Stoicism: Negativity Spawns Negativity

Stoicism: Negativity Spawns Negativity

How do you deal with unwanted situations? 

While doing some reading on attributes of a great leader this week I can across this article, “22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader” (Adam Bornsrein & Jordan Bornstein, 2016). One of these qualities made lots of sense and got me thinking and researching the concept further. That term is Stoicism,

“Stoicism is, at its core, accepting and anticipating adverse situations such as costly mistakes, unexpected failures or unscrupulous enemies, etc. in advance, so that you don’t freak out, react emotionally and aggravate things further”            

(Adam Bornsrein & Jordan Bornstein, 2016, Entrepreneur.com)

Wouldn’t it be nice if all leaders could do this?

Just this week I was watching “OutDaughtered” and the father Adam Busby showed some fantastic leadership with all five of his now 2-year-old quintuplets. In this episode, Adam didn’t show the least bit of frustration while trying to do some prep work before painting a room, he simply went with the flow, fully aware he wasn’t going to get much done before the girls went to bed for the night. It’s amazing to see a father treat his kids in this manner, wouldn’t it be great if all leaders treated everyone this way.

During my research I went from reading through articles comparing the similarities between Christianity and Stoicism, how it was the main philosophy in ancient Rome, and how Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180) was a large influence on this way of thinking and his writings are considered to be the greatest works of philosophy.

Imagine for a minute what your work place would look like if leaders practiced a little more Stoicism. Marcus Aurelius said “the happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts”, we know how negativity spawns negativity, and how being positive especially in the workplace increases employee engagement, overall Moral, and thus happier and more productive employees. 

Let’s all make Stoicism a required quality of ourselves and our leaders. The glass is half full, look into the future and anticipate those situations where your actions and/or attitude may not be what is expected or warranted and start now on the process of projecting a calm and collected demeanor in all situations good or bad.

References

Adam Bornsrein & Jordan Bornstein. (2016, Entrepreneur.com, October 28). Take It From The Pros 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader. Retrieved August 10, 2017, from Entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270486

Followership Types

Followership Types and Cultural Diversity

This image was downloaded from Ambiguity Advantage

Understanding cultural differences is definitely a step in the right direction in encouraging team collaboration and increasing team performance. I believe it's important not only to understand how these cultural differences can affect performance and team interactions, but the leaders managing these teams need to also rely on their people skills to ensure that each team member receives the leadership required to effectively perform with the team.

In my other studies, I found the concept of substitutes for leadership and the different types of followership types (Daft, 2014) interesting when applying them to the global virtual teams. This opens up a new complexity for global virtual teams, how do leaders who understand cultural diversity ensure all team members are effective while ensuring there is no dysfunction created due to assuming team members should act/perform in a particular way?

It's crucial team leaders in their understanding of cultural differences do not confuse this with stereotyping. “Stereotypes never accurately describe individual behavior; rather, they describe the behavioral norm for members of a particular group.” (Alder, 2010, p. 76, para. 3). Even though members of a particular culture typically act, perform, and communicate in a predictable manner, leaders need to realize while these may be cultural norms, not everyone from these cultures will act or perform based on the cultural sensitivity training.

Followership

While individuals can be typically stereotyped based on cultural diversity, leaders need to ensure they not only understand the culture but each individual team member as well. By doing so will help prevent any stereotyping from affecting team performance. Whether team members are from a particular culture or not doesn’t necessarily imply they will act stereotypically. This is where understanding followership types can greatly increase overall team effectiveness.

Under the ideal circumstance, it would be beneficial to have a team comprised of dedicated, highly capable, motivated and empowered individuals. According to the different follower types, this follower would be the effect or star follower. Effective followers are not inhibited in challenging the status quo, or to accept the risk. Courage is one of their best attributes (Daft, 2014, p. 200). This type of follower requires less effort on behalf of the leader to achieve results.

Members of a team may fall under any of the other follower types;

·       Yes People/Conformists: These team members would do what they are told. Requires direction from leaders. Daft identifies conformists as concerned with avoiding conflict (Daft, 2014, p. 200).

·       Sheep/Passive Followers: These members would require more leadership interaction and have all the task details explained. (Daft, 2014).

·        Pragmatic Survivors: They usually go with the flow of what is going on. In the event an organization is going through a change they will become active until the problem is solved. This type of follower is not concerned with the long term, and typically would not make a good team member under normal circumstances, this team member may not be relied upon to take the team forward, (Daft, 2014). 

·       Alienated Follower: They are critical thinkers and do a good job with what they have to do. However, they don’t go above the minimum requirement. (Daft, 2014).  This would also not make a good team member as the normally go about their day doing as little as they can.

