Archive for June, 2008

5/27/2008 - Coasting on the Downturn Highway





By Faye Dresner

Regardless of what presidential candidates, housing experts, or political pundits are saying, most of us know that times are hard right now. And some of us are being directly affected. In the nonprofit sector, demand for services increases when the going gets tough. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to job security for nonprofit professionals. Sometimes organizations tighten their budgets and often that means letting people go. So how do we cope with the current economic downturn and maintain our professional sanity at the same time?


Below are some strategies I pull out and dust off to use when my professional life gets unpredictable. Consultants (like me) are experts at riding the roller coaster of job security because we live in a world of shifting landscapes, having an excess of work some times and a scarcity of it at others. Learning to adapt to change is an essential skill for us. The tools I’m sharing can be employed any time you feel your work situation is uncertain. And let’s face it, change has become the norm these days.


According to the U.S. Department of Labor, most people will be in their jobs approximately four years only. While change can be unsettling, it is also an enormous opportunity to reposition or re-educate yourself and shift directions. I’ve had the experience of being “downsized” and that’s what launched my consulting career!


Recently, an outplacement consultant I know told me that corporations are more prone to hire people who have been through a downsizing and landed on their feet than those who have been in the same position for many years. Why? According to her, it’s because businesses recognize that change is now a constant, and they are better off looking for people who are equipped to handle it and come out intact on the other side.


So whether you are considering a career change or just in a situation that feels a bit unsteady, here are some ideas for managing successfully whatever you’re faced with:

  • Address those things you actually have control over, like keeping your resume up to date, maintaining your professional network, or doing an inventory of your skills and talents. Ruminating on things you have no control over is a fast way to drive yourself crazy and create a lot of unnecessary anxiety. Easier said than done you say? My technique is to make a list of all those things I can impact or do, tape it to my office wall, and then focus my attention and effort on those things. It takes discipline but it is achievable.

  • Stay in the moment. As cliché as it sounds, its good advice. It will keep you from doing a lot of negative forecasting, something some of us seem to automatically resort to. Does this sound familiar? “If I lose this job/contract, I may not be able to get something else and after 3 months I won’t have any more savings and, I won’t be able to pay my bills, and, and, etc.” While it is just as likely that an outcome will be positive, most of us seem to jump automatically to the negative when attempting to predict the future (something we’re not good at anyway). Isn’t it just as likely, your situation could have a positive outcome? Staying in the moment not only builds your energy but it helps you stay tuned in to potential opportunities. So how do you do that you ask? Every time you catch yourself heading down the road to doom and gloom, say NO! out loud and bring your mind back to the present. Go back to #1 – your list of things you have control over – take a walk, call a friend, do anything but allow yourself to drown in negative thought.

  • Do pro bono or volunteer work that interests you and helps you build skills, expands your network, and can put you in a position to learn about work you’re unfamiliar with. Sometimes when my business is slow, I do pro bono work at nonprofits where I might not otherwise have sought a paying contract. It has, on occasion, led to future work and always helps me enhance my knowledge and expertise.
  • Give yourself a break. There are days when the anxiety or gloominess might get the best of you. Don’t beat yourself up. On the contrary, treat yourself to whatever generally makes you feel better. After I was downsized and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next, there were days when I just didn’t have the energy to present my best self to potential employers or colleagues. So I didn’t. I called a friend or went for a long run or took a long nap and relished the fact that even though I was scared or down, what I did have was flexibility and the time to take good care of myself.

  • Make a contingency plan. Even if you never have to use it, having a plan creates a sense of security. Keep your resume, your skills and your network updated and current. You don’t have to go overboard; a small amount of preparation can instill a real sense of calm in uncertain times.

Faye Dresner

Faye Dresner is the founder of Dresner Consulting, LLC which she started to help tap the power of nonprofits and philanthropists to affect change. For over two decades, Faye has served in director-level positions with a variety of nonprofits which has taught her that when a person finds work that is personally fulfilling and life enhancing, both employer and employee benefit.

http://www.dresnerconsulting.com
fdresner@dresnerconsulting.com

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Employers Try to Help with Rising Gas Cost





At the Minnesota High Tech Association, rising gas prices have inspired a new policy: Employees can pick one day each week to work from home.

Taylor Pettis figures that policy is like a $500 raise. That’s how much his gas math tells him he’ll save each year by cutting out one 59-mile round-trip drive a week from his Woodbury home to St. Louis Park.

“The opportunity to have this is definitely a privilege,” Pettis said.

With the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded approaching $3.90 in the Twin Cities — up nearly a dollar from a year ago — workers and their employers are running the numbers and looking for options.

