Management Tasks: Organizing

Dictionary.com defines “organizing” in part as:

“to systematize...to give organic structure or character to...”

As managers, it's our responsibility to make sure the team, the materials and the work is given some (hopefully) logical, rational structure.

So exactly how do we do this? How do we decide what goes where, who does what and when it all happens?

help us organize the people, the work and the resources we have to do the job.

First, we've got to know what it is we're trying to do. This, of course is one of the things we hope our plan will do – give us a clear idea of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and what tools we have to get it done.

Second, we've got to know the organization we've already got in place – what's working and what's not. For new programs / projects / companies, this is a pretty simple thing – we've got no organization. In this happy case, we can do whatever works best for us, our personality, our management style and our people. We're free to arrange things pretty much any way we want. we decide who works for who, where folks sit, where the copier is located and, sometimes even pick the color scheme for the facility. It's a great gig when we can get it.

However, most managers aren't that lucky. We often have little in who works for us, where our offices are located, or what the floor plan looks like. And we'll virtually never have a chance to pick a color scheme (“institutional green”, anyone?).

In most companies, critical things like facilities, equipment, tools and staff are assigned to projects based on priorities established well outside the project itself. And the lower priority our project, the less say we'll have over any of the things that are assigned to us.

When we find ourselves in this situation and we've done everything short of tendering our resignation to get what we want, don't complain. Just take a deep breath, paste a big smile on our faces and remember, “adversity builds character”.

Then we take a critical look at the people, tools, facilities and materials you've got to work with. Identify those pieces that already work well and leave them alone. If there are folks who've worked well together in the past, keep them working together on your projects whenever we can

Then find the stuff that isn't working so well and fix it. Reassign people, rearrange furniture, re-plan work, get new tools; whatever it takes to get your team working efficiently and effectively.

Third, we've got to decide where things go. “A place for everything and everything in its place”. Do we team our people by specialty (Engineering, Production, Accounting, etc.) or by what part of the project their work most affects (hydraulics, wing, fuselage, etc.)? Do we assign tasks by position or by the likelihood the work will get done? Do we use the company's central stock room for project specific parts or establish an project stock room for “our stuff”?

Finally, we've got to keep tabs on the work...and be ready to re-organize when the structure we put in place doesn't work. I don't advocate re-organizing out of hand or on a whim (rotating bald tires), but there are times when how we've organized things gets in the way of getting the work done. When that happens, we need to be able to recognize it quickly and change fix the problems.

Remember, though, that reorganizations cause problems of their own. They almost always add stress, interrupt work flow and reduce morale. Even moving one person from one desk to another will have it's issues, so we need to plan carefully and make sure the benefits of the reorg far outweigh the problems it will cause.

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If you need help getting organized, feel free to contact me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Management Tasks - Planning

Planning is a tough subject to teach. Written descriptions of the planning process tend to be dry and boring. Case studies and examples, while more interesting than a plain process description, tend to be too general and off topic. There don't seem to be any really good movies made or novels written about teams completing their critical “Annual Planning”...and all the planning pantomimes I've seen have been....well...let's just say they were “disturbing” and leave it at that.

So the rest of this posting will attempt to describe planning words......for you to read. Try not to fall asleep.

As I said, planning is one of the most critical management tasks. For many people, it's planning that they think of when they hear the word “management”. “The Plan” is often the most obvious (dare I say “only”?) evidence that a manager has actually done any work at all.

A typical development project has three planning stages / phases that must be completed before work can start:

• Concept development
• Specification development
• Work & resource scheduling

Others will have their own ways of describing these steps, and some experts might add or delete a few from my list, but this is how I have come to think of it.

Concept Development is all about possibilities. This is the time to let imaginations run wild, to look at “crazy” ideas and to have fun thinking. The beginning of this phase is also the time to ignore all the operations, financial and other constraints that will become so critical later in the planning process. During the early stages concept development, getting the team's imaginations going is critical.

As managers, it's our job during this phase is to make sure that all viable possibilities are explored, and to make sure options aren't dropped from consideration prematurely. It amazes me how often an idea that is initially ignored or ridiculed by the team turns out to be the optimal solution. Customer desires / needs should be used to guide work done during this phase of the planning.

At the end of the concept development stage you should have a clearly defined conceptual framework within which the final remainder of the project will be developed. This framework should be as flexibly defined as possible, but it needs to have sufficient detail and structure to allow designers, planners and operational personnel to figure out what they will need to do to turn the concept into a reality.

Specification Development is the next step in the process. In this stage, the concept starts to become more than a good idea. This is the stage where the final deliverable items are defined, where quality standards are developed, and where risks and restrictions are used to modify and refine the concept.

It is here that those real-world operational, customer, financial, technology and other constraints that we happily ignored during most of the concept development phase start to wield their power. Here is where the final product, process, deliverable or system starts to take shape.

During this stage the first design decisions made, budgets are developed and approved and specific personnel requirements are defined. In detail. For everything that needs to be done.

