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Author: nuleadership

  • Opting Out: How to Increase Worker Satisfaction

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    Many managers are clueless.  Some bosses think because employees have a job despite the  financial crisis, employees should be happy.  When the pressures of globalizations are upon American businesses, companies need workers to achieve high performance.

    In my book, Breaking Organizational Ties: How to Have a More Fulfilled Life in Your Current Job, I researched and tracked the growing discontentment of some employees about their job situation. In fact, U.S. employee satisfaction is at a 20 year low.

    Most employees do not trust their senior leadership to guide the  organization with their employees in mind.  Furthermore, cost cutting of  professional training and education and the lack of vertical advancement in organizations are creating a growing number of unhappy workers. Given these organizational constraints, employees seek to opt out by giving the organization the least amount of performance in order to keep their jobs.

    Since the economic downturn, some employees are dissatisfied  with professional growth and career advancements in their jobs.  Gareth Jones and Jennifer George, authors of Contemporary Management, note that managers need to be mindful how they make decisions that affect employees.

    Downsizing and outsourcing are a way of life for most organizations.  However, many times low morale in these organizations is  attributed to how employees are treated in this process.  Jones and George further suggest that managers should show compassion and empathy for layoff victims, by providing  employees with as much advance notice as possible about the layoff, and giving  clear information about severance benefits.

    After the layoff, they can  also assist layoff victims in their job search efforts. These are a few of the ways in which managers can humanely manage a layoff. Richard Daft, author of Management, explains the importance of motivating employees:  “One secret for success in organizations is motivated and engaging employees. Most people begin a new job with energy and enthusiasm, but employees can lose their drive if managers fail their role as motivators.”

    Therefore, managers need to inspire followers to minimize the number of individuals who ‘opt out’ in organizations.  Employees play a critical role in determining if they will ‘opt out.’ Marsha Sinetar, author of Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow, notes that the lingering consequences of employees who only work to obtain a paycheck: “Most of us think about our jobs or our careers as a means to fulfill responsibilities to families and creditors, to gain more material comforts, and to achieve status and recognition. But we pay a high price for this kind of thinking.”

    Yet, if organizations are to be successful, they can’t afford their workers to be ‘opting out’ and providing less than superior performance against the backdrop of global forces. 

    Discuss how managers can inspire employees toward greater job satisfaction.

    © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

     

  • Solving the Sustainability Puzzle

    sustainability-boy-world

    Gridlock can often derail sturdy locomotives when all the leaders are driving it in different directions.  The Federal government is no exception.  Political in-fighting is the game of the day.  President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address this month which earned mixed reviews depending on their party affiliation. 

    Yet, many politicians recognize that America’s massive financial debt isn’t sustainable.   The latest crisis involves sequestration which requires automatic cuts across the government, including defense and domestic programs based on a specific deadline.

     According to a recent George Mason University study, over 2.14 million American jobs would be lost if sequestration took place.  The original concept of sequestration was to create an artificial doomsday that would force both political parties to work together.  It didn’t work!

    Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky made a plea for deep spending cuts and congressional term limits:  “The path we are on is not sustainable, but few in Congress or in this administration seem to recognize that their actions are endangering the prosperity of the nation.” 

    If the federal government, with its massive resources, is  unable to deal with the issues of sustainability, what hope do other smaller organizations have then?  “Instead of negotiating, party leaders were busy issuing ultimatums and casting blame,” noted Washington Post columnist Lori Montgomery.

    With the ever increasing chaos and complicity of business operations to achieve a profit, the concept of sustainability becomes more than an Ivy League Business School buzz word.  The speed of change and the constant bombardment of market problems continue to haunt business executives who hope to survive another crisis situation.

    Organizations that do not understand this necessity soon find themselves looking at the behinds of other organizations that are in front of them. In order to survive, today’s business leaders need to understand the market environment, recognize their strengths, pursue market opportunities, and obtain continuing profitability while taking a long-view perspective of their operations to achieve sustainability.