“This is a hot, hot topic,” said George Gmach, who conducts surveys for the Employers The Sunny Mini Market at Sherwood and Prospeity in St Paul has one of the better prices for unleaded fuel Monday afternoon June 9, 2008 at 4.07. (Pioneer Press: JOHN DOMAN) Association, an employer trade group in Minnesota. Response to a recent query on coping with rising gas prices was off the charts, he said.

For a growing number of workers, rising gas prices are changing the way they work. While more are tapping away at home instead of in the office, others are shifting schedules to avoid the slower and most costly rush hour commutes, while some are piling five days of work into four.

Others are changing the way they get to work. Participation in employer-sponsored transportation-pass discount programs was 30 percent higher in April than the same period a year ago, Metro Transit said. Some are even braving that ’70s concept known as a carpool.

A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found 18 percent of employers are allowing workers to telecommute, up from 4 percent in a survey a year ago. Workers are using discounted bus and rail passes at 14 percent of employers, up from 6 percent. Gas cards are popping up as employee recognition rewards at 14 percent of employers, also up from 6 percent.

Some employers are helping workers organize carpools, offering priority parking to employees who drive to work in groups. A smaller percentage of companies is offering a cost-of-living raise as a direct offset, or a stipend for long commutes.

For some long-haul commuters, jobs are becoming significantly less attractive as the cost of getting to work spikes. Gmach, of the Employers Association, estimates a worker earning $15.99 per hour and commuting 500 miles per week would need a 9 percent pay raise to keep up with rising gas prices. Using a more typical 175-mile per

Source: TwinCities.com

Some Employers Get Tough on Workplace Gossip




Just a year ago, the atmosphere in Sam Chapman’s small public relations firm was often tense.

“We had information leaks, we had disgruntledness, we had competitors finding things out, and we had sniping about senior management policies,” says Mr. Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations in Chicago. “People would stop talking when you walked by.”

A life coach identified the problem: gossip. Determined to elevate the tone, Chapman took dramatic steps. He fired three employees for gossiping. He also established a strict policy, turning the whole office into a no-gossip zone.

In workplaces everywhere, gossip remains a daily fact of life. Around water coolers, behind closed doors, and in e-mails, employees whisper about everything from office romances to rumored mergers and layoffs. Defenders insist that this chatter is often harmless, giving workers a window on legitimate news. Critics charge that it can be insidious and malicious, lowering morale.

“Gossip can be a problem if unaddressed, or it can play a useful role,” says Dennis Reina, author of “Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace.” “It can be a beacon in letting leaders know that there are issues that need to be dealt with in appropriate, constructive ways.”

Chapman defines gossip as “negative communications outside the presence of the subject of the communication.” Calling it “a productivity killer,” he adds, “It hurts the gossiper and the gossipee. Gossipers are wrecking their own reputation by talking about others. Gossipees are hurt because they’re being maligned.”

To quash such talk, Chapman devised a policy for his staff of 17: “If I hear you gossiping about somebody, we send you back to the person about whom you were gossiping and you tell what you said. That dispels all the false information.”

He is not the only employer to fire people for allegedly gossiping. A year ago, four town employees in Hooksett, N.H., were dismissed for spreading rumors about a town official. The women denied the charges, and last month two of them settled lawsuits against the town.

Yet punishing workplace gossip is not the answer, some employment experts argue. Creating ways to deter it is.

“Gossip is a fixable offense, not a fireable offense,” says Rachelle Canter, author of “Make the Right Career Move.” “Firing someone for gossiping is an extreme measure and one that won’t eliminate gossip but rather send it further underground, where it can do more harm.”

In spite of its negative connotations, gossip can play an important role in policing behavior, notes David Sloan Wilson, a biology professor at Binghamton University in New York.

“Gossip is often highly moralistic and functions as a social control system,” he says. “The first thing that happens when there’s a social transgression is gossip. Often it’s the only thing that needs to happen. We can use it to punish transgressions by social exclusion and shunning.”

If employees are happy, they will tend to use gossip for benign purposes, Professor Wilson adds. “But if they perceive management as the enemy, they will gossip for their own interest. That will not be in the interest of management. The solution is not to end gossip but to make the company more equitable.”

Yet Chapman defends his no-gossip policy, noting that the culture in his gossip-free office has changed markedly. Business has doubled in a year, he says. He is writing a book, “The No-Gossip Zone.” He’s even fielding calls from those in other professions. “I’ve had a lot of ministers reach out to me, trying to deal with gossip inside their congregations.”

Calling gossip “an explosion of bad work energy,” he says, “Think about the positive energy you replace it with.”