At the end of this stage you should have a completed, detailed technical specification and/or Statement (or Scope) of Work (SOW) that has been reviewed and approved by all stakeholders. It is typical (and highly desirable) to have an approved budget at the end of this stage.

Work and Resource Scheduling - the final phase in planning, this is where the final “Who, what where and when” details of the project are worked out. This is what most people think of when they think of planning.

Here we decide the specific tasks (down to the one week or one day detail) that need to be done in order to successfully complete the project. We decide how many people we will need with what skill sets and experience levels. We figure out what resources, materials, equipment and facilities we will need. And, of course, we figure out when we will need all these people, places and things...and how we can get them and not break the budget.

The output of this phase should be a completed schedule showing every task to be completed, who's going to complete it, what they need in order to complete it and when / how long it will take. Preferably this schedule will be input into some sort of information system and “automated”.

Programs like Primavera, Microsoft Project and others have become very good tools for developing and tracking project tasks, resources and personnel.

One final thought.

Before we go, though, there is one thing you need to keep in mind about planning:

the act of planning is often of greater value than the plan itself!

Remember, most plans are obsolete before they're even published. Competitor's actions, customer tastes, technological advances and simple personnel turnover can all force the plan to change.

But if we've done a thorough job of planning, if we've gotten to know our environment, if we've identified the risks and gotten a solid understanding of our options, these changes will have fewer and less severe impacts on our business. And that, after all, is the whole point of planning, isn't it?

 

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Integrity

The first trait on my “Traits of a Good Manager?” list are high personal integrity and moral courage.

Integrity (2010), according to Dictionary.com, is: “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”

The first step in this process, as I discussed in my May 27, 2010 blog, is for each of us to figure out what moral standards and ethical principles we are going to follow.

We must first form, and then inform, our conscience!

We must model the behavior we want from our employees. Without integrity, it's tough, if not impossible, to lead people for very long.

Integrity brings moral courage with it. Integrity forces us to tell the truth even when it puts us (or the company) in a bad light. Integrity is the foundation of our commitment to doing the right thing even when it might cost us our job (or the company money). Integrity gives us the courage to stand up and say “this isn't right when no one else dares.

And it is Integrity that gives us the authority to lead”...and the right to call ourselves leaders.

So, my friends, I hope you'll take some time to look at your life and your actions and change them to conform to the words you spout to your people every day.

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Management Basics

In last week's entry, I talked about Management as a profession. There I listed a number of the key tasks and skills accomplished by professional managers. In this and the next few blogs, I will look at these tasks and skills in greater detail.

The primary management tasks are:

• Leading
  
• Planning
  
• Budgeting
  
• Organizing
  
• Staffing
  
• Communicating
  
• Directing
  
• Risk management
  

Character / personality traits critical to a successful manager:

• High personal integrity and moral courage.
  
• An ability to communicate clearly through the written and spoken word.
  
• A desire to know people and help them improve their performance.
  
• An innate sense of justice and a desire to be fair and evenhanded in his/her treatment of others.
  
• A commitment to excellence.
  
• High tolerance for stress.
  
• An passion for order and organization.
  

This list is in no particular order, nor is it comprehensive. Ask any manager, though, what are the main things he or she does and I'm pretty sure most of these will be in virtually every manager's list.

As for the character / personality traits, I know there are a lot of managers out there missing one or more of the critical traits I listed; heck, I've worked for a few myself. I suspect, though, that most folks would want their bosses / employees to have at least these few good traits. I know they're the biggies I look for when hiring managers...and when deciding whether to work with a client or not.

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Whether you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Management is a Profession

Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary defines a profession as “...an occupation or vocation requiring training in the liberal arts or the sciences and advanced study in a specialized field.” Dictionary.com defines a profession as “...a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science: the profession of teaching...”. 

Management is a Profession.

It has a defined body of “specialized” knowledge. It has specialized tool and techniques. It requires certain skills of its practitioners. These management tools, techniques and skills are equally applicable, useful and effective across industries, activities and cultures.

Management is a Profession.

It's practitioners and their skills are as transferable across industries as those of the medical, engineering, security of legal professions. The skills necessary to successfully plan, organize, staff, support and control a half-billion dollar software development project are the same necessary to successfully run a half-billion dollar power plant construction project.

Management is a Profession.

And yet, it never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise intelligent people in other professions fail to get that. Often the same people who accept that an electrical engineer, a human resources specialist, a lawyer or even a CEO can be effective in any industry refuse see accept that effective project managers can be effective regardless of the type of project or the industry in which they practice their profession.

For some reason, these folks fail to realize that management is a profession in and of itself and that it is just as likely that a project manager who is effective running a half-billion dollar software development program will be just as effective running a half-billion dollar power plant construction project. I've seen companies turn highly-skilled engineers into untrained, ineffective “project managers” simply because these individuals “know our business”. The fact that they knew nothing about putting together a coherent plan, had never developed a budget, did not understand how to control costs, and really hated dealing with people didn't stop these companies from setting up their nominal manager for certain failure.

Management is a Profession.

