Stronger By Any Measure

Six Words to Banish from Your Organization

July 11, 2012

I love it when one connection leads to another.  Sid Jaffe is president of Advantage Consulting Inc, a top-notch DC-area firm that trains companies in the fine art of government contracting and proposal writing. Sid, in turn, introduced me to Duane Grove, one smart-as-heck consultant who is as home with quoting philosophers as he is with detailing strategic activities.  (You can read more about him at the end of this article.)

I read an article that Duane wrote and found it to have such universal meaning that I asked to share it with my readers. Here it is, with his permission.

Six Words to Banish From Your Organization By Duane Grove

Poet E.E. Cummings isn’t always the easiest author to follow.  His writings are often veiled in deeper meaning.  In his poem, “Effie’s Head,” he describes an encounter with God at the death of Effie.  There is tremendous wisdom in this poem that calls to mind the great intentions of humankind often thwarted by lack of action.

Cummings speaks to six crumbs as God looks inside Effie’s coffin, each which speak to what could have been but never was.  These six crumbs (or words) are ones you should banish from your organization.  They are:  may, might, should, could, would, and must.

These words used in organizations are barriers to action.  I “may” be able to get the task done by the deadline speaks to a lack of commitment.  You “might” consider using the prototype only speaks to what is possible but lacks specificity on how to take action.  I “should” change the proposal to address the customer’s need for schedule flexibility only talks to what options you have but no path to implement them.  The team “could” talk to the customer to see what they need has no commitment to closure and lacks accountability.  I “would” like to implement the product change to align with the market will never get you to realize the potential.  Finally, when you “must” finish a task, you speak to the obligations you have to address, but lacks the energy to make them happen.

How many times have you left a meeting believing that others (or yourself) are committed to action only to find things left unfinished just when you needed them?  In my experience, discussions at meetings are often filled with these six words.  When used to evaluate alternatives, these words can open doors, but when it comes to commitment, they have no place in the discourse.  Are these six words keeping you from making progress?  If so, make a commitment to eliminate them from your vocabulary when you know it is action that is required.  Intention alone—no matter how well meaning—is the enemy of results.

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Duane is the founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate growth.  Duane has over 15 years in developing and executing strategic plans and spearheading new business areas ranging in size from several million to $2.5 billion in annual sales.  He has extensive experience in aerospace & defense with multiple assignments over the last 30 years.

Training Magazine Names 2011 Training Top 125

February 24, 2011

It would seem that every company would realize the value of training and the impact it has on the bottom line but that isn’t so.  Eleven years ago Training Magazine decided to rank and recognize top companies who invest in workforce training and development.

Each Top 125 company was measured on quantitative (75 percent of total score) and qualitative (25 percent of total score) data. Factors influencing the rankings included:

• Training tied to business objectives

• Demonstrable results

• Number of trainers

• Employee turnover and retention

• Leadership development

• Tuition assistance

• Training technology and infrastructure

• Certification

• Training budget and percentage of payroll and more.

You can read more about these companies at http://www.trainingmag.com/article/2011-training-top-125

Turn Economy Around: Have a Meeting!

February 23, 2011

The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy study reveals that the U.S. meetings industry directly supports 1.7 million jobs, $263 billion in spending, a $106 billion contribution to GDP, $60 billion in labor revenue, $14.3 billion in federal tax revenue and $11.3 billion in state and local tax revenue.

With the country looking for effective ways to work its way out of a recession, the meetings industry plays a critical role in supporting jobs in communities across America, creating environments that foster innovation and business success.

Feeling patriotic?  Hold a meeting!!

Business Leaders KNOW Face-to-Face Meetings Matter!

January 14, 2011

We all know instinctively that face-to-face (F2F) is more powerful than virtual. Here are some compelling stats that fully back this up–and can help us all ‘sell’ the need for in-person meetings to stakeholders. From http://www.mpiweb.org/Portal/Research/MeetingsDeliver:

• For every $1 spent on business travel, the return is $12.50. Oxford Econ study—highly credible data
• 40% of business prospects are converted by F2F meetings
• 28% of current biz would be lost w/o F2F meetings
• If all biz travel were eliminated, it would generate a 17% loss of biz margin
• We’d need 3 yrs to recover if all biz travel were eliminated
• One survey: 95% of F2F meetings are ‘essential’ (respondents were execs)
• 85% of companies in 09 cut business travel by 1/3
• 10% increase in biz travel boosts econ 1.5-2.9%

BELIEVE IT: Face-to-face Means Profits

July 6, 2010

Want to know the potential return on investment of your business travel and meetings? According to extensive research by Oxford Economics USA, for every dollar spent on business travel, companies benefit an average of $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits. Indeed, such figures present a very compelling case for face-to-face meetings regardless of who your stakeholders are.

For all of us in the world of communications, we are rejoicing.  E-mail can only take us so far.  Nothing beats the eyeball-to-eyeball exchange.  And yes—even a hug with our customers, clients and colleagues.   It’s universal. Turn up your speakers check it out .

Meeting Planners Know Value!

June 13, 2010

My colleague, Scott McKain just returned from addressing  a major conference  and spoke to the meeting planner about the previous year’s meeting.

She said, “We had industry experts, not professional speakers.”

He naturally had to follow up with, “Why did you have one for this year’s meeting?”

