Business Management

Supervising and Managing a Cleaning Crew

2009-07-07T06:21:00.001-07:00

A word on Liability Insurance

The people you hire will be going into you're clients home so you will want to make sure their bondable just in case the worst happens like damage. You should have liability insurance. Shop around for the best available prices.

Communication is Key

Communicate better with cell phones or 2 way radios. Being able to convey accurate instructions or to efficiently dispatch your fleet (if you have one) would improve customer service. Communication is your top tool for keeping your clients happy, without communication you have nothing except for minor chaos so to speak. Another element to success is to ensure that everyone on the cleaning crew interacts well with each other, this makes for a happier work environment and more efficient workers.

Strengths, Weaknesses and First Name Relationships

Each worker will have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cleaning, compliment their weaknesses with other coworkers strengths, in return you will get a thorough job done. Address the members of your cleaning crew by first name to make them feel like they are part of a team, calling them by their last name doesn't pack the same punch as a first name relationship does.

Finding Workers

To recruit workers for your cleaning crew advertise in your local paper or find help via word of mouth.

Scheduling Software

The number of people cleaning per site will depend upon the size of the house your cleaning. If you plan on operating several groups of cleaning crews you will want to make sure your organized as far as booking appointments and knowing where each crew member is at.

Managing Successful Programmes

2009-07-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Before I evangelize the merits of programme management I want to clarify what a programme is and what a project is. This might seem a little trivial but I've seen these two words used so interchangeably across many organisations in many countries with people calling a project a programme and vice versa.

A programme is a temporary and flexible organisation which is formed to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organisation's strategic objectives.

A project is also a temporary organisation which will deliver one or more outputs in accordance with a specific business case.

Programmes create outcomes and projects create outputs, and programme management does not replace the need for competent project management. A programme acts as an umbrella under which projects can be coordinated and integrated in order to deliver an outcome which is the sum of the projects' parts.

With that out of the way, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has a framework known as 'Managing Successful Programmes' (MSP). This framework provides proven programme management best practice for successfully delivering transformational change.

Organisations that have embraced MSP have enjoyed the benefits of transforming themselves successfully as opposed to being amongst the many that suffer painful or disastrous transformation.

These days, more and more C-level executives are recognising programme management as a powerful tool, which when used well, can facilitate 'successful' transformation programmes as opposed to ugly monsters which get out of control and wreak havoc.

At the highest level, programme management aligns corporate strategy, business-as-usual and the delivery mechanism for change. These are three critical elements which must align if transformation is to be successful.

MSP principles represent success factors that underpin the likelihood of successful transformational change programmes. These seven principles have been derived from lessons learned in both the public and private sectors.

Positioned within the seven principles are nine governance themes which help put in place the right leadership, delivery team, organisation structures, controls and control information to optimise the likelihood of delivering the planned outcomes and benefits.

Then finally comes the transformational flow which provides a path through the programme lifecycle from conception to closure.

If you're still asking 'why should I use programme management?' consider the fact that most organisations are likely to fail to deliver change successfully if there is:

* insufficient board-level support
* weak leadership
* unrealistic expectations of the organisational capacity and capability
* insufficient focus on benefits
* no real picture of the future capability
* a poorly defined/communicated vision
* a failure to change the organisations culture
* a lack of stakeholder engagement

Are You Doing the Moon Walk

2009-07-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Are You Doing the Moon Walk --- Going Backwards While Moving Forward

The death of Michael Jackson recently was a tragic event. No matter what you thought of Michael personally, there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented entertainers of all time. His singing and dancing talent showcased so effectively by his performance in the video and album "Thriller" will be remembered forever as the Capstone of his career. I, like millions of his fans, mourn his passing.

However, the one thing that I remember the most is his invention of the "Moonwalk". The "Moon Walk" is a dance move that looks as if you are going forward when in reality you are moving backward. Michael made that move famous. His tragic sorrowful death reminded me of that move. The Moon Walk itself brings to mind how many businesses often struggle to achieve success; doing things that are supposed to gain market share and create success. And yet, many find that even though they believe they are doing all the things the "experts" say they should be doing, real success eludes them. They feel like they are moving forward but in reality they are moving backward. They are doing the "Moon Walk". This can be particularly evident during tough economic times.

Make Sure You are Relevant and Current

You need to be relevant & current - don't get stuck in the past with past practice that may have put you in a comfort zone because business was so good the "fish were jumping in the boat". Most of the time there is no shortcut to success. Relevance is more than just following best practice. It is more than just developing a contingency plan. Every effective leader I have ever known understood this principle. They are aware that their impact on the success of their organization was based on their vision, values and core beliefs they shared with all their employees.

Focusing on "the positives of the past" is a valiant intention to be sure; I wonder, though, how realistic and relevant past practice is if past success was simply the result of economic conditions and not effective leadership and a solid management team. If that is the case, you will simply begin doing the "Moon Walk" with no real vision based plan to deal with the current economic situation. Good anecdotes, memos to employees and resting on past success and past practice with little success substance will not solve today's problems.

Being current and understanding the real challenges you face is just as important as making sure it is relevant. Running a responsible business isn't something you just decided to do overnight. Hopefully you have been making conscious best practice business decisions for a long time and you are still learning as you go. Every step along this path during economic crisis is important, from high-level market driven decisions to individual employee relationships. Take the time to review best practices as they apply to your business. Look at your processes, your procedures and your policies. Do they reflect good management principles or do they become a little spongy due to past practices? Are they relevant to what is happening in your markets today?

A Vision is Still Critical

Businesses focused on developing sustainable long term market share growth during tough economic times often have a longer time-horizon and a broader set of goals than companies that have not stayed current and relevant to their market place. Typically they are dissatisfied with the status quo and not only have developed contingency plans for the short term to deal with economic crisis but they have not abandoned their long term strategic vision for the company; Albeit, they may adjust it according to current relevancy.

To succeed in today's economic environment leadership must build a foundation that allows the creative energy released by employees to actually work. We must leverage employee dedication and sacrifice that stems from ownership of the Vision-Values and Core Beliefs that has been engrained into the culture of the organization. The CEO or owner of this type of company generally conveys a well-articulated set of principles that guide the business and help to instill the same values in employees. By declaring their goals publicly this type of leader inspires trust and respect which is the baseline for employee commitment to success during tough economic times and long term growth.

This broader vision of success requires new business tools, practices and relationships. Being receptive to new ideas and suggestions opens the door to an array of business opportunities. That's what being current and relevant is all about. You can not afford to wallow in a pool of pessimism and past practice without opening your mind to new ideas and new options.

Be Open Minded

The internet revolution brought on many changes to the market place and presented enormous opportunity. Before this revolution took place, undertaking large projects, entering new markets or working globally was the exclusive privilege of large corporations and conglomerates.

In this century, innovative use of 'virtual' corporations, strategic alliances and other partnerships and ventures means smaller companies can now compete and generate business outside their traditional markets. Communication technology allows global orientation for even the smallest business and the greater efficiencies that can be offered by a team of small players enable these firms to perform on the global stage.

Dealing with economic crisis requires the application of sustainable business principles that are current and relevant. You must maintain a forward momentum regardless of circumstance. Realize that every problem and challenge you face on a day to day basis as a result of the faltering economy are the same issues and challenges faced by your competitors. Ask yourself this question. "Can you outperform the competition?"

Improvements in your sustainable business practices must come from new ways of thinking about meeting customer needs, and redesigning operations with a priority focus on servicing your customer. You can't afford to do the "Moon Walk" if you are to thrive during tough economic times. Prepare yourself and your management team to be forward thinking and open to new ideas.

Focusing on Qualitative Market Share Growth

One of the biggest challenges in creating a sustainable future and gaining market share in a tough economy is the ability to refocus policy and practices across a variety of functions. The focus on revenue growth was appropriate prior to the current economic environment when "fish were jumping in the boat." Today, however, focus must be on market share as opposed to top line growth. Remember, if sales decline by ten percent but the market itself declines by twenty percent, effectively you have gained market share. This is an important principle that everyone on your team must understand. High-performing organizations integrate market share focus and performance management best practices more than other organizations. Conversely, low-performing organizations consistently underutilize these best practices and lose focus on market share.

Execute the Plan

The inability of organizations to effectively execute their contingency or strategic plans is one of the major factors limiting success; success measured by market share growth. Recent management research and literature has thoroughly documented the importance of execution in creating success during tough economic times. Organizations execute their strategies through the creation of contingency plans and strategic initiatives, comprising any number of initiatives, programs and projects that become the vehicles for realizing the corporate vision that is current and relevant.

Whether a company ultimately succeeds or fails during these economic times depends on the effectiveness of the actions taken to deal with current challenges. Before these actions can be taken, however, companies must recognize these challenges for what they are to take appropriate actions.

Women in Leadership - This Countries Most Under Utilized Asset

2009-07-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I am definitely a card carrying member of the Baby Boomers. I also admit that during my early career in the 70's, I could have undoubtedly been considered a poster child for the "Male Chauvinistic Pig" movement. However, experience and maturity have taught me a great lesson regarding leadership and the abilities, intelligence and values of the female employee. Today, I firmly believe that women in the workplace are the most under utilized asset this country has.

We have come a long way from that chauvinistic attitude of the past that believed men are simply better, more natural leaders; the belief that women's careers were compromised by their responsibilities at home? Yes we have come a long way. But, Statistics are still shocking for women who hope to succeed in the business world. Today, women occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States but only 6% of the Fortune 500's top executives are female. (Newsweek Magazine)

In your industry this percentage may even be lower. The "glass ceiling," or the idea that women successfully climb the corporate ladder until they're blocked by this transparent ceiling, has been accepted as the largest obstacle to female leadership in the workplace. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin claimed to have put millions of cracks in this ceiling but it hasn't been completely shattered yet.

