I loved Clara’s thought-provoking article about the power of the smile and what it can predict about the future success of relationships  Let me know what you think!

By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Staff Writer

The passing of Michael Jackson has produced an outpouring of reflections, commentary and tributes.  I will add mine.  Michael Jackson was a phenomenal communicator.  Through his art – his music, his dance, his theatrical presentation – he reached millions across the world. In the few weeks since his death I have paid less attention to all the media hype and more to the very simple ways that his art communicated and connected people.

When I heard of his death, I immediately thought about the endless hours I spent in the basement of my parent’s home listening to Jackson Five records as a child.  I was not much older than Michael was when he and his brothers made those recordings.  That memory got me to pick up the phone and call my siblings and the childhood buddies who, along with me, memorized every lyric and dance move. We felt empowered, we felt joy – it was an awakening for us all and we had a chance to share those memories again.

In the weeks after Michael’s death, I have noticed how easy it is for people who perhaps don’t know each other well to have a conversation about one thing they do share – reflections of Michael.  For friends you know well, it is interesting to share perceptions of Michael – the good and the bad – and to create an opportunity to shed light, share ideas and perspectives that often go well beyond Michael himself and are really about life itself and who we want to be in the world.

My own daughter – age 12 – had heard a few Michael Jackson songs on the radio but she knew little about him.  All the attention, however, got her interested and she has been listening non-stop to Thriller and Off the Wall and practicing her "moon walk."  It has given the two of us something to share and appreciate.

A loss like this, provides a gentle reminder to look around at those you love and care for and to let them know it.  Michael’s death reminds us that life is fragile and it is to be appreciated in each moment.

Michael connected the dots between people and I think he knew it.  That was his gift.  Thank you.

I was reading with great interest an article called "The upside of the downturn" by Geoff Colvin (in FORTUNE, June 8, 2009) and the article highlighted five moves to make now which I found to be right on…so much so that I wanted to re-enforce Colvin’s ideas here:

1. Evaluate employees better - in good times managers fool themselves into thinking they’ve got all "A" players – in tough times, it’s easier to distinguish true stars from third stringers.
2. End guidance - telling investors what quarterly earnings are likely to be, then talking that number up or down as the quarter progresses, and then contriving to beat it – that corporate game has never served a useful purpose and can lead to harm as managers feel pressure to hit announced targets.
3. Manage for value - more than ever, it is critical to focus on what really matters, which is earning a return on your company’s capital that exceeds the total cost of all the capital in the business – obvious but reflect on whether or not anyone is being paid explicitly for achieving that goal.
4. Expand your mind about risks.  Address the most dangerous risks - formerly the taboo subject - now essential.
5. Mine employees for ideas - Potential improvements can hide in a million places.  Ask your associates.

Thanks Geoff Colvin – excellent guidance!

The great news for folks who want to improve their communication is that we have coaches, tutors and guides all around us providing examples of big and small ways we can improve. 

A few days ago I stopped into a neighborhood restaurant for lunch.  The waitress, Nancy, approached the table and with a big smile on her face and said, “Gosh, you look so much like my sister, Carol, and because of that I am gonna be super attentive to you today and if you want dessert, I’ll be sure to secure the biggest slice of cake for you.  I know you probably don’t have a lot of time, so, what can I get for you…?”  Nancy delivered a great experience for me that day and I noticed as she floated from table to table she exhibited the same upbeat friendliness to all her customers.

Nancy’s personal and humorous approach brightened my day and made my lunch experience memorable.  I learned something about how to create “instant intimacy” with a customer from Nancy that day.

Nancy’s a great communicator.  Nancy might have been an unlikely coach but there she was in all her glory providing a terrific example of how to connect powerfully with customers. When I think about great communicators and/or great communication a few things come to mind that characterize what makes them “great.”

The communicator or (communication) is

• Open and accessible
• Inviting and invigorating
• Wise and insightful

Look around, observe – take the adventure and be open to the abundance of great examples that surround each of us – every day.

