A Guide to Conducting Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Surveys

A guide to Conducting Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Surveys

Employee survey techniques have developed  significantly over the past few years, with web based technologies it is easier and cheaper than ever to collect and manage data.

In the past, any HR driven initiative was seen as tactical and of little real benefit to the organization as a whole. Now many enlightened organizations see HR and employee surveys as a powerful business improvement tool.

Customers now have a greater range of choices than ever and are becoming increasingly better informed . This in turn means that many have very high expectations and, if they feel they are being “short changed” in any way, they take the initiative and switch their allegiance. This reduction in consumer loyalty can create difficulties in retaining existing customers, causing organizations to increase the amount they spend on engaging new customers.

Consumer choice has also brought greater competitiveness to the market and in many situations it is difficult for an organization to differentiate itself from the competition in terms of production range, quality and price. As a result, the main differentiator for organizations has to be the quality of service that the customer receives. This may well result in people buying from you because they engage with specific individuals and the service/ attitude they offer.

When was the last time you went out to a restaurant for a special meal. Regardless of the quality of the food and the price, if the service was poor, you forget how good the food was and you will probably not visit that restaurant again.

Following on this same principle, there is a significant amount of survey demonstrating that employees have the greatest single impact on customer service. In the eyes of the customer, the employee they interact directly with is “the face” of that organization and heavily influences how they feel about the organization.

It is vital for every interaction to be a positive one, not just for the customer, but for the employee as well. If the customer is happy, they spend more money , which naturally improves the organization’s overall business performance. Likewise, higher employee satisfaction levels can come about as customer satisfaction and business performance levels increase because of the pride and kudos that come from working for a successful company.

Research shows that the most successful organizations have satisfied, motivated, flexible, committed and well-trained employees who believe that they are able to personally contribute to the success of the organization, in turn they are more likely to be supportive of the organization’s products, strategy and goals.

The most successful organizations get the most from their employees because they consider them to “their greatest asset” and they are prepared to invest in them in the same way as they invest in technology, product/brand development and customer segmentation.  This means considering employees as a key stakeholder group in the same way as customers, shareholders and other corporate “investments. This leads to a critical need to understand and proactively manage the impact that any  change will have on your employees in order to protect the investment made in them. In many cases your business IS your people.

One approach is to proactively use employee survey to understand what the key motivators and dissatisfiers are for them. The critical link between employee satisfaction and organizational performance has been  clearly established in many independent and academic studies, people practices were found to have a significant impact on improvements not only in employee satisfaction, but also in the organization’s productivity and financial performance.

Different Types of Employee Survey Programmes

Annual climate and employee satisfaction surveys are by far the most popular kind of employee survey activity. However, the following types of survey programs are also gaining in popularity:

• Combining employee and customer satisfaction studies.
• Procedure/policy evaluation.
• Alignment of employees behind new product development.
• Alignment of employees behind organizational rebranding and repositioning efforts.
• Managing employees through organizational change programs (e.g. merger, acquisition/downsizing, etc.).
• Internal customer service evaluations.
• Internal communications evaluations.
• Evaluation and design of different benefits schemes.

Defining Employee Survey Goals and Objectives

Before starting on a staff survey process, it is vital to define a set of objectives for the survey. Without these objectives, the survey program will lack focus and it will be difficult to raise enthusiasm for the survey among your key influencers and decision-makers.

All employee survey programs need to be seen as a company-wide initiative that is driven by managers and employees from across the whole organization and not something that is solely initiated and managed just within HR.

It is therefore vital that any defined objectives for a survey are business related. In this way, improvements resulting from the survey can be seen as improving customer service and overall business performance.

Deciding on the Appropriate Survey Methodology

Defining objectives at the outset will help to determine the methodology because, to meet the desired objectives, you will need to consider the following:

• Are all employees affected and should all employees need to be involved?
• Will changes and improvement action be required at different levels across the organization?
• How will managers and employees be engaged in the improvement process?
• How will awareness of the survey, its  results and improvements be raised and managed among employees?
• How will the progress of improvement actions be reviewed, monitored and communicated over time?