Understanding the follower type of a global virtual team would greatly improve the way the leader interacts with members. Unfortunately, not all teams can comprise of highly effective followers, in these cases, leaders need to understand how to interact with these different team members and provide them with the leadership style they require to remain an active member of the team. These different followership types could pose a problem for active leadership considering the team is virtual, especially for some of these follower types which require more interaction by the leader. The active use of technology can help to provide some followers/team members with the style of leadership they require to perform, such as email and video conferencing.

Substitutes for leadership

“In some cases, virtual teams may lack appointed leaders altogether, being as a result formally self-managing and free to organize themselves”, (Crowston, Heckman & Misiolek, (2010). This is a substitution for leadership, (Daft, 2014), which allows for the replacing of active leadership, this could include Factors such as subordinates being “highly educated (and) professional”, (Daft, 2014, p.88, para. 2). A virtual team with capable, experienced, and self-motivated professionals have the skills to substitute for leadership. Such as the student project teams from this course. Even though there is no active leadership, this team was able to collaborate and work well with one another to completed required task.

Conclusion

            With the wide range of individual performance levels and virtual team member requirements, I believe it’s just as important to understand who the team members are and what they are capable of, rather than only relying on cultural diversity which may lead to stereotyping and ultimately team dysfunction. By reviewing the different followership types it may be possible to assemble a team which would require less leadership.

References

Adler, N. (2010), International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, 5th edition. Cincinnati:           Southwestern College Publishing. ISBN: 9780324360745

Crowston, K., Heckman. R. & Misiolek, N. (2010), Leadership in self-managing virtual teams,         Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/897298/Leadership_in_self-managing_virtual_teams

Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience (Sixth ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning

Effective Team Leadership During Change

http://tracktrainingservices.co.uk

Leading a new team can have its challenges, especially for a leader who has never been part of a team or have had to form one. I believe an effective leader, one who encourages employees to offer suggestions and be part of decision making should find it more easily to lead a team. It’s important for a leader to understand they are also a member of the team. The amount of leadership required is determined based on the type of team, i.e. a functional team requires more leadership than a self-directed team, (Daft, 2014, p. 294). There would be a shift in leadership style based on the type of team, a leader would need to utilize a different set of traits depending on the situation. 

A leader needs to look at the team as a whole, as a working unit which is not the same as leading merely a group of employees. There are factors which can cause dysfunction in any team which the leader needs to be able to identify and prevent so the team will be able to work together, collaborate, and achieve set goals. Daft (2014, p. 298) list 5 reasons why a team can become dysfunctional. 

•“Lack of trust”: 

Leaders need to ensure open communication is active.

•“Fear of conflict”: 

This is something which can hold any team back, it prevents “…constructive passionate debate”, (The HR Specialist, 2012). People can be affected by the something called Abilene paradox, these are who agree with everything, even if it contradicts what they have agreed upon with a different group of people, as they want to please others, (Daft, 2014, p. 182, para 5). Leaders need to be able to recognize this in order to prevent.

•“Lack of commitment”: 

This can be an indication the team may consist of the wrong people, however, this may be a case where there is a lack of empowerment and motivation. Clear expectations and goals may also be missing. Team members need to know and understand what is expected of them.

•“Avoidance of accountability”: 

Similar to commitment, empowerment and motivation can help to prevent this as well. Clear expectations need to be communicated and follow-up is imperative.

•“Inattention to results”: 

This can involve team members who have their own agenda which differs from the group’s goals. 

For smaller teams, leaders will need to rely more heavily on their communication and people skills to ensure the team remains effective. 


References

Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience (Sixth ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning 

Fred Bailey: An Innocent Abroad, A Case Study Review

Fred Bailey: An Innocent Abroad

 Phases of Cultural Adjustment, (Cuevas et al. 2011)

 An interesting case study illustrating the adverse effects of an organization failing to recognize cultural diversity. In this particular case, Fred is not only struggling with running the Japan office, his personal life is also being affected. And if that wasn’t enough, the organization is experiencing poor performance. There are many factors to consider in order to determine why and what went wrong for the organization, Fred, and his family. The organization along with Fred need to accept some of the responsibility for this failed endeavor as effective leadership and cultural sensitivity is not only the organization's obligation but the leaders as well.