The first time I ever visited Africa I had a life-altering experience.  It had nothing to do with the incredible wildlife or beautiful landscapes I saw.  Those things were wonderful but what changed me was the people and most specifically it was the way they communicated with each other.  I was instantly struck by how friendly people were.  I consistently received a direct eye contact, wide smile, friendly “Jambo” (Swahili for hello).   I was told that in African culture it is considered very impolite and disrespectful to not greet everyone with whom you come in contact.  It is the custom…. it is what people do to continually re-enforce the idea of community.

I vowed on the plane trip back home to Chicago to keep that custom alive.  I pledged to change the world – one hello at a time – and begin greeting everyone I passed with an exuberant hello.  My friendly exuberance was met with mixed reviews.  Some thought I was crazy.  Others were confused (do I know this person?)  Many were clearly uncomfortable.  A minority responded in kind. 

As a communication professional, I have continued to pay attention to the difficulties we seem to have in our culture to connecting, casually, with others.  Recently I toured the facilities of a new client  - who I was working with to improve employee engagement – and immediately began to observe the communication that occurred, or didn’t, as we wandered the hallways and walkways.  Employees traveled to their destination with their heads down avoiding eye contact with others at all costs.  Sometimes a cell phone or Blackberry served as an accepted shield signaling that the individual was occupied and should not be disturbed. 

How would you rate your organization on hallway hellos?  How connected are your employees to one another?

Can changing the way people interact with one another as they walk through the halls of their office building really improve employee engagement?  This brings up the age-old question of what comes first – the chicken or the egg?  What I can say for sure is that what you observe in the walkways and hallways of your organization will tell you something important about how people feel and what they value. 

The benefits of hallway hellos are innumerous.  Can you remember recently when you received the gift of a friendly, sincere or energetic greeting from a colleague and how it made you feel?  For me, it can put a smile on my face, brighten my mood, wake me up, jumpstart creativity, pull me out of a state of self-absorption, create an opportunity to connect with a colleague and stimulate endorphins to bring about a sense of well being.  It can also transfer positive energy from the employee to the next customer with whom they may interact. If folks treat each other well, internally, that will naturally extend to the customer.  At its essence, it connects you to others and builds community.

How can you make Hallway Hellos an organizational habit?

·      Hold a Hallway Hello Week. 

o   Have fun with what may be a challenging issue for many or simply a lack of awareness.  Suggest that employees not only learn each other’s name but also enquire into what their role is in the company and look for synergies.

o   Encourage managers to debrief the exercise in their staff meetings. 

§  Was it easy?  Why? 

§  What did you learn about yourself / others?

§  How can we make this a habit rather than a one-week exercise?

·      Practice Close to Home

o   While my focus here is the workplace the same issue exists in our personal lives.  We can live in a neighborhood for many years and still not know a lot of our neighbors.  Practice greeting people while taking a stroll in the park, passing someone in the grocery store isle or waiting in line at the bank.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, “We say in Africa that a person is a person through other persons.  A solitary human being is a contradiction in terms.  We are made for togetherness, for friendship, for fellowship.”   Africa is said to be the land of “ubuntu.”  It communicates the idea that we share a universal bond – one that connects us all.

Know that I am not promoting excessive or gratuitous greetings but instead I am encouraging the awareness of the opportunity that exists within the simple gesture of saying hello. 

Working with the Chief Customer Officer at Northeast Utilities, Johnny D. Magwood, has been a great experience.  We had a stimulating conversation last week about the challenges and opportunities that surround a shift in organizational culture to one that focuses on the customer.  He recalled an experience he had early in his career where the organization he was working for had determined to be more customer-focused.  He described that the entrance to the company headquarters doubled as a smoking area for employees.  The lobby area where customers passed through on a daily basis was a mine-field of ashtrays and cigarette smoke that individuals had to wade through to make it to their appointments.  He wondered what kind of impression that environment made on customers. Rightly so, he assumed customers were left with the notion that the company did not value them and were OK with putting obstacles in the the way of them having a positive experience.  Recognizing this issue, management removed all the ashtrays and instructed employees to smoke elsewhere.  Within a week, the ashtrays were covertly brought back in and old habits resumed.  Eventually, through persistent effort,  the smoking area in the lobby was permanently shifted to another area – away from customer’s view but it took awhile longer to shift people’s mindset around building an environment that worked for the customer.  