Quantitative and qualitative research methods can both be highly effective in employee surveys. It is essential, though, to ensure that the correct methodology is used for the type of survey being conducted.

Qualitative research is most appropriate when:

• The research involves relatively small groups of people,
• You are looking to pursue a subject in real detail,
• You are looking for the flexibility to move between subjects dependent on how participants respond,
• You are attempting to determine strength of feeling on a certain subject,
• You are trying to understand root causes of a feeling rather than just the symptoms of issues,
• You are trying to seek the connections between issues,
• You are surveying particularly complex issues.

Face-to-face individual interviews and focus groups are the most common forms of qualitative techniques used in employee research.

Quantitative research is most appropriate when:

• Large numbers of people need to be included,
• The survey needs to cover a large number of different subjects,
• It is important to have robust numerical data,
• You need to have measurable comparison data between different groups,
• You want to be able to compare performance against other external organizations,
• You want to identify correlation with other survey data (e.g. customer satisfaction data),

Employee satisfaction surveys are the most common form of quantitative research.

There are occasions when both methodologies can be effectively combined. For example, in an employee satisfaction survey, you may decide to use focus groups before designing the survey in order to determine the survey content and/or pilot questionnaire. Then you may also want to use qualitative research after the survey data has been collected to better understand the meaning behind the quantitative results.

Employee Satisfaction Surveys

It is worthwhile examining employee satisfaction surveys in more detail given that they are the most popular type of employee survey.

Census or Sample

Having defined your survey objectives, the next thing to consider is whether there is a need to survey all employees (“census”) or just a subset of them (“sample”).

Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that a census survey is most appropriate for employee satisfaction surveys. This is mainly due to the need to drive through improvement action planning at local levels which requires frontline managers to be provided with their own reports. By undertaking a sample survey, there may either be not enough responses to provide a report or the number of responses may represent too small a proportion of the whole employee population to be considered statistically robust.

Communication

Employee buy-in is critical to the success of the survey. If they believe that improvements will result from the survey, they are more likely to participate by completing it and will become actively involved in the follow-up improvement action planning process. This is another strong reason for a census approach rather than sample.

Communication is critical to getting this employee buy-in, particularly at the outset of the program and we recommend developing a communications plan that covers the following stages:

• Pre Survey
• During the Survey
• Post Survey
• Between Surveys

When developing the plan, there is a need to consider the different messages that you want to give to the different audiences and what are the most appropriate communication channels for reaching those audiences.

For example, it is important for first line managers and immediate supervisors to be positive role models for the survey so that when they interact with their staff, they demonstrate active encouragement of the survey, a commitment to administer it properly and to act on the results. This is important because employees are usually heavily influenced by their immediate supervisors or line managers. If they do not think that their manager/supervisor believes in the survey, then neither will they. The whole process is then derailed before it starts.

Part 2 continues this article

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

The dangers of social networking in 2010

Dangers of Social Networking & Technology

As technology pervades closer and closer into every task we do we are increasingly connected in a disconnected way to the people around us. Today I received this interesting little list and thought it good enough to share:

You know you are living in 2010 when…

1. Realising you accidentally enter your PIN/ password on the microwave

2. Artificial - You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years

3. Phone numbers - You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3

4. Instant Messaging –  You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you

5. Detached - Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses

6. Busy - You pull up at home after shopping and use your mobile to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries

7. Information – Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile : )

12. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list

16. You took the time to tell people about this post by twitter

17. …. then Facebook

18. and finally plan to email this to work colleaagues when you go back to the office on Monday

AND NOW U R LAUGHING AT YOURSELF

Go on, forward this to your friends. You know you want to….

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

Harvard Yale Written Goals Study – fact or fiction?

3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined

Or so the written goal study story goes regarding personal effectiveness and performance…

One question was said to have been asked:

“Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”

Is your OD or change process based on fact or fiction? Often methods and strategies we use in business and our organizations are based on what we read. But can we trust everything we read?

