Clear Thoughts™ Blog
By Ann Latham
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One Sure Way to Miss the Recovery - Will It Be Yours?
According to a recent Harris poll, a third of American workers will look for new jobs at the first opportunity. Almost half of those will do so because they have lost trust in their employers.
What have your reactions to the recession told your employees about your leadership and character? Do you share the gains and the pains? Do you give credit where credit is due? Do you demonstrate respect and appreciation for all of your employees who are making a positive contribution? Are your employees involved in decisions affecting their work? Do you value their input? Do they respect and trust you? Will they seek new jobs as soon as the economy strengthens leaving you unable to move ahead?
If the possibility of a large exodus seems ridiculous, think again. A third of American workers is too many to ignore.
For a lot of businesses, this is, and should be, a scary proposition. Find out where you stand and why. Dig deep to find the real cause and identify the actions that will allow you to make a serious and meaningful change. In many cases, a contingency plan should the exodus occur anyway would make sense. In all cases, don't just assume or hope for the best.
And don't simply ask employees if they are happy. If they don't trust you, do you think they will tell you what they are thinking? All they want is to keep their job until the next opportunity gets closer.
Feeling concerned but unsure how to proceed? Give Uncommon Clarity, Inc. a call at 800-527-0087.
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Multi-tasking Test
If you believe multi-tasking is possible you haven't driven through a congested Irish town on the "wrong" side of the road watching for signs while listening to the history of "the Troubles." Cars and people get your full attention. If you are lucky you see enough of the right road signs to get where you want to go. You hear nothing of the narrative. Multi-tasking works only when your brain is required for exactly one task.
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Winning and Greed
Henry Ford once said, "There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." Ford was interested in producing an automobile for the mass market and he knew that if he didn't pay a reasonable wage, the masses wouldn't be able to buy his cars.
This is a pretty simple concept that seems to get lost periodically.
Robert Reich, in TheNation.com , recently pointed out that the two biggest economic crises in our country occurred in the year following peaks in the percentage of income going to the richest 1% of Americans. In 1928 and 2007, almost a quarter of the income went to 1% of the people. In the late 70s, only 8 or 9% of America's total income went to the richest 1%. Draw your own conclusions.
Yes, the game of business requires a determination to win, but that doesn't mean someone else has to lose.
If you cut employee wages and benefits as low as the market allows, you are damaging the community and the economy in which you hope to succeed and live. Squeezing the blood out of suppliers is no different than taking advantage of your own employees.
It is one thing to want to win, it is another to win at the expense of others. Seek win-win solutions in all things so that we may all live enriched lives.
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
New Articles Available on UncommonClarity.com
The following articles have been posted recently on www.uncommonclarity.com/:
I hope you find these helpful!
© 2010 Ann Latham. All RIghts Reserved.
Edsels Everywhere
We are swimming in a sea of Edsels, or at least with a mess of Edsel tadpoles.
Things change. And during a major recession, things change more than usual. Add to that a health crisis, an energy crisis, and an environmental crisis or two and if you think business as usual will return and continue as usual, you are probably trying to sell one of those Edsels.
Here is one example: I met with two business women over coffee on a recent morning. The menu was loaded with Edsel tadpoles. Each of us struggled to order something to go with our coffee - it just seems the decent thing to do when occupying a table for a lengthy discussion.
In search of something small and healthful, I ended up ordering an "everything" bagel, which had everything on the outside but nothing on the inside. It came with cream cheese. So, while relatively small, this was not a healthful choice in my book.
One colleague ordered fruit with yogurt. Sounds healthful, right? But the yogurt turned out to be flavored, which to me suggests high fructose corn syrup. And the fruit looked like it came out of a can, perhaps with heavy syrup. It made my bagel look like a winner.
Many of the other diners were loading up on traditional breakfasts, and they likely will for years to come, but for a growing number of us, the "healthful" additions of decades ago: yogurt, granola, fruit, bran muffins, salads, etc., are no longer considered healthful. If you are in the food business, there is clearly an opportunity here to appeal to those of us who have shifted our eating habits and to the parents who are eager to shift their children's eating habits.
There is no doubt that I will recommend a different meeting place next time.
Where are your Edsels?
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Jumpstart Your Recovery - Ten Steps to Take Today!
Three CEOs have told me in the last few weeks that they are having trouble getting parts to fill orders. Suppliers, who cut back on staff and inventory, are either still too cautious or just too slow to ramp up. Part of it is understandable. From one end of the supply chain to the other, cautious forecasts beget cautious forecasts and suppliers play wait and see.
Then, when an order comes in, the scrambling begins. Compromises are made, new suppliers are found, and old suppliers lose. Few win in such a scramble.
It is time to anticipate your recovery and prepare for success. People who wait and blame factors beyond their control are not likely to come out on top, assuming they survive at all.
