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No industry is immune to the influence of our current economic slowdown. The pace of change, the dot.com disappearances, and the flushing sound heard on Wall Street throw many organizations into knee-jerk reactions. From consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions to re-engineering profit centers, creating new product lines and calming a variety of stakeholders, managers are faced with turbulent situations. Responding to such pressures requires both a level head as well as the realization that it’s still true that the business of building a business-whether new or old economy-still requires sound management, good marketing, and most importantly, good people. Jettisoning employees in financial tough times can very well result in losing industrious producers, top talent, longtime workers, and top managers. Such short-sightedness can be costly on many fronts. The cost of recruiting talented workers typically runs 70- 200% of their annual salaries. A loss of sales personnel can hurt a company’s bottom line. Lose front-line customer service people and the customer might be penalized. A company doesn’t make profits. People do. And because people DO make the profits, keeping solid employees has never been more critical. Lose the war NOW in talent, have your best folks jump ship to the competition, or cut too far, and you’ll be scrambling for the brainpower necessary when the economy turns around. How DO you win the talent war in times like these? The good news is that “show me the money” is not the primary reason people stay. A recent study of 4000 professional and clerical workers found that job satisfaction keeps more workers than pay levels alone. The survey found that only 6% of people who were satisfied with their jobs but unhappy with their pay plan to quit. The percentage jumps to 27% when they were dissatisfied with their jobs but happy with their pay! If they were unhappy with both their pay and job situation, the percentage of those ready to bail jumped to 41%! The challenge: what makes for satisfaction? What do valued employees want? A two-year study by Dr. Beverly Kaye, author of Love’Em or Lose’Em, said what employees valued most is: career growth, learning and development; exciting work with consistent performance expectations, accountability and challenge; meaningful work ( making a contribution), great people, being part of a team, good boss, recognition for a job well done, fun on the job, autonomy over work, work/life balance, and flexibility in areas such as work hours. It’s easier to put the burden of retention of pay. Pay is easier and quicker. But investing money without investing in the relationship with employees garners little true commitment. Creating a culture for satisfaction takes time, prompts internal analysis, and leaves long-term positive results on the bottom line. Based upon the work done by Kaye and her team at Career Systems International (CSI), retention practices by good managers focus on three areas: development, style, and environment. The developmental focus begins with understanding what hiring practices make for a good fit from the outset. It includes such practices as job enrichment, career growth, mentorship, and expansion of goals into areas of challenge suited for each individual. A manager’s style has much to do with retention. This skill set involves informal as well as formal recognition practices, interpersonal skill development between a manager and the employee, sharing power, and self-awareness of behaviors that disenfranchise employees. An environmental focus for retention means that managers explore practices that encourage information sharing, alignment of values, and the creation of workplace where laughter and joy are present. While few organizations can (or want to) match the zany reputation of Southwest Airlines, simple, spontaneous bits of fun can make a great difference. One power company in the Pacific Northwest has a Frisbee memo day in which all pieces of internal correspondence are twirled down a hall to the receiving party! Turn a light on your management practices and see if you’re winning the talent war. Retool, retrain and you will retain! © The Resiliency Group.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work.  Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported “soul is in”. In a headline calling it “the buzzword of the ’90s” a front-page story reported that some 322 citations for the word appear in the current edition of Books in Print. That’s nearly four times the number in 1990. Having been asked by corporate executives to address soul and spirit at a recent leadership forum, I decided it was time to tackle the topic in writing. What prompts the use of this term? What do we make of it? Does this appear to be calling for a spiritual revival across the world of business? Here’s an analysis: Times of upheaval, great change, and chaos call for a re- assessment of values. With a globalized, competitive economy and job security now a once-upon-a-time thing, is it any wonder that we all seek a deeper meaning to what we do and why we do it. As my Canadian