This ceiling represents many characteristics that even most men would challenge and yet they still exist. There are barriers that limit industry's ability to capitalize on the enormous amount of leadership potential that exits in almost any work place in this country. Barriers that women encounter at all levels include prejudice resistance to women's leadership, leadership style issues and family demands.

These obstacles may even create an uneasy feeling for women or their relationship with leadership and the power it commands. A few female leaders have told me that they fear that the power of leadership can give off the impression that they are ruthless or pushy. These are Issues that challenge their basic character and femininity; Challenges that men don't have to encounter.

Diversity is Strength

Companies that recognize the female leadership talent pool that exists within the confines of their own office will implement specific initiatives to leverage that talent. One of the very basic and first steps to recognizing this talent is to begin evaluating the female employee based on specific contributions as opposed to hours worked. Creating work teams, project teams and management teams that include more than one loan female allows that talent to grow and prosper instead of being suppressed by male domination. Closing the leadership gap and leveraging this talent has to become a priority for businesses of all nature if we are to remain competitive in the global environment. For this country to have this much inherent talent and yet very few women in the top levels of the chain of command is disturbing.

But Women have Babies

So What!! The idea that women having babies need broader support and special handling is simply hog wash. Women that strive to be leaders and want to contribute at a higher level of hierarchy are often more capable of managing a life balance than most men. And yet, experts have stated that the average lifetime earnings of a highly-skilled female leader who has a child in her 20s is $625,000; while the average lifetime earnings for those having a baby in their 30s is $750,000. For those who have no babies, lifetime earnings reach $913,000." Does that sound discriminatory?

Women in Business have been Stereotyped

Rachael Roy, a top designer and CEO of her own company stated that "Many young women apply self worth to the attention they receive from men. This type of attention is instantly gratifying."

This is unfortunate because this type of gratification contributes to the stereotype and inhibits leadership confidence and leadership integrity. This is social conditioning. There is no more important skill in attaining success than your ability to communicate effectively. Yet women are often sabotaged by their communication skills. Differences in how men and women communicate are rooted in social conditioning. Stereotyped behavior has been expected of women since time began. Women are not expected to argue, displaying anger. Women are expected to be polite in the workplace and not curse. They are expected to be cooperative and, by and large, docile.

Men Have Different Rules

The same rules or expectations do not apply to men. Women have always been encouraged to speak softly and smile a lot and yet men are not chastised for emotional outbursts most of the time. This gender differentiation begins early in life. Men in the business world generally have few, if any, qualms about issuing orders or voicing complaints. Many women tend to be uncomfortable pulling rank; they seek agreement and consistency. Disagreement and conflict don't affect men in the same way; some even enjoy it, while women typically go out of their way to avoid confrontation.

Men expect and are expected to be successful. We certainly are willing to take full credit when we do succeed. The principle for success on the part of women is different. Many women only hope to be successful. When women do succeed they are more apt to demonstrate true leadership character by attributing their success to teamwork or the support of their peers and subordinates.

Women Do Have Power

Traditionally, in the business world, the male model of authority was considered superior to the female model of collaboration. However, it's becoming abundantly clear that effective communication is the essence of good leadership and that is what really counts. Either style can be effective based on ones individual leadership model. The key to success lies in focusing on and creating for one's self a style that encompasses the best of both authority and collaboration with an emphasis on a servant style of leadership.

Women as a group can be very powerful if they would only embrace that power. They must reject in disbelief that business is strictly a man's world and that they must follow mans rule. Women have different values, different styles and different approaches to many things. Men could be well served to listen more. We must leverage every asset we have to maximize success. Women may not have all the answers but I submit they may have many that we as men haven't realized yet.

So, as you review your employee development plans, don't ignore the potential that may exist at the receptionist desk, customer service or accounting where you traditionally find many of your female employees. Search for leadership potential regardless of gender and you may find a number of diamonds in the rough.

Communication is Critical to the Success of Six Sigma Initiatives

2009-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

It is important to resolve the resistance and change issues through well-planned communication plans. Six Sigma is not about simply undertaking technical improvements and statistical tool usage.

Improvement efforts have to be supported by good communication plans - and people skills play an important role in overall project success.

Six Sigma Project Launch

Six Sigma is not just improving the process. It is also about bringing in a Six Sigma culture to the organization. Communication has to be started from the point of project launch.

Projects are undertaken for different reasons. If it is communicated to the employees at an appropriate time, it can be helpful in reducing the fear of the project for any reason. A well thought out plan to communicate the aims of the Six Sigma project makes the process of improvement very easy for the team.

The medium of communication could be in the form of meetings, emails, etc. The communication should explain what Six Sigma is, what its advantages are and how it differs from other quality initiatives like TQM and CQI. It may be even about basic concepts that are quite easy to understand.

It is important to anticipate and be ready to respond to questions, such as what is in it for the employees, how they will be affected, how will it affect the department and how everyone will be able to participate with their existing workloads.

It should also explain how it would benefit employees in terms of their career, job security, and so on.

When designing the plan, consideration has to be given to five major factors:

- Who the target audiences are
- What Six Sigma strategies need to be utilized
- How the process will be an ongoing one
- The use of various media for communication at various stages
- Clear and concise utilization of a variety of media

There are a large number of tools that can be used for communication.

Though face-to-face meetings are popular for a regular and ongoing communication process, other tools like emails, newsletters, brown bag lunches, CEO memos to employees, intranet postings, surveys and feedback reports and even quizzes are just as useful.

Advantages of Communication

Communicating with customers is also important when you are planning a Six Sigma project. When you undertake a Six Sigma project, the aim of the project is the customer satisfaction - not just internal, but also external.

Process improvements are useful not just to employees to reduce cycle times and output, but they are also useful in giving to the customer what they expect. Good communication can further help the team understand the CTQ factors of the business processes.

Similarly, when projects bring about improvements, they can be showcased to customers as well. Communication also helps resolve resistance issues that could snowball into major barriers to successful implementation.

If communication successfully tells the employees that there is full support of top management, and it is beneficial with no risk to them, then resistance can be reduced substantially.

Communication from the beginning till the end of the Six Sigma project is extremely important to project success.

Leadership Tips - Stand Up Meetings

2008-09-07T09:46:00.003-07:00

Do any of these statements apply to you?

* My calendar is so filled with meetings I can't find time to get real work done.
* Meetings that I attend seem to expand to fill the allotted time; we could accomplish just as much in half the time.
* I know we need the daily ops meeting (or the weekly project status meeting) but it's becoming tedious.

Most of us can relate to at least one of these statements, many can relate to all three and probably add a few more bullets of their own.

The best thing you can do with a meeting that is not a good use of your time is to not attend.

But what about meetings that you know are needed? Information needs to be shared, action items need to be assigned. Email won't work, because there's too much of a chance for misunderstanding and you need face to face discussion.

Try the stand up meeting.

Its very name conveys a message that no one is going to come in and settle into a comfortable position for this meeting. Stand up meetings are perfect for regular status updates and efficient assignment of work activities.

Here are some considerations that will help you hold effective and efficient stand up meetings:

Location: Ideally, hold the meeting in an open area with no tables or chairs. Lobbies, vacant offices, an open corner are all good candidates. If you have to use a conference room, push the table and chairs against the wall and don't let anyone sit down.

Chair Person: Think drill sergeant. This is not a role for the timid. You need someone who will start the meeting on time, even if no one is there! He or she needs to work the agenda rigidly, cut off discussion and send it offline when needed, clearly outline the action items and end on time.

Agenda: Keep it very crisp. Total agenda time should not exceed 15 minutes. Status updates should be limited to 5 minutes. Don't be afraid to have 2 minute items if that's all that's needed. Cover the open items from last meeting. Are they closed? If not, carry them forward with clear owners.

Don't provide coffee or heaven forbid, food. You can even go one step further and not allow people to bring their own. That will make everyone focus on getting done.

Now when you read all this it sounds harsh, but that's nor the case. When you value other people's time they will be appreciative. That is exactly what you are doing here.

Run a stand up meeting well, and people will know they can show up, get up to speed, be confident they know who is working on what, and get back to work.

James Bellini - Historian of the Future

2008-09-07T09:46:00.002-07:00

As far as job titles go, 'Historian of the Future' is an absolutely doozy. However, as one of the leading practitioners of this fascinating trade, Dr James Bellini, can testify, the description can lead to a few misunderstandings: he is most definitely not, for instance, a magician.

"Let me be clear: I don't have a cloak, a pointy hat and a magic wand," Bellini jokes - and he absolutely can't tell you who's going to win the 3.30 at Ascot. What he can do, however, is draw upon a career spanning decades of research and analysis, networking and award-winning creative endeavours to produce assessments of the likely state of the future which are as informed, and as entertaining, as any you'll encounter.

When SSON meets Bellini, the good doctor - whose PhD "in military stuff" came from the London School of Economics - has just finished presenting to the 8th Annual Shared Services Week in Sitges, near Barcelona. His talk - the first plenary of the event - has ranged from early corporate history, via demographic change in modern Europe, through 'Gutenberg 2.0', to the rise of a new wave of consumers and the hiring challenges posed by the emergence of 'Generation C'- and he's scattered some pretty brain-bending statistics along the way.

