Diamonds to You

“No problem can be solved
from the same consciousness that created it.”
Albert Einstein

Hi,

My questions last month yielded some interesting answers.  The questions I posed were:   How do I convince those who have not worked with me before that what I offer is qualitatively different from what most trainers, coaches, etc. offer? How do I get new business?  How do I differentiate myself from the average “talking head” or person who just attended a coaching course when she lost her job in marketing?

Some of the suggestions I received were:

• Get testimonials from your current and old clients (old does not refer to age here – but to when they last used my services.)
• Ask your favorite clients to make some phone calls and/or e-mails for you, using their own words to describe you.
• More public speaking opportunities – when you speak in public people get to experience your style.
• Change your marketing materials so they are more compelling.
• Target market – using different marketing materials for different targets. (Gee whiz – and I teach this to others!)
• It’s not you – it’s the economy.  “Soft skills” are the first to go (well, thanks for that – but like you, I need the business.)
• Reach out to the types of clients that are not as youth-oriented as many in the High Tech Community.

“Important changes that are shaping the nature of work in today’s complex organizations demand that we become more sophisticated with respect to issues of leadership, power, and influence.  With that increased sophistication, we can make our corporations more competitive.  We can make rigid bureaucracies more flexible, innovative and adaptive.  We can even make the world of work more exciting and personally satisfying for people.”  By John P. Kotter

Let me help you deal with the complexity you are finding – working with people from all over the world, all ages, genders, expectations, and levels of experience.  Particularly, let me help you with your executive team and managers because managing people, creativity, and processes are what they need to learn to do more than anything they learned in school.

Graduate Level Courses

Speaking of school, I’m really pleased to let you know I will be teaching at two schools this summer.  These courses will be taught by me evenings and/or weekends – so they will not detract from my ability to serve my organizational clients.

For Lincoln Law School, I will be team teaching with Attorney Derryl Molina.  Our Course will be taught to graduating law students as well as to fairly new attorneys.  The tentative title:  The Psychology of the Practice of Law.

For the Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University, I will be teaching several courses.  The first three have been decided, we are considering which of the others I will be teaching this summer.

• Managing Diversity (in a Global Economy)
• Leadership and Organizational Behavior
• Training and Development
• Managing Change
• Human Resource Management
• Employment Law
• Negotiation Skills
• Career Development

Interviewing for a New Job

DeVry had a Job Faire last month and I participated by helping attendees improve their resumes.  I created the following reminder:  PITCH-B

P	Practice: (Use your family and friends to practice with)
I	Image: (How you dress, your grooming, etc.)
T	Timeliness: (Being late loses you points)
C	Curiosity: (Not about benefits, but about the products and services of the organization and the elements of your job.)
H	Homework: (Learn about the company, the person/people interviewing you and anything else you can about the position before going for the interview.)
B	Behavior: (How you act and treat everyone you meet will be noticed and will become part of the evaluation of your suitability.)

“New Breed of Business Gurus Rises”  -   “Quest for Innovation, Motivation Inspires the Gurus”

This was the title of an article in the Wall Street Journal which talked about the influence Psychologists and CEOs have on influencing others through public speaking, workshops and consulting.  The article says:

…time-strapped managers are hungry for easily digestible advice wherever they can find it.  Today, the most pressing themes include globalization, motivation and innovation. Thomas H. Davenport.

Just to remind you that my work includes helping manage for creativity and innovation as well as everything pertaining to rewards, recognitions, motivation and retention of the very best of your employees.

Rewards & Recognition

The first of a two part article I wrote just appeared in the June-July issue of Outsourcing.    In this article on Rewards & Recognition, I remind management that they quite often are rewarding the wrong things (like how many people you manage, rather than how effectively you meet your deliverables) and failing to recognize those things that enhance the workplace (like helping others do better.)

I’ve taken the liberty of sending a copy of this article to a few of you, others can find it of course by going to the Outsourcing website (www.outsourcing.com)

They’ve been kind enough to invite me to have a regular monthly column in the management section of their magazine.  So, go looking – subscribe – give them your business too.

In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model.  You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.  Buckminster Fuller  (Thank you to my friend Mary Moser for sending me this, and a few other great quotes.)

