BestOfManagement Blog

A Meeting of the Minds

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:36:00 +0000

by Linda Finkle

Meetings offer managers the chance to unify the workforce, communicate important messages, and create an organized forum for employee concerns. Therefore, meetings are a crucial aspect of running a business. Unfortunately, many managers treat meetings as ad hoc events and fail to properly prepare. Preparation, however, is the key to holding a successful meeting. Without clear objectives, managers flounder. Without rules and protocols, meeting participants can transform a quiet company gathering into a chaotic brawl. To avoid such a disaster, managers must learn to take charge of the meeting from the planning stage through to the conclusion. Proper preparation is all it takes to affect a meeting of the minds every time.

Most of us have sat through meetings where managers never make a point. And most of us walk away from such meetings feeling frustrated and confused. After all, no one likes to invest their time just to come up empty handed. Aggravated employees, however, are far from the only hazard of poor planning. Ambiguous presentations require employees to fill in the blanks that their managers have left incomplete. Without clear guidelines, it's easy for employees to draw erroneous conclusions about their manager's expectations.

An unclear agenda also leaves room for one disgruntled employee to transform a quiet gathering into an emotional battlefield. Envision how this plays out: A manager begins to discuss a controversial topic when one employee interrupts with a probing question. As the manager struggles to answer, the meeting participants begin to talk amongst themselves. Suddenly the crowd becomes quite animated. Order devolves into pandemonium as one employee after another drills the manager about an unpopular company policy. In this case, the lack of preparation allowed meeting participants to override the manager's objectives and unveil negative sentiments.

By investing time up-front, managers can avoid these inherent dangers of poor-planning. Before calling a meeting, managers must develop a clear and concise agenda. Attempting to pack too much into one meeting will obscure the bottom line, and prevent employees from grasping the intended message. Managers should always provide meeting participants with an advanced copy of the agenda. Distributing the agenda prior to the meeting gives participants the chance to prepare on-point question. It also ensures that participants will not feel blindsided by a controversial meeting topic. Well-informed participants are more likely to engage with the meeting organizer, creating a fluid and comfortable atmosphere. Finally, attendees will appreciate knowing how their managers intend to spend their time.

Planning puts managers on the right track but effective facilitation ensures they hit the mark. Effective facilitation has substantive and procedural components. Success on the substantive side requires that managers prepare talking points that track the previously distributed agenda. Talking points help managers stay on course when interruptions and disturbances threaten the meeting's progress. They also help with time management because managers can highlight the sub-topics they must cover and address them first.

On the procedural side, meetings must have set time-limits. Participants lose focus when meetings drag on and are more likely to remain engaged when they know that a meeting has a definite end. Time-parameters make it easier for managers to refuse to entertain an off-topic question, which helps to eliminate a major cause of unproductive meetings.

Good preparation and effective facilitation are all it takes to run a successful meeting. By investing time in planning and strategizing, managers avoid stuttering through difficult topics. A clear agenda not only helps managers deliver their message, but it also helps attendees receive the message. Planning offers comfort, which builds confidence and a take-charge attitude. Pushovers get swept under the rug, but self-assured managers captivate their audiences from beginning to end. With foresight and fortitude managers can avoid the hiccups that cause meetings to go awry.

Linda Finkle, CEO of Incedo Group, works closely with leaders and management to create sustainable productivity and organizational strength. She holds a Master Certified Coach designation through the International Coaching Federation. For more information on Linda and Incedo Group, please go to http://www.MakeSomeDamnMistakes.com

Mentoring: A Little Help Goes a Long Way

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:33:00 +0000

by Linda Finkle

Mentoring programs offer companies an efficient and economical way to manage and develop human assets. A mentor can transform an average employee into an exceptional leader. A mentor can guide an up-and-coming leader through the maze of leadership skill acquisition. A mentor can even improve the production levels of low-performers. A mentor cannot, however, make an individual want to excel. Nor can a mentor simultaneously boost employee production and groom powerful leaders. Companies must, therefore, learn how to employ mentoring programs that make the most of limited resources. This requires that companies set parameters around the 'who' and 'what' of mentoring.

Mentors can give high potential employees an extra push or inefficient employees some needed discipline. Both groups are worthwhile subjects, but companies will find it difficult to simultaneously implement two distinct mentoring programs. Before employing mentors, therefore, companies must determine the subject of a mentoring program. As a company, you may prioritize leadership development over workforce productivity. If so, you will favor a mentoring program that produces top-line managers over one that yields efficient workers. On the flip side, a company that struggles to maintain a solid workforce may prefer to attain a stable employee roster before grooming employees for management.

Without clear parameters mentoring programs flop. Thus, once a company decides the subject of mentoring programs, it must then establish a process with defined objectives. A mentor for high performers will have an entirely different role than one whose focus is remedial. This is because employees in need of discipline typically are not next in line for management positions. A mentor striving to turn a productive employee into a productive manager will focus on the skills involved in overseeing a team. At minimum, this skill set will at minimum include communication, decisiveness and big-picture thinking. By contrast, a mentor for low-level employees will address such issues as attitude, production, efficiency, and time-management. Rarely will the skill sets overlap enough to permit a mentor to effectively work with both employee groups.

Every mentoring program needs a beginning and an end. The need to push an employee or groups of employees to the next level prompts the establishment of a mentor-mentee relationship. Mentoring could continue indefinitely, but at some point cost will override benefits. A company must determine the point at which mentoring will be deemed complete. It also must define indicators of effectiveness, the essential pieces of the puzzle. In other words, a company must have a clear understanding of the end goal, whether it is performance improvements or leadership readiness.

Arbitrary time frames are one way to mark an end, but may prove worthless if a mentee has not achieved the goal in the allotted time. Instead of concluding a mentoring program after six months, for example, companies should explore goal-based mentoring programs. A goal-based program focuses on an individual's capabilities and improvements rather than on some specific future date. A mentor will assess an employee's progress based on the skill sets needed to achieve the end goal. Every new skill set that an employee acquires marks a new milestone along the route to the finish line. Thus, mentoring will not be complete until every skill set can be checked off the list.

The selection of a mentor is an integral and definitive component to any mentoring program. A mentor can come from within the company if a person exists who is both capable and willing. Otherwise, a company can explore alternatives such as coaching, or contracting with retired business leaders. Each option has its own set of pros and cons. Whereas a mentor from within the company may have to relinquish duties to fulfill the mentor role, an external mentor can be costly for an organization. A company must decide how to best to use financial and human resources to accomplish the desired objectives.

Coaching Skills Training: Key Skills: Asking Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:27:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

Asking questions is essentially the way that we can help the people we coach to find their own solutions in their own way. Asking a question honours the other person's knowledge and experience whereas giving an instruction ignores them. A probing question is simply one that gets to the heart of the matter, and with this in mind we are better off asking 'open' rather than 'closed' questions.

An open question will begin with Who, What, How, When etc. and encourages the person responding to think carefully and to give a full reply.

A closed question, on the other hand, will tend to begin with Did you, Can you, Will you etc. and normally gets a sharp yes or no response.

Closed questions are less helpful in coaching conversations as they produce less flow or rhythm and can often mean that the coach struggles to formulate the next question.

Closed questions also appear when a manager is trying to use coaching as instruction in disguise and uses questions like "Don't you think you ought to....", and "Wouldn't it be better if..."

A short experiment will illustrate the point. In your next conversation try to find out what the person you're talking to had for breakfast but use only closed questions. Later on try to discover what someone else had for breakfast using only open questions.

In the first instance you'll find yourself asking "Did you have cornflakes?", "Did you have toast?", "Did you have coffee?", "Did you have tea?" This is an exhausting way of finding information.

When you used open questions you probably realist that you could get to the heart of the matter simply by asking: "What did you have for breakfast?"

Using open questions we can start a coaching conversation with a very broad enquiry like "How're things?" and then go deeper and deeper as the conversation progresses, so that we end up with questions like "How often each day would you find yourself being snappy with customers?" or "How much time exactly would you need to complete the task?"

You might like to experiment with these example questions which are linked to the principles of Awareness, Responsibility and Trust I have examined in previous articles.

The conversation for Awareness:

What's happening? What stands out? What do you notice about...? How do you feel about...? What are the variables here? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

The conversation for Responsibility:

What do you want to do? What do you want to achieve? What is the best way of getting there? What changes would you like to make? Could this create any conflict? What are the alternatives?

The conversation for Trust:

If it was up to you, how would you accomplish this task? When have you succeeded in a similar situation? What are the best attributes you bring to this situation? What would it take to feel more comfortable?

Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years' experience. He works with a host of clients in North East England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE at http://www.mattsomers.com

Employee Motivation Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:25:00 +0000

by Silvana Clark

Motivated employees rely on their own resources to get the job done. They have an inner drive that causes them to provide outstanding customer service. Unmotivated employees simply want to get by doing the minimum amount of work possible. Experts agree you can't force someone to be motivated. Supervisors can, however, provide a workplace environment that encourages employees to make decisions, deal positively with co-workers and receive recognition for hard work. At the next staff meeting or in a company e-mail, list a few simple tips such as "How To Provide Amazing Service to Stressed-Out Customers". Then provide practical ways for your employees to place the emphasis on serving your customers.

In a January 1998 Roper Poll, it was found 9 out of 10 employees will work harder for you if you show an interest in their growth outside of work. This statistic opens up a wealth of ways to motivate employees. One company had a bulletin board in the staff lounge with the caption "Greatest Pets In The World". It was constantly covered with pictures of adorable puppies and all types of pets owned by the staff. Here are some other ways for you to show entry level employees you care about them as people.

Discover your employee's interests. If an employee loves gardening, give them a small plant in appreciation for their hard work. People appreciate knowing you gave them a gift geared towards their interest or hobby.
Never underestimate the power of meaningful conversation. Asking an employee, "How did your son do at the basketball tournament?" shows you care about more than their ability to create the company website.
Many businesses see an increase in workload during the holidays. Help staff reduce stress by purchasing Panic buttons. These bright red, actual computer keys are imprinted with PANIC. Double backed adhesive lets you attach them to any item that brings you frustration. www.panicbuttons.com

These types of activities help employees feel staff cares about them as individuals, not simply employees. Then, when management reinforces policies such as arriving to work on time and cutting back on sending holiday e-mail cards, employees are more receptive.

The University of Kansas psychology department studied other ways to motivate employees. Their results showed recognition was a strong factor in developing employees with high work standards. Again, giving recognition doesn't take a huge budget. One supervisor gives "psychological paychecks". When employees receive their paychecks, he attaches a Post-it note on the envelope with a specific positive statement such as, "Helen, Thank you for coming in early last week during the budget crunch."

Employees take pride in knowing their extra efforts are acknowledged. Begin staff meetings with public praise for an employee's efforts or contributions to the department. Wouldn't you enjoy being in a meeting that starts with, "Last week, Jennifer came in as a substitute on incredibly short notice. I'd like to thank her by giving her this gift...a submarine sandwich!" Keep people informed. As much as possible, let employees know what is going on. Rumors and gossip uncertainty do little to motivate employees. Reward employees who recommend new employees. Send balloons or flowers to an employee's house if they deserve special recognition.

Oprah Winfrey has the budget to motivate her employees with exotic gifts and luxury vacations. Most supervisors and managers need to rely on creativity and perhaps a Panic button. The point is the same...letting employees know you appreciate their efforts and hard work results in highly motivated employees.

Silvana Clark is a professional speaker, presenting keynotes and workshops on business-related topics.The author of 11 books, she gained her marketing experience by getting her "ordinary" dog to star in TV commercials. Oh yes, she also appeared on the Fox reality show, Trading Spouses.

http://www.silvanaclark.com

Coaching Skills Training: Key Skills: Active Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:23:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

If we're going to put so much effort into framing coaching questions in the right way then it follows that we should be equally concerned with really listening to the responses we get. We need to employ the skill of active listening.

Listening happens at 3 levels:

Active
Conversational
Superficial

The bottom level, Superficial, is what we do when we're hearing but not listening. We might have a conversation at a party trying to take an interest in what another guest is saying but really having our attention elsewhere, perhaps on some other conversation we suspect would be far more interesting.

The problem is that we are only hearing what the other guest is saying, not listening, so we often get confused, lose track of the conversation or end up having to ask them to repeat what they just said.

In a coaching session this would be extremely damaging. If we're only hearing superficially because our mind is elsewhere, it will be reflected in our body language and the person being coached will know immediately. This will destroy any trust in the coaching relationship and make it unlikely that the coaching will result in any useful outcome.

The next level, Conversational, is the sort of listening that most of us do most of the time. In conversational listening, we listen while our partners talk and vice versa. However the danger here is that while the other person is talking, we are concentrating on making our next point, rather than truly focusing on what the other person is saying.

This is quite a challenge when you start coaching, as it can be hard to keep the questions flowing when you're not used to it. It's better to pause and think of the next question when the person's finished speaking rather than dwell on it when they are in full flow.

We must also watch out for the habit of finishing other people's sentences for them. Invariably we do not pick the words they would have chosen for themselves and all we've ended up doing is disrupting the flow of their thinking and making them feel hurried.

So we need to work hard to reach the top level, Active Listening. Put simply active listening is about clearing our minds of all other distractions and really tuning in to what the other person is saying with as much focus as we can muster. This is easier said than done and takes a lot of time and practise to develop but is well worth the effort.

On a practical level it means we should try not to coach when we're in a hurry or preoccupied with something else. Neither should we run a coaching session in a noisy environment or one that is likely to get to hot or too cold. It's impossible to actively listen in such circumstances.

Coaching Keys To Bringing Out The Best In Others

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:22:00 +0000

by Dr. Rick Kirschner

The most common obstacle to building and projecting your authority in coaching others is the idea that coaching is about talking, that somehow talking takes priority over listening to understand.

Iunderstand how this happens. In fast paced environments, it’s a natural tendency to put the pedal to the metal, to try harder, move faster, do more. The problem is that you wind up talking at your people instead of with them and to them. And the obstacle this lack of understanding creates is that without knowing what motivates your people, you can’t engage them where it counts.

When you understand what motivates your people, and it’s different for different people, you can speak with authority that is recognized as authority, because it is relevant and conveys experience and knowledge.

The next most common obstacle is the confidence problem. When managers come off as tentative, hesitant or uncertain, it tends to evoke these responses in the people around them. This problem is the side effect of at least two missing pieces: first, not knowing your own motivation, and second, not being prepared to speak when you need to speak. The fact is, people want to be led, not managed, and they need to get that sense of authority from you, because it gives them confidence to do what needs to be done. They believe it when you believe it.

Now, it’s a legitimate question, confidence in what? After all, in these changing times, nobody really knows what’s coming next. And some degree of introspection is prudent for anyone wanting to thrive instead of merely survive. But you can have confidence in your motivations. You can have confidence in what you do know. And you can have confidence that under the right conditions, people will want to give you their best, to do their best.

So, what are the key listening and communication skills that you can improve upon as you work to develop and strengthen others?

There are two skills that are fundamental to success in coaching. The first is blending, the second is asking questions.

Blending is the foundation of all successful relationships. It happens whenever you reduce the differences between yourself and another person. It happens whenever you send signals of similarity and commonality. And a failure to blend is the cause of most conflict, nobody cooperates with anyone who seems to be against them. If perception is everything in relationships, then sending blending signals is how you create the perception of partnering with your people in a process or project.

As for questions, I believe it was the stoic philosopher, Epicetus, who said “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Maybe this is the apt metaphor for the way we’re built, but I’ve observed that too many people just don’t get it. Although they certainly think they do. Ask just about anyone if they’re a good listener, and they’ll tell you yes. But most people do a meager job of it at best, instead drawing conclusions and then making statements instead of engaging people by asking questions.

Maybe the people who don’t ask very many questions are afraid of looking stupid. Maybe they think it makes them seem weak. Or maybe they think they’re supposed to have all the answers. Maybe it’s just a function of the fact that we can think faster, at 500 words a minute, than most people talk, which is about 130 words a minute. So it’s pretty easy to get ahead of what we’re hearing, or for our minds to wander to what we want to say when its our turn to talk.

But a great coach understands the limits of his or her knowledge about another person, and explores that boundary to build the connection, rather than building the boundary and weakening the relationship. The key is curiosity. The less you think you know, the more you find out. The more value you place on what you can learn by listening, the less distracted you’ll be with your own thoughts.

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that ‘there is no such thing as a stupid question.’ That’s a great guide when it comes to everyone other than you! You can’t afford to ask dumb questions if you want to bring out the best in your people. When someone asks me a question, no matter how trite, simplistic or off the point, I welcome it and find the opportunity in it.

When it’s me asking, I think that there are dumb questions. They’re dumb if they fail to take into account things people have said. They’re dumb if they’re closed ended instead of open ended, unless I intend to bring something to a close. I want my questions to serve an intelligent purpose. I want to get to the deep structure of a person’s motivations and positions. I want to learn about their goals and aspirations, their desires and fears. Asking questions is a great way of leading people to their own resourcefulness. And I want my questions to inform, just as their answers will inform me.

As a coach, the more you know, the more likely it is that you will know exactly what you need to know in order to elicit comfort confidence and credibility.