Professional managers are trained to plan and schedule complex projects, coordinating the work of myriad different professions to successfully complete the project. Professional managers are skilled at identifying, avoiding and mitigating risks in all areas. They are trained to develop detailed budgets. They understand how to direct and control the work of others; to reduce costs and earn the company a profit. Professional managers are trained to find, organize and motivate other skilled people to achieve the company's specific goals and objectives.

Professional managers understand the importance of communicating clearly. They are skilled at reading, understanding and negotiating practical, workable contracts that eliminate problems, rather than contribute to them. They help guide other professions in developing the standards and specifications needed to effectively define the amount and quality of the work to be done. Professional managers are able to get folks in diverse different professions to understand each others' terminology, skills and professional needs.

Professional managers are experts at building solid customer relations and they know how to repair customer relationships that have broken down. They provide a buffer between upper management and the operations personnel tagged to “get the job done”.

Management is a profession...and professional managers are critical to the success of virtually every commercial, and most non-commercial organizations in the world today.

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Is Social Marketing Right For You?

You hear a lot about social networking these days and the value that “being connected” can bring to your business. You can tell it's the latest trend, because all the “business experts” are pushing us to get onto Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn. There are classes and courses and a lot of folks who profess to be “gurus” on how to use these great new tools to help your business grow.

Let me tell you a secret: there is no secret to making social networking work for you.

It's just another way to reach your current and potential future customers. As with every other marketing method, approach and tool, you've still got to address the basics.

1. You've got to know your customers. You've got to know who they are, when and where they buy, how they make decisions and what they want and need. If your prime customers don't use Facebook and still think “twitter” is a semi-embarrassed laugh in church, then social networking is probably not going to work for you.

2. You've got to know your tools. You have to spend time to learn how Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other sites work; how people use them and how they will work best for you.

3. You've got to decide what type of relationship you want with your customers. Social networking is all about building long term relationships. If you're not looking for long term relationships with your customers, social networking is probably not going to be very effective for you.

4. You've got to be consistent. Your message, your conversations, your persona and your actions on social networking venues need to be consistent with your marketing in other media / venues. And because word travels so much faster in a social networking environment than in other venues, it is critical that your words accurately reflect your actions and vice versa. Nothing gets around social networks quicker than a company claiming perfection but delivering crap.

5. You've got to know who you are. Know who you are before you venture into this world. If you don't have a clear sense of who you are and what you stand for, people will know it...and they'll tell their friends about your inconsistencies very quickly. So before you start any social networking, make sure you know yourself.

6. You've got to know your product / service. And finally, you've got to know what it is you have to offer. Your product has got to live up to or exceed your Facebook claims. Your marketing group cannot promise things your operations group can't deliver...and the product's got to meet or exceed your customers' marketing-driven expectations!

So there it is. Social networking is just another way to reach your customers. It's not going to “change the face of marketing”; although it has definitely increased the speed at which your message...and your mistakes...are spread.

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Procrastination

Well, it's three days until the start of the Labor Day weekend. I guess Summer's almost over.

There's a large part of me (OK, OK, I know - what part of me isn't large?) that's tempted to just screw off the rest of this week, waiting for the holiday. Even though I know that in my situation I really can't afford to just leave work undone for three or four days. As a small business owner / independent contractor, the sooner the work gets done, the sooner I get paid. So I really can't afford to screw off for three days.

But the temptation is still there...and it's still pretty strong, actually.

For folks whose weekly pay check is not really tied to the amount of work they do in any given week, the temptation is often irresistible. For some reason, in the week (or two) before a holiday, everything seems less important, and everything is certainly less appealing than kicking back and slacking off to “get ready for the holiday”.

And it's not all that tough to do.

Getting in thirty or forty minutes late (“Holiday traffic is starting early this year!”). An extra 10 or 15 minutes at lunch. Thirty or forty minutes talking “business” with my colleague in the next cubicle. Leaving twenty or thirty minutes early (“Gotta beat the holiday rush”).

It adds up pretty quickly.

Now that six hours of solid work I give you on a normal day is down to four or five. And of course, there's the hour or two I need to spend playing that on-line game Information Technology (IT) just keeps forgetting to block - mainly because the IT techs are in the middle of a never-ending tournament.

Now I'm down to two or three hours of distracted (“how the heck do I get into that IT tournament?”) work time.

Let's face it, it would probably be more productive to just let me take sick time ('cause there's no way I'm going to waste my vacation time) for the next three days.

Sound familiar?

Well, even if you won't admit it, I guarantee that even in this bad economy, it's happening in your office as you read this. And if you're reading this at the office, I guess that means you're slacking off, too; surfing the web; doing “research”.

So how do we stop all this slacking in preparation for the weekend?

I'll tell you tomorrow.

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Breaking Trust

Someone very close to me recently did something that violated the trust I had in them and put an almost fourteen year relationship in grave jeopardy.

In the overall scheme of things, the actual act – petty theft in legal terms – was not an earth-shaking crime. What is so bad is that they crossed a line I never thought they would cross.

And it's shaken me.

