Current science has legitimized the power of thoughts, words, breath, meditation, and world-view to have direct and lasting effects on our performance, happiness, and well-being. As studies in neurobiology, behavioral genetics, and quantum theory begin to confirm what has long been known by practitioners of—sometimes ancient—wisdom, we may see a new acceptance of ideas embraced by those who were once chided as “touchy-feely” types. Below I’ll provide a “top 7” list of areas to consider and specific solutions that may make a difference in your life—but I would be doing you a disservice if I were to rank-order these solutions or tell you what works “best,” rather than provide you with a call-to-action to reflect on your life, explore these options, and find what resonates for you as initial steps.What are you doing lately to develop yourself, your habits, and your overall well-being? How are you integrating such practices at work and in your personal life? To what degree are you committed to leading the life you’ve always wanted?

Let me be clear: This is not about what some call the “self-help” movement or such potentially misleading films as The Secret. Thoughts create new openings for actions, and that step may have been lost on some. For that reason, one can deride many of the over-simplified, extreme, or blatantly scheming claims of similar material, and by so doing, overlook the core ideas that Aristotle would call Phronesis, or practical wisdom. We just need a guide to separate the charlatans from those who provide value to those of us who want to get things done in spite of increased stress due to the increased speed and complexity of our professional and much of our waking lives (e.g.  entrepreneurs, job-seekers, or employees in general). How often have you experienced a fight or flight response in the last year? Alternatively, how often have you found yourself in optimal flow (see the work of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi)? Be honest.

Has your workplace sent you to any workshops or seminars to calm the mind, raise the spirit/vitality, or unlock your potential? Beyond the classic productivity workshops such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Mission Control, or Franklin-Covey, have you participated in anything designed to either: A) train the mind to maintain focus during times of increasing amounts of informational load? or, B) raise our level of understanding that we create the world through our words and actions, and that what used to be a passé understanding of the power of what they called “positive thinking” is actually a reflection of how the world really works? That’s right. One need not agree with the more spiritual views of Integral Psychology (see Ken Wilber) to recognize that our thoughts and actions as we grew up believing in them from a basic Newtonian physics model are not quite what we experience in the world today. The world works differently than we thought it did!

While philosophical discussions of serendipity, coincidence, and the quantum nature of reality are far too ambitious for an introduction of this size, for future discussion we can reflect on and eventually share our most profound experiences with self-development and humanistic approaches toward well-being, as well as the correlation to the scientific articles we often see via the Internet or in books or journal articles.

Here are seven categories, each of which deserves in-depth future discussion:

• Healthy Body/Healthy Mind (eg. Cardiovascular exercise and its effects on the brain; the effect of sleep on brain function )

• The Science of Breath (eg. Coherent Breathing of Steve Elliot; Sudarshan Kriya breath technique of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)

• Awareness Training (eg. The forum; therapeutic and emotional intelligence work; cognitive-behavioral techniques)

• Nutritional Optimization (a variety of movements that largely focus on the benefits of more greens and less animal products in one’s diet; herbal and other supplements often called “neutraceuticals”)

• Biofeedback and Meditation (eg. Computer-assisted EEG neurofeedback such as BrainPaint; meditative practices; auditory meditation such as from the Monroe Institute)

• Electrical Devices (eg. Light boxes; Cranial Electrical Stimulation devices)

• And even the more common forms of gratitude and prayer, often via religious or spirituality practices

Science and ancient wisdom are merging on a set of ideas that may reach a tipping-point sometime soon, whereby many more people will understand that they have both high-tech and low-tech options with which to redirect their focus, optimize their performance, and train their body and mind to cultivate an energetic and creative well-being, including the potential for mitigating illness and disease. How would it look to create a path for yourself and your life that extends far beyond what you thought was possible? New possibilities appear when you’re “there” to meet them.

