The Happy Burro

I am a forward-thinking person. I rarely dwell on what was and tend to focus on what could be.  With that in mind, here are a few thoughts, quotes and ideas to propel us into 2009:

• “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look … To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” – Henry David Thoreau from Walden.
• Punish the behavior, not the person.
• It would be great if someone invented auto-charging cell phones.  I want one like Jack Bauer uses on the television show “24“.  He never charges his phone, yet uses it around the world for voice, data and Internet.
• Try to spend at least 80% of your day doing something you love.  Yes, it can actually be work-related!
• “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” – Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Part II, 1597
• Learn and understand the politics in your workplace.  You may choose to participate or not.  Yet you must know the game exists to survive.
• Babies don’t care how bad your voice is when you sing a lullaby to them.  They just want to be close to you.
• Imagine if we all knew what we all knew!  Seek out knowledge wherever it may be.  Hint: it isn’t always in formal places (books, universities, teachers or leaders).
• Assume positive intent.
• Buy only original art.
• Keep up on everything, obsess over nothing.
• Learn what motivates you and ensure that is part of your day (music, coffee, family, money, dogs, etc.).
• “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?” Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.

What are you looking forward to discovering in 2009?

Joe Raasch :: Dec.27.2008 :: Change Management, Employee Engagement, Innovation, Leadership, Life, Organizational Development, Performance Management, Personal, Uncategorized :: 1 Comment »

Just about every organization in this economy has to learn to do more with less.  Public, private, non-profit: budgets are shrinking across the board. According to CNNMoney.com, over 100,000 jobs were lost in the second week of December (article here). If you are working in or leading one of these organizations, you still have customers that need your services, products and support.  The fact that you have significantly less resources doesn’t mean much to them.  To survive, you need to be better than ever at keeping the clients you have and finding new ones.  Cutting your way to prosperity rarely works.  So how do you accomplish this Herculean task? (hint: it isn’t about focusing on budgets…)

Define Success

Do you have a conference room right now that is packed with finance people, spreadsheets and a line out the door of managers pleading their cases to not have their budgets slashed?  Did the CEO demand ‘across the board reductions’?  Does it appear that everyone is trying to nickel and dime their way to meet budget numbers?

Try this exercise instead: get your senior leaders together and define what success looks like for your organization.  Is it three new products introduced in 2009?  Holding the line on market share?  Increasing enrollment by 5%?  Get that decision and provide guidance for your department managers.

Organize for Success

Have your team look at every department and organize them to specifically deliver on that success.  You may find that you have a few businesses that exist, even profitable ones, that don’t deliver what you say you’re in business to do.  Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, set a goal of being #1 or #2 in every market in which GE had a business – and if GE wasn’t #1 or #2, then fix/sell/close that business within six months.  GE decided that even profitable businesses that did not match the organization’s vision had to go.  What is your business holding on to that isn’t part of the future?

Fund Success

Now we start looking at the budget.  How much does this new world order cost?  If your people were judicious in their work, you should find a minimum of discrepancies in what should be funded.  If they are still holding onto legacy business, unprofitable products or accounts, or programs that do not meet their intended purpose, you have an easier way to give guidance.  Repurpose budget dollars to fund the stated success, and/or increase revenue/donations/partnerships to fund that success.

DEFINE SUCCESS

ORGANIZE FOR SUCCESS

FUND SUCCESS

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Next we’ll discuss Demand versus Legacy program offerings. See you then!

Joe Raasch :: Dec.21.2008 :: Change Management, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Development :: No Comments »

How You Show Up Each Day As A Leader

Do you keep your distance from those not of your organizational rank?  Do you try too hard to connect with everyone at every level?Is your office door closed or open?  Why?  Do you use your hierarchical position to further your agenda, or inform your agenda?

“Where there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.”

– The photographer Dorthea Lange

How You Show Up Each Day As A Leader

Do you keep your distance from those not of your organizational rank?  Do you try too hard to connect with everyone at every level? Is your office door closed or open?  Why?  Do you use your hierarchical position to further your agenda, or inform your agenda?

How Your Team Shows Up Each Day

Some people are stressed because they lost a button on their shirt.  Someone else lost their dog.  Another is happy because a loan was approved.  There are as many answers to someone’s attitude when they arrive at work as their are people.  Don’t assume too much.  And be mindful as a leader of the impact of what you say and do on each of your staff.  This doesn’t mean changing anything, just be well aware of your intent and ensure that it is evident in your words and actions.

Why This All Matters

Perception and initial impressions are not always reality.  Be mindful as a leader of the impact of what you say and do on each of your staff.  This doesn’t mean changing anything, just be well aware of your intent and ensure that it is evident in your words and actions.

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Next we’ll explore how to staff an organization with limited resources. I look forward to our conversation! – Joe

Joe Raasch :: Dec.07.2008 :: Change Management, Employee Engagement, Innovation, Leadership :: No Comments »