It's made me question how many other times it's happened, and how many other things they've done that I never thought they would do. It's changed how I feel about them and it's changed how I treat them...and how they treat me. And knowing myself as I do, I'm pretty sure this incident will color my relationship with this person for the rest of both our lives.

And the funny thing is that when I look at the situation dispassionately (which took me quite some bit of time to be able to do), the fact that it happened is not all that shocking. I knew they had a tendency to take things, but it had always been little things and for some reason which now completely eludes me (and which would probably seem ludicrously illogical if I ever do remember it), I left the stolen item easily accessible, despite my awareness of their problem.

Some of it was laziness. I didn't want to have to unlock and re-lock the file cabinet each time I needed to access this thing.

Some of it was that I simply wanted to believe the best about this person - something I'm not sure I'll ever want to do again.

And some of it, I suppose was just plain stupidity – ignoring the facts that were right in front of me.  Something I'm not usually prone to do.

I suppose by this point most of you are wondering just what purpose, other than allowing me to vent, this little story could possibly serve you, a business professional.

Well here it is. Any security officer will tell you that most thefts, most information leaks, and most security breaches are crimes of opportunity. The thief is given an easy, ready opportunity to commit the crime.

Many times, these individuals see the opportunity early, but resist the temptation a number of times before they give in. The simple act of finding the cabinet locked, the door shut, the papers filed away or the password activated on the screen saver is enough to stop them.

So, I suppose the point of today's blog is this: take the time to safeguard your “stuff”. It can save you time, money, aggravation and maybe most importantly, it can help others be their “better selves”.

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

How Can My Manager “Manage” Me If She's Never Done My job?

I suspect this question has been asked by employees, contractors, indentured servants and slaves since the dawn of time.

Despite the fact that it's usually asked just after we've been directed to do something we see as a huge waste of time, it's actually a valid question. And one that can be argued from either side.

On the one hand, it is argued that the more a manager (or supervisor) knows about the operations she manages, the better she will be at managing that operation.

This argument seems to hold up most consistently at the supervisory level. Here, we are dealing with relatively unskilled work where the manager will be expected to train the employees he or she manages in the jobs they are expected to do. In this case, it is imperative that the manager fully understand each job and master all the tasks his subordinates will be expected to do. Additionally, it's helpful if the manager is capable of effectively transmitting that knowledge to his or her subordinates. 

On the other hand, it is argued that management is a distinct profession with specific skills, a specific base of knowledge and specific tools separate and distinct from the people, projects and things being managed.

This argument seems to hold up most consistently in situations where the manager is dealing with skilled workers doing jobs the manager may never be qualified to do the work the people he or she is managing are expected to do. A good example of this is a manager running an engineering development or R and D (Research and Development) project. Here, the manager may be expected to plan and control the work of people considered experts in their field who are eminently more qualified in their fields than she can ever hope to be. This doesn't mean that she'll be ineffective as a manager, it just means that she won't be the one designing the new product or conducting the research.

And this is as it should be. As a manager, she has been hired to plan, organize, schedule, and manage the effort. Her job is to make sure that the experts on her team have the tools they need to get the job done and to shield her team from as much “administrative crap” as possible.

Of course, this doesn't mean that a supervisor can't be effective simply because he hasn't mastered every job of every person working for him. Nor does it mean that a manager won't get the job done simply because she also happens to be the lead researcher on the project.

Personally, I think that the more a manger knows about the work to be done, the more effective he or she will be at making sure the team has the right tools, resources and time to get the job done.

Of course, I could be wrong. 

 What do you think?

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I'd love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Vacation

Vacation.

I was going to write a whole long treatise on how valuable vacations can be to reducing stress in the office. How making your people take and use their vacation time can pay dividends for the company in the long run. I was going to mention that even though most folks have trouble getting back to work, the break from routine can help improve creativity in the long run.

I was going to write a great blog entry.

But then I looked up from my screen and saw the blue waves crashing onto the beach; the other folks relaxing on the sand, the families building sand castles and I said to myself:

“What the hell am I doing working while I'm on vacation?!?!?”

Have a great week. I'm gonna shut down and relax.

If you need help with anything this week, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: mailto:TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com">TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com and I'll get to it on Monday. I can help.

A Contract Is a Tool. Use It Like One.

A contract is a is a tool. Like any other tool, the contract is only effective when it's used and maintained.

Over the years I've worked with a lot of companies who spend a lot of time, money and energy negotiating complex, complicated contracts that spell out in excruciating detail every little task that needs to be done, every little right that needs to be respected and every little punishment for failing to perform. They have big signing ceremonies where both Parties get to hand out gold pens and slap each other on the back, congratulating themselves for a job well done! Everybody is happy. Everybody is sure that the hard part is over now, the contract is signed. All is right with the world.

Then they print out two copies of that contract, put it into two sets of beautiful binders (because, of course, a single binder won't hold a contract that large), one for each side, and then each side places their binders in a place of honor on a high shelf in the main conference room and then...

Nothing.

That's it. That's all they do with that contract; they let it sit on that shelf, allowing the pretty binders to add an air of prosperity and professionalism to the conference room and, I suppose, to the whole company.