For a long time I have heard of the 1953 Harvard study or the 1979 Yale study on the effects of written goals of graduates on the long term performance or people. many coaching, training and personal development providers quote one or other as the reason why we should each have written life and performance goals.

Many often quote it as being:

There was a study done at Harvard between 1979 and 1989. Graduates of the MBA program were asked “Have you set clear written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” The results of that question were:

•  
  • Only 3% had written goals and plans
  • 13% had goals but not in writing
  • 84% had no specific goals at all

10 years later Harvard interviewed the members of that class again and found:

1. The 13% who had goals but not in writing were earning on average twice as much as the 84% of those who had no goals at all

2. The 3% who had clear, written goals were earning on average 10 times as much as the other 97% of graduates all together. The only difference between the groups is the clarity of the goals they had for themselves

OR

In 1953 a team of researchers interviewed Yale’s graduating seniors, asking them whether they had written down the specific goals that they wanted to achieve in life.

Twenty years later the researchers tracked down the same cohort and found that the 3% of people who had specific goals all those years before had accumulated more personal wealth than the other 97% of their classmates combined.

 

Now while there is evidence that people completing Harvard based MBAs do out perform others this is not linked to written goals per say.

I was intrigued by this and 2 years ago started research onto the origins to find the original research data. – 100s of hours and emails later – there was no such study!

Indeed even Harvard themselves say:

It has been determined that no “goals study” of the Class of 1953 actually occurred. In recent years, we have received a number of requests for information on a reported study based on a survey administered to the Class of 1953 in their senior year and a follow-up study conducted ten years later. This study has been described as how one’s goals at graduation related to success and annual incomes achieved during the period.

The secretary of the Class of 1953, who had served in that capacity for many years, did not know of [the study], nor did any of the fellow class members he questioned. In addition, a number of Yale administrators were consulted and the records of various offices were examined in an effort to document the reported study. There was no relevant record, nor did anyone recall the purported study of the Class of 1953, or any other class.
(Source : Where can I find the Yale study from 1953 about goal-setting?)

It seems that there were two early “reporters” of these studies – Mark McCormack (What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School)  & Brian Tracy (Goals!). Other self development gurus that have helped to perpetuate the myth include Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins

If you run a Google search for “Yale written goals study” or “Harvard written goals study” you will find 1000s of references – none of them true! (much like the references for SMART objectives in an earlier piece).

Interestingly enough in 1996 the FAST company looked into this research and discovered that it was a myth then! so why is it still being perpetuated 15 years later? Read the text here.

THIS RESEARCH DID NOT HAPPEN – This can only be described as a myth or urban legend amonst consultants and personal development/ success gurus.

If any training provider quotes this – then seriously question EVERYTHING else they say!!!

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

£Millions of training resources being thrown away

Social Irresponsibility: Essential Resources Being Disposed Of

Total madness and irresponsibility by our local and national public sector managers. In the UK and many other countries, as each week passes we hear of organisations being closed down. These are organisations that have been set up and run with public money – our taxes. Now for those employed in those roles its not a good situation to be in – job insecurity at a time when employment is difficult to find, tough economic times. For those individuals we empathise. Unfortunately like many other countries we have been living beyond our means.

As national budgets get cut so many organisations and departments are being “removed” altogether – and importantly these organisations have resources which are being disposed of rather than being re-invested back into our society. Don’t get me wrong this happens in the private sector too.

A couple of years ago when working for a multi-national organisation I was told to go and “clear a room, and see if there was anything of value”. That room was the library of a former training school close 2 years before). There were 100s of videos, 1000’s of books, dozens of commercial training activities etc – and that was just the easily tangible materials. I would estimate at least £50,000 (very conservative) worth of product/ resources was bound for the skip! And this from just one company.