For example, those of us in the audience now know that by 2040, if current trends are maintained, Italy will have 20 million fewer inhabitants; that "in 1965 there were 10,000 people for every computer, but by 2015 there will be 10,000 connected devices for every person"; that "over 50 per cent of people on the planet have never made a phone call"; that by 2020 Japan will be the oldest society in the developed world, and the USA will be the youngest.

It's from a vast archive of such data, analysed through methods many years in the perfecting, that Bellini is able to create the "works of informed imagination" that make up his futurological output. Facts and figures, he says, are the currency of futurology and he declares that, magpie-like, he "will steal anything without remorse" which will contribute to his understanding of the myriad forces shaping the times to come.

This understanding has developed over the course of a distinguished and varied career which has seen Bellini finding success as an academic, a think-tank analyst, a reporter and TV presenter, an author, a narrator and, of course, a public speaker. If, however, this suggests chameleonic professional tendencies to accompany his corvine approach to data, Bellini's wry grin, penetrating stare and uncompromising wit mark him out as resolutely human - as does his unwillingness to pander to social niceties: his latest book, tackling corporate deceit and the pervasiveness of misrepresentation in the business world, is appropriately titled The Bullshit Factor.

Bellini moved from university (St John's College, Cambridge) into advertising, among other roles - but it was in Paris as the first British member of the highly regarded Hudson Institute (co-founded by Bellini's early mentor, nuclear strategist Herman Kahn) where he won his spurs, and plaudits, with a series of predictions for major European economies, starting with France. He and his colleagues were a long way ahead of the curve in foreseeing the French economic revival of the 1970s and '80s, and their success did not go unnoticed; brought in by the BBC as a consultant on a similar predictive piece about the British economy, Bellini ended up fronting the program as lead reporter. Perhaps unpredictably - even for this most promising of seers - television, and a modicum of fame, had come knocking.

Although he discusses his successes with disarming humility, Bellini's career in television left him much to crow about: seven years as a studio presenter with Sky News and Financial Times Television; stints presenting Panorama, Newsnight and The Money Programme; and a host of awards including the Prince Rainier II Prize at the Monte Carlo International TV festival and a special award given by the United Nations for his work on the epic documentary series The Nuclear Age - as well as rather less glittering roles such as presenting a TV version of Cluedo. Meanwhile he continued to predict, to analyse - and to publish, with a series of well-received tomes reaching the shelves from the 1980s onwards.

By now Bellini had established a reputation as one of the most perceptive and intuitive pundits on the current affairs circuit, and the step to public speaking to compliment his flourishing literary career was a logical one. His natural flair for business (he has served in executive positions for numerous companies) and for communications, combined with his specific spheres of interest, mean that - although he's just as happy to present to the likes of Greenpeace "for a cup of tea"- his natural constituency consists of relatively high-powered businessfolk with a vested interest in understanding the foundations of the future (exactly the kind of people attending Shared Services Week, in fact).

And some future it'll be. Bellini paints a fascinating picture of societies, businesses and economies on the brink of truly fundamental change; while he maintains that in general "nothing is ever really new - it might be different, but it's not new", at the same time he posits developments which, in terms of the way organisations are structured and run, are as new as anything which has preceded them since the Stone Age.

"Shared services is not the sexiest area of management, but it's one of the most important. It is about creating things which haven't been seen before in business history: internally profit-driven services. This is not, however, truly revolutionary: yet in the next 10-15 years I do see a revolution, a period comparable with the beginning of corporate history," he says. "We'll see as much change [in organisational structure] in the next 15 years as we saw in the last 5,000."

A major facilitator for this restructuring is, of course, the globalising information revolution, which is occurring at a mind-boggling rate.

"The pace of change is becoming a lot more compressed... Moore's Law is probably already out of date. We have to generate new words to deal with the rate at which information is growing," he says, citing as an example the rise of the "exabyte" - one billion billion bytes or, in more antique terms, one trillion big books full of data.

The implications for business of this staggering acceleration of development are, of course, manifold; but Bellini sees one of the most crucial impacts taking place in the field of recruitment and HR, and beyond that in the way business itself is conducted on a personal level.

"The people you employ in future will be very different from those you've employed in the past," he cautions. "Your future talent comes from what some people call Generation Y but I prefer to call Generation C" - the connected, communicating, completely digital creator-generators currently en route to adulthood.

"They are digital natives, very different individuals, living, educated and working in digital spaces. Sharing is instinctive among them... It's not about being selfish but about cooperating in effective, efficient ways."

Bellini believes that the arrival of this generation will force employers to reassess age-old practices such as recruitment, interview techniques and training. After all, this is a generation with a decreasing attention span but a marked increase in the ability to multitask and shift from one task to another very quickly; if a trainer begins to lose the attention of his or her trainees, Bellini asks, who will be to blame - the trainees, who have developed in a fast-changing, rapid-fire digital environment, or the trainer, who has not? The answer is implicit in the question, and Bellini warns that companies expecting their new recruits to bend to an established, 'old' modus operandi will find themselves left behind: "the talent war will become more acute," he says, and it's a war no company will be able to afford to lose.

The nature of employment itself will also change, the doctor reckons. Long-term contracts in fixed locations will become increasingly obsolete; the future will be made up of task-based employment of "clusters" of employees coming together to address specific needs, offering complementary skills for comparatively short, intense bursts of productivity - often working at distance from homes around the world.

For older employees such a shift might represent a vast challenge and perhaps an assault on traditional comforts such as job security; for the digital natives of Generation C, however, such practices will be second nature - and Bellini uses the example of Hollywood film production, which has been from the off a task-based environment, as how businesses and entire industries can work on a different, and potentially formidable, model.

The future will also bring us a very different consumer class, Bellini promises. Societies are getting older, and the old are becoming more affluent: in the UK, for example, in this "New Age of consumers" over-50s already own over 80 per cent of the nation's assets, and the country has reached a tipping point when there are more retirees than there are children. Meanwhile family sizes are decreasing, creating a growing deficit in the workforce of the future: we are approaching the "post-kids future", Bellini says somewhat ominously.

"This has huge consequences for everyone," he says. "Take R&D: the reason cars are the way they are, with four seats, is because the nuclear family model was the dominant one when car design was at its most dynamic. Four family members required four seats. Now the nuclear family is not the dominant model: what will the layout be of the car of the future? Or take cereal packets: they were sized for a nuclear family. Now that size is no longer appropriate."

Different needs require different provisions and Bellini urges today's companies to plan properly for a very different breed of consumer. The older generation - which will live longer than any in human history - will have different high-value requirements which will need to be met; meanwhile, the younger generation will be comparatively less affluent but will have very different needs and will expect those needs to be met in very different ways. Marketing, design, sales: all will have to undergo their own revolutions.

"There is a conversation going on, a huge worldwide conversation. You will not control this conversation, though it will be about you and will impact upon you," he cautions. Of course, this lack of control might terrify many businesses and practitioners - especially those in shared services for whom maintaining the right level of control over processes is such a fundamental aspect of the job - but it also represents a unique opportunity.

If, as Bellini assures us, the next few years will see us having to "revisit the idea of how to think", such reengagement with processes and the reasons behind them - driven in no small way by the digital natives making up the next generation of employees - will surely lead to sweeping changes in almost every aspect of doing business. The cost and efficiency savings currently held up as world-class by leading shared service practitioners could pale into insignificance against the benefits - tangible and intangible - brought by new approaches to the very raison d'etre of business and the economy, and by the technological revolution whose ultimate consequences even this most esteemed of futurologists can only ponder from afar.

Giving 300 Percent

2008-09-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

If you've heard it once, you've heard it one hundred ten times--that overused cliché urging you to give 110%! But, times change and 110% is no longer good enough. If I am in a leadership role I want 300% from my people. You should, too. This isn't about inflation; it's about a better way of thinking about motivation and employee productivity. But, if giving 110% seemed hard, then wouldn't 300% be nearly impossible? Not with the right kind of leadership. Let's take a look.

When people show up to work, you already have 100% of them. You have their physical bodies. Let's call this their hands. The show up and execute tasks in order to deliver some level of production that will enable them to keep their jobs and keep getting a paycheck. However, in business, having just 100% of someone won't bring about success because you are missing 200%--a very critical 200%.

The next 100% is their head-more specifically, their brains. When we get this 100%, we get a thinking contributor to the team. They are not satisfied by simply doing the work. Seeking out intellectual stimulation, they like to think up better ways to do the work. They enjoy being recognized for the contributions they make to the team, and being asked, "What do you think?"

With hands and head, we have 200%. That's not bad, but it's not enough to defeat your competition, whose employees are giving 300%. And that final 100% is the heart. When we get this from our employees, we get their dedication and commitment to the task and to the cause. People who put their heart into their work jump in with both feet and are emotionally engaged in what they do. But, the only way to get your employees to bring this to the job is for leadership to treat them with trust and respect, and to help them see their contribution to the bigger picture. These folks come to work because they want to--not because they have to. They are bright, and emotionally committed to the objectives of the firm. The companies that get 300% from their employees are the ones that win in business.

I realize that 300% is optimal. Maybe on some days, we get 100% of their hands (meaning they showed up for work), 55% of their head, and 71% of their heart. That's still significantly better than a measly 110%. Of course, if they don't show up, you get 0%. Employees who are not challenged to use their head and heart are much more likely to be absent from work. But those who are asked to contribute 200% and 300% have greater reliability. It has everything to do with feeling like you are making a valuable contribution and that you truly are part of the team.