Public comments are encouraged. If you would like to privately share your experiences, please email me: mliskin-at-plusdelta-dot-net

Here is an excerpt of a recent discussion about the Best Recognition and Rewards Programs for the Post-Recession Economy:

[Jeremy Lurey]: A couple weeks ago, I facilitated a great session with a local NHRA (National Human Resources Association) chapter. The topic was Recognition and Rewards programs, and we used a World Cafe (see www.theworldcafe.com) format to bring everyone – and their richly diverse perspectives – into the room. During the World Cafe rounds, groups were asked the following 3 questions:

1. What are the top three MONETARY recognition and rewards approaches that you use in your company?
2. What are the top three NON-MONETARY recognition and rewards approaches that you use in your company?
3. What are the underlying assumptions of your recognition and rewards system, and does the absence of receiving a reward equate to PUNISHMENT?

Provided below are some of the key themes that emerged from the group. I’m curious if this is in line with your experiences or if you have other “best programs” you would recommend.

- MONETARY programs included spot bonuses, spot awards of all denominations, sales incentives, and structured commissions for sales people. Some of the best suggestions actually included having the program guidelines approved by management but then having the awards themselves appointed by others without management intervention.

- NON-MONETARY programs included everything from hand-written Thank You cards from senior leadership to deserving employees to more visible Employee of the Month/Year awards to more individualized service pins and other tokens of recognition, including honorary parking spots. Some of the best recommendations were actually based on assigning special project tasks (i.e., Tiger Team assignments) to people to recognize their abilities and unique contributions.

- Some of the final thoughts about PUNISHMENT may have been most interesting of all. A significant number of participants remarked on how many rewards were removed in 2009 due to the economy and how this simple act of cost-cutting was experienced by many as punishment. So the resounding recommendation of the group was to not implement something that may not be sustainable, because any improvements in organizational culture and performance that may have been gained initially surely would be lost – and then some! – as soon as those rewards were taken away.

[Future of OD Member]: This sound[s] like it would have been [a] fascinating meeting. I couldn’t agree more with the final comments. Once the bar has been set, anything that lowers the bar is experienced as either punishment or taking something away. We create the expectation of recognition when we initiate a recognition program. If we, for any reason, have to stop that program, we then fail to meet the expectations that we have created. This gives us a very fine line to walk, but it’s worth it if we can find our way.

[Jeremy Lurey]: Thanks (Member). It really was a great meeting. Not often, we as professionals get a chance to focus on knowledge transfer and learning in this type of intimate group forum. And the ideas that came out of the discussion were powerful and tremendously rich. Everyone very much agreed with what you just described which is the basic tenet of “Don’t do it if you aren’t serious long-term” and “Fight to keep it once it’s already in place.”

So what are your thoughts about recognition and rewards for the post-recession economy? As you can see, we are blogging about a discussion that is now taking place online even though it originally formed from the ideas discussed in a separate in-person group. Help us continue the conversation here via this communication media by commenting below. Or better yet, take an excerpt of this blog post and start another discussion in yet another form. We welcome it!

Many organizations have realized that green business practices provide a competitive business advantage. It’s an opportunity to make a real difference in a way that benefits not only bottom line results, but also fosters stronger employee engagement, improves community relations, and creates a sense of corporate responsibility.

Some companies have integrated their green initiatives into every aspect of their business, and have even resulted in the addition of innovative products and services to boost bottom line results. In most cases, though, it’s not easy to come up with potentially significant contributions that result in a measurable impact to cost or profitability.

Plus Delta Consulting recommends collaborating with all of your stakeholders — employees, customers, vendors, and business partners — to gather input, ideas, and perspectives. Educate your stakeholders about sustainability and the company’s vision, and then involve them so everyone feels like they are contributing to the goal. They will be much more engaged in the process and will be much more likely to participate in any new initiatives.

Whether your organization is looking to implement green initiatives as part of a large-scale transformation, or just at a grassroots level, Plus Delta suggests the following idea starters to…… get you “going green.”