When a whole organisation is closed/ downsized, re-located etc, often it will have many of the following:

• Books
• Training resources
• Knowledge in the form of intranet data
• e-learning licenses

What happens with this? Is it just thrown in the skip? Why? laziness?

In this difficult time of austerity, we need to ensure that we recycle all resources that MIGHT be of value and did cost the organisation (us the tax payer) to buy in the first place.

A few weeks ago I was leading a workshop in the training centre of a local public sector organisation, they were closing due to spending cuts. A shame as they actually made an operating profit – work that one out! Talking to the centre manager I discovered that:

1. They would be paying over £500 a month just to mothball the furniture – and they had no plans what to do with it
2. They were to pay someone to come in and chain saw up several NEW leather sofas, as they did not want the future liability if something went wrong in the hands of the new owner
3.  Would be throwing in a skip 20+ PC’s that were less than 3 yrs old… I’ll stop there its all too sad!

This function was cut to save costs… but it was actually returning a profit to the organisation. Bringing in income. The senior manager did not seem to be looking at this – just the out going costs”. This is one of the worst cases of management miss judgments in the public sector I have heard of recently. Now this is a total waste of public funds. the resources could have been given to a local charity, or other not for profit. Lets encourage everyone, managers, HR, learning professionals etc, to recognise the value of what is there, and rather than go into individuals attics and cellars (or skips), it be donated to appropriate organisations that can use the material.

As for intranet data, policies, and e-learning materials – lets make them available nationally where we can to help those that need to develop their skills for a changing work environment.

In the “information age” we need to start recognising the value of data – not just personal data but “knowledge” and find a way of warehousing this for other to use beyond the initiating organisation. For example some years ago the Business Link organisation (the gov backed consulting supplier for SMEs) built a “university” and commissioned a lot of training and online resources. When that function closed that data was lost. We are now in an age when data online can last for a long time providing people have access – is it time for a national archive of this public sector generated/ funded knowledge?

We need to do a number of things:

1. Train managers making these decisions in commercial skills
2. Educate people to recycle resources FIRST
3. Get out of the “they will sue us” mentality the public sector seems to have on disposal of assets
4. Learn how to distribute electronic knowledge so we do not lose it
5. Set up a central, national archive for data – in fact we have it – its called the British Library!
6. Bring in commercial managers from the private sector to start making informed decisions on how public funds can be spent effectively for the future of our pensions and our children!

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

Thinking of using PayPal for online payments?

Do I need a PayPal account? Can I pay with my credit card instead?

Are you a small business and want to take payments for small products online? Well so were we and we went for PayPal as while it is not the cheapest option, it is easy to integrate and people trust it.

We have been using PP for some time and have not had any problems, however in the last couple of months we have seen a reduction in sales. Then in the space of 2 weeks we have had several phone calls from potential customers saying that their card had been rejected and was there anything wrong with our site?

Then after some research and several hours on the phone to PayPal we have identified the problem. Paying by PayPal with a debit or credit card can only be done a number of times before PayPal requires the purchaser to have a PayPal account. Now this is a problem if your purchaser has no intention of having a PayPal account.

There are other reasons why PayPal my refuse a credit card – if you have a card which is registered but expired and you have not “told them” of this, if you email address is black listed.. there are many reasons.

So here is what the PayPal site wont tell you (but it is hidden) – accepting payments via PayPal for all real purposes, requires your purchaser to have a PayPal account. Using a credit card on its own is of limited use (value and frequency). 

On the PayPal site it does say:

On many sites (including our own) you will find the statement – “Do I need a PayPal account to pay for the product? A. No. PayPal will process Credit or Debit cards at no charge to you!” – however the “rules” appeared to have changed and now certain types of cards seem to have limited use in association with paying for products and services through the PayPal system. This seems to impact cards used by businesses and those used with PayPal previously. This is disappointing for many of us.

The Final Word

So if you want a “secure” and easy to use purchasing system and are happy that most of your customers have PayPal accounts – PayPal is a good solution.