colleague Ian Percy describes it, our workplaces are experiencing a “great shuddering”. Workers are no longer willing to rent themselves to a job to survive to the weekend. Rather, this term “soul” implies looking for a deeper purpose behind work other than just gaining a paycheck. It also implies that people want to be identified as whole individuals with brains, hearts, AND souls waiting to be opened within the workplace. Note the phrase “waiting to be opened”. It carries the same connotation as the first word in this article’s headline, “uncovering”. Soul/spirit has always been here. Wise leaders have known how to access it, for themselves first, and then for others. But it goes against conventional wisdom because it cannot be tracked, measured, benchmarked, or in anyway quantified. No audit can place it on the balance sheet but its impact can be felt on the bottom line. Soul/spirit can only be visible in context. Like natural gas which cannot be seen until it is lit, soul burns bright when it’s flush with enthusiasm and excitement, when it is being listened to deeply by people who matter most. Soul blossoms when given opportunity for meaningful contribution, innovation, and learning. It retreats in environments where trust is absent, where politics take precedence over performance, where positional privilege takes most of the gain and little of the pain connected with restructuring. Uncovering soul, therefore, means examining both behaviors and systems within an organization. Is there congruency between what is said and what is practiced? Are people invited to participate and then ignored when they do? Does the organization preach empowerment but then require multiple sign-offs before action takes place? Do managers claim to have an open-door policy but then respond in anger when they hear something they don’t like? These are just some of the questions which, when honestly answered, can indicate if there’s breathing space for the soul. Engaging the human spirit is the softer side of business. But without the “software” of soul/spirit, you’ll never truly engage the mindware. And that’s what ultimately creates the competitive edge for the future. © The Resiliency Group.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work.  Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.

Ineffective and poorly-run meetings serve as one of the top talent and time wasters. Develop the skill to run a tight, highly-focused meeting with just the right number and kind of people in attendance and your stature as a leader rises. First, figure out what is the specific outcome of the meeting and start with that as the written objective. Give your meeting a name that even states the "objective". Next, ask yourself who has the greatest information or talent and should be at the meeting. Figure the personnel cost for the meeting. For example, if an employee has an average annual salary of $50,000, the per hour cost for that one person is $96 per hour (this includes salary plus benefits and general company overhead). You can extrapolate other salary costs from this base. Here are other tips to make this meeting move from average to great: (1) Put a specific time frame on the meeting and start on time. If people show up late, create some fun—but telling—response for tardiness. In one organization, the latecomer has to sing to everyone. In another, the latecomer buys cokes for everyone. In another, the latecomer is given a scarlet “L” on a tent card.  In Saturn Automotive plant meetings, if the door is closed, you are late and an alarm rings if you try to enter. (2) Develop good facilitation skills making sure everyone participates and is heard and acknowledged. (3) Summarize questions, outcomes, actions. Summarize frequently. (4) Have the names of who should attend on the agenda which is sent out at least 48 hours in advance. (5) Create a “parking lot” notebook. If an issue is brought up that is not on the agenda but might be addressed at another time, write it down so it can be tackled. (6) Consider a stand-up meeting.  To move people through quickly, have no chairs in the meeting room. It’s amazing how quickly people can get work done when there is no place to sit. (7) At the end of the meeting and as a way of staying focused and practicing continuous improvement of meeting management,  tell the group the personnel cost of the meeting.  Ask if the money could have been spent more wisely in another format. (8) Make sure a summary of the meeting is sent to the participants along with any action items or next steps, a due date, and the person or group to which they are assigned. (9) To break the meeting routine, you might consider beginning by asking people to come prepared to tell the group about some person whom they want to acknowledge for outstanding service.  Starting off by highlighting positive performance—particularly of unsung employees—is a powerful gesture. (10) Don’t forget to say thank you.  Time is the only true non-renewable, irreplaceable resource. When people give you their time, they gave you a piece of their lives. ©  The Resiliency Group.  Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live.

