Is it foolish to send email to the next cubicle? How about arranging a conference call within a single building? Is texting just for teens? No, no, and no. What is foolish is believing that these methods are interchangeable. Choose well and you will save yourself and others significant time and energy while getting better results. Phone Pick up the phone when: It will take you longer to write the email than to make the call. A single, round trip email is unlikely to resolve the issue. You need an answer right away and an email that doesn’t get answered right away would require you to turn to other sources. Confusion and questions greatly exceed clarity; an email would involve guessing, lengthy explanations, and/or irrelevant choices and suggestions. The situation is sensitive and you need to listen before you speak.
PRESS RELEASE September 21, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 603-784-5727 Uncommon Clarity®, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Ann Latham, a.k.a., The Meeting Slasher™, announces new offerings to help organizations save hours every week. An audio seminar, Meeting Mastery – How to Slash Meeting Times in Half and Get Better Results and its companion, The Meeting Mastery Handbook, join her workshop and consulting services to help clients make dramatic improvements in productivity by making their meetings more effective.
PRESS RELEASE September 16, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 603-784-5727 Uncommon Clarity®, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Ann Latham will address the Hartford/Springfield Executive Roundtable at their October 13, 2010 meeting, 3:00 – 5:00. Her speech, entitled “Facing Fastballs – How to Build Your Confidence No Matter What Comes At You,” will provide immediately useful techniques for assessing, maintaining, and building your self-confidence, whether you have suffered major set backs in your career or are flying high, so you can step up to any plate and swing with confidence.
“You must have an agenda!” is a demand that has guaranteed nothing but a flood of atrocious agendas. Most agendas are literally recipes for wasting time: 8:00 Waste time on X 8:15 Waste time on Y You get the idea Now download these typical and seriously flawed agendas. Do they look like yours? Why more companies don’t do something to improve their meetings is way beyond me. I have met almost no one at any company who doesn’t complain about the time wasted in lousy meetings. Furthermore, I have never encountered a company that couldn’t slash the total time spent in meetings and realize huge gains in productivity. Can you think of a better opportunity to: Free up large quantities of valuable resources for more important, profitable work? While simultaneously pleasing shareholders from the Boardroom to the shipping dock?
After driving Irish roads for three weeks, American roads seem ridiculously wide. Most of our two lane roads would be four lanes in Ireland. On top of that, we have shoulders. Does this make our roads safer? No! It makes our roads BORING!” And the drivers become L-A-Z-Y! No need to look over your shoulder, to come to a full stop, or to use a turning signal. It’ll all work out anyway! Our roads encourage people to find something else to do. Something to occupy their minds, theirs hands, and their mouths. NO WONDER WE NEED SUCH WIDE ROADS!! In Ireland, they have two hands on the wheel and one foot ready to hit the brakes. There is no talking on cell phones. No eating. Even after three weeks and 3000 km on the road I only took quick sips of water if someone could hand me an open … read more →
A 27 pound, spiked tortoise broke through a wooden fence and has gone missing in Easthampton, Massachusetts, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. This African Sulcata can grow to 300 pounds and live 100 years. Eleven years ago it was a tiny little thing that the kids, who have since moved out, loved. So why not? SO WHY NOT? If this phrase was uttered at all, it must have been as a statement. Likely in answer to any questions and concerns raised AFTER the purchase. What would have happened had it been asked seriously? It would take a really dishonest or ignorant pet store owner to fail to mention the 300 pounds and 100 years. And it would take a parent totally infatuated with the idea of such an exotic pet and unable to think for about two minutes to ignore the image of a 300 pound tortoise in the yard, house, or garage long after the kids are gone.
According to a recent Harris poll, a third of American workers will look for new jobs at the first opportunity. Almost half of those will do so because they have lost trust in their employers. What have your reactions to the recession told your employees about your leadership and character? Do you share the gains and the pains? Do you give credit where credit is due? Do you demonstrate respect and appreciation for all of your employees who are making a positive contribution? Are your employees involved in decisions affecting their work? Do you value their input? Do they respect and trust you? Will they seek new jobs as soon as the economy strengthens leaving you unable to move ahead?
If you believe multi-tasking is possible you haven’t driven through a congested Irish town on the “wrong” side of the road watching for signs while listening to the history of “the Troubles.” Cars and people get your full attention. If you are lucky you see enough of the right road signs to get where you want to go. You hear nothing of the narrative. Multi-tasking works only when your brain is required for exactly one task.
Henry Ford once said, “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” Ford was interested in producing an automobile for the mass market and he knew that if he didn’t pay a reasonable wage, the masses wouldn’t be able to buy his cars. This is a pretty simple concept that seems to get lost periodically. Robert Reich, in TheNation.com , recently pointed out that the two biggest economic crises in our country occurred in the year following peaks in the percentage of income going to the richest 1% of Americans. In 1928 and 2007, almost a quarter of the income went to 1% of the people. In the late 70s, only 8 or 9% of America’s total income went to the richest 1%. Draw your own conclusions.
It is all the rage to down play talent, quote Malcolm Gladwell, and talk about 10,000 hours of practice. With this mentality, you would only hire people who have spent at least 10,000 hours doing whatever it is you need them to do. There are three things wrong with this thinking: Most positions do not require a level of expertise akin to that of a concert violinist. Most employees are not hired to perform one set of tasks over and over. The demands placed on employees change over time. In reality, most employees learn many new skills throughout their careers and adapt to a wide variety of demands. As the company changes and their roles change, employees must change and they must do so in far less than 10,000 hours! So, work hard and long to develop the skills and knowledge you most crave, encourage others to work hard and constantly practice to improve their performance, but hire talent!