If you believe that many of your potential customers will not have a PayPal account and will want to pay with popular cards (credit & debit) - go another route

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

Business & Life Coaching – The Modern Day Gold Rush?

Qualify as a Coach? – Investment or Con?

It is said that in California the people who made the money on the gold rush were the people selling the picks and shovels not those digging for gold. The same could be true in the world of Coaching, with those making the money selling training and profiling tools. Most coaching practices are not full time, with many all but ceasing trading after just a few years

Have you ever thought about training to be a coach and looked at the many adverts for “accredited coach training“? Many people interested in running their own small business will have read the “success” stories of coaches (Executive, business and life coaches) who, with little money but good skills and process, have launched a coaching practice of their own. With significant motivation to run their own business, in the hours that suit them, many of us are led to believe that there is gold in them there hills. Many people personally invest in becoming qualified, on the expectation that anyone involved with coaching would make a lot of money, help people and have a lot of free time. Basic business and common sense logic had just gone out of the window. Completing a “accredited coach training” programme can cost from $200-$5000+.

Many people have taken their redundancy money or their hard earned savings in order to complete training and accreditation and to set up a coaching practice of their own. In the last 5 or so years, newspapers and the professional press have been covered with coaching adverts and stories of people making lots of money and spending little time involved in delivering the required service to a potentially “unlimited” market of people wanting self development for their next career or life decision.

Individuals with little or no business experience, but with the belief that they wanted to “help people” have had some success, and through the power of digital media “pimped up” the stories of success. What is actually happening in the sector is not as rosy as these providers would have us believe. For much of the coaching world is based on the premise of self development leads to success and that the market is almost unlimited. Many of those running today’s coaching qualification courses have at some time run “personal achievement” style courses or journals, and moved into promoting coaching as they felt it was a growth area.

Coaches and the media were claiming that this was the future for business and they encouraged more people to join the coaching phenomenon.

Many people saw an opportunity to make money fast and easily and jumped on the coaching bandwagon, buying training from any high gloss or perceived quality provider. These coaches played their part in the coaching phenomenon, pushing up the already unrealistic earnings potentials to even greater heights. Normal business criteria seemed to be put on hold and coaches ploughed money into this sector partly through fear of missing out and partly through sheer greed. Many believing that it could never end.

The Coaching phenomenon has been compared to the Californian gold rush. Some people did make a fortune but the vast majority who made the trek to the gold fields lost all they had. The people who made the money were, in the main, those selling maps, provisions, or alcohol! – or in the case of coaching – training, personal profiling tools and accreditation.

So it is with Coaching. Product and training companies and those offering services to the coaching world have shown excellent returns, although many are now facing more difficult times on the back of a diminishing market, as coaching is one of the “investments” than many individuals stop spending in when cash is tight.

• The failure of so many coaches has been put down to the lack of business “savvy” – few of the coaches had any appropriate business experience which would have brought a sense of realism to what was happening
• Lack of sales know-how – money was thrown at websites without a full understanding of what was required and the implications of what might happen
• Lack of any financial rigor or cost control – money was for spending and little thought was given to controlling costs and balancing the books
• Lack of solid evidence to show potential clients the actual value that a relationship was likely to bring
• Much like the Time Share phenomenon, many people start on training courses, have to offer free coaching to get the required number of “clients” and experience – and fail to realize that after training it will get harder as why would people pay if they can find a coach under training!

In a relatively short period of time, the term coaching will take on a slightly unsavoury taste as more and more coaches fail to provide themselves with a livable income.

Still want to train as a coach?

And the next or current “Gold Rush”… Social Media Marketing… its already happening

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

International Leadership & Management Workshops & Seminars – Dubai & Nigeria

Leadership & Management Workshops & Seminars

Following the success of our recent international workshops in leadership and change management, RapidBI are in the process of scheduling international seminars for senior managers and leaders as well as professional officers.