Now is the time to pull together and think creatively about our businesses. When times are easy, unfortunately, we often lose the edge to monitor performance, to question out-dated procedures and unnecessary expenses. Maintenance items slip when we’re busy “filling orders”. This might be anything from physical maintenance to reconnecting with clients, to exploring new opportunities for growth, to taking classes for improvement and enrichment. Consider brainstorming some of these questions: That would happen if we had a product that was 180 degrees different from today? (Example: A hospital with low census went from finding ways to get sick people in the door to finding ways to get well people in the door! They re-created their unused physical space into a wellness center and found lots of takers!) What if we blew up the business and started all over? What would we get rid of because it is extraneous, irrelevant or an unnecessary expense? (Example: How many people really READ that report? Does it have to be so immense? What’s the bottom line here?) Have we put people in positions where they play to their strengths? Talk, talk, talk and figure out where is the match. (Example: One employee is great with web research, web design, and staying up on the competition. She’s lousy on the phone. Right now, she’s willing to cut back and work half-time from her house with a company-supplied computer and cable modem.) If your job opened up today, would you get it? Are you consistently producing great results, solving problems and finding more efficient ways of doing things? (Example: Take on a project no one wants and make it work. Can you persuade people to get on-board and achieve a goal? Now, that’s leadership-a quality that is in GREAT demand and therefore, recession-proof.) © The Resiliency Group.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work.  Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.

The United Kingdom-based Institute of Personnel and Development recently released a study showing that investing in people rather than technology makes a far greater contribution to an organization’s bottom line. The seven-year study of more than 100 medium-sized companies found that the way people are managed and developed accounts for 19 percent of the variation in profitability between companies and 18 percent of the productivity difference. R&D accounted for only 8% percent of the variation in profitability between companies and 6 percent of the difference in productivity while new technology, quality and competitive strategies each accounted for 1 percent difference. In short, meaningful results don’t come in a plug-and-play box. Rather, engaging the contribution and talents of employees is the true, sustainable key to long-term success. What does it take for engagement? It takes conversation. Not too ago, the mantra was “stop talking and get to work.” May I suggest that the new rallying cry is, “Start talking and get to work.” As technology distances us from each other, we need to find ways to have extended, meaningful interactions which allow people to voice concerns, feelings, opinion, ideas, and questions. Relationship first has risen to challenge the old task orientation. Employees want to share attitudes, beliefs, as well as workspace. Conversations begin with employee orientation and progress through a variety of programs, forums, and focused retreats. Conversations center around contribution, concerns, outcomes, and yes, fun. Let me give you some examples. Greet Street, a maker of greeting cards over the web hands, a new employee their “desk in a box”. You set up your own phone, computer and then literally start wandering the halls to talk with people. You can sit in on any meetings, make connections and finally, you create your own job title to reflect what you will bring to the company. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, a $6 billion networking giant, hosts a monthly birthday breakfast. The purpose is not only to celebrate, but to have employees voice opinions, ask tough questions, and for Chambers to find out what’s not working. Along these same lines, Richard Block, president of AGI, a printing firm, holds “Stump the President” sessions. Any question is fair game and the employee who asks the most difficult question (as determined by a panel of employees), receives a reward (usually dinner and tickets to a Chicago Bulls game). While these are some concrete ideas, true engagement is a process of continuously learning how to create a community of diverse talents joined by a shared vision. This comes only with time and clear intention. Lastly, the heart of meaningful conversation and engagement is also a willingness to suspend judgment, to listen without ego, to challenge without malice, and to have a fanatic devotion to maintaining trust. Consider this a lifetime journey. And there are many of us who offer our services as “traveler’s aid”. [1] Workplace Visions, Jan./Feb 1998. SCHRM © The Resiliency Group.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work.  Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.

