Learning From the Herd: A study of Web 2.0 activities revealed that our CLOs and SMEs are no longer the focal point of learning. Inc. Magazine’s survey of Fortune 500 company execs reported that 48% feel that social media will be central to their strategy, marketing, and learning efforts.

American consumers may soon get to prove how “green” they are when it comes to their vehicles, with both Ford and Chevrolet set to produce purely battery powered vehicles. Ford did not report a cost for their version, but the Chevrolet Bolt, which will have a battery lifecycle of 40 hours will begin selling at approximately $40,000.

Are you Training Your Customers? Training Industry Quarterly reported that  in many cases the budget for training customers has eclipsed the budget for training employees. The top 3 reasons for the training are Increased Customer Satisfaction, Increased Customer Retention, and Increase Training Budget.

Are you a Producer? If you are reading the Performance Report, then you probably are. Managers or executives have already proven that they are producers. But if you are a producer who can delegate effectively, then your accomplishments far exceed your efforts, because those you foster will also be producers for you, exponentially increasing your output.

Most managers may think this obvious; of course you have been delegating tasks for years. However, let’s focus on effective delegation that focuses on results instead of methods. This kind of delegation allows people to choose the method of accomplishing the task you have delegated to them, and makes them responsible for the results.

This initially takes more time, but is well worth the investment. By developing mutual understanding in the following areas, you will be able to foster stewardship delegation versus task delegation. Let’s review those areas...

You are a successful manager. You have invested in your team, and it has paid off in a positive working relationship. So where does it go from here? Can you maintain the praise and rewards that have gotten you to this point? Praise and rewards work well for a limited time, but at some point the team dynamic has to develop, in order to keep inertia going. So how do you make that transition? Read on.

Book Report

Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell books are quickly becoming events, the rare business texts that are anticipated by a growing throng of “Malcoholic” readers eager to see which crevasse he’ll enter and illuminate for our enlightenment and reading pleasure.

Gladwell's latest title, Outliers: The Story of Success (Little, Brown & Co. 2008) takes a interesting look at “Outliers” defined by the author as the high achievers that fall outside of the common standard. However rather than highlighting success stories with tales of the immensely talented or incredibly fortuitous among us Gladwell instead attempts to uncover sociological reasons to explain the why’s of success.

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Your business has slowed as the economy has gone into a stall. You feel that nearly everyone has given you 100% of their effort, however it hasn’t been enough and cuts are going to have to be made. Some of them to very good people. Of your staff, consisting of 30 sales and support personnel, you are going to have to release 7. You have reviewed the job descriptions, performance reviews, tenure, attendance records, and productivity levels. You have also worked with other departmental managers to determine where overlaps have occurred and where some of the remaining positions can be consolidated. Two key pieces of information were realized during that time. The first was that due to hard work and an efficient structure you organization had been running fairly lean all along. The second was that 5 of the 7 positions you need to cut are easily recognized.

The dilemma is that the remaining two positions that need to be cut are difficult to determine. There are four employees with very similar records of achievement, time with the company, and overall fit within the department and organization.  You don’t want to make any cuts that effect lives arbitrarily, but your standard HR measures aren’t giving you much to work with that will assist your decision.

What steps will you take so that you make the right decision in these difficult times?

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Author Profile

Marlene Caroselli

Dr. Marlene Caroselli is an internationally recognized author in the areas of communication and leadership growth with an outstanding list of nearly 50 books to her credit. After leaving the corporate world in 1984 she founded the Center for Professional Development where she began her consulting practice and added the title “author” to her list of professional achievements.

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