Here are ten steps you can take today to jumpstart your recovery:
- Contact your best customers and find out how you can help them prepare for their recovery or continued growth
- Reach out to the customers of competitors who have folded, shrunk, or are cautiously waiting
- Build customer relationships and try to understand how changes and trends might affect their future direction and decisions
- Contact critical suppliers to see if they need help staying healthy and preparing for success
- Share your hunches, not just your official forecast, with suppliers
- Share any recession pain in order to retain critical, hard-to-replace talent so you can ramp up quickly
- Make amends immediately for any unequal distribution of recession pain so that your employees don't bolt at the first opportunity
- Anticipate sudden success and create a plan that would allow you to meet customer expectations
- Get clear about what your customers value and be sure your resources are aligned to meet or exceed expectations; be sure cut backs are in other areas that don't damage your ability to deliver
- Step back and examine your strategy to be sure it still makes sense
Don't wait. Pick one and get started today!
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Back-stabbing, Loyalty, Self-preservation, and You
I take exception to both "Pfeffer: Company Loyalty is Dead -- Fend for Yourself!" http://blogs.bnet.com/harvard/?p=7563 and the referenced article.
A business is a team sport. No one can win alone. If you help the business win and help those around you succeed, you are unlikely to be laid off or stabbed in the back.
At the same time, you must don your own oxygen mask first. Toot your own horn when appropriate. Don't expect others to intuit your willingness to step up, recognize capabilities you have yet to demonstrate, or identify opportunities to help you grow. Take responsibility for your own career and brand; neither is known to arrive on a silver platter for free.
What is loyalty? To me it means giving credit where credit is due and giving people a chance who have given you their best. Any business failing to meet these criteria will not deserve, attract, or retain talented employees.
Loyalty does not mean rewarding people who have been given a chance and who have given their best, but who can't deliver. Neither they, nor the company, benefits from their inability to succeed in the position they hold. It is not disloyal to move them to another position or to encourage them to find a better use for their talents elsewhere.
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Now Available: CD will save you time and money!
Spending too much of your week in meetings? Tired of meetings that just lead to more meetings? Want to take back those meeting hours so you can do something else with your day or maybe even go home at a more reasonable hour?
Then get this audio seminar, Meeting Mastery - How to Slash Meeting Times in Half and Get Better Results by master facilitator and performance improvement expert Ann Latham, a.k.a., The Meeting Slasher™, today!
In this 45 minute audio seminar, you will learn:
- The six secrets to slashing meeting times in half and getting better results
- The three critical criteria for holding a meeting
- How to recognize meetings that should be eliminated
- Techniques that will make you a better meeting leader today
- How to recognize trouble on an agenda and intervene to minimize wasted time
Available in both CD and MP3 download. Buy it here and start saving time and getting better results today!
http://uncommonclarity.com/index.php/store/storeList/
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Let it Die!
When my younger daughter was two, there was no rain in Minnesota. The grass was crunchy. Leaves fell prematurely. When it finally rained, she screamed in horror.
But that isn't the point of my story. Our neighbors were good irrigators. They had always watered their lawns diligently and did their best, even after the drought began and within the limits of the watering restrictions, to keep their yards beautiful. We simply couldn't justify using a precious resource like fresh water just for green grass under any conditions.
When the drought began, our lawn turned brown and crunchy. Eventually, our neighbors' lawns turned brown too.
When the drought ended and my daughter screamed, our lawn greened up. The roots had gone deep and the plants had gone dormant. Our neighbors' lawns stayed brown. They were really dead. Shallow roots. Death, not dormancy. Our neightbors had to start over with sod. And an abundance of fresh water.
I firmly believe that fresh water is a limited resource. I also believe that survival of the fittest is good lawn and garden policy, except when it comes to vegetables, of course. 
As we suffer historic heat and watch the leaves fall prematurely, please let your lawns and landscape go dormant. Some will come back. Some won't. But wouldn't you rather have some plants give up than have our fresh water sources dry up?
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
Learn From Mistakes But Don't Relive Them
We all make mistakes. Little ones, big ones. And for many, the tendency is to replay them in our heads, especially when we should be sleeping. While this may be quite natural, it is destructive.
In many cases, we haven't even done anything wrong. We just wish we had done something differently.
So we relive it and suffer again and again.
You can't undo what is done. You are only human. But you can learn from it. What went wrong? What about your attitude, motivation, attention, skill, or knowledge caused you to do what you wish you had not done? Get some help sorting this out if you need to. Figure out what you can learn from the situation so that next time will be better.
Then forget about it and move on. If it pops up, dismiss it promptly while thinking about the lesson you learned. Realize that you are a stronger person for the learning. Realize that your mistake did not change the course of history. Take a deep breath and get on to the important things in your life. Learn from your mistakes but don't relive them.
© 2010 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.