The opposite of work is not play. It’s depression. So states psychiatrist Stuart Brown in his new book, Play: How It Shapes The Brain, Opens The Imagination And Invigorates The Soul. Brown has conducted more than 6,000 play studies on what goes wrong when people do not play-studying everything from serial killers to career-driven CEOs. Given the current plethora of economic turmoil, negative news, layoff paranoia and growing unemployment lines, the notion of taking time to play sounds like a childish daydream. But if Brown is right, we could become a nation of stress-filled, hypertensive individuals who suffer far more than we need to and-at the very extreme-become downright dangerous to ourselves and others. Brown is not original in his assertion. Anacharsis, a 6th BCE philosopher insisted that we are to, “Play so that you may be serious.” Even in the Hellenistic world, play gave rise to scientists, writers, philosophers, and builders of great civilizations. If you consider that the task before us is to build rebuild our cities, our enterprises, and our global community, then play becomes the non-chemical stimulant for channeling stress into productive outputs. Play takes many forms. The trick is to find one that resonates with you. Gain some balance in your life with examples like these: Marc, a job-hunting, highly skilled communications expert in the entertainment field, coaches lacrosse when he’s not interviewing. He appears more calm and confident since he started helping youngsters succeed in his favorite sport. Glenna, a recent widow and entrepreneur, has started dance lessons and added Bible study to her spare time. Her laugh comes easier now and she’s discovering new ventures for her skill. Tom, faced with early retirement, collects Japanese postcards from the 1900s. Neil, the CEO of a consulting company, goes to an organic farm and helps his wife prepare scrumptious vegan meals. Eunice, a vice president in an international organization rides her Icelandic horse at every opportunity. And a president named Obama unwinds with a game of hoops. Certainly no other leader in modern time has had to face so many internal and external challenges and yet he finds time to play! Think of these examples and you’ll note that play is as much a state of mind as it is an activity. It is a mental release that reduces stress levels in the body and engages the brain in a totally different type of thinking. Take these three steps to enter the world of play: 1. Give yourself permission to play. Put a play date with yourself on the calendar and treat it as sacred as the meeting with your most important client. Remind yourself that you’ll be refreshed and thinking more clearly if you play. 2. Find the play that best suits you. Start a Play diary, writing down moments of well-being. It might be something that occurred during the week. It might be as simple as walking the dog or as complex as taking an eco-adventure tour. It might be a romantic night with your best beloved or a sweaty 100-mile bike ride. Whatever it is-in the doing, you feel a sense of contentment and joy. 3. Pass play along. Encourage others. Make sure you’re not the driver who keeps employees chained to their desks but rather, lead the way. If you’re in a position to do so, create a Fun Friday where everyone takes a turn at coming up with something that evokes joy, laughter, and contentment. One organization forbade e-mail on Fridays between anyone in the building. Instead, messages were sent via a paper airplanes. Martin Buber, German Jewish biblical scholar believed that “play is the exultation of the possible.” Isn’t that what we all are looking for now-what is possible! Go play... so you might be serious. © The Resiliency Group. Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap... It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work. Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.