Over the past year, we have run a number of successful workshops for officers, senior managers and leaders from Nigeria, Italy, UK and India. Mostly from the worlds of finance, public sector and professional services.  This need has promoted us to join in a strategic alliance to be able to provide the following training workshops being run in Dubai:

• Leadership Workshop
• Leadership & Change Management Workshop
• Leading Strategic Change Workshop
• Strategy & Business Planning Workshop

These workshops are 5 days long and suitable for middle to senior managers, Heads of department etc.

Fees for these courses are just £4999 per person or £7450 for up to three participants and include:

• Comprehensive Course Manual & References (Colour)
• Handouts
• Breakfast, Lunch & Refreshments
• Complementary (Free) Laptop/ Netbook Computer
• Accomodation is provided at some venues – please ask when booking

Why price for 3 people?

We have learned over time that many public or open courses for leadership, change and management get canceled due to low numbers. This strategy we have found effective as it is cost effective for two people, but helps to ensure that we never cancel a course once scheduled.

Small Sizes

We believe in quality programmes so limit numbers on the program to 12 maximum. Unlike some providers that pack the room out, we use quality venues and ensure high levels of trainer/ participant/ learner interaction.

Our Course Schedule & Program

Our course schedule typically follows this programme:

• Day 1 – 1400-1700 arrival & registration, Intro to course & contents
• Day 2 – 0900-1400 course work + evening self study
• Day 3 – 0900-1400 course work
• Day 4 – 0900-1400 course work + evening assignment
• Day 5 – 0900-1400 Assignment presentation & presentation of certificates

Why Dubai?

As in international centre, Dubai is both accessible and welcoming to the international community. Obtaining visas is easier than many other locations. It is centrally located and it is easy to access from Europe, Africa and Asia. The training centre and facilities we use are just 15 minutes away from the internationally renowned shopping malls, with state of the art facilities and customer service.

For more information please contact us using the contact us page. We can also offer these workshops in-plant if required

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

Hidden Dangers of 25% budget cuts

In tough times we need to make tough decisions

How to cut 25% budget without spiting your face.

With public sector organisations all over the UK (and others) facing mandatory cuts of 25% budget cuts across the board, many are going to make mistakes they will live to regret.

Whether we like it or not the target has been set. The goal for leaders now is to make appropriate cuts.

A couple of weeks ago I ran a leadership and change management programme for a group of senior leaders in Dubai from the Central Bank of Nigeria (don’t ask!) and while discussing change I heard a phrase from my past which struck fear in my heart – “Project EAGLE”.

What is “Project EAGLE”?

This was a change project which was led by a major consulting firm which resulted in losses of jobs – many inappropriately and in an ill conceived way. Now I had come across this approach “Project EAGLE” many years ago in the private health-care sector, now in the banking industry in Nigeria, and research has shown that there are many other such projects around the world. I cannot be sure if they are all from the same stable – but it looks like it.

Project EAGLE was said to stand for:

• Efficiency
• Accountable
• Goal orientation
• Leadership
• Effectiveness

And note the total lack of focus on ordinary people!  No wonder why that so many times when people talk about change management or change strategy, they do so with dread. Indeed, in the health-care company it took many years and a dedicated (people based) change strategy just to recover from the “trauma” that was left behind.

Managing change is more than project management

If less than 50% of you plan is about people, the impact on people and the psychological changes individuals are expected to make – then your change programme is bound to failure.

Shortly after running this leadership programme I was facilitating a Train the Trainer course for the NHS and found out that due to cuts they were closing a dedicated meeting and training venue. NUTS! This venue was close to running at cost recovery with less than 20% of its activity from outside the NHS, with just a small about of growth this could have been an income generator. Unfortunately the managers saw this as an easy cut in spend – without looking at the whole picture. Worse – they were planning to put the resources and furniture in storage costing many £100s a months for the foreseeable future.

Making cuts in budgets is one thing, but looking at this in a holistic way must happen if UK PLC is not to throw lost of time, effort and money down the drains. Who are these incompetent managers that lack vision and basic business abilities? I hope that they are the first to go in any cuts. Services which can stand on their own are potential income generators, while they may not make private sector style margins, they should be at cost recovery plus – so that the facilities are available but without the cost.