©Dr. Rick Kirschner. May be reprinted without any changes, as long as author biography and links remain intact. Dr. Kirschner is a bestselling author, speaker, trainer and coach. Clients include NASA, Starbucks, Texas Instruments. Author of the 'Insider's Guide To The Art Of Persuasion.' For a limited time, get a $49 value 1 hour audio on Dealing With Difficult People absolutely free! Visit http://theartofchange.com/promo for details!

A Different Approach to Workforce Management

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Copyright © 2008 Gayla Hodges

Day after day I talk with clients and with business leaders. I often ask, "What is the most challenging issue your organization is facing?" The top answer to my question is "workforce management." My second question is, "What is the most difficult part of workforce management?" The top answer to this question is "workforce planning."

Most of us are familiar with the budget-based process of workforce planning in which we look at future resource need and project how much manpower we will need to meet the needs of the future. This can become an intricate and cumbersome process, particularly for line managers who are busy managing their teams and achieving their strategic goals. The result is that it is often extremely difficult (if not impossible) for the HR staff to get from them the information they need.

The challenge organizations are facing today is not simply using the budget-based process to project future talent needs. The challenge most organizations face today is twofold. First, projecting how many of the organization's human resources will be leaving with the Great Boomer Exodus. The second challenge is really talent acquisition. We might know that over the next five years we are likely to lose a certain part of our people to retirement. We don't, however, know exactly how many and we don't know when. Further, in many industries, we don't know where we will acquire people with the skills and talent we need.

This is not news to those in leadership and Human Resources ranks. It is just becoming more real every day as people actually declare their intention to retire, and some are actually walking out the door.

The planning process is further impacted by the fact that many industries have had such low attrition over so many years that the common practice of using past attrition history to project future attrition is no longer viable. So, we can analyze when people will reach "retirement age" and have enough years with the company to collect full retirement, but most leaders and analysts I've talked with still can only narrow their numbers down to a three-year window. Add to this mix the fact that many people are choosing to work beyond age 65 and that the structure of Social Security payments in fact encourages people to work until age 70 or 72 in order to receive larger monthly payments after retirement. Given the need to run "lean and mean," many companies are reluctant to fill positions in anticipation of retirements until people have signed on the bottom line that they are really leaving and when that might be.

Human Resources professionals with whom I've interacted recently report that they can do the number crunching. The challenge is getting line management to come to the analysis table with all of the competing demands on their time. Line management input, however, is crucial to the process. So the question becomes, "How do we bring together all of this information to make informed decisions about what talent will be needed, when it will be needed, and where we will find it?"

I had a recent conversation with some clients who are facing these issues. I heard of a concept that is certainly not very "scientific" but seems to use the art vs. the science of management very well. They call it the "back of the napkin approach" to workforce planning. The basic premise of the approach is this: most managers, if given a short time, could take a napkin (of course, this conversation occurred over lunch) and sketch out who is likely to be leaving, and when, based on their knowledge of the person and what they've observed over the last several months. This information from line management, combined with the more formal analysis can provide a basis for decision-making that uses the strategic thinking and decision-making skills of the management team as well as the miracles of Information Technology.

I like the "back of the napkin approach" for another reason. While all of the managers with whom I work bring strengths to the table, when using the Natural Effectiveness™ Philosophy at its best, it is clear to me that not all of them will have highly-honed analytical skills or be inclined to put together the structure required by most formal workforce plans. Most line managers are more intuitive, and many are creative and innovative - great qualities for a leader, but they might not play out well in the analytical process. This new approach challenges the thinking and gets the necessary input from Line Management that would otherwise not enter the process.

Those members of the team can then compile the formal and informal feedback and bring it back to the Management Team as a whole to take the next steps of strategic workforce planning. I believe this method can and will actually accelerate the planning process while honoring and leveraging all of the skills of your management and support teams.

Whether you take your line management to lunch and actually give them a napkin and a pen, or you use the principle of the approach in another setting, I think you will find that line management will be far more inclined and comfortable providing the information you need and less distracted from other responsibilities. I think you will also find the input from line management more insightful and precise than you might think initially. In the end, I think you will find that this different approach will both streamline the process and provide better data for your analysis and planning.

About Gayla Hodges

Gayla Hodges is the President Change Agents, Inc., a company that specializes in energizing workforces to achieve strategic goals. She coaches executives and managers on leading corporate change, facilitating the development and implementation of organizational effectiveness strategies. For more information, visit http://www.changeagentsinc.com or call 623-362-3876.

S Corporation Tax Blunders

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:27:00 +0000

by Stephen L. Nelson

According to the Internal Revenue Service, S corporations now outnumber regular corporations and more than 350,000 new S corporations appear each year.

The popularity of S corporations should not surprise, however. S corporations provide two big tax savings to small business owners. First, they typically don't pay federal or state corporate income taxes.

And, second, S corporations often minimize the payroll taxes that S corporation shareholder-employees pay because only amounts the corporation designates as wages get taxed for Social Security and Medicare tax purposes. Unfortunately, S corporation owners make some common tax blunders--blunders that can destroy or delay the tax savings the S corporation option should deliver.

Blunder 1: Late Sub S Elections

The first blunder? Thinking you can make the S election at the end of the year. An S election needs to be made early in the year or before the year even starts in order to be effective for the year. Specifically, you should make the S election either before the year starts or within 75 days after the start of the new year.

For a business whose tax year begins on January 1, the election needs to be made by March 15. If a new business begins life mid-year on, say, May 23, the 75-day counter starts ticking down from that date.

Note: The IRS does provide a mulligan for people who miss the election deadline. Taking this mulligan, however, requires that you strictly follow some "late S election relief" procedures. Accordingly, you probably want to get a CPA's help with this.

Blunder 2: Forgetting Shareholder-employee Payroll

When you make a successful S election, the Internal Revenue Service sends your business an approval letter. That letter uses scary--almost threatening language--warning you to pay reasonable compensation to shareholder-employees.

Despite the warning, S corporations commonly forget to do the formal payroll thing--including regular payroll checks and tax deposits, quarterly payroll tax returns, and year-end W-2s. That's often a huge mistake.

If you don't do payroll, the IRS will catch up with you. At that point, the IRS will re-categorize all of the shareholder-employee draws as wages. This re-categorization may trigger thousands of dollars of back taxes, penalties and interest for each year and for each shareholder-employee for whom you forgot to do payroll.

Accordingly, you got to do payroll. Period.

Blunder 3: Bad Borrowing Habits

Ironically, your bank often helps you make another common S corporation tax blunder: The bank will loan you money to buy some piece of equipment--or perhaps a business vehicle.

But--and here's the mistake--the bank often loans the money to your S corporation. Instead, the bank should loan the money to you personally and you should then re-loan the money to your S corporation.

An awkward problem exists when a business loan gets used to fund an S corporation purchase. You only get to write off the purchase price of the business asset if you have at least that much basis in the S corporation. Yet you only get basis from money you've personally invested in or personally loaned to the corporation.

You don't get basis from a loan made to your S corporation for, say, a new delivery vehicle purchased for the business. Without basis, you often won't be able to deduct the purchase on your tax return.

This S corporation tax mistake gets made all the time--often when S corporation owners are making last minute, year-end asset purchases to drive down their income.

Fortunately, you can solve the problem pretty easily. Make sure you directly borrow the money for asset purchases and then do a back-to-back loan to your corporation.

This back-to-back loan shouldn't increase your risks. You'll probably have to personally guarantee the loan anyway, right?

Blunder 4: Triggering the BIG Tax

Typically, S corporations don't pay federal income taxes. That's a huge part of the attraction. However, two common exceptions to this general rule exist for S corporations previously operated as regular C corporations.

The first exception? The "built-in gain" or BIG tax. It applies to profits recognized by the S corporation but stemming from the time when the corporation operated as a C corporation.

The details of the BIG tax get really tedious. But logic is really simple. If you would have paid tax on some income or gain had you still been a regular C corporation and that income or gain was already "locked in" at the point you converted from a C corporation to an S corporation, the old C corporation tax (35% of profits) still applies.

The moral: You need to be really careful if you convert to S corp status after operating as a C corporation. Make sure your accountant understands and helps you minimize the BIG tax.

Blunder 5: Passive Income Excesses

Another tax blunder threatens S corporations previously operated as C corporations, too.

If an S corporation profitably operated as a C corporation and has retained some of those profits, passive income (interest, rents, dividends and so forth) gets taxed when it exceeds 25% of gross receipts.

This excessive passive income problem may seem only theoretical. But it occurs regularly with old S corporations being wound down by the owners--say for retirement.