We get ensnared by it all the time. No one is immune to Descartes' trap! Rene Descartes said "I think therefore I am." In issuing these five little words, Descartes, considered by many to be the father of modern philosophy, unintentionally set into motion one of the most prevalent and insidious identity traps ever. It might be more accurate to call him the father of modern insanity given the decisions people make once they've fallen in. What is Descartes' trap? It's when you unwittingly confuse the timeless nature of who you are with the ever-changing nature of what you are -- and make life-shaping decisions, accordingly. It happens all the time when people confuse what they do with who they are. I am a star athlete; that's who I am. I'm a young investment banker; that's who I am. I'm a doctor; that's who I am. Maybe not. At some point, the star athlete retires, then "who" is she? Or the banker gets fired -- for the second time in three years -- and is at a loss for how to understand who he is in the face of recurring rejection. The label is gone, but the person remains. Now what? It's not only individuals who get caught in Descartes' trap. So do nations and companies, and the stakes can be enormous, which brings me to the stories that inspired this newsletter. America meets Descartes As I write this, the United States is pursing the Russian proposal to collect and destroy Syria's chemical weapons cache. But the US is keeping its military option open. The main argument President Obama makes to justify this response to the Syrian crisis is America's "moral obligation" to protect innocent people, wherever they may live. I believe there's more to it than that; I think we're stuck in a "what we are" box built upon our long-held view of our country as the world's policeman. Despite Americans' reluctance to attack Syria -- and despite Obama's assertion that we are not trying to be the world's policeman -- it's a hard box to climb out of, challenging our sense of identity at its core. If we're not the world's policeman, are we still America? It's a role that has defined how we create value in the world for decades. But it's not who America is. Unconsciously, we've confused what we are with who we are. We've fallen into Descartes' trap. We don't even know it and the potential consequences are severe. Microsoft meets Descartes Microsoft is in the midst of a full-blown identity crisis, having tumbled unknowingly into Descartes' trap years ago. A recent New York Times article lays out the problem, eloquently, in Stress Fractures at Microsoft. In short, Microsoft can't get out of the 'bigness' box it climbed into after years of organic and acquisition growth. We are big, we are powerful; therefore, we are. Underlying this unspoken self-perception is the fact that more is rarely more. So far, the knee-jerk reaction to Microsoft's size conundrum among outsiders seems to be to break the company up into more manageable, self-governing pieces. This strategy may make Microsoft smaller, but it won't necessarily make it better. (Note to the Microsoft board: Take a page from Lou Gerstner's playbook when he decided to keep IBM intact rather than break it into parts.) Whatever Microsoft does, most likely under a new CEO, it had better take a look at its fundamental identity -- who it is, not just what it is -- before it does it. Either way, the consequences will be enormous, guaranteed. Why do we do it? Why is it that individuals, companies, and nations all fall into Descartes' trap? Why do we make well-intended, but often bad decisions when questions of identity are involved? Is it ego? Arrogance? Stubbornness? Or is it, maybe, because we're simply not aware that we're dealing with an identity issue in the first place? The fix isn't hard. Next time you or your company faces a really tough challenge that grates at you -- something just doesn't feel right -- think about Descartes' trap, shift the conversation and, as appropriate, consider one of the following three questions: When is a relationship challenge really an identity challenge?When is a business challenge really an identity challenge?When is a national leadership challenge really an identity challenge? I can't guarantee that the last question will reach the right ears, but I know the first two will, because those ears are yours. Know a person or company that fell into Descartes' trap? What happened? Share your story at Identity Beacon. About the author: Larry Ackerman is a leading authority on organizational and personal identity. He is the founder of The Identity Circle, a consulting and coaching firm dedicated to improving the performance, impact, and reputation of companies and individuals.Larry has been an advisor to senior executives and a consultant to their institutions. Clients have included AARP, Aetna, Dow Chemical, Fidelity Investments, Ingersoll Rand, Lockheed Martin, Maytag, Norsk Hydro, State Farm Insurance, and Ernst & Young. Larry has published two groundbreaking books on identity, Identity Is Destiny: Leadership and the Roots of Value Creation, and The Identity Code: The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World. He is also the author of numerous articles on identity and its impact on brand, leadership, and culture. Larry Ackerman has been a guest lecturer at the Yale School of Management, Wharton, Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Pepperdine University and UCLA’s Anderson School. Larry is a top-rated speaker for The Conference Board, and a regular keynote for leading organizations. Larry graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BA degree in English and from Boston University with an MS in Communications. He is also a graduate of the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara’s LifeLaunch coaching program.