Identification of the Issues

After moving his family to Japan, Fred had started to experience problems immediately in his new assignment. The first of these problems was during his introduction and inspirational speech on his vision for the Tokyo office. A situation which left him wondering why the Japanese seemed not to care. The next problem Fred encounters is the error he made in trying to push a potential client to accept a new proposal. The Japanese value personal relationship and this is one criteria they utilize to help make business decisions; Fred had failed to make this connection, leaving the potential client wondering why Kline & Associates would be a good fit for them. A third mistake Fred made was when delegating a project to a Japanese subordinate, failing to understand how the Japanese perceive personal relationships and how this affects business dealings. In all three of these problems Fred experiences, at the end they all relate to one major deficiency; Fred’s inability to recognize cultural diversity.

External Factors

Upon analyzing the case study for external factors, we learn there are a few which help to foster and expand the problems Fred faces. The first major problem was the lack of cultural training for Fred and his family. It is clear, not only did Fred’s wife not want to move to Japan, she is also struggling to understand the culture and fit in. This is adding stress to Fred’s already stressful days at work. After almost half a year, Fred is wondering if they made the right decision to move.

Internal Factors

My analysis is; not only has the company fail to discuss the differences in cultures, they also failed Fred and his family by not providing the cultural sensitivity training “needed to meet the challenges and issues he would possibly face.” (Cuevas, Beda-Andourou, Bernal, Bolivar, & Mujtaba, 2011). An interesting point Cuevas et al., (2011) make is after a short period of time, why did the previous director last less than a year. Was there additional information about the assignment withheld for fear Fred would decline the offer?

Opportunities

 In my analysis of the case study, there are some immediate steps the company could take to help Tokyo office, Fred, and his family. Pre-training on the cultural differences should have been offered to both Fred and his family. It’s important to note, even though this training was not offered, the Bailey’s would still benefit from cultural training now seven months later, (Alder, 2014). Fred should be given every opportunity to succeed in this assignment.  Fred needs to start asking the following questions, to what should I pay attention? and what does it mean? (Alder, 2014, p. 278, para 2). Part of these questions is how he needs to recognize the cultural differences in the workplace, as well as discuss these with his wife so she may work through these differences with Fred’s help.

Culture Shock

Culture shock is the “frustration and confusion that result from being bombarded by too many new and uninterpretable cues”. (Alder, 2014, p. 277). The four different phases of adjustment are “honeymoon, culture shock, adjustment and mastery”, Figure 1. Phases of Cultural Adjustment, illustrate the relationship between these four phases, (Cuevas et al. 2011). Culture shock is an important phase which all expatriates will experience when working in a new culture. If Fred and his family were to begin culture sensitivity training they would begin to emerge from the culture shock phase which according to figure 1, usually takes place around ten to twelve months. While culture shock is not an enjoyable aspect of this type of move, there is some indications Fred and his family will emerge from this phase.

Severe culture shock is often a positive sign indicating that the expatriate is becoming deeply involved in the new culture instead of remaining isolated in an expatriate ghetto. Experienced expatriates therefore should view culture shock as a sign that they are doing something right, not wrong. For them, the most important question is how best to manage the stress caused by culture shock, not how to avoid the culture shock itself. (Alder, 2014, p. 278, para 1)

My analysis show there is an adjustment period for expatriates when exposed to working conditions in new cultures. The average time to rebound from honeymoon to culture shock and back to the same level of acceptance as the honeymoon phase is about twelve months, (figure 1.). This is interesting considering the previous director which Fred replaced was in Tokyo less than a year. A step the company should have included in pre-move orientation is to connect the Baileys with an experienced expatriate, preferably one living in Japan, a mentor who could help them understand the four phases of cultural adjustment as well as what could be expected in each phase.

Conclusion

Although Fred should have been given a pre-move orientation which would have prepared him and his family better for the culture change, it would have also given him some of the tools he would have required to successfully change his leadership style and begin to lead a multi-cultural team.

           

I believe there is still time to turn this situation around. The company has a few options which would deal with the current situation; they could simply chose to ignore everything and  transfer Fred and his family, or provide leadership and cultural sensitivity training, accompanied with a mentor to not only help Fred professionally but socially as well.

Ignoring everything

Ignoring the situation may be the easiest tactic for the company, however if Fred doesn’t emerge from the culture shock phase it may cost the company more in moving expenses, finding a replacement to take over the Tokyo office and possible an increase in the turnover of employees. This tactic could also quite possibly give Fred doubts about his career choice.

Transfer

This is an option the company could consider as they may have experienced a similar situation with the previous director. Although we do not understand what the previous situation entailed, we do know based on the four phases of culture adjustment, the previous director would likely have still been in the culture shock phase. This would create a cycle which would most likely cost the company financially with transfers every six to twelve months.