If an S corporation that used to be a C corporation metamorphoses from an operating company to an investment company, at some point, the S corporation may pay corporate income taxes.

If that isn't bad enough, yet another problem exists with turning an S corporation that used to be a C corporation into an investment holding company. If the passive income crosses over the 25% threshold for three years in a row, the S corporation status terminates.

Typically, because of the tax on excessive passive income and the risk of S status termination, you want to avoid or minimize passive income within an S corporation that used to be a C corporation. One easy way to do this is to distribute profits to shareholders rather than reinvest them.

Author and tax accountant Stephen L. Nelson is an adjunct tax professor teaching S corporation tax law at Golden Gate University. He also edits the S corporation and limited liability corporation web sites.

Organizational Silos - How To Deal Effectively With Them

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:26:00 +0000

by Andy Cox

I was driving through dairy country in Virginia, and the silos at every farm reminded me of a client I was working with at the time - a successful manufacturing company undergoing change. They had organizational silos - much tougher to deal with than the ones on the farm. But they do share certain characteristics.

The company had been successful for many years, but new competition and new technology were forcing change. Their organizational silos were big obstacles to change.They were firmly in place, and while their occupants were convinced of the need for change, they were just as firmly convinced change was needed in all the other silos, but not in theirs. Whenever the call for increased productivity, problem solving and collaboration went out, each silo responded individually - by working harder - more hours - more volume. It got a lot busier, but not a lot more effective.

It wasn't until the silos were changed that real change and growth could take place.

The CEO realized that all silos have two things in common - first, they keep things in - and second, they keep things out.

There is one other thing the vast majority of silos share - the only way to get anything into them is through the top - or, sometimes, through the bottom. Nothing gets in through the sides.

One way for that to change is to knock down the silos, but the longer they've been in place, the tougher that is to do. And they have real value to most enterprises - they're not necessarily bad. And when they are knocked down, all hell breaks loose - so it isn't done very often.

My client placed a high value on their silos - they were structures that had been effective and provided the kind of organization and order that focused people on their work. That kind of order has a high value - as it should. And the silos were full of good, experienced people who knew their jobs, and took pride in them. But when organizational silos create barriers to collaboration, to outside the box (or should we say silo) thinking, to looking at new and innovative solutions to competition and innovation, then they have to be dealt with.

My client decided on a strategy that kept the structures, but poked holes in the sides - letting ideas and communication and problem solving circulate through different levels - and creating opportunities for peer to peer and cross functional activities to occur. It wasn't easy, but it was effective.

The key steps taken to make this happen were :

The CEO communicated expectations. He made it very clear in communications and actions that the way internal business was conducted had to change if the business was to survive and prosper. He communicated the pressing need for change. He then communicated what he saw as the structure that would be developed to make that happen.

The top 5 goals for the business were made known to every one of the 1500 employees.

Company and functional area performance to the top 5 goals was reported to all on a monthly basis.

Cross functional and problem solving teams were established and trained in team development, dynamics and communications.

A close analysis of approval chains was made with the objective of eliminating as many low value - added steps as possible - and putting as much responsibility as possible at the most effective operating level.

Every functional head was required to make cross functional activity part of every employees responsibilities. Either as part of a team, or through temporary assignments, or through transfer to other functions.

Every functional head was required to communicate their contribution and issues to the whole organization. This was done using teleconferences and meetings, an internal Ezine, and face to face meetings

The effect was that the silos grew closer to each other - and became interdependent. It worked well enough that the business found solutions that kept it competitive and growing. And they found them inside the organization - the place where 95% of the answers to organizational issues can be found. And just as importantly, it created a new set of behaviors between silos that allowed skills, experience and capabilities to be used on an interdependent basis. Much higher leverage of human capital was created.

Silos don't have to be knocked down. While "organizational silos" is most often spoken as a negative term, it doesn't have to be. Respecting and valuing structure while creating opportunities for leveraging the talent in organizations can be the single most effective that can be done to gain competitive advantage

Andy Cox helps clients align their resources and design and implement change through the application of goals focused on the important few elements that have maximum impact in achieving success - as defined by the client. He can be reached at http://www.coxconsultgroup.com and E Mail at acox@coxconsultgroup.com

The Not So Independent Contractor

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:24:00 +0000

by Eric D. Patrick

No Workers Comp? Go to Jail! Go Directly to Jail! - Part 2

In the first installment of this series I talked about the legal obligation employers have to carry workers compensation insurance on their employees. I explored the severe consequences meted out on those employers that don't. Namely, employers who willfully choose not to carry workers comp on their employees are subject to both criminal and civil penalties. The employer also loses its immunity from employee initiated lawsuits. All in all, the downside of non-compliance is generally unpleasant enough to get most organizations to comply.

An Inncocent Mistake?

But what about this situation? Paul the painter needs another painter to keep pace with all the work he's lined up. But Paul needs to keep his costs down to remain competitively priced. He's afraid that if he hires Pedro the painter the additional workers comp and employee benefits he'll have to pay will cause his costs to skyrocket. Paul tells Pedro that he just can't afford to hire him. "No problem," says Pedro. Just hire me as an independent contractor. I'll even sign a form stating unequivocally that I'm not your employee. "Great idea!" says Paul. "You're hired."

Several months go by and business is really booming. Pedro has proven to be a valuable asset. Each morning Paul and Pedro meet. Paul gives Pedro explicit instructions as to what hours to work, where to work, and how he should do the job. Paul also supplies Pedro with the paint, spray guns, and other equipment he'll need. With the amount of work Paul gives him, Pedro is now working only for Paul. The situation works so well that Paul does the same thing with 26 other "independent contractors."

Trouble in Paradise

One day Pedro is working away high on some scaffolding. His foot slips on some spilled paint and before he can regain his balance, he goes hurtling towards the ground below. Fortunately, Pedro only landed on his back and not his head. And although his injuries are not life threatening, they are certainly life altering.

Upon admission to the hospital, Pedro is questioned as to how his injury occurred. He responds that he was injured on the job. Pedro's hospital bills add up quickly. He has no heath insurance. In addition to being in constant pain, he fears that he will also face financial ruin. He is very concerned about the well being of his wife and 3 children.

Meanwhile, Pedro's wife Jill contacts Paul. Paul is very sympathetic to Pedro's situation but explains to Jill that there is no workers compensation policy in force because Pedro is an independent contractor. He even offers to fax Jill the form Pedro signed.

Jill is absolutely outraged at Paul's attitude towards her husband. After seeing Larry the Litigator's splashy television commercial, she decides that she means business and calls him. After hearing of Pedro's plight, Larry goes on a 10 minute tirade full of righteous indignation. Jill now feels that not only does she have a case against Paul, she has a moral obligation to sue so as to protect the world from the other "Pauls" that are out there lurking.

Rough Justice

So what do you think happens next? Well, given the facts of the case, here's what could end up being posted under "Failure to Insure" Prosecutions on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's website:

Paul the Painter, owner of Paul's Painting in Harrisburg, pled guilty to 27 misdemeanor counts of the third degree on June 1, 2008, in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas for failing to insure its workers' compensation liability. The judge sentenced Paul to pay the costs of prosecution and placed him on probation for a period of 27 years. Judge also ordered Paul to make restitution to the injured employee in the amount of $173,370. The Bureau's Compliance Unit reports that Paul's Painting is no longer in business.

So where did Paul go wrong? Pennsylvania case law is clear that whether an employee / employer relationship exists is a matter of law and is determined by the facts of each case. The perceptions of the parties involved (ie. Paul and Pedro) are completely irrelevant.

Although many factors have to be considered to determine the true nature of an employment relationship, the amount of control exercised by the employer is generally given a lot of weight. The facts here show that Paul closely monitored and controlled what Pedro did and how he did it. Therefore, Pedro was an employee and Paul was not in compliance with Pennsylvania law.

Eric D. Patrick is an attorney and Chief Operating Officer of Consumers Insurance Agency Inc. http://www.consumers-insurance.com . He also engages in insurance consulting and legal work through The RiskAssure Consulting Group. Please contact him for further information.

How to Handle High Maintenance Employees

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Copyright © 2008 Pat Brill

Have you a "high maintenance" employee....one who demands a lot of your time? Every manager usually bumps into this type of employee.

The first basic question to ask as you evaluate this person.....are they a high or a low performer? You may react differently given their performance levels. High performers you may be afraid to lose. Don't be afraid of losing an employee if their behavior is not acceptable for the well-being of your team.

If you jump in early with counseling, you have a great chance of helping the employee change their behavior.