But that's it.

Of course they show the pretty binders to important clients and vendors. And the C-level's use them as a backdrop for all those semi-annual “see-what-a-great-leader-I-am” webcasts that so inspire “the troops”. Yup, everybody's proud of that contract.

Problem is, no one ever actually looks at the contract. Most of the folks responsible for performing under the contract will never see it. Few will ever open it, even fewer will ever read it; and virtually none will ever think to use it for the purpose it was intended – as a framework for success in planning, managing and doing the actual day-to-day work.

And then the unthinkable happens.

Disagreements between the folks doing the work. Problems arise on the manufacturing floor. Work slows.

Feelings get hurt. People start to take sides.

More problems arise. More feelings get hurt. It's “Us” against “Them”, now. Critical designs can't be agreed upon. Critical parts don't fit and don't work right. Money stops.

Now people get angry. Each side now fully focused on the blame game. Work stops altogether. Both sides now are more intent on pointing fingers and placing blame than in actually doing any work.

Eventually, of course, some smart person (usually the lawyers who, by this time, are all up in the middle of the finger pointing fight) remembers that there's a contract somewhere that might help us “get those guys”.

So now they decide to use the contract. Once again, it's a tool they can use. Unfortunately, now the only way any of the folks already involved in the fray can think to use it is as a bludgeon. So they flail around, dragging each other into court, swinging their contractual bludgeon.

And the work the contract was intended to describe? Well, it never actually gets done. The money all gets spent – on lawyers and courtrooms, incomplete designs, useless parts and the like – but nothing useful ever comes from the debacle. It's too bad, too, because the idea was a really cool one and the product would have sold millions.

Sound familiar?

It doesn't have to be this way. Written correctly, used regularly and maintained professionally, the contract could have helped both sides work together harmoniously, identifying risks and solving problems as a team.

The moral of the story?

If you're not going to use it, why spend the time, money and aggravation negotiating a contract?

If your contracts are ineffective or your projects end in disaster more often that not, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: mailto:TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com">TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com. I can help.

Little Errors, Big Distractions. Six Tips to Help Improve Your Business Writing!

Writing for business is a tough thing to do. You've got to come across as intelligent, interesting and rational even when you're writing about the most mundane things. I've assembled 6 tips to help add some polish to your next weekly status report.

If there's a “First”, there's at least got to be a “Second”...

...and if possible, a “Third”, a “Fourth”, etc. I'm not saying the reading public is simple minded or anything, but, if you forget to include at least a “Second” point, the majority of readers will shift focus to finding the “missing” points, rather trying to understand the ideas you are trying to convey. While many will only go off track for a moment or two, even that slight break in flow can have a big impact on how effective your words are.

Proofread the darned thing!

If you're expecting your readers to spend their valuable time to wade through your pearls of wisdom, have the common courtesy to take your valuable time to wade through it first to at least find and correct any grammar, usage, and punctuation errors!

If it's worth taking the time to put it on paper (or into an electronic file), then it's worth taking the time to write it correctly! And that includes, e-mails, text messages, Facebook and LinkedIn messages and every other business communication.

I find that when I force myself to read aloud each word that's on the screen, it's easier to identify issues, clarify confusing expressions and greatly improve the flow and emotional impact of my writing. It you can get someone else to read or listen to you read) your work, that can be a great help, too.

Cut The Cute!

Cute might sell to little girls and Mommies, but it's annoying as hell in business communications unprofessional, too.

If you want your peers to think you're a joke, your boss to ignore you and your customers to think you're a flake and spineless push-over, just start adding an emoticon to every paragraph, dot every “i” with a heart, and include links to sparkly pictures of unicorns, fairies or fuzzy little animals in your signature block.

Cut The Words.

Although it's not always true in fashion, in business communications, brief is beautiful.

I'm a verbose guy – just ask my wife and kids. Knowing this, however, I force myself to do a lot of cutting before I release even a first draft for other folks to read. It's a good idea if you do the same.

You're not a lawyer, don't write like one.

Most lawyers can't even write like a lawyer (should), so what hope is there for you? Big words don't make you look smarter, they make you look pompous and ridiculously out of touch with the real world.

In business communications, write the way you talk, (unless, of course, you talk like a hillbilly, a gansta, or a seven year old girl (see “cut the cute” above). Use correct, “plain” English (or whatever language they're written in).

And if “legalese” is absolutely required, call a lawyer, that's what they're paid to do.

Write Like You've “Got A Pair”.

Take a stand when you write. Be positive and confident. State your case clearly, concisely and right at the beginning! Then support your position with appropriate facts, figures and “expert” opinions.

And remember, there's a difference between confident and arrogant. Don't be arrogant (or obnoxious, or annoying, or even abrasive!).

Follow these tips and you'll be amazed at how much moire effective your writing will be! Remember, though, well written crap is still crap.

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If you need help writing better crap, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Performance Evaluations - Making The Grade More Palatable

In addition to being a (world class) business consultant and contract negotiator,  I am an educator. A teacher. A college professor, to be exact.