Provide training              

                                                                                                       

Providing the training for Fred and his family would be the best option in this situation. Fred has a proven track record leading successful projects, (Fred Bailey case study, 2010). The training would provide Fred with a better understanding of the Japanese culture and what is required to do business there. This would not only benefit Fred and his family but the company itself. Some of the benefits the company would see would include increased performance of the Tokyo office as culture differences would become an asset and Fred would better understand what is involved in signing on new clients, as well as what is required to keep employees motivated. The company would also see cost savings as they would potentially not need to replace their directors on an annual basis.

            

My analysis shows there is a benefit to providing training and orientation to all involved parties, “Sixty percent of companies offer some type of cross-cultural pre-departure training; however, such training is mandatory at only a quarter of the companies.” (Alder, 2014, p. 275, para 1). These numbers reflect the increased need for cultural sensitivity training; seventy-five percent of organization feel there is no need for training which raises the question, why? Is it because of cultural blindness, attempts to save money, possibly their confidence in their leader or maybe an individual would refuse such training out of fear the organization would see them as the wrong candidate as they believe they require additional training.

References

Adler, N. (2010), International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, 5th edition. Cincinnati:           Southwestern College Publishing. ISBN: 9780324360745

Cain, S. (2012), The Rise of the New Groupthink, retrieved form http://www.nytimes.com/2     012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Chalre, (n.d), Expatriate Culture Shock, retrieved from http://www.chalre.com/hiring_man    agers/expatriate_culture_shock.htm

Cuevas, P., Beda-Andourou, A., Bernal, M., Bolivar, and M., Mujtaba, B. (2011), Lessons from

Fred Bailey’s Expatriate Experience in Japan: Proactively Preparing Employees for

International Assignments, Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2011, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.

40-52, retrieved from http://jbsq.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Sep-2011-4.pdf

Fred Bailey case study. (2010), Fred Bailey:  An Innocent Abroad, [Case study], University of   Evansville Global Case Competition

China Presentation, Global Economics

China Presentation, Global Economics from William Allen

Virtual Technology

Team Virtual Technology Presentation from William Allen

Excerpt from Keurig Sustainability report

Keurig Green Mountain Inc. Sustainability Audit
By: William Allen, Alicia Anderson, Brandi Borman, Patrick Dupuis, Ariel Jackson, Steven Morton,
Melissa Strle

Keurig Green Mountain Inc. has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1981 as a small specialty coffee store in Vermont, USA. The company was originally called Green Mountain Coffee but then transitioned into Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. In 1993, two engineers approached Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to invest in a single cup brewing system, and Keurig was born (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, n.d.). An initial public offering was completed in September of 1993. In 1997, Keurig became the first to offer coffee in a K-Cup portion pack for the Keurig Single-Cup Brewing System. In 1998, the first single cup coffee brewer for offices was delivered (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, n.d.). Since then, the company has experienced tremendous growth.

In 1995, net sales were $34 million but increased to $84 million in 2000 and then to $224 million in 2006 (Keurig Green Mountain Sustainability Report, 2014). In 2010, net sales further grew to $1.36 billion and went on to reach enormous volumes with net sales of $4.71 billion in 2014 (Keurig Green Mountain Sustainability Report, 2014). To reach this level of growth, Keurig utilizes strategic partnerships with 80 coffee brands allowing for 575 hot and cold beverage varieties for its brewing system (Keurig Green Mountain Sustainability Report, 2014). Keurig primarily operates within North America and has established facilities in six U.S. states. Its principle Canadian office is in Montreal, Quebec where Keurig’s management team, coffee roasters, and packaging plants are located (“Keurig Green Mountain,” 2015). As the company has expanded in sales and profit, Keurig’s commitment to sustainability increased as well. 

Interestingly, two of Keurig’s corporate values are “We play to win” and “We brew a better world” (“Keurig Green Mountain,”2015). It is important for major companies to recognize the importance and value of a strong business case for sustainability. Berns et al. (2009) determined after reviewing facts and identifying a strong business case, leading companies will publicly commit to ambitious sustainability goals, demonstrating that investment in sustainability leads to strong business results. Keurig’s website indicates it is using the power of business to brew a better world through building resilient supply chains, sustainable products, thriving communities, and a water-secure world (“Keurig Green Mountain,” 2015). Keurig identifies both a solid business foundation in combination with sustainable values to justify its goal of having a positive impact on the world.

An analysis of six sustainability dimensions at Keurig Green Mountain Inc. was audited to provide an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of current sustainability practices at the company. The sustainability dimensions analyzed include corporate governance, environment, social and cultural, economic, technology, and community engagement. To determine Keurig’s overall sustainability rating, the individual dimension ratings and rationale of sustainability practices at Keurig’s are also provided.