I loved this story because I think it so clearly describes how hard change can be, how difficult it is to see things from another’s perspective and how everything we do speaks loudly.  Every organization faces this same issue when moving toward a customer-focused culture.  How do we really get leaders and employees to see things through the customers eyes?  Yes, it takes time but it can help to walk in the customer’s shoes.  Here is a way to accomplish that:

Create an experience called "Customer for a Day."   Ask a small group of employees to enter the workplace on a particular day "as if" they were a customer.  Perhaps ask them to wear a baseball cap that says "customer" or don a "customer" button on their jacket.   Ask them to tour the building or facility looking at it through the lens of the customer.  Give them a checklist of things to look for that might include:

• How would you describe the environment?
• Did employees look busy / focused / friendly?
• Was the environment neat and well organized?
• What did you notice that let you know it was a customer-focused company?
  
  
  
• Did you run into any obstacles or red flags?

Gather the "customer employees" after the exercise and debrief with them.  It can be an eye-opening experience and one that can be shared with all employees through company newsletters or intranet profiles.  Make it a quarterly event and select new employees for each "Customer for a Day" experience.

 Destination: Employer of Choice

A Road Map to Becoming and Being Recognized as an Employer of Choice

Attracting and retaining talent is at the top of the priority list for most successful businesses, particularly so in the current economic climate.   To drive and sustain business success, you need the right people in the right seats – and you need to keep them.  So, how do you accomplish this important goal to attract and retain?  Shoeless Joe Jackson’s famous line in the film, Field of Dreams provides the answer:  “If you build it, they will come.”  If you build an organizational culture where people (and customers) come first, you’ll keep the talent – and attract new talent – that will realize your business objectives.

Benefiting from years of experience in helping organizations to achieve national and regional Best Employer recognition, this article shares some of the best practices, from our experience, and guiding principles to help you create an organizational culture that engages employees and leads to becoming an Employer of Choice, worthy of ‘best employer’ awards and recognition. 

Why take the journey?  There are many benefits to building an award-winning culture.  Being a ‘Best Employer’ is about having an engaged workforce.  Beyond being just satisfied, engaged employees feel an emotional attachment to the company.  As a result, they talk positively about the company to others, stay longer and have a stake in ensuring the company’s success. 

There’s an added benefit:  Engaged employees are customer-centric because they know – and it matters to them – that having satisfied customers is essential to the company’s long-term growth and profitability.  Engaged employees create engaged customers.

The marriage of engaged employees and engaged customers fosters an interest in and commitment to community involvement.  When a company cares about its people, they in turn care about their customers, and that results in an organic reach out to the communities they serve.

In the end, engaging your employees, building relationships with your customers and partnering with your community delivers financial results.  What’s not to like?

We have shared the benefits of embarking on the journey of becoming an employer of choice.  Now, the challenging task of building the culture that leads to being an employer of choice begins.  If you are like most organizations, you are probably already doing some of what it takes.  You just need to measure, add to, fine-tune, implement, and – measure again. 

Steps to Create the Culture

1.   Inventory and benchmark your current ‘people’ programs & practices. 

Build it Tip: Establish a multi-disciplinary team to review and evaluate. Create master spreadsheet that compares and contrasts your people programs against those of employers of choice.  Find the industry best practices by researching “best employer” lists.

2.   Ask your people what they think.  Survey your employees to determine what they like and don’t like about your current people programs and the work environment. 

Build it Tip:  Partner with a firm that’s experienced in conducting employee surveys.  This lends credibility and ensures confidentiality.  An external partner can also help you construct your survey so that you will be able to identify your own organization’s levers that will raise the engagement bar among your employees.     

3.   Identify and Close the Gaps.  Once you’ve identified the gaps between what you’re currently doing, what your employees value, and what employers of choice do, you can begin the work of closing the gaps.   

Build it Tip:  Prioritize areas for opportunity and start with the “quick wins” – items that are low cost but have high impact when it comes to employee engagement. 

Here’s an example:  Perhaps your employees told you in the survey you conducted that they want more recognition.  Focus on developing low- or no-cost recognition programs:  an inexpensive ‘on-the-spot’ recognition program (a free lunch, lunch with an executive, movie tickets, a $25 gift card, or simply public recognition in the company newsletter or intranet); years of service recognition; customer service awards.  The key to success in implementing these types of programs is to institutionalize them.  Get your managers on board first, and publicize – constantly. 