Threat or Opportunity?

I honestly hope that all senior managers don’t just get the accountants in, but actually use people with good solid business/ entrepreneurship experience to help identify the real short and medium term threats and opportunities, and build on internal strengths – not just further develop weaknesses.

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

The 5 Traps to Avoid – Increasing Trend for People Going Freelance

How to have a sustainable business model

With the economy showing little in the way of recovery, every day there seems to be more and more people looking towards self-employment, in particular in the freelance or contracting markets.

This is having a strange impact on the supply and demand in the profession. People are often despirate for work, so set low rates – custonmers like the thought of saving so hire at the lowest cost… but what is the real cost?

When contracting or freelancing, it is not about generating an income – its about running a business. This means creating reserves for when there is no work. Driving day rate lower and lower does no-one any favours in the longer run. Customers want a reliable supplier (if you charge too little you wont be there in 12 months time), customers get used to low rates and poor quality (or hidden costs) and this damages the sustainability of the industry. Worse, some sites claiming to support the freelance and contracting market accept adverts for roles that are clearly un-sustainable – driving the profession into the ground.

Rates should be based on value and business aspirations not just cost. This works well for all parties in the medium to long term.

In the past we have written a number of articles on freelancing and setting sustainable rates and business approaches – links are included below.

If you are considering setting up on your own make sure that you dont fall into one of these 5 traps:

1. Starting a price war – you will lose
2. Undervaluing what it is you can do for your clients
3. Selling on price rather than value
4. Believing that the client really cannot afford to may that little bit more – just look aroud the carpark! (or on notice boards announcing their latest contract win)
5. Giving discounts – you will never raise the price for that client again – always add value – not reduce costs

http://rapidbi.com/management/going-freelance-in-training-or-hr-how-much-to-charge/

http://rapidbi.com/management/going-freelance-in-training-hr-or-as-a-coach/

http://rapidbi.com/management/tips-going-freelance-training-consultancy/

http://rapidbi.com/management/going-freelance-independent-trainer/

http://rapidbi.com/management/going-freelance-in-difficult-times-consulting-and-training/

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---

What is Jelly? – co-working for lone workers

Jelly – A Semi-Weekly Work Together

Today I received an interesting tweet about “#Jelly”. This got me interested and I stared a little research. In essence, Jelly is a way for people that work on their own to have a social connection – work colleagues if you like. The site that co-ordinates groups (http://jellynyc.pbworks.com/) says this:

What’s Jelly?

Jelly’s a casual work event where everyone’s invited. It’s for anyone who’d like to work alongside other creative people in a welcoming environment

Some Jellies are in people’s homes (that’s how it started), others are in coffee shops and businesses.You bring your laptop and some work, and Jelly provides wifi, a chair, and smart people to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with.

What a fantastic and wonderful idea. It is so easy for those working alone to “under perform” and miss opportunities as they lack the social interactions and ideas of colleagues. This I suspect is the way forward as more and more people work from home and work in a freelance capacity.

Having a regular opportunity of working together with like minded people, share thoughts, get ideas, solve problems will I am sure make the difference for some individuals in the decision “stay working on my own or go back to employment?”

What coffee chain will be the first to set up regular Jelly events in all their outlets? It will make good sense for them, and increase their customer base – Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Coffee Republic, Caffè Nero, McDonald’s, Whetherspoon etc… In marketing its all about being first – so who will be first? Come on marketing people, if you like my idea run with it (I will only want free coffee for life )

Read more at – http://workatjelly.com/

Twitter – if tweeting about Jelly – use the hashtag #jellyWT (Jelly Working Together)