Examples of high maintenance behaviors

Seeking constant recognition
Complains about others or the company
Not satisfied with their responsibilities -Demanding career growth
Comparing their performance with others
Challenging you how you treat others vs. them
Challenges policies or procedures
Unsure what to do.....constantly seeking your guidance
You have to watch over them to make sure they are completing their work
non-verbal behavior such as rolling eyes or sighing
add your own challenging interaction......

What to do and how quickly you respond depends on your comfort zone and the culture of your company. You may be more tolerant of demanding employees. Don't be too tolerant, as an employee who is exhibiting a behavior that is drawing negative attention is usually seeking direction......this is your role as their manager.

If you don't deal with their behavior, you will give up a lot of your productive time. The employee will also feel out of control and they will negatively influence the rest of your team. When you start noticing the constant demanding behavior, I would suggest that you handle it immediately.

High and low performing employees who are demanding can be handled the same. As a manager, you may be more tolerant of the high performer. Don't......your focus should be to eliminate negative behavior that can affect your team and business.

Some ideas to handle the behavior

Start tracking the behavior(s)....date, time, and specifically what behavior was not acceptable.
Do some detective work.....what is causing their demanding behavior? Maybe they do need some recognition, more challenges or additional direction from you.
Sit down with the employee and have an open discussion. Be specific about the behavior. Be open to their input. If they deny or are defensive, state calmly that this behavior exists and how can you help them solve their problem.

You could be the issue for the employee....don't take it personally, but rather as information to solving a problem for yourself and for the employee.

At the end of the discussion, create next steps and set a date to follow up.

Remember, your employees want to succeed and require direction from you. Those that won't accept your management role and direction are not the right fit for your team.

Pat Brill is the author of the blog "Managing Employees" http://www.ManagingEmployees.net . You can reach her at pat@TheInfoCrowd.com.

The Top 6 Workers Comp Insider Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:17:00 +0000

by Eric D. Patrick

For most organizations, employee related costs are one of the biggest drains on the bottom line. And workers compensation insurance is often the main drain. Unlike the price of gas, however, understanding these six workers compensation insurance industry secrets can help owners and managers aggressively control these costs. So what are they?

1. Insurance companies don't pay for your employee injuries - they just finance them for you.

Do you realize that oftentimes you pay $2 to $3 back to your insurance company for every dollar they pay out for your employee injuries? Each claim results in an extremely expensive financing contract. You pay your premiums. Then you have to pay for almost all of your claims. You pay:

For employee injuries through lost dividends and return of premium
Increased costs because your Experience Modification skyrockets
Lost productivity
Reduced morale for the unhurt employees who fill in for the injured employee
ncreased stress for management and staff

Workers Comp does not pay for employee injuries. You do!

2. Insurance Company Claims Management Services are usually horrendous.

Now that you know you write the checks for your employee's injuries you should realize how critical it is for you to demand aggressive claims management. Claims adjusters are snowed under with too many cases. Your injured employee doesn't get the attention he or she deserves. In spite of this, insurance companies continue to downsize as they strive to increase profits. Add Managed Care to the mix and your employee's claim is often outsourced to a case management company. The adjuster doesn't even know what is happening or how your injured employee is being treated. You just can't notify the insurance company your employee was injured and expect them to "do their job." You must have a proven process in place to minimize the cost of the injury and expedite your injured employee's return to work.

3. You are penalized and overpay when the "Audit Police" make a mistake on an audit

Because your real insurance cost is determined after your policy expires, it is essential the audit is correct. You're at a disadvantage from the start. The insurance company auditor knows the rules, you don't. The auditor is not compelled by law to explain the rules, even if applying a rule would cause you to pay a lower premium. Here's how the auditor works against you:

- Your entire payroll is put into the highest classification

- Then, the "standard class exceptions" are put into the correct cost classification. When someone is not properly moved to the lower cost classification, you pay at the highest rate. Misclassifications are common and the system is designed for you to pay for all mistakes. Would you allow an IRS agent to conduct an audit without an expert on your side? Of course not. Then, why allow an insurance company auditor to conduct an audit without an expert at your side? A workers comp audit may actually cost you more money than an IRS audit. A workers comp audit is every year. You may go years without an IRS audit.

4. Experience modification factors are often wrong or mismanaged

Most insurance buyers accept on "good faith" that their experience modification factor is correct? Why? It's just easier that way. I go into great detail about this in my article Why Assuming Your Workers Comp Experience Mod is Correct Could be a Dangerous Calculation. However, for our purposes here, you need to learn how to double check your mod because oftentimes it may be wrong. Your insurance company then collects an unfairly high premium.

5. Your dividend may not be what it appears to be

If you were placed into a dividend program with the promise of future savings, at least be aware that these promises are often illusory. Did you just buy your workers comp policy based on that fancy proposal your agent presented or did you really read the contract that states the terms of your program? Realize that you pay a bigger premium upfront to finance the possibility that you will not have any claims. And if you do have a few claims, your dividend will magically evaporate.

6. Your money will fly away unless your agent pays closer attention to your Workers Comp than any other insurance buy.

Here's what your agent must do to insure you have the best value for your workers comp insurance:

Claims need to be monitored
Premium audits must be managed and verified
Experience modifications must be double checked for accuracy
Contract must be analyzed
Sub-contractor's insurance must be controlled Many actions are time sensitive.

If you don't know why 6 months after your policy expires is such a critical date, you may be overpaying your insurance. If you need a specialist in any one area of your insurance program, it is in the management of your insurance that affects your employees the most- workers compensations, medical and disability benefits.

Where Are the Great Companies?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:50:00 +0000

By Jim Champy

For years I have been searching for great companies. What I have found is that there are none. Greatness is an aspiration – a very honorable one. But no company is perfect, even if it performs well year after year.

Greatness, like, many objectives, is in the eye of the beholder. One simple test for greatness is how a company is experienced by its constituents – its customers, its associates, its owners, and business partners. In my most recent research, I looked at over a thousand high-growth companies and found many companies that are very good. They treat all of their constituents well and, in their own unique ways, aspire to greatness.

My search was driven by a desire to find companies that have new business models, delivering new products and services to customers and executing in new ways. I have written about my discoveries in OUTSMART!, my latest book. Although I could find no single formula for what creates a good – or great – company, I did find some shared characteristics.

Ambition: The leadership team of every good company has a great ambition for the company – usually one that addresses an unmet customer need. The ambition is not one of personal greed; it’s about building a company that delivers on its promise and does it with a unique quality. My experience over the years is that it takes a great ambition to create even a good company. I was inspired in my research by a company called Minute Clinic, whose ambition is to change how healthcare is delivered, for the benefit of everyone involved in the healthcare system.

Customer: Every good company begins by meeting a customer need. That need is often deeply understood by the company’s founder because they, themselves, experienced the need – and saw how that need was not being well met. Sometimes the founder hands off the leadership of the company to someone else who operationalizes the idea. But that wasn’t the case in the example of Sonicbids, a company that saw the unmet needs of thousands of independent musicians and performers and whose founder has led the company to a unique position in the music business. This music business for independent performers is a 13 billion dollar a year market, that no one saw or had the appetite to organize until Sonic bids came along.

Focus: Good companies stay focused on what they know and can do well. When companies search for new ideas, they often drift into unknown territory and get in trouble. Good companies just keep growing and expanding into familiar territory. Shutterfly is a wonderful example of a company that’s growing, but it grows by expanding within the social expressions business, helping communities of people share photographs in hundreds of ways. Niches can be very large markets.

Execution: Satisfying a customer requires relentless attention to execution. Building a company’s capability to deliver makes the difference between turning a great idea into a business or failure. But execution is not just about delivering a product. It’s also about service. Over the years, I have observed that technology companies are particularly bad at recognizing and responding to the service needs of their customers. Counter intuitively, high-tech requires a lot of high-touch. Partsearch is a company that knows what it’s doing with customer service, helping customers find what they need in an ocean of millions of parts and accessories for consumer electronic products. Partsearch has tamed chaos in its industry.

Inspiration: Smart companies engage all of their associates in building the business, from idea creation though delivery. Ideas don’t just come tops-down; they also come bottoms-up and from every other direction. Everyone in the company feels that they own a piece of the action and are accountable for how the company performs. The inspiration for a company starts at the top, but good leadership drives that inspiration deep into the company by engaging people broadly in decision-making. People are more than mechanical parts of the enterprise, and the more they are allowed to see customers, the better their business sensibilities.

These are some of the behaviors that I have found in the good companies I have studied. My ultimate test of the quality of a company is whether I would like to work there. The good news: I see many high growth companies where I would work. They are smart companies, in multiple industries, that are operating quite brilliantly.