4.   Pursue your priorities.  Invest in people programs that directly address what your employees told you are important to them.  It may be a revamp of your pay programs, or revised time off programs that provide the flexibility your people told you they want and need.

Build it Tip:  Remember that it’s a process that can take several years.  Plan ahead and incorporate your priorities into your team’s strategic plan to ensure funding.

5.   Communicate Your Progress:  Be transparent and share survey results with your people – both the good and the not so good.  Let them know what you plan to do to improve, why it is important and ensure them that you will keep them informed of progress along the way.

Build it Tip:  Start at the Top.  Launch the communication process with a communication from the CEO that shares high-level survey results and what you’re going to do about them.  Next, involve your managers in the process by arming them with talking points and program highlights to share with their teams.  Finally, establish a communication schedule leveraging a variety of internal communications channels to keep the programs front and center.  You cannot over-communicate.  The objective is to let your employees know you’ve heard them and what you’re doing in response. Remember:  “If you build it, they will come”.   

6.   Keep Leaders Listening and Visible.  Visibility sends a clear message that senior management is listening and cares about what employees have to say.  It will get the attention of your people! 

Build it Tip:  Create as many two-way communication forums between employees and leaders as is possible.  Consider venues like “Breakfast with the President” or “Lunch and Learns” with senior leaders.  Invitations to these types of sessions can be a great way to recognize top-performing employees.  Develop a specific agenda for the sessions – asking employees for their input on a particular subject or business issue is a good start – and publicize the feedback and ideas from these sessions to all employees. 

7.   Measure again.  After you’ve invested a significant amount of time (may be six months to two years depending on your efforts), energy, and money in developing people programs that close the gaps and get you closer to your goal of becoming an employer of choice, survey your employees again.  This will enable you to see the fruits of your labors and will serve as motivation to continue to refine and steadily move closer to achieving your goal.

Build it Tip:  Think about periodic “mini-surveys” – simple, 5-question, check-box surveys that you can post monthly or quarterly on your intranet.  This will help you stay in touch with your people so you’ll know what’s on their minds.    

Are you starting to feel like an employer of choice?  Is your employee feedback reflecting major progress?  If so,go for it!  Begin applying for those “Best Employer” awards!  You’ll be measured on how your people programs stack up against those of your competition.  Keep in mind, what will matter the most – and weigh most heavily in whether or not you are recognized as a best employer will be what your employees have to say – because they will be asked.

Finally, it is important to say that while it is extremely gratifying to “win” an award it is not what matters most in the end.  You will find that the destination of Employer of Choice and the journey you took to “discover” the heart and soul of your organization will reap many benefits.  You will know what matters to your employees, you will know what you need to do to continually improve, you will discover new and different ways to communicate with them and you will unearth the uniqueness of what makes your company stand apart.  You may not end up with a “Best Employer” banner on your company door but when the next talented individual walks in the door to be interviewed you will know exactly how to sell your company and its culture.

Whether you have won awards or simply reached your goal to create a culture of engaged employees and customers, your next biggest challenge will be to sustain it.  Building it is one thing, sustaining it is another.  While there are many elements that go into sustainability, here are some key things to remember: 

• Be aware that “keeping it alive” is like climbing Mt. Everest – you are elated that you’ve reached the summit.  But it is easy to “rest on your laurels” or become complacent and forget to innovate and continually strive to build on what you have created.
• Continue to keep your finger on the pulse of your people.  Survey often – Annual company-wide surveys, smaller scale “pulse surveys” and even departmental polls.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate – and continue to try new approaches and venues to reach your people. 
• Leverage employee testimonials, interviews and cite successes in your publications that demonstrate progress continues to be made.
• Leaders must maintain visibility and accessibility.  When times are tough or goals have been accomplished, sometimes the drive to hold employee forums and meetings diminishes – but it must not.  Two-way communication forums are key!
• Recognize your people – never “go dark” on public recognition and creative awards.
• Always ask – What can we do to be better?

As Shoeless Joe Jackson said:  If you build it, they will come.  It will be well worth the journey.  Good Luck!