United Kingdom

• Acton, London Amovita Writers Jelly -  Twitter @elizabethcairns. Booking and details here
• Banbury Jelly - @ Colin Sanders Innovation Centre. Details & booking here
• Bristol and Bath, UK    
• Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK  let us know you’re interested. Twitter: @BradfordJelly.
• Cardiff, UK  Jelly at indycube, Cardiff we have regular bi-monthly jelly’s at indycube. Tickets available here.
• Cambridge , UK  at BeginSpace
• Chiltern Jelly  New group launching soon in South Beds/Bucks/Herts borders. Interested? e-mail hello@chilternjelly.co.uk or Tweet @chilternjelly
• Clitheroe, Lancashire - Jelly Up North the Grand Clitheroe twitter@RuralUK
• Cotswold Jelly  Cheltenham – at The Norwood Arms, Leckhampton. Details and booking here 
• Cotswold Jelly  Stroud – The Social Enterprise Centre at The Excha nge, Details and booking here
• Cotswold Jelly  Gloucester – at Gloucestershire Media Group Details and booking here
• Dundee, Scotland – coming SOON. get in touch @alisonhendo if you are interested.
• Edinburgh, Scotland   Twitter: @themeltingpoted
• Edinburgh, Scotland New Jelly at Edinburgh screenWORKS starts 25/06/10 & every last Friday of the month 1pm -6pm 
• Faversham, Kent, UK New Jelly wobbling its way to Faversham soon. Twitter: @oliviaholcombe
• Fitzrovia, London, UK 
• Frome, Somerset  Next Jelly to be announced soon
• Glossop, Derbyshire - coming SOON. Get in touch through Twitter with @porld
• Hackney, London, UK  Every Thursday 10am till 6pm at SPACE
• Hertfordshire Jelly, UK Inaugural Herts Jelly in Letchworth Garden City – to be announced soon.   
• Holt, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire Next Jelly to be announced soon
• Ilminster, Somerset, UK Ilminster Jellies are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month. For regular jelly updates follow @emmersons on twitter. Details & booking here       
• Leeds, UK Every first Tuesday 10am to noon at Old Broadcasting House (coworking + networking meetup – see http://opencoffeeleeds.eventbrite.com)
• Leicester, UK
• London, UK Every Friday “Greenwich Jelly” 10am-6pm in Greenwich Communication Centre http://www.greenwichcc.com Like our GCC Facebook Page at http://tiny.cc/bkkxh
• London, NW2 (Willesden Green) Jelly at MoHoLo Community House Regular Jelly events at our community house. Next Jelly is on 4 June 2010 
• London, WC1 (King’s Cross) Jelly every Wednesday 1pm to 5pm at Centre for Creative Collaboration, 16 Acton St, WC1X 9NG follow @lloyddavis & @brian_condon #c4cc 
• Berkshire, UK – @ Crowthorne Enterprise Centre. Details & booking here
• Manchester, UK
• Plymouth, UK 
• Reading, Berkshire, UK – 1st Wednesday in the month. Like our Facebook page for more details. 
• Shropshire, UK – held in Ironbridge (9to5 & 5to9), Oswestry (9to5) and Ludlow (NEW 9to5) and COMING SOON – Shrewsbury Jelly. Book via http://www.eventbrite.com and search for ‘Shropshire Jelly’. Follow @ShropshireJelly on Twitter for latest news/info. 
• Southend, UK 
• Taunton, Somerset, UK  @  The Genesis Centre, Somerset College, Taunton, Somerset. Details & booking here    
• Thames Valley Jelly
• West Mids Jelly, West Bromwich, UK 
• West Mids Jelly, Telford, UK : Telford Business Centre.  http://twitter.com/WestMidsJelly or book a place on http://bit.ly/bR1W87
• Yeovil, Somerset, UK Yeovil Jellies are held on the 4th Wednesday of the month.  Follow @emmersons on twitter. Details & booking here

 

See the site for details of other groups & their meets

---

© RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the RapidBI team. We welcome your comments. If you wish to use any text you are free to do so, however please credit us and link to our site.
PLEASE RT – Help us by tweeting or adding this post to your favourite bookmark service. Feel free to add this page to your favorites (bookmark)

---