Joe and Wanda on Management

In this ten minute Management Tips Podcast, Susan Cramm, president of Valuedance, talks about how to build a coalition of support in order to achieve results.

In his book, Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture, Jon Gordon has the following to say about communication…

As companies, we spend millions of dollars communicating and advertising to our customers attempting to earn their trust, and yet we spend so little effort communicating and advertising to our most important customers – our employees.

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Drivel.

Wanda B. Goode: Agreed – with Jon, not Joe! Sometimes we don’t communicate because we overlook its importance. Usually, though, it’s because we are afraid. Either we don’t trust our employees with the information, or we hoard it ourselves for job security.

Without communication, there is no trust. Without trust, there is no engagement. When in doubt, over-communicate. It truly is worth it.

Here are a couple of other posts on communication.

Communicating to Your Employees
Four Workplace Communication Tips

In his book, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale tells the story of a trapeze artist instructing his students in the skills of his craft. When it comes time to demonstrate one of the skills a student freezes with fright. He can’t move a muscle. The instructor puts his arm around the boy and says, “Son, you can do it, and I will tell you how… throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.”

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: If you work with me, you better throw that heart pretty high, because I’ve raised the bar. And just to show how I play as hard as I work, come on down to the real bar after work and I’ll show you how to raise the roof and maybe even a little bit of cain! We’ll see if you have the heart to hang!

Wanda B. Goode: I love the saying. We do have a tremendous amount of power within us. Our hearts and minds take the lead. Get the faith and beliefs going in the right direction and great things will happen.

Here are a couple of related posts

Workplace Motivation Commandments All Leaders Must Follow
Throw Your Heart

I was over at benchmarklearning.com recently, and within the description of a training course on organizational change management there was the statement, “Organizations reach their goals through projects; projects require that people change. BUT as a wise man once told me, the only person who really likes change is a wet baby; and, even they usually kick and scream throughout the change process!”

Isn’t that the truth?

Joe Kerr: When it’s time to change you’ve got to rearrange, who you are into what you’re gonna be… Shanana na na na na na na Shanananana!

Wanda B. Goode: True enough. The way to reduce the kicking and the screaming is through frequent and sustained two-way communication and good training. Of course if those “inflicted” with the change can’t be convinced of the benefit of the change, you’re in for a rough colicky stretch.

Here’s another post on change.
The “Six Month Rule” of Organizational Change – It’s All Personal!

The July, 2010 Leadership Development Carnival is up at Dan McCarthy’s Great Leadership site. There are about 40 management and leadership articles available this month. Enjoy.

New Your Times best selling author, Chuck Martin, shares his management tip – Play to people’s strengths. Listen to the podcast to learn more about this valuable piece of management advice.

 

 Chuck Martin's Management Tip [10:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It seems persistence has been the theme of quite a few posts lately. Everywhere I turn examples seem to jump out at me. I guess it has been on my mind lately, creating a heightened awareness – like when you buy a new car and all of the sudden start seeing the same make and model all over the roads. In any event, there was an article in this past Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer about a commencement address given by one of my favorite former CEOs, Jack Bogle at Trinity College.

Bogle references a story about Winston Churchill returning to his alma mater, the Harrow School,

As the story goes, Churchill was well into his 80s – frail, wizened, and stooped – when he attended the annual opening of school. At the event’s conclusion, Churchill was asked if he’d say a few words. He rose, paused, and then spoke. “Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.” He then sat down to thunderous applause.

Bogle explains that he especially loves the fifth never… “because it’s a wonderful metaphor for the numerous times in our lives when, faced with defeat, we have had to draw on our deepest resources to fight back and defend our principles, honor, and character.”

After mentioning the many challenges that the graduates now face, he gives the same advice to them adding, “And don’t forget that fifth never. Sooner or later, we all need it.”

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Never underestimate your opponent. Never negotiate out of fear. Never let them see you sweat, and by all means, never say never. That’s what I always say!

Wanda B. Goode: This message is applicable on so many levels. When Jack speaks, it makes a whole lot of sense to listen.

Here’s another Jack Bogle post
Vanguard’s Jack Bogle: Investors Take Heed… A Financial Crisis is Imminent

In her book, The Power of Pause, Nance Guilmartin references a checklist of priorities that she culled from a conversation with Office Depot’s executive vice president of e-commerce and direct marketing, Monica Luechtefeld. Nance refers to them as effectiveness benchmarks.

1) Put customers at the center of whatever you do
2) Work simultaneously from the top down and the bottom up
3) Integrate support systems; don’t build silos
4) Align compensation with strategy
5) Provide training, training, and more training
6) Be patient, but be an evangelist!
7) Leverage what you know and learn what you don’t

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: I’m on board 150%!

Wanda B. Goode: Simple but not easy. There is no doubt that abiding by the 7 principles will make an organization more effective.

Here’s a post with more on Monica Luechtefeld.
Monica Luechtefeld Believes Women Small Business Owners are Key to the Future

Chris Young hosts this month’s Leadership Development Carnival at The Rainmaker Group. Get on over to the site to view over 30 posts on a variety of management and leadership topics.

In her book, The Power of Pause, Nance Guilmartin references the phrase “continuous partial attention,” coined by Linda Stone, a former Microsoft and Apple Computer Executive. It refers to how technology can influence users to continuously “want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment.” Nance also quotes an article in the Scientific American Mind that explains the impact on people’s abilities to make decisions – “They no longer have time to reflect, contemplate or make thoughtful decisions. Instead they exist in a sense of constant crisis-on alert for a new contact or bit of exciting news or information at any moment. Once people get used to this state, they tend to thrive on perpetual connectivity.”

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Boston’s up 2-0 on Cleveland in the top of the 7th.

Wanda B. Goode: Treating everything as a crisis means everything has the same priority. Tough to get anything meaningful done under those conditions. I love technology, but I think many of us could use a forced break every once in a while.

Here are some related posts

Tony Schwartz: The Death of Depth: Less and Less of More and More
Beyond Simple Multi-Tasking: Continuous Partial Attention
Does this Mom Need a Virtual Break?