Delegate, delegate, delegate

Saturday, I attended a friendly barbecue of business owners.  As we sat around chatting, I received a phone call from Donna, my cleaning lady, who was at my home and had a question for me.  I took her call, and apologized to the other guests when I was finished, explaining why I took the call.  One of the women, a woman who is a fairly new business owner and works very very hard – in addition to having some physical disabilities, said incredulously, “You have a cleaning lady!”   She said it as though it were an unusual and high level luxury.
How sad.  She still thinks she has to do it all. Women, I think, have a harder time delegating than men.  Although, I still know men who change their own oil and do their own taxes.

In an article in Newsweek, many highly successful entrepreneurs were interviewed and all talked about the importance of hiring help.  The more you do yourself, the less time you have to do what you – and only you – can do well.

Delegate, delegate, delegate.  This applies to tasks at home, as well as those more routine tasks for your business.

Successful companies stay with their core competencies and outsource everything else.  That’s delegating at a high level.  Bill Gates has been quoted as stating that he reviews the work he did that day at the end of the day  and if he finds there is anything he could have delegated, he does – and never does that task himself again.

Get rid of the time-consuming, energy draining small tasks that others can do for you.  Free yourself for the important things you do – like spending quality time with your kids as well as networking, marketing, being creative and innovative in the development of your own business.

Also, use experts.  Don’t do your own taxes – think about how many hours of continuing education tax professionals have to attend each year to keep up with the changes and requirements of tax law.  Do you really think, no matter how bright you are, that you can do as good a job?

Oh yes, use experts (like me, hint, hint) to develop your stars, teach your managers how to manage people more effectively, facilitate your retreats, etc.

Creating a Climate Fostering Creativity and Innovation

The Silicon Valley Innovation Society (SVII) is a wonderful organization, founded by Howard Lieberman and run by Sue Lebeck (who just got married.)  Howard and Sue have created a society that meets monthly (First Wednesday) to share ideas on creativity and innovation.

Last month Sue asked us to use a few words to express what we believed an environment that fostered innovation needed to contain.  I said:

The freedom to:

• Express
• Try
• Disagree
• Make mistakes
• Live your own life your way without hurting others.

New Workshops for You and Your Company

• The Business of Your Profession – A Highly interactive workshop for small business owners and those running Professional Practices.  This is not one of those get rich quick schemes, but a practical and positive approach to giving your best and getting the best from those you serve as well as those who serve you.

• Coming to America as an Executive – This is for those from other countries in Asia and Europe who want to learn how to lead and manage here in America.  As many of you know, I’ve been consulting to C-level executives, including CEOs for many years.  I’ve also worked with individuals and management groups helping them socialize to our American way of doing business and have taught diversity and working in a global economy to both business groups and university students.

• Manager in the Middle – We talk about leadership all the time, but the people responsible for seeing to it that the job gets done are the managers in the middle.  They have to take deliverables from the executives above them, , answer to these executives, and make sure staff delivers the deliverables.  How do they do this and still foster individual growth and creativity?

• Public-Professional Image – In addition to my on-going work with individuals, I am available to offer workshops on how to enhance your professional image – and your believability.  I am also working with a few people running for public office – helping them with image and presentation.

• Persuasion/Negotiation – The whip doesn’t work. We manage people with their permission.  Therefore, we need to have their trust, loyalty and commitment.  This is accomplished by positive persuasion and negotiation.

• Internal and External Customer Service/Satisfaction.  This workshop is designed to change the focus and attitude of those who think the task is more important than the outcome.

• Compliance issues Training:  This includes interviewing, hiring, record keeping, firing, exit interviewing, workplace safety, drug free workplace, harassment, discrimination, diversity, and understanding the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and how to work with physical, emotional and psychological disabilities.  (I am on the ADA Compliance Guide’s Advisory Board.) 

 

I really thrive on your referrals to me.  Keep them coming!

I invite you to forward copies of my newsletters to your friends and colleagues.  Thanks.

It’s not hatred that kills people,
It’s indifference.
Eli Weizel

My Blog

www.DiamondAssociates.net/blog - Visit ME!