I tell you this not to brag (well, not entirely!), but because being a teacher means that I spend a lot of time analyzing, evaluating, critiquing and rating (grading) other people's work. It's not my favorite part of the job, but it is, unfortunately, a part of the job.

And, as will happen with anything one does for more than 20 years, over the years I've been teaching, I've learned a few things. And one of the least obvious, but most important things I've learned is that for many people, receiving an “objective” performance score (grade) on performance quality standards that include some subjectivity, is a real distraction.

Folks tend to focus first (and longest) on the number you “gave them” and the “points I lost”, rather than on the "points they earned" or the actual quality of their work. They quibble over the minutia of a point or two; ignoring the larger underlying performance issues.  I am more likely to hear “Why did you give me an 84 and not an 86?”, rather than “What do I need to do to earn an “A” next time?”

I've found this is true not only in academic grading systems, but in employee evaluation systems, as well.

It seems the more “objective” we try to make our evaluation systems, the more temptation there is for the student / employee to focus on “the number” rather than the performance underlying the number.

So how do we fix this?  How do we get folks to quit worrying about a point or two and focus on the bigger picture?

That's a good question.  And here are a few things we as individual evaluators can do to help, regardless of the performance evaluation system(s) we're working with:

First, a face-to-face meeting where you can take time to explain the evaluation, to identify specific strengths and discuss areas for improvement before giving the “score” is the most effective way I've found. It's critical here to make sure your verbal comments agree with and support your written comments and that both are consistent with the performance score.

Second, giving them time to read the written evaluation and ask questions / voice disagreements after you've verbally explained the evaluation is critical as well. In the best case, they'll have time to review it immediately following the verbal discussion.

And finally, listen to objections and complaints with an open mind, and be willing to change the evaluation comments or adjust the score when there is a valid reason to do do. None of us is perfect.

And finally, always, always, always make sure that you take the above actions before the evaluation is completed and formally entered into the grading / performance evaluation system. This will go a long way toward letting your students/employees know you're doing your best to be fair and unbiased in your assessments...and that is the biggest thing we can do to get their focus off the minutia and on to the larger issues we need them working on!

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If you need help getting your evaluation system more effective, let me help. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Web 2.0: Separating Fact From Fiction

We hear a lot of talk about Web 2.0 (read “web two point oh”) these days. In the news, in the business press and on the world Wide Web itself. It seems everybody and his brother has a “Web 2.0 compatible” this or a “Web 2.0 capable” that, or can “...help get you working with the latest “web 2.0 aps!”

Like I said, we hear a lot about Web 2.0 these days. Unfortunately, much of what we hear is confusing, conflicting or downright “counterfactual”.

So, let's see if we can't add a little clarity to the discussion.

To start, Web 2.0 is not any single product, company or technological advance. There is no “web 2.0” database”, no “web 2.0” software nor even a “web 2.0 technical specification” to which developers must adhere. Like the terms “green”, “low fat” and “natural”, “web 2.0 is used and abused by anyone who chooses to use it.

Web 2.0 is simply a name used to distinguish one period in the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web from other periods. In a broad sense, “Web 2.0” is an “age” in the same way that “The Middle Ages” and “The Protestant Reformation” are two ages distinct from other periods in history.

The Web 2.0 "age" is currently seen as the period of time during which Internet based information systems moved from delivery systems for "static" information to hosting systems for more fully active and interactive information and communication. 

Although the term has a definite date of birth, the period of time that the term “Web 2.0” describes is much less distinct, with some debate over exactly when (and even IF) the Web 2.0 age started. And on the timeline of all recorded human history, “The Web 2.0 Age” is not much more than a single point in time. 

There are some (most notably Tim Berners Lee, the man widely recognized as the architect of the World Wide Web, though, who believe that the use of the term is premature at best and completely inappropriate at worst. These people point to the interactive Internet we now enjoy as having always been the intent and goal of the initial developers of the Internet and the World Wide Web. 


Many of these folks feel the term "Web 2.0" is little more than marketing hype intended to make it easier for software and system developers to re-package and re-brand tired old products as "the next big thing".

Regardless of which point of view you take, the fact is that the term has entered the lexicon and appears to be here to stay.

Welcome to the "Brave New World**"

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If you need help sorting fact from fiction in your web 2.0 operations, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

(** the term "brave new world" is from  Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act V, Scene I and was used as the title of an Aldous Huxley book published in 1932)

Copyright 2010 Tom Fawls. All rights reserved. 

The Customer's NOT Always Right!

"The customer's always right!”

I'm amazed at just how often I hear those words coming from the mouths of otherwise smart, logical people who run successful businesses. And even more amazingly, they actually think they believe it, too!

I've heard supposed “certified experts” in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) use that tired old chestnut as the primary theme of high-priced, long-winded books, CD's, seminars and lectures. They tell you all about how “the customer knows best” and how we all need to “mine the customer's mind” if we hope to build Customer Relationships.

Not me.

I've worked with too many customers in too many situations for too many years to fall for that one. And I've been a customer who's been wrong, or said or done the wrong thing way too many times to even pretend to believe that I'm always right.

