Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 @ 09:25 AM
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What is a Millennial? Simply put, these are the folks in our workplace that were born between 1978 and 1997. These are the folks that were HIGHLY influenced by the world of technology. Today's younger worker is the first generation to grow up surrounded by digital technology and they can't imagine a world without it!
Millennials don't want to be TOLD what to do. They pride themselves in invention. They communicate in chat rooms and on FaceBook with ease. They collaborate, make plans that involve many people in a matter of seconds and they prefer "sound bites" to lectures. They want things to be done quickly and efficiently and don't have patience for a lot of rework.
As managers what do we need to do to manage Millennials effectively? If we want to be a company that keeps the best and the brightest then these are the characteristics that we need to value: confidence, creativity, and independence. It is due to these qualities that we find ourselves needing to manage differently.
Millennials crave constant feedback. They have seen what happened to their baby boomer parents and they demand work/life balance and strong workplace relationships. Business leaders need to take a strong look at their company values and how they approach management and begin to alter the environment to meet the needs of these young workers.
The trick here is balance! Don't forget that you have older workers as well. These workers need to be educated about what to expect from their younger colleagues. We need to make room in our company vaults for the use of FaceBook, Twitter and other social network sites during the work day. The net is the key to their success. If we block access, we block creativity and we block freedom. We run the risk of unhappy workers.
We used to call them coffee breaks...now we need to make room for "virtual breaks!" The younger worker needs time during the day to connect. Sure, we need to monitor use of social networks during the workday, but research of the younger worker has shown that by allowing them the freedom to "virtually break," we create a more focused work team.
Think about how social networks have changed how we do our jobs. Virtually every company uses social networks to profile and hunt for job candidates. Studies indicate that more than 40% of employers use social networking sties to examine the profiles of job candidates.
Best-selling author Don Tapscott says, "The old HR model--recruit, train, supervise and retain--should be shelved. Instead, companies should adopt a new model--initiate, engage, collaborate and evolve. Employers have many ways to make themselves attractive to a potential Net Gen employee: customize job descriptions, use game0based training to train employees for short-term projects, and keep in touch with former employees to find new people and get new ideas." "My research has shown that companies that selectively and effectively embrace Net Gen norms perform better than those that don't.
Posted by Celia Couture on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 @ 09:18 AM
As much as our business school educations thought they would prepare us for management, we soon learn that whatever might have been placed in a textbook is NOT reality. Strong management skills are learned though experience.
A classroom is a place to share management practices, debate the latest styles of management, but it is not the place where managers learn how to be socially responsible business leaders. The recent BP disaster on the Gulf Coast is a good example. I'm sure the BP CEO is a great guy, but his choice of words and his immediate response to the disaster was not what people needed to hear.
Business leaders are under attack as a result of their response to the economic crisis. Many have been criticized for putting their own interests ahead of those of employees, customers, and even stock holders.
It's time for business manager to take an inventory of what they need to lead! Typically, business managers are promoted based upon their functional expertise. Is it fair to assume that if you are a wonderful sales person, you can easily make the transition to a great sales manager? A manager must have the ability to integrate skills that help to define effective and strong leadership ability as well as functional knowledge.
It took an educational crisis in the United States before curriculum change occurred. It may take the same effort to engage our prestigious, business schools to begin looking at how they prepare managers to lead. In a recent article written by Richard Barker for the Harvard Business Review, he writes, " The key is to recognize that integration is learned rather than taught: it takes place in the minds of MBA students, who link the various elements of the program. Business education is not one-size-fits-all, and, most important, it should be collaborative rather than competitive."
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Jun 03, 2010 @ 10:00 AM
The past 18 months have been a challenge for many businesses. Sales cycles are long, money is tight and companies have had to look for ways to cut costs. For many companies, training and training budgets were one of the first activities to go. We tried to figure out what we could do to help!
During the month of May, we ran a "Win a Workshop" contest. Companies were asked to submit a brief paragraph explaining why their organization deserved to win a workshop. The contest ran for 30 days and we received about 20 submissions. It was difficult to choose just one winner so we didn't. We are pleased to announce that Cambridge College in Massachusetts is the lucky recipient of our four-hour leadership workshop.
The winner has been notified and we are working on the logistics. All other companies that submitted requests are also receiving a copy of a management book, From the Classroom to the Boardroom written by Celia Couture.
This month, we are offering another way for company leaders to demonstrate an appreciation to your employees in a cost effective way. We feel that executive coaching is like receiving a vacation day or strolling lazily along the water's edge because you can relax and focus on you! Executive Coaching is an opportunity for a coach and an employee to spend quality time on that employee's concerns or leadership needs. We call our offer, "Five for Five." You can learn more about by visiting http://www.ccconsultingllc.com/5-for-5-executive-coaching-special/.