    More and more organizations recognize that sustainability is more than keeping the environment clean.  Yet, the concept of sustainability is often difficult to define. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sustainability is defined as “everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.” 

    Consequently, one person may view sustainability simply as the ability to use resources continuously without any long-term depletion.  Andres Edwards, author of The Sustainability Revolution, breakdowns sustainability in several  key components which are  ecology/environment, economy/employment, equity/equality, and education.

    Some businesses executives quietly argue that profitability supercedes many other priorities such as the environment.  Edwards disagrees: “Creating a healthy environment, free of pollution and toxic waste, and simultaneously providing the basic for a dynamic economy that will endure for an extended period are viewed as complementary rather than conflicting endeavors.”

     However, are there many things that are possible to be sustained without proper planning for them?  In order for businesses to avoid these conflicts of interest between capitalism and the sustainability model, visionary leaders must communicate their expectations to all members of their organizations and throughout their supply chain. 

    Discuss the concepts of sustainability as it relates to your profession.

    © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

  • Today’s Strategic Alliances

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    If you want to survive on the international scene, you had better develop a well connected supply chain.  Yet, businesses need to properly align with organizations that have the same ethical system and create value in the relationship.  This reality speaks to the nature of strategic alliances. 

    With the sudden emergence of countries like China, Brazil, and India, there is a new emerging demand from consumers across the globe.  These newer countries are strategically positioning themselves to change Western civilization and America’s Super Power status.  

    Antoine van Agtmael, author of The Emerging Markets Century, argues that these emerging countries are not a fad but a wave of things to come in the near future:   “Instead of being peripheral, as they have been since the first Industrial Revolution, key economies of the former Third World will soon re-emerge as the dominant economies of the future.”  

    In fact, he notes that these emerging countries’ economies are growing at a rate nearly twice as fast as developed countries such as the United States and its Western allies. 

    Gareth Jones and Jennifer George, authors of Contemporary Management, explain about the positives and negatives of entering global markets:  “As we have discussed, a more competitive global environment has proved to be both an opportunity and a threat for organizations and managers.” 

    Businesses must build relationships that minimize their risks in global markets.   According to some estimates, these emerging markets will be nearly twice as large as the current developed economies.  Antoine van Agtmael suggests a different business shift:  “A new breed of companies will play a critical role in producing this shift; a select number of which truly deserve to be regarded as world class.” 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgfwzPRyVvw 

    Strategic alliance is defined ‘as an agreement in which managers pool or share their organization’s resources and know-how with a foreign company, and how organizations share the rewards and risks of starting a new venue.’  However, these relationships must make sense over the long-term in order to sustain any meaningful value. High performing organizations cannot afford to misfire with the wrong strategic alliances.  Consequently, good organizations need to be deliberate in forging the right relationships in a global market.

     Discuss the concepts of strategic alliances in a global market.

     © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

  • Guest Blogger – Jalene Nemec

    customer-service-bookcover

    Have you ever had an unpleasant experience related to customer service, perhaps at a home improvement store or with your local cable company? How did that experience affect your overall impression of the company? Were you encouraged to take your business elsewhere?

    As a consumer during hard economic times, you want to spend your money where you feel valued. You want to interact with associates who are friendly, knowledgeable about their business and who want to help you. Unfortunately, many companies today have allowed their customer service to become nearly extinct. Furthermore, they have failed to provide recognition to their employees for a job well done. Businesses once understood that by valuing all employees that company’s success would continue.

    Employees felt responsibility for their actions because they felt respect, value, and self-worth. The businesses strived for continuous improvement. Employees were loyal to these companies and retired with them. In recent times, employees feel less and less appreciated.

    They don’t feel important to their employers. As a result, they have made a conscious decision to stop caring about elements such as customer service. Workers have lost faith that they will be able to climb the professional ladder, leaving almost zero incentive to stay with the same company.