I have little patience for and even less desire to do business with companies who don't understand that.

No, the customer isn't always right...but the customer is always the customer and the reason we are and can remain in business!

This is a critical distinction. It means that while we must always treat customers with courtesy and respect, we can disagree with them when they're wrong. It means that we have a right to bring our expertise and imagination to the table. It means that we can demand that the customer gives us and our people the same respect and courtesy we give them and theirs.

Of course this doesn't mean that we need to go out of our way to highlight their ignorance (or demonstrate your superiority) or embarrass them; that's no way to build a solid customer relationship. It does mean, however, that we are obligated to use our “superior” knowledge and expertise to serve their best interest. It means that sometimes we must risk alienating (or even losing) the customer by correcting their serious misconceptions. Sometimes, their understanding is more important than our income.

This approach to the customer relationship has implications in other areas of our business, too. It should color how we build our products, how we deliver our services and how we work with our customers to meet their needs and solve their problems.

Healthy relationships are two way affairs. Both parties need to recognize and accept the other's strengths and weaknesses. Both parties need to acknowledge that the other has a right to their point of view.

And that's pretty much it.

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If you need help convincing your customer (or your boss) that it's OK to disagree with a customer, contact me. I'd be happy to help. Leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Religion In The Workplace?

To build an "ethical organization", we must first establish and clearly articulate a firm fundamental definition of what we see as "right" and what we see as "wrong". This is the "morals" part of the equation. 

Once this basic definition of right and wrong is articulated, we must look at and define what specific behaviors are "good" and what behaviors are "bad" in the day-to-day workplace. This means that we must not only provide a formal set of behavior guidelines, but it also means that as owners, executives and managers, we must set the example ("model the behavior") by living up to those same standards of behavior ourselves.  This is the "ethics" part of the equation.   

Whether you're starting from scratch building a new organization or re-building a shattered one (a la Enron, Worldcom, Countrywide, etc.), these two steps must be done. 

Here, I must remind those who want to keep religion out of the workplace that virtually every one of the various major religions in the world have already both articulated a set of basic moral principles and developed (more or less) effective codes of ethics. 


This is not to say that I believe that conversion to any religion should become a condition of employment. I don' think forced/coerced conversions are ever a good idea. 


I do believe, however, that there are certain fundamental principles of "right and wrong" that have been common  to virtually every successful human civilization and organization throughout history. I also believe that the major religions have spent a lot of time and energy working to articulate those principles and ideals and that they have developed some useful guidelines for living those principles. 

And in keeping with my fundamental aversion to "reinventing the wheel", I think that if you're trying to build a moral, ethical company and corporate culture, they are a convenient place to find well thought out, structured, "ready-made" guides to leading an "ethical life". 

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If you need help building your ethical organization, let me help. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Life On The Road!

We were sitting at the bar, lamenting how horribly difficult it was being on the road...sitting in the hotel bar drinking while our families lived their lives an ocean away.

It was a tough life, to be sure. Nothing to do but drink, shoot the breeze with colleagues, and joke with the hotel staff who, after nearly 7 months living there, had become a virtual surrogate family.

Tough indeed.

Just then the phone rang. In the bar.

It was my wife (the front desk staff knew when to transfer it to the bar). nearly in tears because the well pump had failed and there was no water in the house and she had no idea what to do and she hated me always being gone and I needed to do something right now.

4,500 miles away, what could I do? If I jumped on a plane that evening, it would be very late the next day before I got home – assuming I could even get a flight on this short notice.

And then what would I do? I'm not the most handy guy when it comes to fixing electric motors. In fact, I hate it and I suck at it.

As you can imagine, this wasn't quite what my wife was hoping to hear. It did, however, give her something other than the water problems on which to focus her frustration and anger.

I quietly ordered another beer as I listened. VERY quietly.

She muttered something like "that's right, I'd forgotten how utterly useless and aggravating you are in these situations."

She then reminded herself that she'd have ended finding someone else to fix it even if I was at home and what the hell was she thinking calling me with a problem like this? She might as well just call the neighbor and see if HER husband would come over and fix the damned thing.

I listened quietly. Not too quietly, but just quietly enough so she wasn't immediately aware that I was drinking another beer.

My colleague was laughing it up with the bartender and the waitress...He'd been through this before, too.

"Well, sorry I bothered you" she said. "I need to get off the phone so I can call Karen and see if she'll send Jim over to look at the damned thing."

I sighed heavily, the guilt obvious in the sound.

"It's OK." she said, "I know this isn't easy for you either, being too far away to do anything and having to listen to me whine."

"No, honey, it's the least I could do. I'm sorry I'm not there for you. If you want, I can catch a plane tomorrow."

I wasn't due home for another 5 (billable) weeks...a fact of which we were both acutely aware.

"No. I'm fine. I'll take care of it......but I need to get off the phone now, it's getting late.

"Ok, dear, I'll let you go." disappointment obvious in my voice. "Do you want me to call later to see how things went?"

"No need. What can you do from there anyway? Gotta go. Bye. I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

She hung up.