I encourage you to start looking at your people through these three lenses. If they're not showing up--if you don't even get their hands on a regular basis--do you really have room for them on your team? But, just coming in isn't enough. Are they thinking on the job? Are they looking for and suggesting new and better ways to get the work done? Finally, are they passionate about what the company does, and their role in it? The only chance you have for people to give you 300% is to lead them well. In other words, are you giving 300%, too?

How Do You Choose the Right Company For Your Commercial Cleaning Needs?

2008-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

When you have a commercial business there are many things that you need to do to keep your business running smoothly and to maintain the building your business is in. One of the things that you will need to do is to find a commercial cleaning company that can help you keep your business clean and maintained. There are many different companies that you can choose from for commercial cleaning but you need to find one that is close to your local area.

When you are trying to choose a commercial cleaning company you need to find one that strives to understand your business and how things work, so they can get their job done without disrupting yours. This will help you minimize any down time for your business but will also help you get the commercial cleaning done. The cleaning company that you choose needs to be able to carefully plan the cleaning process to make sure everything gets done without disruption to your business.

It is a good idea to find a commercial cleaning company that has multiple cleaning capabilities. This will mean that you can use the same company for all of your cleaning needs. You can even find a company that will handle the cleaning and landscaping for your building if needed. Many companies will have the ability to remove almost any type of material or waste with their cleaning equipment. You will need to find out what materials the company can remove, so that you will know who to contact if you have a waste to be removed.

A good company that handles commercial cleaning will not only use their top of the line equipment to offer you full service cleaning but they will also carefully plan their cleaning process for your business, which will mean that you wont have the down time because they will come in a clean when it wont be disruptive to you.

It is very important that you take the time to look at all of the different companies that you find to do your commercial cleaning. There are many of them available and you want to look online at their site to find out what they can offer you but you also want to contact them because you wont know if they will work the best for your business until you have a chance to talk to them and ask questions. Finding a commercial cleaning company doesn't have to be difficult but you do need to take the time to do your research before deciding.

Removing Business Costs - Seven Deadly Sins to Avoid

2008-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Cost removal is just another form of change. Yet we see companies in every sector making the same mistakes time and again. So here are seven deadly sins of cost removal that it will pay you to avoid.

1. Cutting costs across the board A flat rate budget cut typically does more damage to the high-value, high-revenue parts of the business than you ever recover from cost savings. Worse, costs you cut like this will creep back within two years. Think instead about the causes of your costs and remove these instead.
2. Wimping out Fear of the impact of cost removal is no excuse for not doing it. Uncomfortable conversations now are much better than redundancy conversations later.
3. Waiting for perfect analysis If you are hemorrhaging cash now, every day's delay costs you money. A quick and dirty analysis will give you 95% of the data you need to proceed quickly and do straightaway most of the right things you need to save money. Is the extra 5% of certainty worth the extra days and weeks of delay?
4. Getting in your people's way Your people know better than you do where waste and inefficiency reside. They will find and eliminate it--provided you set demanding standards for delivery. If people know what is required of them, they will astonish you with their performance.
5. Spending more on compliance than you are saving Cost removal often means new policies and procedures. Yet in many companies the cost of complying with new policies far outweighs the savings that are made. Know how much it will cost to manage your new policies and only implement those which are cost-effective. As my mother would say: don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
6. Creating a new organisation structure Whenever the sky is falling, the first response of many corporate Chicken Lickens is to change the organisation. Usually this is a mistake. First, it distracts people from the real issue: running the business more efficiently. Second, it adds cost--cost to do it, cost as it beds down, and cost as new organisational interfaces are created. Third, it delays real action to improve performance. Fourth, companies hide behind it so that they don't have to talk about getting rid of people. So why do companies continue to do this? Usually because it is easy and looks like real action. But rearranging the deckchairs did not stop the Titanic sinking...
7. Damaging customer service to save costs This is not to say that you should avoid making customer service efficient--but never knowingly preside over a reduction in customer service standards for the sake of short-term savings. The savings will be temporary - the loss of customers, sales and reputation will not.

Many companies fail to improve their cost performance because they don't think effectively about which costs to remove and how best to do so quickly. If you avoid the seven deadly sins described here, however, you will have a fighting chance.

Is That Clear? Crystal, Sir

2008-08-22T23:30:00.002-07:00

Remember Tom Cruise' military lawyer character responding to Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessep in the film A Few Good Men? They were talking about following orders and the murky unwritten laws of military procedure in this classic from the nineties. But, I wonder how many crystal clear affirmative responses you'd get if you asked your staff if they understood your firm's purpose or your company's vision. Not many is my guess.

This is not surprising as research suggest only about 5% of organisations can claim their employees genuinely understand the company's strategy. But what's worse is the seemingly tacit acceptance of many leaders who seem to think this is ok and that they'll still achieve their goals/targets/dreams regardless!

Well if you're a leader, you might be one of the lucky ones and do just that. But just think how much luckier you could be if you had all your team focused on the same destination with a shared vision, clear goals and an understood purpose. In fact just think how much more successful you could be if when you asked your team, "Are we clear?" they all responded with one voice "Crystal",... we'll drop the "Sir".

The best and most successful leaders in business (and in all forms of life for that matter) know how important it is to set out and clearly communicate a vision and purpose for their team to rally behind. But the trap many 'start up' and 'SME' leaders and entrepreneurs fall into is thinking that vision & purpose stuff is just for the big boys. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fail to set out and communicate your vision and purpose and you'll fail to achieve anything much.

So how do you do it? Well as a leader, you obviously need to have a clear view of where you're going and how you're going to get there. This might entail a degree of new strategic thinking, but in most cases in my experience, you already know this, that's why you're an entrepreneur. What you really need to do is to communicate it to everyone else in a way that highlights your goals simply and clearly. In fact alongside your personal dreams for the market size, share and value of your company you should have another key goal: to make sure everyone else in your team shares your vision.

There are a number of ways to do this but the golden rule is to make sure your vision is connected to your key performance measures and that everyone can see this in a unified and connected manner. People need to know what they're trying to achieve in terms of their own detailed targets and how this fits in with the 'bigger picture'. Mind maps of some description are a great way of showing these interconnections. On top of this an eye catching visual will go a long way to grabbing people's attention and getting the point across in a highly imaginative way.

As an example, a new team recently formed as part of a leading UK drinks distributor felt they had a job to do in getting everyone to understand their vision and how their team would benefit the rest of the organisation. The first step was to set out a clear purpose and goals and to underpin this with a set of actions and behaviours that would move them towards their goal.

They did this by drawing a map of their vision using the circle as the foundation, which helped to suggest unity and team spirit, essential ingredients in any form of communication where more than one person is involved. The main ingredients of any vision and goal map are:

• Make it inclusive - not hierarchical.
• Puts organisation and personal outcomes on the same map to ensure alignment of everyone's efforts.
• Make the targets easy to track and don't have too many of them.

The feedback was instantly positive from within the team and from the rest of the organisation. If all that was required was to get everyone 'crystal clear' on the vision and goals, the map would have been enough. But the team leader wanted to really nail it and make it instantly clear right across the business just what his new team was there to achieve.

This is where the second element came in - a dramatic and inspiring visualisation of the vision and ideas incorporated within the map.

Visualisation and the ability of pictures to tell stories and communicate purpose and vision is a massively under utilised area in business and for little effort, can reap massive returns. The resulting illustration engaged people emotionally as well as analytically.

Armed with the vision map to communicate key actions and ideas and the picture to reinforce the story and navigate the route, the new team were well on their way to achieving their vision and goals.

Leadership vision is about people and you can only move people in a particular direction if you can communicate the destination and the path. Remember:

• "Today > 75% of the average company's market cap is attributed to intangibles - brand, databases, information and people" (Kaplan & Norton: Strategy Maps - 2003)
• "Communication enables us to plan, achieve, reflect and share experience. It underpins just about everything that shapes our lives" (Prof. Nigel Nicholson LBS)
• "...the best efforts of the leader come to naught if he has neither the means nor ability to communicate." (Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein)

Learning Organizations - Creating a Climate For Success

2008-08-22T23:30:00.001-07:00

You are a newly appointed manager of an organization that is identified in need to improve organizational learning to remain competitive in your market. The only problem is there is no established program and you haven't had any training on it. What can a new manager due to make a difference immediately? How can you create a climate of learning in your organization and why should we care?

One of the most powerful truths about the global economy is that in order to remain competitive and even survive, organizations must devote themselves to learning from ongoing operations. That's the only way you can maintain competitive advantage because the other businesses around you are studying you and your customers looking for ways they can take over your market share.. It's only by learning deliberately, carefully and thoroughly that we can continue to serve our customers and provide a valuable service. This translates directly to our ability to grow and thrive.

Here are some tips and mindsets that will guide you in developing a learning culture:

1. Make sure that you take the time and all work events to reflect on the lessons learned from what just happened. It's not enough to complete a task and then move onto the next one. You must build in time to consider deeply what we can learn and apply from this situation to others in the future. Reflection is the key but it takes time and training.

2. Treat failure is a natural part of the learning process. Failure is simply feedback and a learning opportunity. If you seek to play the blame game you will stifle any interest in learning and people will get into the self-preservation mode and that is a sign of approaching doom.

3. Make sure that you do not allow an elite group or a single point of view to dominate decision-making. The learning process requires multiple points of view and alternative strategies to be considered especially when you're dealing with uncertainty and complexity in your marketplace.

4.Go out of your way to create a climate of support of innocent openness so that your people feel safe about raising questions and offering new ideas.