Sometimes you want a fresh approach to generating conversation with family, friends and colleagues.  My daughter shared with me an idea they used at her summer camp called "Rose, Bud and Thorn."  At the end of every day the campers would gather around in a circle and share what they had experienced during their day.  A Rose represents an accomplishment, a Bud is something you are working on and a Thorn is a challenge or difficulty you had.  I found it a sweet and meaningful way to embark on a conversation that sheds light on what people are excited about, proud of and where they could use support.  Try it with your family tonight or even to end a staff meeting with your team tomorrow.

Remember the old Earth, Wind and Fire song whose lyrics contained the memorable lines, "After the love is gone….what used to be right is wrong…can love that’s lost be found?"  I can’t get those lyrics out of my head as I continue to see the huge sales that surround us all at every turn. "70% percent off" seems to be the key driver of traffic to most retail stores today.  In these difficult economic times, huge sales are what brings customers in the door.  You are most often met with robotic greetings and responses, at best, or surly impatience at worse.  And we ignore or resign ourselves to "this is the way service is these days" or "it is what it is" because the cost savings somehow make the bad service acceptable.

Back to the lyrics – so what happens "after the sales are gone?"  Can love that’s lost be found?  What will drive customer loyalty (and love) during times when most people are being conservative and cost-conscious?  The "love" needs to be generated by great service – by an experience that will drive traffic even when the sales are finished.  Companies, businesses and stores that provide an experience that makes people glad they came by. An experience that actually makes people feel better during this challenging period.

From time to time, I want to highlight businesses that, in their own way, are delivering this kind of memorable service in hopes that the best practices can be adapted to your business – or at least generate a conversation about how you and your team can do better when it comes to delivering to your customers.

Recently, my daughter voiced an interest in taking dance classes – hip-hop in particular.  I found my may to a local Chicago dance establishment called the "Joel Hall Dance Center."  I was familiar with the Company but had never been to their center.  From the minute we walked in the door we were greeted with friendly smiles, asked our names and invited to discuss our interests and get their advice about classes that would be a good fit for my daughter.  We both immediately felt embraced and engaged – so much so, that I decided to take the plunge and start taking ballet classes again – something that I had not done in over 25 years!  This took a certain amount of personal courage on my part but their welcoming spirit somehow bolstered my confidence.  Within a few visits the staff and teachers remembered my name, noticed when I was absent, shared discount options and always had a friendly greeting.  Everyone,  young and old, experienced and inexperienced seemed to share this same collegial atmosphere.

While my daughter’s interest has faded, I continue to return and am drawn back to the studio despite scheduling challenges, my lack of talent and the cost – because of the way I feel when I am there.  Welcomed and supported – a part of the group.  At the end of the day, it is about building community that draws us back to businesses – whether it is a dance center, restaurant, clothing store, etc.

How are you creating community – a great experience – for your customers, after the sales have gone?

Have you had the opportunity to take a presentation skills course or study with a speech coach and were excited to keep the learning alive but when you returned to work with limited practice opportunities you found the skills you developed faded?

One of the best and most inexpensive ways to practice your newly developing speaking skills is to form “Sounding Boards” at work.  A Sounding Board group consist of co-workers who also want to practice and who would agree to meet on a regular basis to give presentations and receive feedback from each other.  Here are some tips on how to form your own Sounding Board:

1)    Create a clear focus and meeting schedule – something like:  We meet twice a month from 11 – 12:30 during our lunch break – on the second and fourth Tuesday – to fine-tune our client presentations.

2)    Manage participation expectations – If you have 6 people and meet for 90  minutes, each person will have fifteen minutes to both present and receive feedback.

3)    Designate a time-keeper to keep team members disciplined about managing time – as an example – 5 minutes to present, 10 minutes for feedback.

4)    Set ground rules for feedback – Make sure everyone understand the format for giving feedback.  Keep it simple:  “Start with the positive – What did you like best?  What worked well?” And then move to “What would you suggest for improvement? “ Also give folks the opportunity to ask for what they need in advance:  Someone might share that they are looking for ways to improve their opening or closing.

5)    Review Best Practices:  After everyone has presented and if you have time left – Incorporate the opportunity to revisit tips and techniques learned during training or what team members have experienced worked well in recent presentations.

Good luck and remember that having a good Sounding Board will help you steadily improve your speaking!