    Instead, employees move up in their career by increasingly changing jobs and switching companies. Everyone is negatively affected by this cycle. In lieu of progressing, businesses resemble a wheel spinning in mud. Companies receive mediocre staff support, employees give poor customer service, clients purchase less, businesses see reduced profits, and employees get hit with layoffs, pay cuts, and poor benefits.

    The customer service aspect of these companies has seen the most drastic decline. It has been carelessly devalued. Contrary to popular belief, customer service is not just about solving problems. It is about being the “face of the company.”

    Managers have further endangered the myth of customer service by outsourcing client support to low-cost countries. They have eliminated receptionists and replaced them with recordings. They have almost entirely erased the need for training.

    Finally, to show efforts that they still care about their customer service performance, the same businesses continue to send out surveys. Many clients not only consider the surveys annoying, but the company fails to make them worthwhile by ignoring complaints. All of this is done in an effort to save money.

    Businesses today must change this mindset if they want to grow their business successfully. In my book titled “Great Customer Service: The Definitive Handbook for Today’s Successful Businesses” and co-authored by Dr. Green, I focus on five key characteristics that together lead to good customer service. Those characteristics are attitude, awareness, accountability, action and affability (friendliness).

    For a company to improve their customer service they must accept change. Change begins with the right attitude. Before a company can change their customer service, they must establish a mission to provide quality service. Furthermore, the company should be aware of the current state of the service they provide.

    Change cannot be made without understanding the situation at hand. A business may question, has there been a noticeable decline in sales? If so, could it be a result of the customer service?

    The best way to kick-start change is to hold employees and managers accountable. Without effectively maintaining accountability for everyone involved, people will not see a reason to change their behavior and the business will suffer. Holding personnel accountable is the first part of taking action. Unless a company makes a conscious decision to actively improve, change will be temporary or non-existent.

    Finally, the last characteristic is affability. It seems like a minor detail, but consider some of your past consumer experiences? There were probably a few instances where an employee helped you in an “I have to” way, and there were times where you were helped in an “I want to” way. The latter is much better.

    Throughout the book, I also focus on how to build a more profitable business, how to increase good sustainable customer service, how to inspire workers toward greater organizational performance, and how to inspire today’s demanding customers. 

    While I could continue on about how these five characteristics impact the other topics covered in my book, I would rather hear from you. As consumers, professionals and MBA students, use what you have experienced and learned to explain how you believe these characteristics impact profitability, sustainability, performance and inspiration. There are no perfect answers. Good customer service is not necessarily cut and dry, it is all in the eye of the beholder!

    Please share your thoughts on this topic. 

    About the Guest Blogger

    Jalene Nemec, author and industry expert

    Jalene Nemec, MBA, is the author of the upcoming book, Great Customer Service. She is also one of the brightest business thinkers in the world, having both extensive customer service and leadership experience.  She is a former Lincoln Memorial University MBA graduate.

  • Leveraging Talent Advantages During Disrupted Change

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    In his book 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business, Earvin “Magic” Johnson notes how he developed his entrepreneurial spirit, took advantage of business opportunities, and used his economic power as a force for social change.

    As a megastar with the Los Angele Lakers in the 80’s, Magic soon established himself as one of the best to ever play in the NBA.  Unlike other super-athletes who failed to make the transition from superdom after their prime, Magic used his athletic platform to give him access to some of the most successful business leaders in the world.

    Loaded with the internal business drive he inherited from his father, Magic began to use his athletic instincts to his advantage in the business world.  Magic found power in building on his core strengths, not being consumed with his weaknesses:  “Rarely can you turn a weakness into a strength. Greatness is achieved by building on strengths and managing your weaknesses so they do not matter.”

    Sadly, many professionals are also succumbed by their weaknesses too.  Rev. Joe Tolbert, a dynamic motivational speaker, warns about how culture influences our personal perceptions:  “The world teaches us to focus on weaknesses rather than strengths.” Given the tremendous financial turbulence in the world, today’s leaders need to focus on their talent management if they are to survive.  In this blog, I will examine the concept of talent management.