For the complete report click here

Empathy Can Not be Taught!

The reason is simply if we were to take a test before the class started, everyone would already know the answers.

Empathy in the Workplace

Is the lack of empathy affecting the quality of work or services in your organization?

In a recent conversation about things which could affect the quality of work for customer service based organizations, the idea of a lack of empathy being the cause was suggested. This might seem like a stretch, but it got me thinking, how much does empathy affect customer service, especially the quality of service?

First, let’s revisit the meaning of empathy;

From the University of California at Berkley’s Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life explains empathy is “the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.”

From the online Webster dictionary, “understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of others”

Empathy can be an important characteristic for anyone working in a customer based industry, as it allows an employee to truly see and sense how the customer is feeling, basically understanding how important something is to that customer, and how it affects them. Since I’m a Medical laboratory technologist, I believe empathy plays a large role in the quality of work lab techs perform.  Most lab techs don’t have the opportunity to interact with patients; however, we need to understand the work we perform on patient samples are ultimately for that patient, not the Doctors and Nurses, which technically makes the patient the customer.  

Without empathy, those providing the service may not be as willing to go above and beyond to satisfy customer needs/wants, or in the case of patient samples, maybe a technologist would be too quick to request repeat samples or do everything possible to ensure turn-around-time benchmarks are met. By feeling empathy, service providers would be more engaged in their work, realizing there is someone connected to that work, particularly in a healthcare setting, anything which can be done should be done.

According to Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier, an author, radio personality and an educator specializing in technology and inspiring business), the ” Most essential qualities for a customer service rep” are;

1. Empathy

2. Patience

3. Sense of humor

4. Power to fix issues

Empathy being the most important of these items, allows service providers to truly understand what the customer’s concerns are, how they are feeling, and gives them the sense which empowers them to want to do all they can to help.  

How does it improve customer service?

When employees demonstrate empathy, customers will have a better experience, and employees achieve better results, especially working as a team. When it comes to dealing with customer complaints and concerns, most people tend to want to just say sorry for the inconvenience and provide discounts or other items such as gift cards. However, what customers want more than anything else, they want to be understood, which is simply and inexpensive, we simply show empathy.

Can we teach empathy?

With all the continuing education, many organizations and professionals complete nowadays, we as a society are seeing less empathy, lower quality customer service, even though there is an increase in knowledge and competencies.

If we ask people in your organization how important showing customers empathy is, they would already know the correct answers. Training sessions often include handling of customer service issues and how empathy should play a part in treating customers they way the need to be. The part of this which doesn’t make sense is if we fast forward to the end of the training session, the employees didn’t really learn anything helpful as the already knew how customers should be treated. Can we really tell someone how to feel? It's like telling an employee at the Louvre museum they need to have more passion and love for the Mona Lisa more. It's just not possible to tell someone or train someone how to feel.

PJ Manney (2008), wrote an article “Empathy in the Time of Technology: How Storytelling is the Key to Empathy." In which he describes how storytelling is extremely important in developing empathy. He goes on to point out how empathy has slowly decreased over the decades and how this closely correlates with fewer people reading books nowadays. We all know that good book which instilled feelings which closely mirrored what the characters were going through and feeling, or how about the chick flick (for lack of a better word) which also created strong feelings. This is where empathy comes from.

If empathy is best and most effectively developed by either reading or watching stories, then why is it the primary method for organizations to “teach” empathy is training sessions or maybe online courses? If this is the case an hour-long training session is going to do very little to teach someone empathy. An organization would get far more impact by providing a required book club where employees would read a selected book and instead of training sessions, the organization holds simply meetings to discuss theses books.

Over the last decade, there has been a strong push to further knowledge and competencies which we find now includes our personal time being used for such activities. Organizations believe this has a great benefit to professionals, customer service, and to the bottom line. However, this seems to be having the opposite effect. We need to get back to activates which promote empathy. We need to slow down, take in a book or two and give back some of our personal time to activities which promote a better sense of well-being and empathy will follow. 

Would like to know your thoughts on empathy, please leave a comment below. 

References

Goh, Gareth. 2015. "Empathy: The Must-Have Skill for All Customer Service Reps." http://www.insightsquared.com/2015/02/empathy-the-must-have-skill-for-all-customer-service-reps/.

Manney, PJ. 2008. "Empathy in the Time of Technology: How Storytelling is the Key to Empathy." Journal of Evolution and Technology (http://jetpress.org/v19/manney.htm) 19 (1): 51-61. http://jetpress.org/v19/manney.htm.