The mean-spirit that seems to dominate the halls of Congress can discourage even the most optimistic among us. Special interest dollars hold sway over the interests of regular citizens. Billionaires with oil money spend millions to place fear-based, ads of inaccurate content.  A single issue vote derails elected officials. What ever happened to making decisions for the good of all?? The party-line voting resembles bullies in the playground. Abandon health care reform and affordable care and we’ve just thrown thousands under crushing debt. (This latest move comes as researchers announce that the US will see a tripling in Alzheimer’s rates by 2050, with the number of affected Americans jumping from 5.2 million now to more than 13.8 million over the next few decades.) Is it any wonder that the United States ranked 17th in a global survey evaluated "the happiest countries" in the world? One newspaper pundit pointed at 17th place with pride.  Huh?? I find that ranking dismal. Think we care about families? Look at this "More countries are providing the workplace protections that millions of Americans only dream about."  The study notes that the U.S. is only one of five countries out of 173 that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave. (The other countries in this special group are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua, New Guinea) How is that for an illustrious group!! The list could go on and on. Can’t we get back to paying attention to what matters most? Can we reclaim our resilient spirits by stopping the scare tactics and focusing on AMERICAN interests and not special interests?

“The more things change, the more things remain the same.” As e-mail, voice mail, and technology allow people to conduct business without ever seeing each other, the competitive edge can very well be the re-creation of conversation—specifically conversation that allows people to feel a “family” connection. It’s a connection that recalls the fact that commerce was traditionally an intimate affair. My great-grandfather started a shoe store, the first account Florsheim shoes ever had. Farmers would hook up their horses and trot into York, PA. By learning about the customers from his father, my grandfather knew their type of farm, their family members, what kind of shoes they needed. In short, business knew its customers and customers TRUSTED that a product or service would be delivered “as promised”. Reineberg’s Shoe Store was known for “fitting feet” not just selling shoes. Business was conducted on a family-like connection. The same was true of employees. Employees TRUSTED that the company would listen to them as if they were members of an extended family. Employees knew that my grandfather would value their individuality, understand that personal and business life were connected, and pay a fair wage for a day’s work. He also never asked more of others than he asked of himself. Times have changed. But it’s not too late to develop family “trust”. However it’s not easy. Customers abandon companies they do not trust and so do employees. Trust develops over time and can be dashed in an instant. But improving organizational trust is more difficult and subtler than installing new software. Research conducted by Leonard Berry, author of Discovering the Soul of Service, and professor at Texas A&M concluded that successful companies tend to act like extended families. They display these “family traits” in five ways: Family Gatherings: These are events designed to share, console, help, celebrate and communicate. Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Midwest Express Airlines routinely hold all-hands meetings to answer employee questions, give awards, and keep everyone up to date. It’s rather like the long forgotten family councils, the circle of the tribal elders. Information is freely given and encouraged. Sessions like “Stump the CEO” are held with prizes given to employees who ask the most difficult questions. One advertising agency holds “HELP!” sessions that can be called whenever a team member needs advice and ideas. The stand-up-and-talk gathering is spur-of-the- moment, brings all hands around, and is over in less than 15 minutes. And the family member who asked for HELP! walks away with new ideas and insights. Family Familiarity: Leaders are accessible, approachable, and caring. First name-basis becomes the order of the day. Amazon.com mirrors this on their web site that literally calls a customer by name and outlines suggested purchases based upon the customer’s buying history. How might you move beyond a web connection to create a higher form of conversation? Family Honor: Management trusts employees. Time clocks are rare; remote work common. At Miller SQA, a division of Herman Miller, factory employees keep their own hours on the honor system. At AES, a utility organization, cross-training is so prevalent that employees trust each other to perform a task when called upon. Family Fairness: Pay for performance, even handedness, promotions from within and merit-based rewards. An example is Custom Research. This company won a Malcolm Baldridge Award. Only 50 employees could attend a celebration in Florida. The organization-from the president down to the clerical-drew names to see who could attend. Family Fun: Humor is the shortest distance between people. Families play together. At SW Airlines, they have ice cream parties on the spur of the moment. Malaysian Airlines offers dance and music concerts staffed by employees’ talent. The options are endless. Customers are also included in “the fun”. The trust test is passed or failed on a daily basis. Retaining employees and customers are more likely if retention becomes a family affair. © The Resiliency Group.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live.