    Talent management is a critical asset for high-performing organizations in a global economy. In fact, finding the best talent and retaining the best people in a business will eventually overtake many other advantages such as technology and capital.  Talent power will rule the future economy.

    Talent management is defined as the process through which employers anticipate and meet their needs of human capital.  Yet, employees cannot dismiss talent management as only an employer’s duty.

    Since the post-World War II era, workers have enjoyed a lifetime employment model where workers were assured of financial stability.  That is not the case today where younger workers can expect to change jobs frequently.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRjNHIGlykk

    Peter Cappelli, author of Talent on Demand, outlines the dangers of poor talent management. In the past, with a good economy, American businesses could afford to mismanage their talent pool.  Today’s businesses often are short-sided and do not want to develop internal talent; instead, they are depending on others for their talent.

    Cappelli explains, “Relying on outside hiring seems to fly in the face of the imperative that organizations should be engaged in knowledge management practices that capture and organize what they know about their operations to improve performance.”  However, these failures in managing this talent pool are often negative.  For example, having too many employees leads to layoffs and restructuring, while having to too few talented people leads to talent shortages.

    John Wiedmer, Robert Wiedemer, and Cindy Spitzer, authors of America’s Bubble Economy, wisely forecasted the bursting of America’s bubble in 2008 while other economists were predicting economic fortune for all.  In fact, the authors now predict that an even bigger financial cliff is ahead for the world.  However, they advocate the importance of talent management: “The fall of America’s Bubble Economy will shake up many industries, drive businesses into bankruptcy, derail countless careers, and force dramatic numbers of workers into temporary unemployment.  It will also create thousands of successful companies that don’t currently exist, lead all sorts of people to rethink their life’s work, and make many entrepreneurs and investors fabulously wealthy.”

    Most firms would prefer to invest in technology and automation to reduce their labor cost or outsource their labor needs abroad to obtain cheaper resources.  In the case of talent management, these short-term gains can be fatal.  Cappelli further argues for strengthening talent management in organizations: “Growing competition in product markets further weakens the traditional talent management model by sharply increasing the uncertainty associated with planning.”  Therefore, talent management becomes a vital component of corporate strategies for businesses that desire sustainable growth.

    Discuss the concepts of talent management for today’s businesses.

    © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

  • Globalization’s Unintended Consequences for Americans

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    Even in fun, you should see the obvious.  Last fall, my wife and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean.  During this seven day adventure, we visited several countries that catered to our whims as Americans. 

    Yet, the impacts of globalization were obvious on the cruise ship.  Both the passengers and the cruise staff appeared to operate within their own cultural preferences when not having to succumb to the dominant culture.  

    There were several occasions where there was multiple languages being spoken in the same area which provided a different backdrop to me as an American.  We were all interconnected but yet apart. 

    Global forces continue to change business operations and society as a whole.  The results of globalization mean that countries, businesses, and people become interdependent.  Organizations typically pass through four stages to international commerce: The domestic stage, the international stage, the multi-national stage, and the global stage. In search of more profitability, companies send many of their business functions abroad in an attempt to obtain cheaper resources (i.e. labor) for products or services.  

    Should globalization change our thinking as Americans too? In the 1960s, the United States was a megastar internationally, accounting for 66.3% of worldwide foreign direct investments. As globalization began to open barriers to the free flow of commerce, non-U.S. firms sought to increase production activities to establish a presence in major foreign markets.  

    Given these changes, things started happening.  In 2009, non-U.S. firms accounted for 14.1% of the stock foreign investments with the majority of these firms based in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and China.  Charles Hill, author of International Business, notes:  “The world may be moving toward a more global economic system, but globalization is not inevitable. Countries may pull back from their recent commitment to liberal economic ideology if their experiences do not match their expectations.”

     

    Of course, globalization is not all good. America was once the center of all important business transactions internationally.  However, now there is an emergence of other key global partners.  Brazil, Russia, India, and China are becoming dominate providers of products and services abroad. 

