg

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
9:00 - noon (continental breakfast begins at 8:30 am)
Price: $99, includes continental breakfast and a copy of Haneberg's book, Two Weeks to a Breakthrough
Benson Center - Mission Room (lower level)
Santa Clara University campus

What if you could spend just a few minutes a day and make a big difference in results? What if you could ask a couple questions and be the catalyst for breakthroughs for others? During this high-energy presentation, Lisa Haneberg will share a simple system you can put into practice immediately to achieve breakthroughs in results, improve energy and momentum, and help others rapidly move forward toward reaching their goals.

In this program, Haneberg will introduce you to an ingenious system and set of tools that will help you:

• better understand the nature of breakthroughs at work
• zoom in on goals
• get big results from tiny pockets of time
• learn how to catalyze breakthroughs

Participants will leave with a set of easy actionable techniques they can start using right away to generate breakthroughs.

As you may have picked up from the description, this session is open to the public and there is a charge of $99. If you are in need of a boost, a recharge, the right amount of inspiration and practical tactics, please consider attending. And if you do, please make a point of coming up to say "hi" before or after the talk begins. You can register on their website here.

I endeavor to make this session a catalyst for everyone who attends. I hope to see you there! Flap, flap, flap.

    

Paper, Plastic or Gucci - Reusable Grocery Bag Wars

I think the next hot corporate logo item is going to be the grocery bag. Here's why.

Bill and I went to the West Seattle Farmer's Market this weekend. Oh, one thing you should know first is that the City of Seattle recently passed a law that - as of January 2009 - grocers will have to charge 20 cents per bag for either plastic or paper bags. The law seeks to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags (and to offset costs for garbage collection and conservation programs).

Back to the farmer's market.... As you might expect, the local farmer's market attracts the most "granola" audience within our community. And those of us who are fringe granolas (granola served with an Egg McMuffin chaser) go to the market with our greenest side out.

As we climbed into our biodiesel car, we grabbed a Whole Foods reusable grocery bag (this sentence reads more granola than fringe, I admit, but we make up for this in other devilish ways of consumption). It looks like this.

While at the farmer's market, I noticed the grocery bags that people were carrying. I would guess that 90% or better brought their own bags and many were branded reusable bags. Some people went old school granola and used baskets. All the local grocery stores are selling these bags for anywhere from a little more than a buck to several dollars. What's interesting is that I noticed people noticing people's bags.

We are so fashion oriented, and I fully expect a big war for the designer grocery bag market. Here is a colorful bag from Trader Joe's.

And here is a plain jane model that might appeal to the die-hard granolas:

Incidentally, you can find a HUGE variety of reusable grocery bags on ebay. And there are lots of options on Amazon.

So how about you? Why not create logo grocery bags and hand them out for the holidays (filled with food and some other goodies). Here's one place to get your bags made.

Just be careful to give away bags that are cool - either because they look nice, have good grocery carrying features (gussets, long handles, reinforced bottoms), or because they represent state-of-the-art green. People will be watching what we use to carry home our beanies and weenies.

Managers, want to be seen as uber hip? Give away reusable grocery bags at your next staff meeting. OK, that was just my lame attempt to tie the topic of this post to management..... :-)

Here's what my logo bags might look like - what do you think? One note, I recommend darker colored bags as they will hide marks from food - like carrot top rubbings. Hey, it's a serious problem.

HR Headlines - Funny Tragic Useful

I was reading one of those HR newsletters that we all get but never remember signing up for. Here are a few of the article headlines that I found amusing:

Overtime Suits Due to Blackberry Usage May Become Problem

This is a curse and a blessing if you are an HR professional or a senior leader. A curse if you end up defending yourself in a suit - I can see this getting very messy and will likely skew in the employee's favor (remember, all time spent on behalf of the company, even if you did not ask the employee to do it, is compensable). This trend could be a blessing, though, because it might shock us into creating better balance.

Firms that Downsize See Surge in Turnover

Isn't this ironic? You make tough cuts, only to see more cuts happen on their own. Perhaps we should just threaten a downsizing and see if the cuts happen naturally. Only kidding - we both know that the people who leave on their own accord won't be the ones we want to leave.

This one is actually useful....

New Retirement Benefits Estimator is Available

You can log onto the Social Security Administration at www.socialsecurity.gov.estimator and get personalized benefit amount estimates.

Fireside Chat with Jack Mitchell - Hug Your People!

What does Jack mean when he suggests we become married to our employees?  Check out this podcast and create a niceness culture!

During this 26 minute podcast, I chat with Jack Mitchell, author of Hug Your People: The Proven Way to Hire, Inspire, and Recognize Your Employees and Achieve Remarkable Results. As you might probably guess, I got this book (as I do with other podcast guests) for free. That said, after reading Hug Your People and talking with Jack, I ordered several copies, in both book and CD format, to share with a management team I am working with. This would be a great book for a team to read and then discuss during a few brown bag lunches. It is simple, but also elegant. I am amazed at how common it is to find a workplace that suffers from low morale or is not a positive place. If you are less than blissful about your work, listen to this podcast and then check out the book.