We hope you take advantage of this great offer and the ability to work with our skilled team of executive coaches!
Posted by Celia Couture on Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 08:53 AM
So, you've signed up for a workshop because it has a wonderful title and a topic of interest. You get to the workshop excited about how much knowledge you are going to gain and you leave the workshop less than satisfied. If this sounds familiar to you, then I'd like to offer some things for you to look for to evaluate whether someone pitching a workshop knows what he or she is doing.
1. Is the workshop leader a subject matter expert?
Check out the presenter background information. Are there testimonials you can look at or workshop evaluation forms. Always ask for references that you can speak with. Does the person belong to a speaker's bureau and how frequently is the person sought after to conduct a workshop. Ask for most recent engagements and details about what the workshop leader was asked to do.
2. Is the workshop leader prepared for the size of the audience?
Sometimes, workshops can be facilitated in a terrific way with a manageable crowd, but if the audience is conference size it may not translate as well. A strong presenter should be asking you questions about the attendees, size of the space and deliverable expectations. There is a huge difference between a keynote speaker simply presenting information and a workshop leader who is trying to engage the group in a collaborative learning environment.
In a few weeks, I'm going to announce the winner of a contest I've been running the entire month of May. There is still time to enter the contest. Please visit my website at: http://www.ccconsultingllc.com/win-a-workshop/. The details and contest rules are posted. I choose the winner at the end of next week. The workshop is worth $3,500 to the lucky recipient.
Discuss how to evaluate whether someone pitching a workshop knows what he or she is doing. Promote contest
Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, May 11, 2010 @ 10:30 AM
We've all been there. We attend a workshop because it has a great title, impressive speaker, and a timely topic. We leave feeling that we didn't get our money's worth or we're bored half-way through because it is the same material we've heard about forever it's just been repackaged!
If you are a responsible for identifying appropriate workshop for your company or you are simply looking for a good program to enhance your leadership skills you need to be able to assess its viability for you as well as for your company. How do you determine whether a workshop is right for the people that work for and with you? How do you ensure that the facilitator of the workshop has a strong track record for engaging an audience and more importantly, how do you ensure that when your employees return they can put what they've learned into practice right away.
What is the anatomy of an effective workshop?
1. Is the facilitator a subject matter expert?
Make sure the facilitator has a background in the material being presented. Look for unique deliverables. Has the facilitator written articles, a book, a white paper about the subject matter. Is the facilitator a popular speaker at events? Does the person have the ability to translate or convert information into a form suitable for the audience?
2. Does the facilitator engage the audience?
Despite the fact that attendees tend to sit in the back of the classroom or conference room hoping to spend a few hours hiding out, most attendees at workshops what to be engaged. One of the goals of a strong workshop is provide learners with multiple ways to achieve knowledge. Does the workshop allow for working in groups, in teams, in some interactive way? Is the workshop designed to provide multiple analogies for attendees to grasp the material? Adult learners need variety in teaching techniques. Is some of the material designed for self-development? Very few workshops are successful if they just include a whole bunch of power point slides and little else.
During the month of May, CC Consulting, LLC is offering companies the opportunity to WIN A WORKSHOP. Go here to read details on how to enter: http://www.ccconsultingllc.com/win-a-workshop/
Remember: "Teaching is not about imparting information; it's about making learning irresistible"
--Larry Goldfarb
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Apr 01, 2010 @ 12:11 AM
Came across this great article and book recommendation about change management. The following is an excerpt from the book, Change is Good...You Go First, by Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein. Enjoy the quick lesson in leadership!
Learn from Old Warwick
Fostering a spirit of teamwork is critical in times of change. The key element is trust. Trust for the leader and trust for each other.
There is a wonderful story from the play, Some Folks Feel the Rain; Others Just Get Wet; and I think it's worth sharing again to shed some light on how people think about teamwork...
A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn't injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.
"Warwick can get you out of that ditch," said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating.
"Yep, old Warwick can do the job." The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted,
"Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!"
And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, "Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?"
The farmer grinned and said, "Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he's part of a team, he doesn't mind pulling."
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 @ 10:22 AM
This is a wonderful article about Customer Service. In today's economy we need to ensure that our companies and our employees understand what it means to deliver outstanding customer service. We can no longer be satisfied with meeting the minimums. We have to go the distance. Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz have been held up as experts in this area. I would encourage readers to share this article with your employees.
Excerpt from: The Simple Truths of Service
by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz
Great Service is a Choice
No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed my friend a laminated card and said:
"I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk, I'd like you to read my mission statement."
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:
Wally's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf."
My friend said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink."
Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice."
Almost stuttering, Harvey said, "I'll take a Diet Coke."
Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustratedand USA Today."
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio."
As if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of the day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights, or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
"Tell me, Wally," my amazed friend asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this?"
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. "No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'
"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. "Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more."
"I take it this has paid off for you," Harvey said.
"It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action."
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.
Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. They decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you?
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 @ 10:15 AM
I came across this article today and wanted to share its content. Every company should have a set of core values or operating principles they live by. This is a way for us to measure behavior and way for us to integrate the "mission" of the company through its employees. Oftentimes, companies make the mistake of assuming that their employees are in support of company core values. If employees are not involved in the creation of the values then it is unlikely they will buy in to them or more importantly practice them in the day-to-day performance on the job Sometimes, companies view the creation of values as "fluff." I prefer to think of values as the glue that holds a company together. If we navigate away from our values progress is thwarted as is morale. Hope you enjoy reading this excerpt.
Good to the Core, by John Blumberg
"I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.
Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.
Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.
The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.
We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!
We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake-up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen."
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 @ 11:35 AM
The January/February issue of Harvard Business Review wrote a great article entiled, "What Really Motivates Workers?" by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. I found the central theme of the article quite interesting. Most leaders assume that employees are motivated by money, reward systems or recognition. I would have agreed with them, but the study conducted by Amabile and Kramer over a multi-year study in a wide variety of industries found that workers are MOST motivated by "progress."
Workers want to feel that at the end of a work day they are making a difference in their jobs, or when they receive support to overcome obstacles and their energy level is at its greatest when their "drive to succeed is at its peak." Worker are most disheartened when they feel demotivated or when they are somehow thwarted in their efforts to make forward progress. There exists an inherent connection between employee motivation and meeting job objectives. Even minor accomplishments help workers feel good about what they do.
So why is this important for leaders to know? The key to helping your employees become more motivated and emotionally invested in the job is in your hands! Managers have total control over helping their employees achieve goals. You can provide guidance, assist them with overcoming obstacles in their work and you can encourage them to succeed.
It also means that you have to be decisive, adhere to goals and objectives and hold employees accountable for results. Changes in the work place requiring shifting of responsibilities, downsizing or reorganizing are the most difficult times to keep employees motivated. During these times, continue to make sure that employees are focusing on the goals. Celebrate progress often and on a regular basis and your employees will continue to achieve progress on a daily basis.
Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 09:00 PM
The recent news coverage of children bullying other children has unfortunately reached epidemic proportions in our schools. Recently, a young student was cyber bullied to such a degree that she committed suicide. We here stories like this and are dismayed, concerned and angered. Why are parents not doing their jobs? Why are innocent children taking their lives? Why do other children feel compelled to treat each other this way? All of these questions have been pondered and studied by school officials, the police and psychologist. I'm not sure anyone has a good answer. We can only hope as adults that if we discover this behavior we intercede in the hope of helping one child. I often wonder then if there is strong link between the behavior by children and similar behavior I see as a management consultant.
As a management consultant, I am in the business of helping companies with employee relations. I am often asked by employees how a manager can get away with treating employees terribly?
According to Teresa A. Daniel, an employment lawyer, author and principal consultant at InsideOut HR solutions, "While it may be disconcerting and unprofessional, it is universally not illegal in the US for managers t threaten, insult, humiliate, ignore, or mock employees. Nor is it illegal to gossip and spread rumors, withhold information, or take credit for someone else's work. Unfortunately, these bullying tactics are not rare; they take place with frequency."
What is workplace bullying? The legal definition refers to "repeat and persistent attempts by one person to torment, tear down, frustrate or get a reaction from another. It is treatment which persisently provokes, pressures, frightens, intimidates or otherwise discomforts another person." (The Harrassed Worker, by Dr. Carroll M. Brodsky)
An even more frightening statistic: In a survey of 1,000 U.S. employee by Employment Law Alliance in San Francisco, nearly 45 percent of the respondents scored that they have worked for abusive bosses. It is further estimated that 37 percent of American workers, roughly 54 million people, would report being bullied at work.
Under federal law, it is unlawful for an employer to harass any member of a protected class based on race , religion, physical or mental disability, sex, or age, but the government still has not extended the law to prohibit workplace bullying.
While we continue to work to improve employee satisfaction in their work worlds it is critical for us to pay attention to the warning signs that employees may be enduring difficult workplace environments at the hands of their bosses. There is a huge difference between a tough boss and a bully. Part of our many responsibilities is to help coach and protect employees while discerning what type of problem you are really dealing with. If a person acts without malice we may just have a tough boss. If a person acts with malice, we have a bully.
While conflict exists in the workplace, groups led by tough bosses work to resolve problems through respectful communication. A bully simply doesn't care!