    With the threat of outsourcings, many Americans are worried about job opportunities.   Richard Daft, author of Management, further argued about the impacts of globalization: “For today’s managers, the whole world is a source of business threats and opportunities.” Should U.S. parents worry about their children’s future given the declining role of the United States in the global environment? 

    Today’s American students are not doing better than their parents as it relates to education.  According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. ranks fourth worst among 29 developed countries for children obtaining a higher level of education than their parents.  

    Only 21.6% of those 25 to 34 years old achieved a higher level of education than their parents in the United States. That compares to an OECD average of 36.8%.  Consequently, current and future U.S. workers will be vulnerable to the consequences of globalization.  Unfortunately, many politicians, executives, and media pundits do not have a long-term perspective about the opportunities and threats related to globalization.  They should! 

    Discuss the opportunities and threats associated with globalizations and how emerging leaders can compete.

    © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

  • New Value Creation Model

    value-smart-shopping

    I received an email from Dr. Marcus Blakemore about a very fascinating website called Fiverr.com. At first, I was very skeptical because freelancers like technical writers and web designers were offering their services for $5. In fact, these services were listed well below market prices.

    Yet, the site also offers bizarre services like someone writing something on his or her lips to a person dressed in a clown suit willing to send greetings to anyone. Loaded with my conventional wisdom of ‘you get what you pay for,’ I gave the website a chance. Through this effort, I found some vendors were outstanding while others were mediocre.

    Amazingly, the owners of Fiverr.com had created a niche for themselves with freelance websites, such as Elance.com or Guru.com. However, a new value proposition was also developed.

    For experienced sellers, Fiverr.com provides a promotional venue where they can sell more expensive services down the product line, newbie sellers can turn their hobbies into financial gains, and value-seeking buyers can secure some quality services well below market value.

    With the pressures of globalization all around, organizations are finding that creating value becomes a necessity. This article examines the concepts of value creation in today’s competitive environment. 

    Twenty-first-century organizations can no longer implement value creation in a vacuum. Ken Favaro, author of Put Value Creation First, further suggests that placing a priority on value creation gives businesses two advantages over their competition: The first is capital and the second is talent. Favaro argues that successful value creators never suffer from capital shortage.  

    Value focuses on the relationship between the customer’s expectations of a product or service and the amount paid for it. C.K. Prahalad and Vemkatram Ramaswamy, authors of The Future of Competition, further reasoned that twenty-first-century corporations must adapt their value creation system to fit the global scale.

    They noted the new system is an individual-centered, co-creation of worth between consumers and organizations.  Few executives take the time to explain their values, but this will be increasingly important if companies hope to expand success in their global market. 

    For many people, the concept of value creation is vague. An exact definition of value depends on the individual, but it could be defined as the net bundle of benefits the customer derives from a product or service.

    According to Businessdictionary.com, value creation denotes ‘the performance of actions that increase the worth of goods, service or even a business.’  Consequently, value creation for customers encompasses developing products and services that customers find consistently useful.  

    Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, argue that an individual must understand the customer to establish value.  Furthermore, Paul Peter and James Donnelly, authors of Marketing Management, argue that the starting point in the buying process is the consumer’s recognition of an unsatisfied need. The customer must remain the focus for any sustainable business success. 

    Value creation must also be a strategic and deliberate concept for professionals. Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall maintain that perceived value is in the eyes of the customer. Therefore, perceived value will vary. A professional’s biggest challenge is in selling this value with consistency. Being strategic about these business relationships is not simple. Organizations must clearly understand the external motivation within their market in order to create lasting customer value. The external environment is considered anything outside of the organization’s control. External environment factors include economic stability, legal-political shifts, technological growth, social-cultural norms, and natural changes.

    With businesses losing market sharing to companies abroad, organizations must establish clear value propositions to their customers. Paul O’ Malley, the principal of Paul O’Malley Associates (Newton, MA), argues the crucial need of value creation for companies: “The most successful organizations understand that the purpose of any business is to create value for customers, employees, and investors, and that the interests of these three groups are inextricably linked. Therefore, sustainable value cannot be created for one group unless it is created for all of them.”