Ten years ago today, my best friend Lea Pascoe and I were standing at the top of the ancient walled city of Assisi, Italy, looking out over the vast, flat Umbrian countryside.  Suddenly bells all over the city began tolling, their various tones bouncing off crenelated walls and stone towers. A massive roar came in from the distance. Four Italian Air Force jets screamed low over the fields. The jets suddenly turned 90 degrees and shot up into the sky with three of them sending respective trails of red, white and blue. The fourth jet peeled away and disappeared into the atmosphere. “Oh my God, Lea. Today is September 11—one year ago today…” No more words came. We stood there sobbing, clutching each other as tears streamed down our cheeks.  All of Assisi - from residents to the many tourists were caught in that gesture of remembrance.  It was only then that Lea, sobs coming harder now, told me she had lost a friend who worked in one of the towers. Sometimes, one cannot even speak of loss until the waters of time have flowed. How clearly I recall talking out loud to myself as well as anyone who could hear. “What are the odds that we are here, today, in a city made famous by a man who wrote ‘Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.” In the time since that horrific event, I am reminded of those radically resilient people who took personal tragedy and followed the instructions of St. Francis of Assisi. Melody Homer, wife of Captain Leroy Homer, First Officer of United Airlines #93 when it crashed in Shanksville, PA started the Leroy Homer Foundationto offer scholarships to young people who want to become professional pilots. Susan Retik and Patti Quigley both lost husbands in the towers’ collapse. Their shared grief became “ Beyond the 11th”, a non-profit foundation to help Afghan widows.  As their website states : “Afghan widows are highly vulnerable and trapped in an ever-deepening cycle of extreme poverty and helplessness. Beyond the 11th funds programs that help widows gain the skills necessary to generate their own income and become self-sufficient. We strongly believe that education and empowerment are the keys to creating lasting social change.” It seems to me that compassion and action are hallmarks of the resilient human spirit that refuses to be defined by events or limited by narrow views, imprisoned by hatred, or confined by only personal self-interest. St Francis would instruct us even more. “Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.” On this September 11, my hope for a world that seems to have spiraled into hatred and rigid lines is that we would honor the memory of all our brothers and sisters who die in needless violence. I can’t influence world events, but I believe I must practice more closely the words of St. Francis. One does not have to be religious to resonate with the very human desire to live in such a manner. P.S. My dear friend Lea died suddenly this past December. Her untimely death stunned all of us and left so many with words unsaid and probably deeds undone. Perhaps today, we might also take the time to tell our family and friends what they mean to us. Tomorrow might not come.

A recent survey of 350 human resources managers shows that employee turnover is becoming one of the most critical workplace issues. Sixty percent say that skilled-person power is “scarce”. Forty six percent say that worker retention is a “very serious” issue and another 28 percent believe it to be “serious”. Companies that take the problem seriously and implement programs to ensure employee satisfaction have the highest retention rates. “Show me the money” is not the singular solution. While bonuses, stock-options, and flextime are appreciated, what employees really want is some assurance of continued employability. Here are the most popular worker retention strategies: 78% conferences and seminars 67% tuition reimbursement 67% managerial training 58% pay for performance 57% flextime 57% interpersonal skills training 55% technical training. Five of the top seven areas are all related to learning. Today’s workforce recognizes the value of continual personal improvement as a way to assure steady employability. Yet many companies still find it easier to throw pay increases at the problem rather than take a long term view. A recent study of 4000 professional and clerical workers found that job satisfaction keeps more workers than pay levels alone. The survey found that only 6% of people who were satisfied with their jobs but unhappy with their pay plan to quit. The percentage jumps to 27% when they were dissatisfied with their jobs but happy with their pay! If they were unhappy with both their pay and job situation, the percentage of those ready to bail jumped to 41%! The challenge: what makes for satisfaction? The answer: opportunity for career development through education, meaningful work and appreciation, 360 degrees of communication, consistent performance expectations and consistent accountability, and work/life balance. Pay is easier and quicker. Creating a culture for satisfaction takes time, prompts internal analysis, and leaves long-term positive results on the bottom line. Don’t tie pay increases to only rank and power. Work at getting away from the notion that you have to move up to make more. Remember that front line people hold customers in their hands. Shouldn’t they be among the most well-trained and well-paid people on your staff? Reward people for what they know and do, not how long they’ve been on the job or how many people they supervise.