Jim Champy is one of the leading thinkers in business. His first book, Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, helped transform the corporate world. His global best sellers also include X-Engineering The Corporation: Reinventing Your Business in the Digital Age; Reengineering Management; and The Arc of Ambition. He is the Chairman of Perot Systems' consulting practice, and the company's head of strategy. For more information, please visit www.jimchampy.com

Shrink Not – Adjust the sail and seek The New Gold Standard of Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:20:00 +0000

By Joseph A. Michelli, author of The New Gold Standard

Soaring gas prices and the US credit crunch have many business owners scurrying to reduce costs and “do more with less.” But this natural and reflexive approach to economic uncertainty is often the worst path a business leader can take. In fact, while researching my recently released book The New Gold Standard: 5 Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Ed Staros, a founder of the modern-day Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company noted that during difficult economic times in the 1980’s many hotel chains were cutting back on flower arrangements in the lobby and not placing mouthwash in guest rooms. Ed shared. “We always believed that economic challenges didn’t mean that people didn’t need or want mouthwash. It meant we had to raise the standard in a quality efficient way.” So, how do business leaders decide when to pull-back products or service versus expanding them, particularly when business begins to slow? For example, many marketers suggest that the best time to advertise is in a tight market, namely because fewer people are doing so (allowing you to position your product with less clutter) and because it is the time when customers need most to be reminded that you are still there.

While cost cutting may be inevitable in tighter economic cycles, I gained key insights during my conversations with the leadership at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company about how to avoid a scarcity mentality in challenging times:

When consumers face economic challenges they often place a greater emphasis on value. While many customers will “pinch pennies” and “clip coupons” to address financial hardships, they will still look for opportunities to “treat” themselves. When consumers do spend money freely they will want to experience true quality and not a watered-down or corporately scaled-back version of quality.
Focused excellence prevails. If cutbacks are necessary, companies can and should reallocate resources toward their core areas of excellence. To be “excellent” means resisting the urge to overreach into areas where your products or service will be mediocre. Doing a few things expertly beats doing many things adequately.
Inspire staff to focus on purpose and outcomes, not fulfillment and procedures. I have long believed that all business is personal. This is particularly clear in the world of luxury hotels and resorts. While most hotel companies that compete for this market segment have exquisitely clean and well-appointed facilities, the primary driver for guest loyalty emerges from the personal attention and caring of staff. From the onset of their employee selection process, leadership at Ritz-Carlton looks for underlying talent in service characteristics. They then train and certify the skills necessary for the new hires to do their jobs while constantly linking job function to the overarching purpose of the business - namely to provide for “the genuine care and comfort” of their guest.
Empowering the front-line saves money. While many business leaders talk about their empowered workforce, few put money behind the hype. At Ritz-Carlton, staff members (referred to as the Ladies and Gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton) are given the authority to spend up to $2,000 per day per guest, without seeking the approval of their supervisors. This authority allows front-line workers to immediately resolve service breakdowns for guests or simply engage guests by doing something unexpected that will make the hotel stay memorable. The cost-saving nature of this seemingly risky level of financial empowerment is derived from the morale and loyalty of employees, the clear cost savings of resolving problems immediately, and the impact that this type of empowered workforce has on customers. Essentially, empowered employees consistently transform otherwise satisfied customers into fully-engaged brand loyalists that spend more and refer family and friends to the business.

In my book The New Gold Standard, I identify 5 key business principles that have allowed The Ritz-Carlton to continue to be a recognized leader in product quality and service excellence (two time winner of the Malcolm Baldridge award for service excellence). Rather than contracting or adopting a defensive posture during economic uncertainty, The Ritz-Carlton leadership stays the course with these five principles:

Define and Refine
Empower through Trust
It’s Not About You
Deliver Wow!
Leave a Lasting Footprint

While concepts like empower through trust have been alluded to earlier, concepts such as “define and refine” and "it’s not about you" warrant further exploration. By clearly “defining” the core components of the company’s values, quality standards, and service tradition, Ritz-Carlton constantly communicates the path by which a guest’s experience can be elevated, how the staff member can purposefully add value and the means by which the company will thrive. By having every staff member take time every day at every hotel worldwide to participate in a process called line-up, Ritz-Carlton leadership re-engages staff in a discussion of the overarching mission they all share. Further, by being attentive to the need to “refine” the brand so that it remains relevant in changing economic times, for evolving customer segments and in diverse international markets, leadership builds on their well-defined culture.

The "It’s not about you" principle reflects the disciplined practice of listening to staff, customers, vendors and all stakeholders to constantly assure that business does not principally serve the needs and preferences of leadership. By adopting a penchant for listening to stated and unstated needs while maintaining a passion for service, great leaders produce businesses that endure. From the customer’s perspective, these businesses are extensions of themselves and not commodities.

While none of us can control the winds of economic change, taking a few lessons from The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company can help us adjust our sails to arrive at our desired destination. I welcome your thoughts about the journey…..

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., is an internationally sought-after speaker and business consultant whose clients include Bridgestone Firestone, Nokia, The Hartford Insurance Group, UCLA Health System, and USMC. Michelli has vast media experience, including television programs such as “The Glenn Beck Show” and CNBC’s “On the Money,” and has conducted hundreds of radio and print interviews.

THE NEW GOLD STANDARD: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D.; McGraw-Hill; July 2008; Hardcover: $24.95; 224 pages; ISBN-10: 0-07-154833-5; ISBN-13: 978-0-07-154833-5.

Coaching Skills Training: The 3 principles of coaching

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:39:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

We know that coaches have a healthy attitude towards other people and this is demonstrated by the three main things they do in their coaching sessions.

Firstly they concentrate wholly on the people they coach in order to raise their levels of awareness. Secondly they use encouragement and support to make sure that the people they coach take responsibility for moving their own issues forward. Thirdly they are open and honest and genuinely want to see others succeed and in this way they quickly build strong relationships of trust. Let's now look at each of these in turn.

Raising awareness

By looking in our bathroom mirror we can raise our awareness of how we look and use this information to improve our performance in 'looking good'. Just being aware of what's going on when we experience certain things is often all it takes to make improvements - it's a natural process.

Perhaps you've experienced the sensation of daydreaming whilst driving to the extent that you can't recall if you've passed your turning or not. When this happens it's because we're performing on 'auto- pilot', in other words, we are not consciously aware of what we are doing. This situation can be remedied simply by raising awareness again. The next time you're driving concentrate on how often this daydreaming happens. Paradoxically, because of your awareness and concentration it won't happen at all.

Generating responsibility

Coaches also want people to take responsibility for tackling their own problems and developing their own abilities. Insecure managers often get a sense of satisfaction from always rescuing other the people. It makes them feel good because they've helped someone out and they believe that the other person will feel good because they've passed their situation to somebody else. But these same managers have massive pending trays groaning under the weight of other people's problems. If we solve a problem for somebody once, the chances are they'll come knocking on our door each time they have another one. When we take responsibility for someone else's situation we have failed to develop that person and have simply reinforced their sense of dependence. Over the long term this can lead to feelings of frustration and resentment.

Building trust

Finally, effective coaches see the virtuous circle of establishing trust. They realism that by raising awareness and generating responsibility they are providing people with a platform to perform at higher levels. As this happens they will develop a great sense of trust in the coaching process and in turn answer their coach's questions with deeper levels of honesty and candidness.

In this way our coaching will help them to become more aware and responsible and so it goes on.

Raising awareness, generating responsibility and building trust are the key principles of effective coaching.

Management Communication Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:38:00 +0000

by Ann Golden Eglé

Client Claire recently described her week as being 'fast and furious.' We soon discovered that this was the story of her life, not just one week. Claire has a full plate and then some. She thinks, moves and talks fast. She prides herself in being a quick learner, an expert in her field. Silently, she berates those who cannot keep pace or who slow her down with questions or concerns.

What Claire is missing in her 'fast and furious' pace is her influence on those around her, those on whom she depends and who depend on her. One-by-one, she is alienating co-workers, associates and friends alike.

What's Claire's main challenge? She sees others not as individuals, but through the role they play in her life - what they can do for her. In seeing them as individuals, she would notice how her communication affects them and the ensuing results they produce for her. She would see how uncomfortable people have become around her.

We can deliver the very same message with varying affects on others. We can inspire them, soliciting enthusiasm and eagerness to cooperate. We can educate, softly sharing our wisdom or unique perspective. We can leave them confused, uncertain, resentful, possibly in tears. How do you think Claire left her recipients?

There are many subtleties in the way people actually hear what we are saying. Each of us is more transparent than we think. The first step is to look in the eyes of your recipient. Who is this person? What are their concerns? What motivates them?

Does this individual move at a fast pace, meaning that we need to be succinct? Are they detail-oriented, needing backup material? Are they familiar with your data or do they need to be educated? Is their mind elsewhere presently, meaning that this is not an appropriate time? What is their incentive to cooperate or even listen to you?