Together we can achieve anything

We often can't see the solution to a problem due to our attitude to that problem.  It's not the problem which causes the issues, but rather our attitude. We need to keep an open mind and explore all options. When we work as a team amazing things can happen. 

Tips for solving problems. 

• Utilize effective brain storming 
• Actively listen to all members of the team
• Don't reject any idea until these questions are seriously asked. "Why won't this idea work, why will this idea work?"
• Remember big things happen when everyone works together. 
• Keep everyone engaged. 

Corporate Social Responsibility

Cause-Related Marketing and Strategic Philanthropy

The main similarity between cause-related marketing and strategic philanthropy is they both benefit the public and the organization through corporate social responsibility (CSR). According to Saraf, V., Singhai, S., & Payasi, S. (2012), CSR benefits the organization in two ways; “reducing the negative effects…caused by the processes and product usage”, and “increasing the positive contributions” from within the organization. Rick and Williams, (2005) describe philanthropy as historically being an individual’s contributions to society rather than an organization. Companies primarily practiced cause-related marketing prior to the 1950’s. Since then companies have realized there are great benefits to involving others within the organization with their CSR activities.

According to Ferrell, O. Thorne, D. & Ferrell, L (2010), cause-related marketing and strategic philanthropy can be compared utilizing 5 different categories: focus, goals, time frame, organizational members involved, and cost. (p. 350).  Cause-related marketing generally involves one product, for example, MacDonald’s donating ten cents for every happy meal purchased; this primarily involves the marketing department. The main benefit to this approach is the advertising and increase in sales as consumers see a portion of their money going to a good cause. Strategic philanthropy is an organization-wide effort which involves the financial support and/or employee volunteer time. Employees tend to be involved and help out the cause, for example, Wal-Mart associates raising funds for the IWK which is then matched by Wal-Mart home office. As Rick and Williams reason “a company cannot survive in a sick community; therefore, companies that spend a portion of their resources to address social problems are helping secure their own long-term survival” (as cited in Spence & Thomson, 2009, p. 372). Both cause-related marketing and strategic philanthropy provide an organization with the CSR society demands of them.

References

Brill, B. (2009), Tis the season for strategic corporate philanthropy. Crain's Chicago Business,      32(50), 14.  

Ferrell, O. Thorne, D. & Ferrell, L (2010), Social Responsibility and Business, Chapter 9, pg. 350

Ricks, J. & Williams, J. (2005), Strategic corporate philanthropy: addressing the frontline talent needs through an educational giving program. Journal of Business Ethics, 60:2,   147–157

Saraf, V., Singhai, S. &  Payasi, S. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility: Building Brand and Linking Corporate Strategy with Philanthropy. BVIMR Management Edge, 5(2), 88- 97.

Spence, C. & Thomson, I. (2009), Resonance tropes in corporate philanthropy discourse.          Business Ethics: A European Review, 18(4), 372-388. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 8608.2009.01570.x

What does it mean to be Sustainable?

Many organizations are starting to realize they need to do more than just go “green”. When someone talks about going green they are usually concerned with only the environment, and this determines the path they take while conducting their business. As Werbach (2009) pointed out after the effects of hurricane Katrina in the introduction of our text Strategy for Sustainability, we need to do more than fight for the environment. True sustainability needs to include not only environment but also;

·       Social

o   Anything which affects all levels of society

·       Culture

o   Embracing culture diversity

·       Economic

o   How will everyone (and corporations) obtain what they need, not just financially but food, water, and security

As werbach goes on to point out, Katrina would have probably not been as devastating if government, organizations, and individuals had addressed all of the above points. For example, wetlands had been drastically reduced over the past several decades which resulted in less water retention. A situation which could have been prevented if organization helped to address this as opposed to leaving it up to government and environmentalists.

In Saint John New Brunswick there is a plan to build a new sports complex in an area which has marshlands and the area tends to flood very easily. Part of the proposal needs to include an on-site reservoir which will have the capacity to retain all the rain water run off for a couple of days. This reservoir will slowly empty into the cities rainwater runoff. Their plan is to build a green space, a park with a lake. If all organizations did something like this, flooding could be reduced, which would help with environmental, social, culture and economic issues.

References:

Werbach, Adam. (2009). Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto. Boston: Harvard Business Press. ISBN: 978-1-4221-7770-9

Improving Employee Performance with Benifits

Do benefits impact performance? 