I ordered another beer.

Yup, life on the road sure is tough. :-)

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If you need a professional consultant to help straighten out your remote operations, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com. I'd be happy to get on the road for you!

© 2008 Tom Fawls. All Rights Reserved

Sleep Is Over Rated

I'm tired.

And it's not just the “get a good night's sleep, you'll feel better in the morning” kind of tired, either.

I'm dog tired.

Bone tired.

Dead tired.

I'm Beat. Knackered. Exhausted. Burned down. Burned out. Broke down. Fried.

I'm tired of life, tired of living and tired of lies,

I'm tired of caring, tired of not caring. I'm tired of winning. I'm tired of losing and I'm really, really tired of never knowing which is which.

I guess I'm just plain sick and tired.

But I'm here.

I'm still plugging away. Still trying. Still working. Still caring. Still crying. Still breathing.

I'm still alive, after all.

And until that changes, I suppose I'll just stay tired. As the saying goes “I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

So I'm hoping that that's the point of this life...keep working even when you're tired. “Push through the pain”, as they say.

Well, I've gotta get back to work here. I hope you have a great day...and keep on plugging!

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If you're exhausted, too, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

STUPID QUESTIONS 101: "How?"

Since starting my career as a project manager in the mid-1980's, I have led numerous engineering teams developing complex commercial and military systems and products. With degrees in Accounting and Systems Management, I'm usually the only non-engineer in the technical meetings and, understandably, the degreed engineers tend to assume I'm a bit of a technological idiot.

Knowing this, I have learned to use stupid questions to great effect...and “How?” is one of the most effective questions to use when working with professionals in technical fields. I've found that, for me, not having a technical degree actually helps in these situations. Rather than risk criticizing their work by pointing out the errors, I simply play dumb ask them to “explain how it works.”

A good example of this was on one very complex project I managed, the initial system design was missing a rather critical communication link between two major subsystems. After working on the design for almost 2 months, neither the design team nor the QA team had noticed the missing link.

Knowing that finding fault with the design would put my engineering team on the defensive, I played the know-nothing, non-technical manager. I told the Project Engineer I was having trouble understanding the data paths and asked him to explain them to me.

He brought the system diagrams into my office, cleared a space on my work table, unrolled the diagrams (13 or 14 sheets) and proceeded to trace data pathways through the system. Six times he traced them without noticing the “missing link” and six times I looked confused and said “I know you probably think I'm an idiot, but I just don't get it. Can you show me one more time how the data gets from Subsystem A to Subsystem B? Thanks for your patience.”

After the sixth time he was not only ready to kill me, but he definitely thought I was the dumbest Project Manager in the company. And yet, knowing this, I still asked the seventh time (who says “third time's the charm?!”). He was halfway through the seventh explanation when the light bulb went on. He stopped his explanation mid-sentence, rolled up the system diagram, and walked out of my office without saying another word.

Three days later, he walked back in the office, unrolled the (updated) system diagrams, stabbed his finger onto the new data pathway and started explaining the design as if three days had not gone by. When he was done, I apologized for my obtuseness, thanked him for the explanation, and signed the system approval sheets.

Nothing was ever said about it again, Neither and I nor my Project Engineer (PE) ever acknowledged the issue had even existed. But the error was corrected, my PE saved face and, most importantly, the customer got a solid, more robust system.

Persistent Stupid questioning saved the day.

So don't be afraid to ask the stupid question...or to sound stupid asking an embarrassing question. It is often the least best way to get the job done.

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If you need help asking stupid questions, contact an expert. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

STUPID QUESTIONS 101: “Who?”

“Who are you?”

The Who liked this question so much, they used it as the title for a whole album back in 1978.

I find this is the essential starting point for starting any new venture. Whether it's commercial, charitable or purely personal, it is critical that you know who you are and who your organization is...or who you want it to be.

Of course there are two parts to this question. The first is “Who do I say that I am?”. The second is “Who do my actions say that I am?” It is critical that we ask and honestly answer both these questions. For too many of us, the answers will be on different ends of the spectrum...who we think we are (or wish or want to be) is nowhere near the reality of who our behavior say we are.

I was halfway around the world leading my first foreign sales effort the first time I faced a situation that offered me a clear choice between putting my morals aside and “going with the flow” or living up to the moral and ethical standards.

I won't give any specific details here, but I will say that (to my eternal shame) I didn't even realize I had made an unethical decision until I offered the same choice to a colleague who had accompanied me. As I was explaining the situation to him, a look of disgust crossed his face and before I could finish he said “What the hell is wrong with you? This company doesn't do that! That's not who we are!”

I can still see his face and still hear the shock in his voice, more than 20 years later. His statement has stuck with me ever since..and, thankfully, has kept me from making similar compromises on many, many occasions.

That one instance made it frighteningly clear to me just how important this question is to each and every one of us...and how easy it is to completely miss the implications of seemingly mundane decisions we face each and every day.

Know who you are....and live the life you profess. It makes the world a much simpler place.


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If you need help figuring out who you are, Let me help. Leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.