Taking time to answer these questions will help you focus on the recipient, not merely yourself; time to notice subtleties that work best to get your message across effectively such as pace, vocal tone, amount of information and whether to put your message in the form of a question, a statement or even in writing.

Finally, looking at your recipient as an individual allows you to engage two of your most basic emotional needs in relationships—respect and appreciation. A touch of humor (not sarcasm) appropriately tossed in lightens every setting.

Once Claire treats her team as humans trying to do their best, foibles and all, her messages will be received in such a manner to elicit amazing cooperation, which will in turn take many things off her plate and result in a better, more productive environment all the way around.

This is a great week to learn more about how you look at those with whom you communicate? Do you deliver messages fast and furious? How do you leave your recipients—eager to cooperate and become more creative in their work for you or resentful, even angry? Do you berate them in your mind if they aren't a fast learner? Must they all be an expert in their field? Or is there another way? Enjoy your discoveries!

For the sake of keeping your career fresh and on track, would you like to enjoy a weekly shot-in-the-arm from Master Certified Coach Ann Golden Eglé? You can sign up for her free weekly ezine, The Success Thought of the Week, at http://www.gvsuccesscoaching.com .

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 3

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:36:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

In Parts 1 and 2 we explored six communication styles and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

So how does all this relate to coaching and where would we place coaching on the spectrum. Some argue that coaching is all about empowering others and so must sit 'right of centre' towards delegation. However, we can also see that perhaps coaching doesn't belong to this range of alternatives at all as it almost represents a philosophy of communication rather than a style. In many ways coaching is a means of adopting the advantages of each of the other styles whilst minimizing the disadvantages.

Good coaches don't fear loss of control as they know that the people they coach will have formulated their plans and ideas in their presence. Thus the coach has the ability to warn against a certain course of action if it is against the rules or likely to cause problems. Also, we've seen that coaching is an effective way for managers to build trust in their teams and so they can resort to Tell when the situation demands it without worrying about the team being uncooperative or becoming disillusioned.

So far we have considered the merits of various communication styles in a general context. What about when we need to communicate with another to help them develop?

It seems that Tell is dominant here and perhaps this is because most of us were conditioned to learn in this way at school. We would sit in rows of desks while the teacher would tell us what we needed to do and how to do it and lessons would consist of being told what we needed to know. But this doesn't always work. Try explaining to someone how to do up a tie or lace a training shoe without showing them - it's almost impossible. To do so requires us firstly to understand exactly the process that needs to be done and then to find the language to convey that process to another person in a way they can understand. The modern world of work is changing so fast that we can no longer be certain that the ways and methods we used to become successful will be valid for the next generation. Solving today's problems with yesterday's solutions is a big risk. Furthermore, people don't retain a great deal of learning when they have only ever been told what to do. How many managers have you heard yelling, "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times!", or "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Coaching presents a way of dealing with these problems as it is concerned with drawing our rather than putting in and thus enables people to learn in their own way and at their own speed. In this way we get learning and development that sticks in the same way as learning to swim or to ride a bicycle.

There's an old Chinese proverb which, roughly translated, states:

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand"

Coaching is the best way to involve people in their own learning.

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 2

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:33:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

In Part 1 we explored six communication styles: Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates.

Let's now consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.

Tells

Managers who use this style prefer to manage by command and control and they are sometimes referred to as autocrats. This style means that the manager can exercise great control as he or she can be sure that work is being carried out in accordance with their detailed instructions. This style also has the benefit of ensuring a consistent approach and is likely to absorb far less time. However, people who work for managers like this often complain of feeling put upon and unappreciated. They can feel frustrated at not being given a chance to have their say and can end up following instructions to the letter and exercising little if any initiative. Also, from the manager's point of view, this style does not really give access to the creativity and experience within the team and assumes that the manager has experienced all the problems and knows all the answers.

Sells

Here the manager is still the one devising the plans and making the decisions, but does consider the needs of the team buy trying to sell the benefits of his or her suggestions. Notice though that it is still his or her suggestions, without much scope for team contributions. Furthermore if the team do not initially buy the suggestion it is likely that the manager will resort to Tell and insist that the team do as they are asked whether they like it or not.

Tests

Tests involves approaching the team with an idea and just seeing what their reaction is. If the initial suggestion is received with enthusiasm, this style of manager is likely to relinquish control to a fair degree and allow the team to undertake the work under his or her guidance. Alternatively, if the initial suggestion is resisted it may be that the manager decides to revisit certain decisions and to see if a more positive way forward can be formulated.

Consults

When we consult, we may prefer to avoid making decisions until after the team has had a chance to discuss matters. This can be a problem in that decisions might be delayed until everyone in the team has had a chance to have their say, and it's far from certain that decisions made in this way will be any better than if the manager made them on their own. It has been said that a camel is only a horse designed by a committee where everyone insisted on having their bit included!

Joins

Managers that favour this style like to position themselves as just one of the group whose opinions and ideas are no more valid than anyone else's. This can create a dynamic team atmosphere and leave people feeling highly valued. It is likely that groups managed in this way will produce a range of creative ideas and relieve the manager of much of the burden of control. However, as with Consults, this style soaks up a lot of time and may not be appropriate when a speedy, emphatic decision is needed.

Delegates

At the other end of the spectrum then is the management style of Delegates. This means that the manager explains the requirements of a task and sets the rules and deadlines, but then leaves the team or the individual to achieve the desired results as they see fit. This quite clearly emphasizes trust and faith in others but must not be done without some thought. Managers need to know their team well enough to be able to decide who should do what, and they must never seek to delegate accountability. In other words, if it goes wrong the manager carries the can - its part of being a manager!

In a future article I'll examine how we can use a coaching approach to work with these different communication styles.

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 1

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:32:00 +0000

by Matt Somers

Most managers I train as coaches are clear (or have been convinced by their bosses) that they need to take on the role of coach as part of their people management responsibilities. Most are less clear about exactly what this means or how to go about it. There are obvious difficulties in defining coaching with any precision and of incorporating coaching into a general management role.

A useful starting point is to consider coaching as one type of communication and see how it fits with typical management communication that most of us will recognize.

Here we'll consider six communication styles that differ in terms of the level of control exercised by manager and team member respectively.

Tells

When we tell people what to do and how to do it, we assume total control. This is highly attractive when time is tight or the consequence of error high.

Sells

Here we loosen our control just slightly and involve team members to the extent that we realise that they must be convinced of the merits of an idea before they'll feel inclined to act upon it with any enthusiasm.

Tests

A further loosening of our control and a greater involvement for team members because we literally test out an idea or decision and accept the risk that the team will not agree.

Consults

I think of this as a meeting halfway, 50/50 kind of style. The team's input is sought and their ideas considered but it is still the manager that makes a final decision and thus retains a high level of control.

Joins

This is an egalitarian communication style aimed at decision making by consensus. Control has switched. More is with the team members but not all of it.

Delegates

The manager sets the parameters of the task, success measures, reporting guidelines, etc. but control over how to accomplish the task is given to the team member(s). The risks are high but the rewards and long term gains substantial.

A common mistake in considering management communication in this way is to think that one style is necessarily correct. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and the most effective managers adapt their style to reflect the needs of the situation and of the person with whom they are communicating. For example if, as you are reading this, a fire alarm sounded it would clearly be absurd to arrange a meeting to discuss options for evacuating the building. What would be needed is for someone to take the lead and to ensure that people were moved to safety quickly and in accordance with the laid down procedures. Similarly, a new person on the team will need a period of close monitoring and some instruction before they have built up the knowledge and experience required for delegated tasks.

In a future article I'll expand on the relative advantages and disadvantages of each style and examine where coaching fits.

Step Up And Create Your High Payoff Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:31:00 +0000

Copyright 2008 Linda Feinholz

There are times in business when it gets complicated sorting out why a team gets stalled. I've had clients who were facing so many competing issues they couldn't figure out where to start: their strategy, their capabilities, their products or services, and so on.

With those companies, we often have to feel our way through as I sort the issues and help them prioritize where to start the Change process.

And there are other times when there is a clear starting point.

I'm working with an organization that knows exactly the challenge they're facing and the impact it's having on their business.

They've been sitting for hours in management meetings with very little managing or problem solving taking place. Can you imagine what it was like for them to see my slide with a calculation about the cost being over $1,800,000 in lost productivity?

Their breakdowns are a result of inexperience with practices that make individuals and teams effective. While several of them have been entrepreneurs, they now need to work at problem solving with peers. Many of them are used to being responsible for getting things done during business turnarounds and are unfamiliar with delivering on both the competing priorities of 'normal' work and client emergencies.