5. Train your employees in conflict resolution and the mature expression of conflicting ideas in a constructive manner. You'll find this skill to be immensely valuable in all of your group problem-solving processes.

6. Deliberately use cross functional teams in order to get the benefit of different approaches and expertise by design. Given a chpoice, people will tend to form groups of like-minded individuals and that's no way to take advantage of your natural diversity.

Developing a learning culture is no small task, but it is absolutely essential if you want to continue to compete in the world market. It takes time and leadership and a commitment to seeing it through, but your time and effort will be amply rewarded. You can expect to see your people catch fire and begin contributing far beyond your initial expectations and their own. Good luck!

Does Action Have Intelligence?

2008-08-22T23:29:00.002-07:00

Say what? Are you crazy? If I act before I think, I have no idea what the consequences of my actions will be.

You're right! But, it really depends on the context of your action habit. In working with the people that I've had the pleasure in working with over the years, I've discovered an interesting thing.

Way too many people fail in whatever they are trying to accomplish because they are thinking "TOO MUCH" before they're acting.

This is an interesting concept. Think before you act! You may have seen it on a billboard somewhere, it might be a lesson you and I learned in elementary school, or maybe your wife or husband says this to you daily. Either way, you've heard and understood and most of you have lived by it.

I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has helped you, however. I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has disempowered you, or stifled your success, or even stopped you dead in your tracks because you are always looking for the perfect action strategy before you even take any action.

What is the perfect action strategy? In my opinion there isn't one. As a matter of fact, I believe if you always try to make your activity perfect, you'll rarely even get started. This is the problem I find - that most of us think way too much before we act.

This is the equivalent of someone wanted to learn how to ride a bike by going out and buying the best books and video instruction on the subject. The bottom line is that you quickly realize that even if you have the best instruction on the planet, the knowledge on how to ride a bike can only be received AFTER you've put on your helmet, your knee pads and jumped on that bike to take it for a spin.

So if this is the same for riding a bike, why isn't it the same, for starting a business, investing in real estate, starting a fitness program or even taking on a spiritual path?
Hmmm... That's a good question, and although there are "more correct ways of doing things" YOU'LL NEVER TRULY KNOW, unless you DO SOMETHING!!

It's the quest for the PERFECT ACTION/STRATEGY which is impossible, because there is an innate intelligence within an action habit. What that means is that learning how to do something well, means you must do it.

The doing, not the planning, will create the perfection. You can plan while you DO but never plan "TOO MUCH" before you do.

How do I know I'm planning too much? Or I'm taking in more knowledge than I need? Easy. You know you're planning too much if you aren't getting anywhere. For example, could I really sit here and plan out an 'EFFECTIVE' exercise program or an 'EFFECTIVE' business plan for anyone without knowing what they can and can't do, what they're willing and not willing to do, or even if their direction is the correct one? It's not possible.

You need to get in action, right now, today. Then, let the results of the action dictate the direction, because action has its own intelligence. You will glean more results, and "what not to do" information from picking up the phone and getting into the action of making phone calls and by gauging your "realistic response" - not a fictional one that you make up in your mind. You'd get your results quicker if you got out of bed and went straight to a treadmill, rather than sitting down 'TRYING TO THINK ABOUT' a perfect diet and exercise program. I'm told the Devil is in the details. Well, that might be true, but you can also say that the Devil is the perfectionist planning.

Here's what you can do to break out of the mold of perfectionistic planning.

Put a time limit on your planning before you begin planning.

Make sure you take action the moment you finish putting a time limit on your planning.

The activity of the planning must start TODAY. Not tomorrow. No Excuses, Make sure you're doing something TODAY toward your desired outcome. Make that phone call, clean up the office, send that email, make that connection, or go out and shake a hand or two. YOU MUST DO SOMETHING TODAY.

After you've done your one thing for today, make a pact with yourself that you will take one activity daily that adds to the momentum of your outcome - NOT an activity that adds to your planning, learning or prioritizing.

Celebrate! Make sure after you actually take that first step, and CELEBRATE. Even if things don't go the way you expect, at least you're on the bike!!!

I'm sure there are times that you need to plan a lot, like a big project, a business plan, etc.

However, if you stop and take a look at your life and ask yourself, where have I over planned and underachieved, my guess is that you'll find many areas, and that's ok!

Welcome to humanity! The next issue will be about getting you beyond your unexpected failures.

How to Measure Your Hourly Progress

2008-08-22T23:29:00.001-07:00

Have you ever started on a project and 10 hours later you are no where near being finished? Or how about you received an order to fill and you never completed? So many business entrepreneurs as well as others have trouble measuring their hourly progress. So many people never know where to start; others do not know how to manage. Whatever your case maybe whether you want to succeed in life as well as business you will need to know how to successfully measure your hourly progress.

When just starting out in business its ruff, with so many ideas and things on your mind the day can fly by in an instance. This is why to properly be proactive and very productive you need to track your every step of the way. If not, time will pass by faster then a speeding bullet.

Here are some things you can do to help with this situation.

-Create a to do list, and update this list every day(remember when working for yourself no one will have what needs to be done all laid out in front of you, you will need to log and track it yourself)

-Complete you to do list. So many people will get the first step correct and completely pass the second, Completing what you have logged and scheduled in. a schedule or to do list can prove to be one of the most efficient tools in your life as well as business adventure and can lead to overall better productivity.

Set goals. See goals and track your status from how far away to achieving those goals you are. Goals can be a great thing to have; they keep you on top of your game, life and give you motivation when you need it the most. Having to self motivate yourself can be a daunting task however, if you have goals that are in place it pays all the world and proves help you reach your success. When setting goals set a realistic achievable goal, instead of setting a goal for the month or the week or the day set a goal to obtain by the end of the hour. Work through and achieve. The mind comprehends in work progress. This is what slows the feeling of time down.

Now that you have these three tools you can now measure your hourly progress with ease.

Step one; create your to do list and map all task and daily chores.

Step two; get on your horse put your mind and creative energy to work and bust through your task

Step three; have goals posted up around your home or work place in the instance you are confused stuck or fall out of interest you can refer back to and self motivate yourself back on track to obtain success. If you stick to the plan and put your mind to work use your creative energy wisely you will have no problem keeping track of your hourly progress.

Business Training Modality - What Works Best For You?

2008-08-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

Business training content should be something that will enhance your business and help you increase your revenue, skills or happiness; however, the way in which you learn should help you determine how those skills are best processed by you.

Essentially there are 3 different learning modalities:

Visual - You find writing things down, or highlighting them to help you best to recall the information. Diagrams, photos, video or even cards with notes on them - remember flash cards in math? All of those are helpful for those that process things visually.

Auditory - You learn best by closing your eyes, blocking out the world and listening. Word Association is an effective tool that you use to remember things. Tapes and teleconferences are fabulous ways for you to increase you business acumen.

Kinesthetic - You learn best by jumping in and doing it. You are the one that glosses over directions and fiddles around with things until you know how to do it. Lessons that include games, role-playing and props (or physical examples of something you can touch) make a much bigger impression on you.

Most people do not have just one modality. I learn best kinesthetically, but I also learn well visually. Sitting still through a lecture or teleseminar is difficult for me, no matter how interesting the subject matter. To counteract this tendency for my mind to wander in situations such as teleseminars, I tend to doodle about what the person is speaking about or take notes. If the speaker is referencing things from the web I will bring them up on my computer. I do have to make an effort not to become too involved with whatever is on the web so I tune out the speaker. I know the point of my doodling or surfing the web is to keep my mind engaged on what the speaker is saying.

The most important thing to do is think about the ways you process information best and then choose the classes or lessons that work with that modality. If there is a class or seminar that you want to be involved in that is not your strength, think of ways to incorporate your learning modality. Someone who is auditory might want to record a seminar to listen to later. Someone who is visual might choose to take notes and go over them with a highlighter later. A kinesthetic person would choose to jump in and try out whatever it is they are learning to see how it feels. Play to your strengths, while still being aware of your weaknesses.

Organization Behavior - Navigating the Seven C's of Corporate Culture Change

2008-07-15T19:44:00.001-07:00

If you are in any leadership capacity within any organizational structure, it behooves you to have at least a cursory understanding of Organization Behavior tenets. In other places it may be referred to Industrial Psychology or other such terms, but they all refer to how an organization behaves both in a macro and micro level. How people react individually within company settings, how people interact with one another, and how the company as a whole reacts, are all components involved in the studies of Organizational Behavior.

Dating back to Plato, where in his frustration with the Grecian leadership at the time, quite successfully described in his 'Essence of Leadership" the qualities of effective leaders and persuasive communication. Since that time many have applied the techniques of science to better describe the working environment. The goal of all of theses social sciences is to attempt to predict, explain, and control the outcome thereby generating controversy over the ethics of 'controlling' workers behavior.

Understanding these principles gives a person no more control over another any more than understanding mob psychology can help a policeman control a riot. Yet just like the policeman, a leader with understanding could predict possible outcomes when certain variables are introduced. Utilizing this knowledge along with effective communication can help bond a group into a cohesive team that will willingly move toward a common goal.

There are many modern models available to research from the Carnegie School of thought to the Arbinger's Institute where studies in self-deception are the focus. Remember that no one model is perfect and that every company must be selective in what they try to implement. Submitted here are the 7 'C's to developing a change in any corporate culture.

Commitment

Don't start any change process unless leadership is committed to the end result. There is nothing more demoralizing to a workforce than to have change imposed for the sake of change. Make sure that it is understood by everyone in leadership that there is a goal and commitment to that goal is expected and accountable.