The main point of benefits is “to improve the quality of the work lives and personal lives of employees” (Belcourt, Singh, Bohlander, & Snell, 2014, p. 390). Benefits such as paid vacation, medical, dental, sick leave, etc. all play a part in contributing to people’s lives. These, of course, are the basics which allow employees to know how these types of expenses will be covered, this alone can remove a great deal of stress as items such as medical, prescriptions, dental are expenses often unexpected, especially medical if living in a country without universal healthcare. With so many companies looking for ways to cut expenses, benefits are often an easy target, and if the employees feel the benefits could be cut, or even linked to performance, this could push them to put in more effort on the job.

In an unionized environment, benefits often put everyone on an even playing field regardless of benefits. However, in an un-unionized workplace, benefits such as pay increases and time off are items which could be offered for performance, which would help definitely help drive employees to work harder.

In a survey showing “lifestyle/family care benefits impact employee performance” (Filangieri, 2015), one of the questions ask how family-related benefits affected performance, “35% think a lack of benefits related to family assistance has negatively impacted their work performance. This rises to 41% of those with children.” (Filangieri, 2015). The survey also lists the top benefits which would help improve performance, these five are;

·       Backup child care

·       Discounted care/reimbursement for care

·       Help hiring a housekeeper

·       Help finding reliable child care

·       Long-term or tailored senior-care planning

Why are companies moving away from defined benefit plans?

As mentioned above, benefits are an easy target when companies need to make cut backs. Benefits are becoming more expensive, whether its time off, childcare, medical, etc. and paying for the same benefits clear across the board for all employees regardless if they are used can not only cost but do very little to improve performance. By allowing employees to pick and choose their own benefits can be a win/win for everyone. The employee gets what they need and/or would use while the employer receives a reduction in the cost of insurance, as well as increased performance as the employee in receive the benefits catered to them.

References

Belcourt, M., Singh, P., Bohlander, G., and Snell, S. (2014). Managing Human Resources. Toronto, ON, Nelson education.

Filangieri, R. (2015, September 22). Survey shows lifestyle/family care benefits impact employee performance. Retrieved from BCG Advisors: http://www.bcgadvisors.com/survey-shows-lifestylefamily-care-benefits-impact-employee-performance/

Effective Communication: How to make a Peanut Butter Sandwich

I think one of the biggest setbacks we all face is a lack of effective communication. Both personal and professional aspects of our lives are influenced quite often from not effectively communicating. I was able to experience this first hand at a management workshop that I had the opportunity to attend. It was so enlightening and humorous that I knew I wanted to share it with all of you…

The instructor asked for 2 volunteers. One would give the other instructions on how to make a peanut butter sandwich and they would not be able to see each other. The direction giver had to use 10 easy to follow steps and the direction follower had to do EXACTLY what he was told and the only question he was allowed to ask was “how”. Everything was laid out on the table; a plate, knife, jar of peanut butter, and bottle of jam.

Some of the highlights of the lesson were VERY funny to watch. A whole loaf of bread (that was still in the bag) became covered in peanut butter (he had failed to tell him to open the bag and remove a slice of bread) and the whole bottle of jam was placed on top of the sealed loaf of bread that was already covered in peanut butter (this was because he instructed him to take the jam and put it on the peanut butter that he just put on the bread). 

The workshop, while very humorous, allowed me to observe effective communication in a different perspective. It made me see how it is so important when speaking to that other individual to ensure that we provide enough information for both parties to succeed. I was able to observe that the person who was giving the directions on how to make the peanut butter sandwich was even more frustrated than the person trying to do what was asked of him.

In the exercise the direction follower was only allowed to ask ‘how”, but each time the direction giver heard “how” he became more frustrated saying “what do you mean how just take the bread!” He wasn’t really listening; he was taking for granted that the other individual should know what he meant.

Most all of us take for granted that our friend, coworker, employee, acquaintance, sweetheart, child, etc. will know what we mean. When we are instructing or asking something of someone we often only give a brief summary of what we want and presume they will know the rest. We let our previous experiences with others get in the way of dealing with new people and often don’t provide enough information.

I like to think of communication as a scale that needs to balance. On one side is the giver and the other side is the receiver. If only one side is active then the scale will not balance. What I mean by this is even if you are the greatest communicator in the world it will not mean anything if you do not get feedback from the other side of the scale. It will not balance. Remember communication is a 2-way street. Ensure that your scale always has a sense of balance…you will be amazed at how it can change your life! 

Effective Leadership with Footprints

Effective Leadership with Footprints: Where do yours lead you?

When we think of leadership and footprints, we tend to only think of the mark a leader leaves on their followers and organization. But let’s look at the footprints from the literal perspective. Just imagine you could see your footprints as you travel throughout your organization on any given day, what would they tell you about your leadership style.