    Furthermore, today’s professionals always need to provide value for their employers and customers. In tough times, organizations want to keep their best people. In order to sustain lasting success, value creation must be an important ingredient of corporate business strategies during economic turbulence.

    Describe an opportunity or problem in an industry where a new product or service would be benefical to customers because it would provide new value for them.

    © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

  • Ethical Leadership in 2013

     

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    If you can’t trust people with your mother, we are in trouble!  My 74-year-old mother was in the market to buy another car.  She finally bought it at a used car dealership (mom n pop).  They convinced her that this used car (PT Cruiser) was great!

    In a few days, the car had problems. She took it back to the used dealership; the owner told my mother she had purchased bad gas. Eventually, my mother took it to an independent car repair shop. The computer was dead! To date, the used car dealership has not returned any of my mother’s calls. 

    Situations like this undermine the public trust in human beings.  We have become cynical of our leaders, public or private.  With the number of high profile scandals with government officials and business executives, many people would describe ‘ethical leadership’ as an oxymoron.   Can you have ethics and leadership side by side?  

    Denis Collins, author of Business Ethics, further explains, “Subordinates are constantly evaluating the ethics of a manager’s decisions and behaviors. Actions speak louder than words.”  Therefore, any meaningful ethic program must start with senior management behavior.

    Trust is the foundation of any meaningful corporate structure.  Gareth Jones and Jennifer George, management experts maintain that when leaders are ineffective chances are good that workers will not perform to their capabilities. 

    Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, further suggest senior management style (do their actions match their words), the established culture of the organization and external forces can create a climate where unethical or even illegal behavior is tolerated. Therefore, senior managers should lead the way by example. 

    Furthermore, organizations must evaluate their current corporate culture. There are both written and unwritten rules and behaviors that come into play. For example, Enron senior management demonstrated a lack of moral and ethical judgment that played a critical role in its decision-making (i.e. breaking laws).                                     

     

    Enron in the boom days of the late 90’s

    In addition to analyzing an individual’s personal behavior, individuals need to analyze the organization’s leadership and culture climate to see the big picture.  Therefore, ethical leadership becomes an essential ingredient for making a highly effective organization.    

    State your professional experience with ethical leadership or lack of.

     

     © 2013 by Daryl D. Green

     

  • 2012 in Review – Our Nuleadership Blog

    The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

    Here’s an excerpt:

    4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 19,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

    Click here to see the complete report.

  • Writing for Greater Employability

    Sadly, I see too many people who feel that are helpless in life.  It is easy to see how some folks could be discouraged due to the current economic crisis.  There are more than 15 million individuals unemployed.  Good jobs are going abroad. 

    Today’s companies view outsourcing as part of their daily operations.  Consequently, many working professionals are concerned about keeping their jobs.  Being viewed as a valuable asset to an organization is critical for sustainable employment. 

    Gaining more influence can help working professionals with more job opportunities, increase their wealth power, and give them the confidence they need to be successful. In my new book, “Writing for Professionals”, I share advice with professionals looking for a tool to improve their employment prospects.  

    In fact, people who are become recognized writers bring added value to their organizations, often measured in notoriety. There is nothing more powerful as being an industry expert. Prolific writers are often perceived as authority figures.

    Therefore, professionals across the country can use the power of the written word to build their careers. In my new book, I provide a step-by-step guide needed to write for the recognition that results in better employment opportunities. 

     

    We live in a media crazed world where communicators are highly valued and often the first to be hired. For many working professionals, the path to a better job, more authority, and greater peer respect is being published. Professionals across the country are discovering the power of writing for more influence. Therefore, it’s never too late for individuals to benefit from their insight and experience by putting their views on paper.  

    Please share your thoughts on this subject.

     @ 2012 by Daryl D. Green