Catalyst

What is the root cause of why leadership would want to change a corporate culture? Bad employees or bad processes. It is the difference between pruning a bush or tying it to a support to help it grow. Make sure you understand the implications before you begin.

Clarity

Describe the goal, why the goal is necessary, and what benefits are realized when the goal is achieved. Sell it, and keep on selling it.

Compatibility

Make sure that what you are trying to implement fits the organizational structure. Trying to implement LEAN manufacturing techniques in a telemarketing office is probably not a good fit. That doesn't mean that trimming non-value-added portions of a telemarketing process is not an obtainable goal, it does mean that configuring the model to fit the environment is paramount.

Change Management

Understand the change process and how it affects people. Learn to be able to identify where individuals and groups are along the change process and help them get to the next level.

Consistency

As a leader you cannot waiver from the road. You must see the goal and help others to visualize where it lies. Whether your style is militaristic (there's the hill, let's take it), or encouraging (I can see the top, we can make it, you can do it), you are the keeper of the objective. Stay the course.

Celebrate

Reward those who promote the new environment and celebrate as a whole when you reach significant milestones. The people involved will make or break the attempt, make sure they understand just how important they are to the process.

Metrics Learning in Different Aspects

2008-07-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Managers who want to ensure improvement in their department will find values in metrics learning. This is a great way of hitting targets and being on top of things. Metrics are measurable components of performance. These are the things that managers should measure to know if the program or the operations department is meeting the goals. As a standard, these metrics are placed on a scorecard that is also known as the BSC or balanced scorecard. This is what managers look into during monthly or quarterly business reviews with clients. The targets are measured against the actual scores and there are baseline scores that need to be checked to see if the current processes are normal.

Managers should be aware, though, that metrics are not the same in every company. It should also be noted that it is a mistake to copy the metrics of other companies, even if the industry is the same. The issue here is that different organizations have different targets. There may be metrics that are applicable in one company but not in another.

One common example of a metric is attendance. This is a must for employees of companies that offer real-time solutions, like customer service hotlines and fast food joints. There will be no one to answer the phones or cater to companies if the employees are not around. This means that the attendance of these employees should be measured regularly and there should be a threshold as to how many absences these employees can take. In other companies that primarily deal with sales, attendance is not much of an issue because as long as employees hit their target sales or quotas, they are allowed not to go to work for their remaining days in a certain period. As a result, the weight of attendance in the overall performance of the previous company is higher than the latter.

Another common metric that companies have is CSAT or customer satisfaction. This is a metric that is commonly found in industries where there is direct communication with customers. Normally, surveys are sent to customers and the customers will answer these surveys and send them back. This becomes the venue in informing the company the areas in which it can improve on. CSAT is commonly found in the fast food industry and customer service-oriented forms, like phone hotlines. However, this metric is not that applicable in manufacturing industries.

Manufacturing industries, on the other hand, focus more on production. The performance of employees is measured by the amount of products they can produce at certain time intervals, provided that the machines are working right. Obviously, attendance is also a great factor in manufacturing industries because people will not be able to produce goods if they are absent.

And lastly, the biggest challenge in metrics learning is quality. This is practically the essence of all types of outputs. High quality is often correlated with high customer satisfaction rating and high productivity, precisely because people buy goods and services due to quality, not just the price. Managers should carefully look into this metric if they really want their businesses to succeed.

Survival of Your Company Through a Strong Motive Metrics

2008-07-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

To be sure that you won't be losing everything in the early years of your business, sufficient preparation, like hiring the best people, being organized, and setting up strong and solid motive metrics should be present.

When you start a company, you must plan everything very carefully. Just like a building, foundations need to be strong in order to hold the entire structure for a long time. No matter how rough the winds may be, you can be sure of the building's stability. A young company is always easy prey for larger and older companies. Especially if your company is directly in competition with these old-timers, they will make sure they get all your customers, or worse, even buy you out.

To prevent older and larger companies from getting at you, putting up a solid defense and outsmarting them should be the first things you do. By solid defense, we mean that you do not give in easily, like losing customers. Turn customers into loyal consumers of your products and services. For sure, even if you think your competitors are almost at the brink of stomping you down to the ground, loyal customers will be your life support and their patronage will keep your company alive.

Other than making an impression and making your customers loyal to your brand, you can do a lot of strengthening at the backend of your company as well. This is your work force or your employees. If competitors are not able to penetrate and get in the front door with your customers, they can sneak in at the back and take aim at your employees. Knowing you have an outstanding line up of workers, they can "bribe" these workers to leave your company for theirs by offering attractive compensation packages. Being old and well-established companies as they are, you know they can afford that.

To remedy this possibility of pirating your employees, you resort again into making your workers loyal to your company. If you can successfully motivate your employees from the start and you engage in open communication by showing them what your plans are for the company, you just might increase your chances of keeping your workers loyal to your company. Instilling in your workers the right amount of motivation weighs heavier than a fat paycheck.

The success rate of making workers loyal and stay in your company is never 100% because there are workers who would not hesitate moving to other companies for larger compensation packages. This should be understandable, after all your employees are working in your company for money in the first place. Knowing the inevitable fact that piracy of your workers can be the most serious threat to your company, continue to organize your company further and make sure to practice excellence all the time. If this is unavoidable, then the main thing to do here is to implement quality motive metrics. This way, your employees will be motivated enough to stay loyal to your company and remain under you employ. Incentives and bonuses are definitely a must here so make sure to be ready with these.

Developing a Store Scorecard That Works

2008-07-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

Attaining success in retailing would not be so much of a challenge with the use of a balanced store scorecard. This tool allows retail companies to be able to integrate the principles of a Balanced Scorecard into their business strategies.

Retailing is commonly defined as the sale of goods and other merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store or small business lots, where consumers make their purchases. Purchasers from retailers can be private individuals and businesses or corporate accounts.

Usually, the price technique employed by retailers is cost-plus pricing. This is done by adding to the retailer's cost to a particular mark-up amount or percentage. Another commonly used technique is the suggested retail pricing, which involves using the price suggested by the manufacturer. To increase the efficiency of retail sales, many companies have adopted the principles of the Balanced Scorecard to achieve success in their business operations.

The BSC management approach was pioneered by David Norton and Robert Kaplan, Harvard Business School graduates. This concept seeks to strike a balance between a company's business activities and the company's performance in terms of achieving strategic goals over a certain period of time. In the context of retailing, it can be used to measure employee performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. By using numbers or numerical data, like sales figures, the BSC arranges data in such a way that managers are able to detect changes in business results, including very minor changes that could cause a significant impact in the future. Unlike other performance evaluation systems, the BSC does not only focus on traditional financial metrics, but it also takes into account other business perspectives, including the financial perspective, internal business processes perspective, innovation and learning perspective, and the customer perspective. The financial perspective is obtained through the use of financial indicators that determine progress. This perspective is that which many shareholders are most concerned of. Internal business processes perspective, on the other hand, takes into account processes, like production, sales, and logistics, and relate them to the criteria of efficiency, quality, and cost reduction. The innovation and learning perspective, meanwhile, measures anything that is important to employee development and retention as well as skills improvement. Lastly, customer perspective seeks to gain a positive customer perception of one's business.

The first step in the adoption of the BSC approach in a business organization is to create a model for a scorecard. This requires the development of a common goal that could serve as a basis for achieving success in all departmental endeavors. Moreover, key factors that are important for organizational success need to be identified. These critical success factors need to be integrated into performance evaluation systems to make all employees more aware of them. Then, the concept of BSC and a detailed explanation of how the company intends to achieve a balanced success need to be cascaded to every member of the organization. With a store scorecard, the principles of the Balanced Scorecard will be easier understood by all members of the organization regardless of their respective departments.

Grounded Leadership - Making a Difference in the Tough Times

2008-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

You may be familiar with the children's verse: "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down", with the weeble being a doll that has all it's weight at the bottom. And come what may, the doll will always return to a centered position no matter how hard it is pushed over. Imagine this in the form of a leader. Imagine what it would be like to be able to remain steadfast as a leader in the face of huge challenges. What does it take to remain grounded so that your team can perform at its best...even through the tough times?

The last decade has seen unprecedented economic success with year after year of continued growth. Leading others in organisations can be both rewarding and challenging in the good times...but what about when the going gets tough? How do you motivate, even inspire others in your organisation when recession hits, when downsizing begins. And how do you do that when your job could be on the line too? Now the time has come for coping with an economic environment where things aren't automatically going well - something we've termed as 'Grounded Leadership'.

The news headlines are pretty stark. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England recently said "...the nice decade is behind us". Predictions abound of a global slowdown in the economy. Some organisations such as high street retailers in the UK are already beginning to cut back. It could be only a matter of time before many organisations begin to tighten their belts, to ride the rough waters of a slow-down in a bid for future success.

Resilient organisations need rugged leaders, so how can leaders continue to bring the best out in their teams, to achieve more with less with a backdrop of threatened cutbacks and downsizing? Even more challenging, how do you do all of this when you know deep down that your job could be on the line too?