When I was a Wal-Mart manager the concept of footprints was constantly drilled into us. The concept is an easy one, what if you could see your footprints from above as you travel throughout the workplace. Now, most managers and leaders tend to stick to the main aisles, hallways, corridors, etc. as they come and go, conduct business, and attend meetings. However, the thing to remember is where the majority of the work is performed. Unfortunately, it’s not in these aisles, hallways, or corridors. If we’re going to lead people, we need to spend time with them. Management by walking around is the same concept, however, I believe the term footprints is a much better word. Managing by walking around doesn’t necessarily mean a manager is traveling every area which work is performed, nor when it is performed.

When I first became a manager, I read the best-selling book, “The One Minute Manager”, which many people would remember talked about setting goals, praising and reprimands. I have heard many people over the years say this book is common sense, and you know what, they’re right. If we all can agree “The One Minute Manager” is just common sense, it raises the question, why isn’t done in every workplace by every leader?

If we compare the One Minute Manager to the concept of footprints, it can be clearly seen how leading effectively involves one very important element, spending time with the people you’re leading. For those of your who are Doctor Who fans, the concept of “space and time” is something we have heard many times. Now take the concept of footprints and apply it to space and time. This is something I have always done and is the way Wal-Mart trained me. If we think of our places of work as the spatial component, and the time aspect as all the different time's work is performed, for example, days, evenings, and midnight shifts, we can clearly see when the work is performed. If you’re a leader, are you responsible for leading people on different shifts then you normally work? If so, do you ever make the time shift to spend time on those alternate shifts where your people are?

When I was with Wal-Mart and MDS labs, I had people who worked only evenings, nights and/or weekends, which meant I needed to spend time on those different shifts so I could not only see what was being done but to also provide those shifts with the leadership they deserved and required.  Yes, this can be difficult, however, spending time with your employees is key in developing a successful team.

How often have we seen situations such as these;

Bob, a new manager with ABC Tech started his fourth week with frustration over issues arising from the weekend shift with quality and budgets. He decides to ask John for help since he has been with the company for years. He asks John, “what is it they do on the weekends that requires so many people, and why with so many people are there quality issues?” Bob becomes even more frustrated when he hears John’s answer, “I don’t know”. You ask him to elaborate, however, he only replies, he doesn’t know want they do on weekends.

If I were Bob, I would rearrange my schedule and work some weekends to spend time with my people I’m responsible for leading. This is the sort of thing I did when I was management with Wal-Mart and MDS. It’s amazing the effect this has on the team, not only do they see you as a leader who takes the time and initiative to spend time with them, but also someone who is approachable, and willing to help. This has the effect of increasing morale and overall performance. One thing employees do not like to hear their manager say is “I don’t know what you do”, in cases like this the employee usually have thoughts of how do you expect to manage and lead us.

Another situation many of us have experienced is:

Sally, transferred to the HR division of Techy Tech three months ago and is starting to feel as if she is not doing a good job. She came from a small branch in the Maritimes where she would often see her manager who regularly provided feedback on her performance. Now that she’s in the much larger branch in Toronto, she has only seen her manager a few times since she’s been there. During lunch one day she asks Peter, “What could I being doing wrong?” Peter asks “what makes you think you’re doing something wrong?” Sally tells Peter she never sees her manager and in three months has never received any feedback on her performance. Peter Laughs, and tells her that’s what is like around here, “if nothing is said, then you’re doing a good job. No news is good news”

How many times have we heard or experienced a similar story? Looking at these stories, the thing lacking in both is the leader spending time with their people. By utilizing Footprints in both space and time, situations such as these can be eliminated. The benefits are huge, employees will feel better about their work and who are more engaged, especially during times of change management and uncertainty in the organization. 

We all know how difficult it can be at times to manage workload, however, leaders need to better understand, when they have a highly effective team which produce high-quality work, a leader’s job becomes that much easier especially when it comes to their other responsibilities such as reports, budgets, meetings, follow-up, setting and managing goals, etc.

Things to remember when walking around the work area:

•        Remember to spend time with each employee, do not simply walk through the work area.
•        Praise your employees, a pat on the back goes a long way
•        Observe the workflow, how is it affecting your team, good or bad
•        Remember to take notes, these will come in handy during performance reviews and will aid       in setting goals
•        Share information
•     Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up,

 The only way we can effectively lead your people is to spend quality time with them, remember praising and reprimanding people, and setting goals works best when you see them in the work area performing their duties, this is the best time to praise them for their hard work and correct actions which need attention. Far too many times we see leaders who are disconnected from their employees, and then wonder why things aren’t going well for the organization.