Speeches Past and Recent Future

• Be Powerfully Persuasive  for the Civic Society Institute (CSI) at Santa Clara Univeristy on April 9th.

• Coaching:  Keys to Improved Results  for the German American Business Association (GABA) on March 6th.

• How to handle a Whistleblower…Understanding HR’s role in an Internal Investigation for the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), February 6th.

Prior Newsletters

Other articles in prior newsletters can be found here:
 http://diamondassociates.net/articles/Newsletters.shtml

Recent Publications

Several more of my articles have been published in dozens of e-magazines and newsletters.  These articles are being published so frequently that I can’t list all of the references.  Instead, I suggest you Google:  ArLyne Diamond.

Here are some though:

• Rewards & Recognition (Part 1) in Outsourcing, June-July 2008
• Workforce Strategies:  Effective Exit Interviews:  Confirming a Company’s Strengths, Screening for Potential Problems.–  in BNA, (The Bureau of National Affairs), by Cathleen O’Connor Schoultz – April 2008, Vol. 26, #4 – I’m quoted extensively.
• Most hated:  HR People – Representatives strive for respect in a tech-driven valley.  In Outsourcing, February-March, 2008.
• Setting Your Performance Management Agenda, in CareerSmart Advisor, January 2008, by Marji McClure – I’m quoted extensively.

• Workforce Strategies:  Sarbanes-Oxley and Whistleblowers:  Tips for Staying Compliant And Avoiding Retaliation Claims, in BNA, (The Bureau of National Affairs), December, 2007, by Cathleen O’Connor Schoultz – I’m quoted here as well.

• Workplace Discord:  What’s creating conflict and ways to resolve it.  In Outsourcing, December 2007-January 2008.  I’m the author, although they forgot to put my name on it.

• Cultural Differences in Group Decisions, in Outsourcing, October-November, 2007

• Change Management Strategies, in Outsourcing, August-September, 2007.

• Board Service is an Honor, Echo Journal, August 2007

• Real World Solutions: Hiding Disability Facts Leads To Misunderstandings, in Thompson’s ADA Compliance Guide, August 2007, Col. 18, #8.
• Team Buidling Strategies, in Outsourcing, WORDlabs MEDIA, Kuala Lumpur., June-July 2007.
  
  
• Building Trust in Distant Teams, in Management Issues Feb. 20, 2007.

• Workplace Conflict Resolution:  What’s Creating Workplace Conflict and 9 Easy Ways to Resolve it appeared in Impact Articles:  The Business and Coaching Network on January 26, 2007   With my permission, this article will also appear in a series of newsletters created and marketed by Haley Marketing Group to their staffing industry clients.

My two published books are available at www.ProductivePublications.com.

• Training Your Board of Directors:
  A Manual for the CEOs, Board Members, Administrators and Executives of Corporations, Associations, Non-Profit and Religious Organizations
• The “Please” and “Thank You” of Fundraising for Non-Profits:
  Fifteen Essential Ingredients for Success

So, how can I help you?

“ArLyne is far and away the most capable person [Board Training and Conflict Resolution]…[they] asked ArLyne to return on several occasions to assist them as they worked through their problems.  Through ArLyne’s guidance and leadership the board resolved the crisis, settled its differences and now works together in harmony.  … ArLyne creates a program to fit the bill…. ArLyne emphasizes communication – listening and giving constructive feedback – decision making, conflict resolution and team building.  She is an asset to every organization with whom she has worked…”  Robin Leonard, Rabbi

 

“[ArLyne] has provided exceptional and effective guidance and leadership for our organization….ArLyne helped us define our mission, goals, and objectives, and masterfully captured hours of discussion in a strategic plan.  She has led numerous groups for us – from volunteer training to focus group facilitator training to facilitating a focus group.  Everything ArLyne does is with a true professionalism combined with her independent style.  I would encourage any organization to utilize the tremendous array of talents that ArLyne brings to the table. She is one of a kind!"  Janice B. Weinstein, Executive Director

 

Let me be your Aufin—your advisor to Kings.

 

ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D
ArLyne@DiamondAssociates.net