With the pending severe worker drain prompted by boomers in full or partial retirement, keeping good employees has never been more critical. The most significant word in retention, however, is “engagement”. Too many workers are present but their imagination, spirit and creativity have departed out the door with disillusion. Consider these top five actions that pull the plug on employee energy: 1. Be a know-it-all and discount the input of others. A new senior level manager was brought into an organization. When department heads met with him, he proclaimed “lower cost, higher quality, more sales”. He asked for their input and then immediately dismissed whatever they said. The fact that he had never worked in this particular industry had already prompted skepticism. The department heads, whose support and knowledge are critical for a turnaround, have departed in droves while those who are staying just shrug their shoulders and say they’ll hunker down until they find something else. 2. Never admit mistakes. The worn phrase from the old movie Love Story proclaimed, “Loves means never having to say you’re sorry.” As wrong as that advice is for intimate relationships, it is just as stupid in business. When ego and arrogance replace the realities of a decision, employees watch in dismay. The operating plan becomes mired in finding ways to justify action rather than admitting error and looking for a new, more promising direction. The cost overruns on building a large golf course were huge because the senior manager refused the input of his department heads and then spent thousands trying to cover up design flaws. 3. Act first and think later. The ready, fire, aim approach of shoot-from-the-hip-and-think- later is all too common in our 24/7, do-it-now world. The results can be disastrous – particularly if the vehicle for action is e-mail. E-mail now stands for escalation and error. The person who blasts off a response without carefully considering the tone and the names on the distribution list can find himself spending time and energy undoing collateral damage. The more critical the relationship and/or the outcome of the action, the greater wisdom is in carefully measured actions and more likely than not, face-to- face conversation. 4. Create an inner circle that thinks alike. Howell Raines, executive editor of the NY TIMES, was the subject of a 17,000-word article that appeared in the NEW YORKER in June 6, 2002. It was a brutal expose, painting a documented story of him as an arrogant bully who played favorites, listened only to a few people and pummeled far too many. When folks outside of his inner circle tried to tell him their concerns regarding Jayson Blair, the now infamous fabricator of new stories, Raines ignored them. His resignation from the NY TIMES speaks to the danger of that inner circle. The higher the stakes, the more critical it is to have input from people with various points of view and different ways of responding to a situation. If a CEO puts people around her who merely parrot her beliefs, the organization is being led by lemmings. And if the inner circle is of a ready-fire-aim mentality, there’s no caution in action. If the inner circle mirrors a slow, all-the-facts-first mentality, the organization might miss critical opportunities and be too slow to respond to a changing marketplace. Organizations should consider using assessments in order to understand the behavioral diversity of the team. 5. Say one thing and do another. A high-tech manufacturing company in Southern California announced significant layoffs because of poor performance. Every budget item was to be scrutinized. The following weekend, the CEO took the top management team away to the Ritz Carlton in Monarch Beach so they could ponder these new realities. Care to guess how fast the employees got wind of this “cost- saving” move? Or how about the professional services firm that proclaimed mandatory attendance and then repeatedly ignored a senior consultant who only showed up when he “felt like it”. If you want to model truth and trust, ask the people around you how often you engage in these behaviors. And if you are not happy with the answers, DO something different. You might also need to bring in an external coach to help you with the process. The results: you win and the organization wins. © The Resiliency Group.  Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live. Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work.  Find out more about this compelling and effective professional speaker and join her free newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.