Employers who identify gossiping as grounds for discipline and termination need to notify employees in advance, preferably in writing, says Craig Annunziata, managing partner of Fisher & Phillips, an employment law firm in Chicago.

Despite efforts to stop rumors, situations may still arise where termination is the only resolution.

“If gossip runs counter to your company values or creates a legal liability, you’ve got to act on that,” says Bruce Clarke, president of Capital Associated Industries, a nonprofit employers association in Raleigh, N.C. “If one employee is defaming another and you don’t take action to change the false story, in most states there’s a potential claim.”

Yet even Chapman makes exceptions for some forms of gossip. He emphasizes that his no-gossip policy applies only to interactions with colleagues and clients. “It’s OK to talk about public figures,” he says. “We still gossip about Britney Spears and Eliot Spitzer.”

Source: Christian Science Monitor

5 Questions Search Committee’s Should Ask-Itself




BoardWalk Consulting, a national executive search firm, has had the privilege of working with literally hundreds of search committee members as clients grapple with their organizations’ issues of leadership succession. From this fascinating mix of missions, personalities, recruitment challenges and interview styles, BoardWalk Consulting has developed 5 Questions Search Committee’s Should Ask.

1. How do we define success?
To define success, you don’t need an exhaustive, up-to-the-minute strategic plan (although that may be an idea worth exploring), but you do need a collective expression of the board’s aspirations for the organization. At a minimum, as the surrogate for the full board, the search committee should be able to coalesce around preliminary answers to the big questions affecting an organization’s future.
Caution: Up to a point, the more specific the answers the better, but too much specificity could impose unwelcome limits on the CEO you’re about to recruit. Think big hairy audacious goals and the guideposts against which to measure progress, but avoid setting out turn-by-turn directions.

2. What worries us the most?
Even the best-run organizations with highly regarded leaders have issues that are worrisome, and a clear understanding of shared concerns at the board level can prove enormously useful in discussions with potential CEOs.

The concerns usually reflect issues of culture and competence, and the pendulum is always swinging between the two. Clarity around the board’s biggest worries will help CEO candidates understand the board’s priorities. Similarly, the lack of any real worries might signify a well-oiled machine—or a board in denial.

The corollary, of course, is “What worries us the least?” Typically, the answers reflect the core strengths of an organization. Perhaps surprisingly, these assets can also represent a bit of a minefield for new CEOs. At least some of the values, competencies and cultural norms that insiders tend to take for granted (because they are so ingrained) will be new to the outsider, if only because of the new context. By articulating values and norms that truly matter, the search committee will help insure a strong cultural fit between the organization and its new CEO.

3. How much change can we stand?
In nonprofits with more than a few minutes of operating history, there will be some vocal champions who want to freeze the status quo and some who want to change everything. Every new CEO faces the challenge of honoring the organization’s past while securing its future. Within this balance of heritage and hope lie enormous challenge, risk and reward for the board and the next leader. Which aspects of the organization (and its culture) do we want to preserve, and which aspects do we know should be amended? How big, really, is our appetite for change?

4. How can our new CEO add the most value?
An organization with any momentum at all can project future results from current operations, perform a basic gap analysis to understand what is needed to get from here to there, and then recruit to fill the predicted gap.
By asking “How can our new CEO add the most value,” however, the committee substitutes “What’s likely?” with “What’s possible?” Given the assets and issues you know about and the results to be expected under normally competent leadership, what are the possibilities under abnormally competent leadership?
The real added value may have little to do with vision and everything to do with execution. The trick is to determine for your organization the best combination consistent with your mission and values.

5. How can we ensure the new CEO’s success?
In most cases, the search committee’s members will become the new CEO’s most logical champions. More than most other board members, they will be the new CEO’s natural allies, sounding boards and mentors. At the outset of the process, every committee member should examine ways in which she or he could be most supportive of the future CEO.
As the search develops a consensus candidate for recommendation to the full board, some alignments will evolve naturally. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage committee members to plan their supporting roles, especially through the critical early months of CEO transition.
Some boards we work with have had great success in establishing board-level transition teams specifically charged with developing the framework, methodology and tactics for passing the torch from incumbent to successor. Others choose a less formal approach but still designate a go-to person to support the new CEO’s journey to early success. The chair/CEO role is always critical, of course, but what we suggest is a confidant of a different sort.
The needs will differ depending on the circumstance. CEOs new to a community or to a given cause will profit from help negotiating the twists and turns of the new environment. Managers new to the CEO role itself will profit from a link to peers outside the organization who have made a similar change.

Source: BoardWalk Consulting