First ask: Who am I being?
Imagine you're an actor in a long-standing TV soap. Your character is loved by millions of viewers and you have settled into the role...it's now become your life. And then, out of the blue, the producers decide that your character is going to meet an untimely end. How do you think you would react as a professional actor? Would it be to become 'victim' to the circumstances and let your feeling affect your performance? Would you be happy with the rest of the cast and your avid fans seeing you at your worst in the final stages? Definitely not! We know of course that true professionals would put their own feelings to one side and deliver the performance of their lives. They would be guided by the thought of the cast, crew and their loving public thinking of them for years to come in glowing admiration....their 'performance of a lifetime'. So the first place to start in being a 'grounded leader' is to ask yourself, "Who am I being, victim or the complete professional"?

Second reflect: How is the team responding?
There is no doubt that change creates emotion. What's more change in difficult times can create anxiety, even stress. Of course stress in small doses is a positive thing. For example some of the world's best presenters rely on the nerves beforehand to help them perform at their peak. There is a point however when stress and anxiety become debilitating. Once this point is reached, the effects can be all consuming and are likely to effect performance negatively, something an organisation is desperate to avoid when the tough times arrive. So how can we recognise the difference between 'healthy' levels of stress and levels that need handling?

The answer is to be on the look out for defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is the human being's built in behaviour that provides protection against anxiety and our self-esteem. They also help us vent our feelings of angst about the situation we find ourselves in. Literally dozens of defense mechanisms have been hypothesized over the years. The help that we can get from observing defense mechanisms is that if we notice a significant increase in them in those around us, they act as an advanced warning system that tells us how people are responding to change.

Defense mechanisms work by protecting our own sense of self-esteem and well being by minimizing the incongruities between the external world and ourselves. For example, denial is one of the most common defense mechanisms we can see in ourselves. Imagine, hearing the following conversation around the coffee machine at the office in when the company experiencing tough economic conditions: "But our organisation will be OK, we've got plenty of cash assets and the management team wouldn't dream of laying people off any of their loyal staff."

It's a fair assumption that the group could be stressed or anxious and coping with it through denial. Here are some more common defense mechanisms a grounded leader will be on the lookout for when things become more challenging and anxiety creeps in. Which ones do you notice happening more often in those around you in a time of crisis? Here's the five we come across most frequently: Repression or "I'm doing everything to pretend it's not happening" Repression is the fundamental mechanism of defense. Repression is the process of keeping things out of our consciousness. If you did something last week you are utterly ashamed of, you try not to think about it and eventually may even be unable to recall doing it. Everyone uses repression, but excessive repression has a cost. That is, repression requires large amounts of psychic energy and energy tied up in this fashion is then unavailable for other, more adaptive uses. But remember that there is only so much psychic energy to go around. Sigmund Freud called these suppressing energies 'anticathexes'. As more and more anticathexes are put into place, behaviour becomes more and more constrained, controlled, and inhibited. With too many anticathexes, there's little energy left for anything else.

Denial or "Yeah, but this won't effect me"
When people are overwhelmed by a threatening reality, they often turn to denial: refusal to believe that the event took place or that something is the way it is. Consider the mother who refuses to believe that her son has been killed in an accident and acts as though he's still alive. Denial also is implicit when a child assumes a role of power while playing, thereby hiding feelings of inferiority. Denial complements repression. Both keep from awareness things that the person feels unable to cope with. The two differ in the source of the threat. Denial keeps from awareness something from the outer world, whereas repression keeps from awareness something from the inner world. What they have in common is a defense against coming to terms with change and therefore preventing the ability to embrace it and move on.

Reaction Formation or "This is the best thing ever...honest!"
One way to guard against the release of an unacceptable impulse is to make a point of emphasizing its opposite - a process termed reaction formation. For example, a team member may deal with hostile feelings towards impending changes in the organisation by repressing their true hostile feelings and replacing them with effusive, 'over the top' positive displays. Reaction formation is usually detected on the basis of the intensity of the reaction and on the basis of its appropriateness. If the person seems to "go overboard" with the behavior, or seems "driven" to engage in it at any cost, then you may be seeing reaction formation.

Projection or "They've been waiting for this opportunity"
In projection, anxiety is reduced by attributing your own unacceptable impulses, wishes and desires to someone else. We all have a tendency to assume that other people are much like we are - a kind of benign projection. But if we see something unacceptable in ourselves, projection provides a way to hide from it, while still expressing it in a distorted form. For example, if you have feelings of hostility and resentment toward others, you may deal with them by developing the belief that others are "out to get you.' Projection serves to disengage oneself from aspects of one's own feelings and actions, but it also can cause problems. It can make people behave in ways that increase the likelihood of confirming their distorted view. If a person projects his hostile feelings onto others, he may act aggressively in order to defend himself. If the victim of this aggression retaliates, the person has confirmed his faulty view that others are hostile toward him. What gets lost, of course, is the fact that he induced the hostility through his own actions.

Rationalisation or "Well under the circumstances how do you expect me to feel?"
In rationalisation the person reduces anxiety by finding a rational explanation (cause, or excuse) for doing what otherwise would be unacceptable. Rationalisation often occurs along with projection because the target of the projection often provides a basis for the rationalisation. Consider the example we just used: the person who defends himself against aggression by acting aggressively. If others are hostile (the projection), it makes perfectly good sense to act aggressively in self-defense (the rationalisation). Rationalisation can also occur in the absence of projection. After a failure, for example, rationalisation maintains your self-esteem. If you've been told that your role will no longer be needed, you may convince yourself that you were thinking of moving on from this 'dead-end' role anyway. The man who is snubbed when asking for a date may convince himself that the woman really wasn't that attractive or interesting after all!

Third share: What I'm Noticing?
Roger Schwarz's ground breaking work on transparency gives us some great advice on how to begin communicating with those around us in a way that encourages mutual learning - something that Grounded Leaders always seek to encourage. Here's a simple framework you could use to share your observations with a team member when you feel they are using defense mechanisms. It follows a simple structure:

1 Behaviour
2 Feeling
3 Consequences
4 Check

And it would sound something like this: "John, I've noticed that on a number of occasions you've said that this won't effect us in the team..." (Behaviour) "...and I'm feeling that this might be some form of denial".... (Feeling) "...the consequences of denying this situation may be that we don't recognise what it's true impact might be and work through it..." (Consequences) "...so why don't we share our thoughts on what could happen and how we could handle it in a good way, what do you think?" (Check)

One trap we've seen many leaders fall into is to treat team members in the same way irrespective of their temperament and the behaviours they are exhibiting. In fact we've also come across some models of 'reactions to change' that generalise on how people respond to changing circumstances.

Our overall guidance is that reactions to difficult times will vary hugely and the grounded leader will use self-reflection, careful observation and transparency with individuals to help them achieve reduced anxiety and higher levels of performance that starts from where each individual is.

Current Aviation Metrics and the Up-and-Coming Strategies to Expect

2008-07-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Oil prices have been rising rapidly over the past few years and almost every operation powered by oil and anything that is related with the oil industry is affected by this crisis. This is most especially true in aviation where gasoline is an essential. Not only this, but the lack of air traffic system and the sufficient manpower are also problems that the aviation is facing. This is why the proper aviation metrics have to be implemented.

These metrics are mainly concerned with the development of solutions pertaining to operation management, with every plan of alleviating the whole system. There are actually three factors that have to do with this.

First and foremost is fuel, which is the number one concern of most people. If the general distribution and oil prices become higher, airfare prices will most likely increase, and this can have detrimental effects on the industry of air travel, particularly because consumers would be discouraged from traveling by plane. Any plans of market expansion just may be set aside due to the notion that air travel can now be considered impractical in terms of finances. In addition to that, air planning has never been this difficult as you combine factors, like the plunging of dollar, financial assumptions, and the engineering of the jet fuel transport, which are all affected by the increasing fuel prices. With a small change or difference in every digit, relative changes in airline strategies occur so as to enhance revenue.

Pilot shortage for small lifts or regional airlines is worsening as well. Skilled pilots are now hard to find because of there are some airline companies that are pressured with other commitments. If a pilot were to choose between flying the mainline to Tokyo and flying to mere domestic lands, of course, it would make sense for him to choose the mainline. This is, after all, more challenging and more fulfilling in terms of career path. However, there are not too many flights flying out to Tokyo than to domestic lands, and the more competent pilots would be the ones assigned to man these international flights. Thus, it would be harder to find competent pilots for the smaller flights instead.

The aviation department should not be too much alarmed with these predicted impending setbacks in the near future. With the implementation of metrics, carefully planned following strategies and competitive tactics can be made to prepare the aviation industry. Some of these are as follows:

1. Expansion will be put on hold until there is significant revenue gain and a more stable air traffic system is established.

2. The quality of revenue is better than the quantity of revenue. The volume of passengers might be important, but flying a few people to business locations beyond the carrier's boundaries should be considered significant as well.

3. Scrutinizing the current market to keep track of revenue is essential.

4. Block times are also examined since air routes with a lower block speed demands more crew and aircraft time as well as fuel.

These aviation metrics are now carefully discussed to ensure that airline companies still meet their goal while maintaining their operations intact.

The Overlapping of Executive Coaching Suggested Methods

2008-06-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

Although a myriad of methods for executive coaching exists, there is considerable overlap among these methods. For example, there appears to be agreement regarding the stages of executive coaching: relationship building, assessment, intervention, follow-up, and evaluation. These stages are typically consistent with most consultation interventions.

There is also agreement regarding the desirable assessment techniques and instrumentation, including 360-degree feedback questionnaires, behavioral interviews, and psychological instruments, such as personality and leadership style inventories (Brotman et al., 1998; Kiel, Rimmer, Williams & Doyle, 1996; Kilburg, 1996a; Luthans & Peterson, 2003; Peterson, 1996; Richard, 1999; Rogers, Rogers & Metlay, 2002; Saporito, 1996; Thach, 2002; Tobias, 1996).