You can listen to my podcast with the Jack Mitchell by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here.

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

"If it is to be, it is up to me"

I was facilitating a management team discussion and one of the managers asked the question, "sure, this is all well and good and these are great ideas, but is anything going to come of it? Or will all our work just sit in a binder somewhere collecting dust?"

This comment made me think of a quote from Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Foods and co-author of Flight of the Buffalo which goes like this:

If it is to be, it is up to me.
If it is up to me, it shall be.

Many of you have been in similar meetings. Have you noticed that the very people who ask the questions about what will come of the work are the ones who are in the best positions to ensure something DOES happen with the work?

Managers are the make it happen people. We can ensure things go from concept to reality. And we are also responsible for the work that goes wasted and becomes a door stop.

I believe that 99% of managers have the power and potential to turn strategies into realities - and I believe most managers don't do enough to align their work groups to be well positioned to execute plans. Many don't spend enough time creating plans that turn concepts into results. Perhaps it's that we have learned helplessness. Perhaps it is that we are not holding ourselves to a high enough standard.

Who knows. But if your planning meetings go nowhere, look in the mirror. I think Ralph would agree.

By the way, I would have the same reaction to the common lament, "we need to improve morale." Managers determine morale - period. If morale is poor, change how you manage and change how you spend your time so that you can improve the situation. If this notion is not sitting well with you or you are not sure you agree, read the book The Art of Possibility. Good morale lives in the most troubled companies and many of the richest organizations suffer from poor morale. People can be content in the most meager of circumstances and feel dissatisfied while bathed in riches.

If you have an execution culture - it has been created through excellent management.
If you have a strong employee culture - it has been created through excellent management.

Are You Willing to Start Over?

Many of us can make more money doing what we do today than we can doing what we think we want to do next. And many of us linger too long in our old profession/job because the thought of being a beginner (and  all that might come with this) is daunting or will not support our financial needs.

And while we don't always have to start over, completely, sometimes we need to rebuild or relearn skills.

Are you willing to start over? If you could identify a job that would make you feel fulfilled but that required you to slash your income and organizational status, would you do it? could you?

I do some work for a local nonprofit organization and I have noticed a trend of people who are applying to work there and who currently make 4 to 10 times the salary that the nonprofit job pays (they are often applying for an entry level position). These people fall into three categories:

1. People who have just recently lost their jobs and they are exploring any possible job. They say they will take $10 per hour, but often leave as soon as they find something that pays more. Sometimes they become a volunteer on off days to stay connected.

2. People who think they can take a pay cut but have not really thought it through. The reality of the difference often sets in after the first interview.

3. People who have been thinking about this for some time and who have taken steps to adjust their lifestyles. They have downsized their homes and/or have spouses who will be picking up the burden to make the lion's share of the household income. These folks come into the new job with eyes wide open and have the best chance of staying and enjoying the work.

In these times of economic challenges, my guess is that fewer people are taking risks.

How far would you go to do the work you love? Would you change the way you live?

Great Places to Find Fresh Thinking

I have been meaning to mention the Leadership Development Blog Carnival - here is a link to #2, which includes a beefy list of great posts. Blog post carnivals ("best of" selections from lots of bloggers) are great places to find fresh thinking and new blogger to read.

Also, I am honored to be among the short list of great blogs for small business leaders and managers posted on the Small Business CEO. Check out all the nominated blogs here.

And I want to acknowledge the winner of the Best of Leadership Blogs contest put on by Kevin Eikenberry. The honor goes to the All Things Workplace blog by Steve Roesler. Congrats Steve!

Fireside Chat with Kent Seltman - Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic

Do you know how to use niche picking at work?  Check out this podcast!

During this 24 minute podcast, I chat again with Kent Seltman, co-author of Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic: Inside One of the World's Most Admired Service Organizations. We chat about how Mayo has deliberately aligned its practices, systems, and managerial regimens and tools to produce the environment consistent with their values and service goals. If you work in or lead a service organization (aren't all orgs service orgs?), you will enjoy this podcast and book.

You can listen to my podcast with the Kent Seltman by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here.

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

HR Commercials on CNN Boring - Not What the Profession Needs!

When I travel, I watch CNN in the evenings to catch up on things since I watch so little TV at home. Tonight I noticed a TV commercial promoting HR Professionals....

It was so boring!

This is not what the HR profession needs. If they want to help improve what people think about HR professionals, putting a lifeless commercial on CNN is not what they should be doing.

Get HR folks who are doing cool work to talk at TED.
Tell stories about HR professionals who are so good they became rock star CEOs.

Great work gets noticed. Only lame ducks need to buy ad time on CNN and air boring commercials.

Change your story.

I am a social constructivist - one who believes that reality is socially constructed. And so I believe that if you change conversations, you change reality.

Check out this great post by fellow Seattle blogger and pal Curt Rosengren called Reinvent your story. Reinvent your world.

One of the book ideas I had way back when was to create a user friendly version of Social Construction of Reality. It is a great book, but a bit tough to get through because it is written in an academic voice.