Her great response: “Industry experts are boring. We realized our registrations were down, not just because of the economy — but, who wants to make the effort to attend a boring meeting? Professional speakers bring more than content. “

Love that answer. There is so much more we can do. I just helped a client organize a panel of experts AND facilitated the conversation. I startd with narrowing down the questions, speaking to each panelist, bringing them together before hand and volia! No more boring talking heads but rather lively, engaging professionals.  (Yes, I also delivered a keynote address) But hey—I am yours for the day so let me do more for you

Scott’s meeting planner was right: we do bring something extra to the party.

You Can’t Lead What You Can’t Assemble

February 22, 2010

Most of the time, Seth Godin is a pretty smart guy at pointing out fallacies in thinking and performance. He gave away books to show the power of viral marketing and purple cows. He taught us that small is now big. He proclaimed why marketers are liars.

But I struggle with his latest blog that seems to imply big meetings and events are bogus.

He said events are a huge waste of time, talent and treasure. I agree IF—and this is  a big IF:

If the meeting does not bring people together in meaningful ways for actually conversations…

If it is nothing but grandstanding for a CEO with bells and whistles…
If it will not generate buzz, enthusiasm, and understanding for a new product…

Then  by all means – forget it.

However, human beings want to gather. There is nothing like the immediacy of looking into someone’s eyes, of experiencing a powerful message together, of shaking hands, of batting around ideas in the give and take that is so much more real than stilted chat rooms.

I’ve seen major breakthroughs when a huge room of people realize they have similar issues… when  a powerful speaker engages audience’s minds and sends them way thinking in new ways… and when a group of sales folks create their own American Idol competition to compose a song for a new product advertisement.  Laughter, interaction, and real time conversation cement loyalty and commitment.

Just can’t see that happening with “frequent, cheap communication.”

It’s why I wrote the book, Talk Ain’t Cheap-It’s Priceless.

Your thoughts?

Turn Productivity Pain to Gain in 2010

January 4, 2010

Information overload equates to a staggering $1.2 trillion in wages wasted each year according to a six year study of over 20,000 information workers.  Time to call a halt to this amazing abuse:

(1)  Insist that the “reply all” email button be carefully considered before selecting “send”

(2)  Just because information can be sent, do not assume it has value to the recipient.

(3)  Establish a boundary for sending and receiving emails. Being on call 24/7 leaves workers exhausted and frazzled. Think of a time frame for rest and renewal.   If you are a manager, practice what you preach and model the boundaried- behavior.

(4)  Get professional help for colleagues who seem addicted to connecting.  Fifty-four percent of all professional indicate they are often frustrated by colleagues who huddle over their PDAs during important meetings.

(5)  Make a conscious effort to refrain from interruptions and to ask colleagues to respect your time. Workflow that is interrupted by email, “dings”,  IMs or calls results in reduced output and effectiveness. Create interruption management strategies and share them with all.

(6)  Use the “IS IT NECESSARY” question before calling or attending a meeting.  If it is merely for sharing information, make sure that it is data that ANNOT be handled via succinct, bulleted correspondence.  Ask if the right people are at the meeting? Too often, the wrong people come because of formality and standard office protocol;.

(7)  Seek good trainers who can deliver targeted programs on how to handle email, and teach a methodology for storing and retrieving documents. This is a new communication world and old methods don’t work.

(8)  Don’t forget that meeting management is a learned skill. Start the year off right by helping information workers learn just how to conduct effective and efficient meetings. Note that effective and efficient are two distinct outcomes.

Create Energy And Focus By Gathering Women Together

November 14, 2009

Forget “fight or flight” as the only duo of responses in the face of stress. For women, there’s a third response: “befriend”.  A landmark UCLA study turned five decades of stress research on its head with the revelation that a cascade of brain chemicals gives women a larger behavioral repertoire when confronted with stress. The hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress response in women. It controls the fight/flight response and, instead, encourages her to tend children and gather with other women.

Accordingly to co-researcher Dr. Laura Cousino Klein, now assistant professor of bio-behavioral health at Penn State, the study suggests that this “tending and befriending” response to oxytocin produces a calming effect. Although it will take new studies to reveal all the ways in which oxytocin encourages women to care for children and band together, it might also explain why women consistently outlive men.

I have addressed numerous women’s conferences and corporate networks of women and I can attest to the observable behavior that participants leave these sessions feeling stronger, encouraged, and positive. I believe they also leave healthier. The famed Nurses Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends people have, they less likely they are to develop physical ailments and the more likely they are to cope better with challenges.

Sadly, today’s busy agendas often find women canceling the most positive and healthy thing they can do: gather with other women to engage in the kind of “rapport” and “report” talk that hallmark feminine conversations. The corporate women’s networks that generate the most return for the time and money investment allow for the nuts-and-bolts training needed for the business while also creating plenty of opportunity for mentoring, problem-solving and the informal sharing of personal issues.

Create a gathering of women and stand back. The energy reborn from conversation, caring, compassion and concern can move a community, a business, and a nation into a higher place.

Boring Meetings? Make An Effort To Make Them Productive

May 30, 2008

The June 9, 2008 issue of First For Women magazine printed an article on a topic that is a hot spot for many people in business. The title is “Meeting madness! Yes, it is possible to survive, even thrive, during those mind-numbing, time-sucking office gatherings”. I especially liked the idea that attendees attitude and behavior can be the real problem. If you expect to be bored, you will be. Instead First recommends that you research the topic of the meeting and come up with a few ideas that you can contribute during the discussion. This simple tip will keep you engaged and boost your confidence. Another tip is using an outside facilitator. This person will be responsible for making the meeting more enjoyable while keeping discussions on track and ending the meeting on time. To read more about this approach read my article “Are Your Meetings MINM or JAM?“