A review of the literature depicted a similar overlapping with respect to suggested core competencies that executive coaches should posses if they desire to hone their skills and reach the upper echelon of clientele. The recommended core competencies constitute a skill set weighted toward being a trusted and approachable coach who can establish long-lasting relationships with a variety of people throughout an organization. Core competencies are comprised of skills, aptitudes, knowledge and methods (McClelland, 1973; Spencer & Spencer, 1993).

A collective listing of the suggested core competencies from the literature, based upon anecdotal evidence and supposition, include:

1. Approachable: puts others at ease; warm, pleasant, and gracious; sensitive to and patient with the interpersonal anxieties of others; builds rapport well; and is a good listener (Bluckert, 2005a; Brotman, 1998; Kilburg, 1996).

2. Associates comfortably with top management: deals well with senior executives; understands the thinking patterns of top executives; uses business acumen and pattern language; and develops appropriate methods (Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

3. Compassion: authentically cares about people; concerned about their life issues; available and ready to help; offers empathy when needed (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Lazar & Bergquist, 2004).

4. Creativity: develops innovative and distinctive ideas; effortlessly connects problem issues into distinctive action plans (Brotman et al., 1998).

5. Client focused: able to meet the desires of the client and client, develops trusting and respectful effective client/client relationships (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Linkage, 2006).

6. Integrity and trust: trustworthy; confidant; can speak the truth in a diplomatic and supportive manner (Bluckert, 2005a; Brotman, 1998; Lazar & Bergquist, 2004; Peterson, 1996).

7. Intellectual horsepower: is smart, intellectual, and capable; functions well in an analytical setting (Brotman, 1998; Kilburg, 1997; Linkage, 2006).

8. Interpersonal savvy (Relates well to all people): develops rapport, actively listens, builds trusting, and respectful relationships (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn).

9. Powerful listening: uses active listening; fully hear the client; reiterates client's opinions despite disagreement (Bluckert, 2005, Brotman, 1998; Killburg, 1996; Trudeau, 2004; Wasylyshyn, 2005).

10. Deals with paradox: able to be fully present with the client; uses a strong and empathetic approach when needed; self-confident yet humble (Brotman, 1998; Tobias, 1996).

11. Politically savvy: diplomatic; uses sensitivity in an organizational setting; strategically plans and thinks; identifies corporate politics as a necessary function and adapts well to it (Blackman, 2006; Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Executive Coaching Research - Part I

2008-06-28T05:23:00.002-07:00

Researchers have concluded that executive coaching lacks significant, reliable empirical research (Kampa-Kokesh & Anderson, 2001; Kilburg, 2004, Wasylyshyn, 2003). Individual executive coaches have contributed to the professional literature articles and books outlining their protocols, techniques, and deliverables. Their provisions are needed in order for the field of practitioners to define this consultative method and its components.

As executive coaching gains a stronghold on tried and true developmental practices, the requirement for rigorous research on core competencies and related training of them has emerged. Researchers must also assist in resolving or clarifying the disparity that has developed between the variety of protocols, methods, and techniques in executive coaching and offer a means to validate practitioners' claims (Brotman et al., 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Kleinberg (1996), who is an executive coach with a background in psychology, argues that executive coaches who do not possess rigorous psychological training deliver more inefficiency than proficiency. In the event an executive is experiencing psychological difficulties, which have gone undiagnosed or untreated, coaching may add insult to injury. Additionally, many self-styled executive coaches know little about business and/or coaching. Executive coaching provides executives with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills along with interpersonal skills, and become more skillful in leading teams of people through organizational upheaval and business transformation (Neimes, 2002).

Kilburg's (1996a) classic review of the literature revealed that there existed more than ten years ago a paucity of empirical data, as applied to the art and practice of executive coaching, to support the techniques and approaches coaches use. Today, the breadth of research does not equal the coaching industry demand (Kampa-Kokesh & Anderson, 2001; Kilburg, 2004; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Judge and Cowell (1997) presented a snapshot of those who have become coaches, how they are coaching, who is being coached, and why they are being coached. In a survey of 60 professional coaches, the authors suggested that executive coaching is a derivative of executive development programs.

Regarding the coach's experience through the conduit of methodology, Judge and Cowell (1997) made an interesting yet unsubstantiated statement: "One factor that differentiates coaches is the level of assessment they perform. The best coaches conduct 360-degree assessments of the executives, which includes surveying and interviewing all the people with whom the executive interacts regularly" (p. 74).

Other means of data gathering experienced by the coaches in the study included observation in the workplace, peer assessment, and gaining input from clients (Peterson, 1996). Some coaches, presumably not the best, interviewed clients in relation to leadership, behavioral issues, and the performance of informal assessments. The researchers noted that this less robust methodology might have been sufficient depending upon the client's ability for accurate self-assessment.

Executive Coaching Research, Part II

2008-06-28T05:23:00.001-07:00

Kilburg's (1997) review of the literature revealed that numerous articles have been written in the general area of coaching. However, as applied to core competencies and the art and practice of coaching techniques, limited empirical data was available to support the techniques and approaches coaches' use with business leaders. Wasylyshyn (2003) found this to have been true six years later.

Brotman (1998) echoed Judge and Cowell's (1997) research findings. As might be expected within the context of development, the authors reported that the higher a person is promoted, the more likely they will participate in executive coaching. In addition, the researchers discovered that educational experiences of the executive coaches varied greatly. The greatest amount of participants had a bachelor's degree, but the undergraduate degrees varied widely in specialty. Those with master's degrees were concentrated in business and the social sciences. The study also revealed that over 40% had doctoral degrees.

Age and gender demographics did not show the same variance. Most of the coaches (approximately 60%) were male, and 80% were between 35 and 55 years old. Very few were younger than 35 (which seems reasonable considering the experiential element). Other investigators obtained similar findings during their research into the executive coaching demographics (Edwards, 2003; Goldsmith and Lyons, 2006; Kilburg, 1996).

Hollenbeck and McCall (1999) proposed that executive coaching effectiveness has tended to be appraised anecdotally rather than by empirical evidence. Fortunately, the small body of empirical research has been growing.

In 2001, Kampa-Kokesh and Anderson published their landmark literature review, in which they found only seven existing empirical studies: Olivero and Kopelman (1997) investigated the outcomes of executive coaching in a public sector agency; Judge and Cowell (1997) surveyed executive coaching practices; Gegner (1997) studied the effectiveness of executive coaching through quantitative and qualitative methods; Hall, Otazo, and Hollenbeck (1999) interviewed both executives and coaches regarding executive coaching practice, effectiveness, and future directions; the fifth study investigated the effect of eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) as a technique used in executive coaching; Laske (1999) explored the transformative effects of executive coaching on an executive's professional agenda; and Garman, Whiston and Zlatoper (2000) examined public perceptions of executive coaching.

Executive Coaching Research, Part III

2008-06-28T05:22:00.002-07:00

Kleinberg (2001) explored the manner in which a model for executive coaching applies and correlates with current practices of executive coaches. His research focused on the personal and professional experiences that influence the approaches and change methods employed by a group of executive coaches with their clients. Following Kleinberg's thorough review of the literature, it appears that while executive coaching is currently a popular topic for discussion, it lacks theoretical understanding and has not been well researched.

Kleinberg used thematic analysis tests (TAT) and qualitative, semi-structured interviews to explore the responses of 13 U.S. executive coaches in relation to their coaching experience. The interviews were coded into emergent patterns and themes using thematic analysis. The findings were categorized under three fields: descriptive and factual, thematic essences of the executive coaches, and cross sectional. Descriptive findings included work experiences; recipients of coaching/range of outcomes from coaching; coach qualifications and training; use of coaches' resources; and process and outcomes of executive coaching. Thematic findings included: how the coaches described themselves; beliefs about expertise and success; life experiences; communication; use of theory and interpretation; individual characteristics of the executive coaches; and confidentiality and trust.

Although possessing some validity for an executive coaching model, Kleinberg's conclusions presented several obstacles to generalizability. First, the sample size was small, as was the case in Orenstein's (2002) study. Kleinberg had 13 self-identified U.S. executive coaches who responded to questions that he hoped would provide him with an understanding of what theories might be present in the emerging field of coaching.

Second, was Kleinberg's projection or desire for the participants to say that their methods possessed both scholarly and practitioner-based theory and application. The result of this project may have been asking people to make judgments about professional issues beyond their current or conscious level of knowledge and understanding. Third, the Pygmalion effect may help explain why the participants in this research project were able to report such a wide range of positive outcomes for their clients.

There is a paradox with the use of the qualitative research design. Qualitative research yields detailed information about experiences, interactions, quality, story lines, themes, patterns and behaviors, etc. (Spencer & Spencer, 1993). These types of findings are not inherent in quantitative research designs. Kleinberg (2001) suggested it was difficult for him to determine whether the questions asked of research participants yielded the information that he was looking for.

Kleinberg maintained that there is virtually no way of identifying people known as "expert" executive coaches for research purposes due to the wide range of standards and beliefs about what this actually means. Kleinberg suggested researchers' first need to define parameters that define what "expert" means. The coaches in his research were self-identified as such. Only one participant had extensive training (10 years in the fields of phenomenology, ontology, and communication, in addition to a doctoral degree). Additional limitations identified by Kleinberg were personal attitudes, health concerns (illness, low energy), life concerns, time commitments shared by coaches, which might have affected respondents' willingness to share additional information during the interviews.