Most of them are in their role as division heads for the first time in their careers. They're grappling with the endless stream of challenges and paradoxical conflicts faced at that level in businesses. They know they've been less productive and much less effective than they ought to be as a team and as leaders of their employees.

A month ago I observed two days of management meetings - nearly twenty hours in which perhaps 4 hours of actual work got accomplished.

I pointed out to them that since the root of their breakdowns is not personality differences but "know how," the work I'm doing with them is to give them new tools and techniques, sort of like new hand rails, shoes and stair treads, they'll use every day.

They love the fact that what I'm teaching them is immediately valuable to them in their management meetings. AND it's also immediately useful in other settings, including their work with their own direct reports.

Because their behavior is so easy to spot when they're in their management meeting, that's where we started this week. I spent 16 hours with them 'first describing the techniques of running high payoff meetings, then doing some role playing, and then taking it straight into the rest of the meetings they had planned.

Here are 3 quick tips they learned to make your own meetings more effective and productive, immediately:

Tip #1 Have a purpose for the meeting before it begins

While these folks started their meeting with a schedule that showed a list of topics, they usually launched straight into discussions without any stated goal for any of the conversations.

Now they're stating clearly at the beginning of each conversation whether the purpose is to clarify an issue that has come up, to identify potential solutions for it, evaluate efforts underway, or come to agreement about specific actions and accountabilities.

Stating the purpose at the beginning is helping with the next tip...

Tip #2 Have the right people at the meeting

Usually, five or six members of the management team sat through hours of discussions that had no relevance for their own work in the company. Everyone was at the table "just in case" it might be useful. So they were spectators rather than contributing to the work.

Now they're planning each agenda item ahead of time, including inviting those who belong at the table and excluding people who have nothing to add.

Having the proper group to work on the matter means they can absolutely achieve the next tip...

Tip #3 Stick to the topic

When half the people in the room sat observing, they often tried to contribute ideas so the time didn't appear to be wasted. Yet their 'helpful' comments derailed conversations into explaining details already known, or addressing tactical ideas when the discussion was strategic, and so on.

Now they're holding their conversation among subject matter experts and people responsible and accountable for the results. Their conversations go deeper yet take one quarter as long as before. They're stepping up to a new level as issues that had languished without progress for months are being worked on in the next 30 days.

The entire team is very clear about the high payoff return they'll be getting using those new practices.

Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High payoff Catalyst." Linda publishes the free weekly newsletter The Spark! to subscribers world-wide and delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple ways to build your business. If you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and have more fun at it, get your FR'EE tips like these visit her site at www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

3 High Payoff Tricks to Get Your Decisions Made!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:29:00 +0000

Copyright © 2008 Linda Feinholz

Still Stuck? Not making any progress on that To Do haunting you from the top of your list?

Our minds are very clever at running through the same ideas over and over, like a needle stuck in a groove on a vinyl record spinning over and over, around and around.

That's great for turning new information into knowledge or skills. Our mind will keep busy, running images and ideas in the background while our conscious attention is on other matters. It's helpfully building our expertise. But it sure gets in the way of coming up with new approaches to situations that are stalled. In fact, the end result of that 'helpful' mental activity is that...

We often give the available options no attention at all. And we don't take advantage of the High Payoff information available in the minds of other people around us.

And then no shift in understanding is made. No new decision is made. No targeted plan of action is designed or implemented.

But relief is at hand! I often say "God bless the guy who invented the Post-It Note!" Those wonderful little sticky pieces of paper have liberated our busy minds. Whether you use sticky paper or scraps you tear up for yourself, you'll want them on hand for the next version of our technique to

REFRAME - Change Your Frame of Reference

There are several versions of this technique. Two that I've shared include

Version 1 - Add a new person with a different background to the conversation.

Version 2 - Add a new 'setting' to the conversation.

Remember as you use those versions of Reframing - The less similar the circumstances, the less similar the experience of the new person you add to the conversation, the quicker you'll see the assumptions you've been making that have been preventing you from seeing the alternatives you could pursue.

And here is a third approach. I've used it in boardrooms, conference rooms, offices, park benches and on airplanes:

Version 3 - The Shuffle

Whether you're trying to solve a business issue for a client, or the matter is internal to your own business productivity, treat the information like pieces in a Rubik's cube. Shuffling all the information into new positions and changing their pairings lets you see them in a new way. It can quickly reveal the assumptions that have been stalling your progress.

Write all the issues and ideas on separate pieces of paper, and pair them up randomly. You can use Post-It Notes, torn paper, the back of business cards! On a separate piece of paper capture each of the 'new' ideas that comes to mind.

If you're doing this as a team, using sticky notes up on the wall lets everyone's mind join in, jotting, shuffling and sharing the new ideas and realizations.

You'll fill pages of alternative ideas that you can let yourself or your team continue to probe and play with, so be sure to set a time horizon for The Shuffle and for when you'll sit down again to sort through and prioritize those new ideas.

You know you've got something your mind's been chewing on. So grab this Reframe technique and apply it today and let's get you moving again so you can boost your productivity this week.

Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High Payoff Catalyst" If you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, boost your professional and personal results and have more fun, get her FREE audio mini-course "7 Quick & Simple Steps to Increase Your Focus, Ease Your Effort & Accelerate Your Results" and the free weekly newsletter The Spark! Visit http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

Coaching Skills Training: The 3 principles of coaching

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Step Up And Create Your High Payoff Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Wilczynski) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:42:00 +0000

There are times in business when it gets complicated sorting out why a team gets stalled. I've had clients who were facing so many competing issues they couldn't figure out where to start: their strategy, their capabilities, their products or services, and so on.

With those companies, we often have to feel our way through as I sort the issues and help them prioritize where to start the Change process.

And there are other times when there is a clear starting point.

I'm working with an organization that knows exactly the challenge they're facing and the impact it's having on their business.

They've been sitting for hours in management meetings with very little managing or problem solving taking place. Can you imagine what it was like for them to see my slide with a calculation about the cost being over $1,800,000 in lost productivity?

Their breakdowns are a result of inexperience with practices that make individuals and teams effective. While several of them have been entrepreneurs, they now need to work at problem solving with peers. Many of them are used to being responsible for getting things done during business turnarounds and are unfamiliar with delivering on both the competing priorities of 'normal' work and client emergencies.

Most of them are in their role as division heads for the first time in their careers. They're grappling with the endless stream of challenges and paradoxical conflicts faced at that level in businesses. They know they've been less productive and much less effective than they ought to be as a team and as leaders of their employees.

A month ago I observed two days of management meetings - nearly twenty hours in which perhaps 4 hours of actual work got accomplished.

I pointed out to them that since the root of their breakdowns is not personality differences but "know how," the work I'm doing with them is to give them new tools and techniques, sort of like new hand rails, shoes and stair treads, they'll use every day.

They love the fact that what I'm teaching them is immediately valuable to them in their management meetings. AND it's also immediately useful in other settings, including their work with their own direct reports.

Because their behavior is so easy to spot when they're in their management meeting, that's where we started this week. I spent 16 hours with them 'first describing the techniques of running high payoff meetings, then doing some role playing, and then taking it straight into the rest of the meetings they had planned.

Here are 3 quick tips they learned to make your own meetings more effective and productive, immediately:

Tip #1 Have a purpose for the meeting before it begins

While these folks started their meeting with a schedule that showed a list of topics, they usually launched straight into discussions without any stated goal for any of the conversations.

Now they're stating clearly at the beginning of each conversation whether the purpose is to clarify an issue that has come up, to identify potential solutions for it, evaluate efforts underway, or come to agreement about specific actions and accountabilities.

Stating the purpose at the beginning is helping with the next tip...

Tip #2 Have the right people at the meeting

Usually, five or six members of the management team sat through hours of discussions that had no relevance for their own work in the company. Everyone was at the table "just in case" it might be useful. So they were spectators rather than contributing to the work.

Now they're planning each agenda item ahead of time, including inviting those who belong at the table and excluding people who have nothing to add.

Having the proper group to work on the matter means they can absolutely achieve the next tip...

Tip #3 Stick to the topic

When half the people in the room sat observing, they often tried to contribute ideas so the time didn't appear to be wasted. Yet their 'helpful' comments derailed conversations into explaining details already known, or addressing tactical ideas when the discussion was strategic, and so on.

Now they're holding their conversation among subject matter experts and people responsible and accountable for the results. Their conversations go deeper yet take one quarter as long as before. They're stepping up to a new level as issues that had languished without progress for months are being worked on in the next 30 days.

The entire team is very clear about the high payoff return they'll be getting using those new practices.