1. What can I do individually? How can I change my  behavior or ways of working to contribute to the organization’s sustainable business practices?
2. What can our department do? What opportunities do we have within our department’s operations or processes to support the company’s vision of going green?
3. What opportunities exist between departments? Can we create efficiencies or new processes in how we work with other departments?
4. What divisional or company-wide opportunities exist for efficiency? Where can we create efficiencies that benefit both the company and the environment?
5. How can we reduce our energy consumption? Are there low-risk opportunities to use less electricity, fuel, renewable energy sources, etc.?
6. How can we reduce materials or waste? What are the low-risk, high-value opportunities in how we produce our products or services?
7. How can we create a more efficient infrastructure? Are there opportunities to reduce, reuse, or recycle within our systems?
8. How can we improve the design of our products or services? How can we make our products or services even better and more environmentally friendly at the same time?
9. What new products or services could we offer? How can our company provide “green” products or services to new markets and customers?
10. What new products or services could we create that might also be patented or licensed to other companies? What are the opportunities for government funding for these in our market or industry?
11. How could we reduce our carbon footprint? What key functions or areas of the company could we analyze and target first?
12. How could we partner with our vendors and business partners on collaborative green initiatives? What green initiatives are they implementing? How can we collaborate and support each other?

Can Plus Delta Consulting help your organization “go green”? Our consultants are passionate about helping our clients implement sustainable business practices, so please do let us know. If you have implemented green practices, please share your “green” organizational experiences with us!

Due to the popular demand we received from our clients last month, we are extending our New Year’s offer for FREE 360-Degree Leadership Excellence Surveys for anyone who starts a new Executive Coaching program. Plus Delta’s coaching programs range from 6 months of rigorous support to help you and your senior leaders develop the skills you need to ensure the success of your organization to our much more targeted “Quickstart” program. Either way, Plus Delta’s talented executive coaches will help you leverage the tools and insights you need to bridge the gap between more traditional managerial roles and your new responsibilities as business leaders in this post-recession economy. And to make sure these programs deliver long-term sustainable results, we’ll include not only a FREE 360-Degree Leadership Excellence Survey but also a one-year subscription to ThinkBox – one of the most powerful online, on-demand learning and development resources around today – with every program.

Interested in learning more? Ready to invest in yourself and invest in your leaders? With Plus Delta’s Executive Coaching programs, you can improve the performance of an individual leader or an entire executive team. Give us a call at 866.PLS.DLTA (757-3582) or send an email to info@plusdelta.net and get started today. Believe it or not, our Quickstart programs begin at just $1950 per leader, so you don’t want to miss this amazing opportunity!

Thank you,

Plus Delta Consulting Team

Every major consulting or research firm has the data to prove it.  Engaged employees are not only happy employees, but they are much, much more productive employees. They make companies more profitable, and shareholders richer.  (Click here to download a Gallup white paper on the power of employee engagement as a core business strategy.)

I think that most leaders are coming around to believe that this is a truth:  engaged employees are a good thing for the business. The problem is that many leaders have trouble figuring out what it takes to get those employees  “engaged”.

Let’s make it clear.  “Engaged” employees are emotionally involved with their job, their company, and their co-workers. Some of their co-workers become friends outside the workplace, and they care about and support one another.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that HR departments in companies should start planning weekly company picnics or make a return to “fermentation Fridays”.  I’m not suggesting that we run a “social Meet Up” application on the company intranet.

We don’t need to run “team building” meetings and ropes courses in every department to get employees engaged.  And no, we don’t need executives to do a weekly “lunch with the President” meeting (UNLESS the “Pres” is willing to stick with the program and actually follow through on his/her commitment to meet with employees, get to know them, and do something about their suggestions).

What I am saying is that the major reasons employees:

-         Enjoy being at work

-         Are willing to give more effort to work

-         Feel good when they tell their friends and family about their work

…are that they:-         Enjoy working with the people they work with

-         Feel pride in the workspace that they occupy

-         Feel that the work they’re doing is important and meaningful

-         Relate to the work they do and identify with it on a deep level

Just read some of the top survey responses related to employee engagement in the Gallup survey for evidence to support this:

-         At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

-         My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

-         The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.

-         I have a best friend at work.

-         This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Is this so hard to understand?  Probably not for most readers.  And while it looks good on paper, it’s often difficult to make happen.

And that is what we as OD practitioners do for a living. When given the opportunity to partner with visionary leaders, we can and do make it happen.

Our job is to size up a company, understand the business, get a sense of what employees are thinking and feeling, assess what it is that needs improvement, align leadership on their vision and purpose, and then to put into play a uniquely tailored strategy to completely change the relationship that employees have with one another, with their work, and with the company.

Sound a bit like marriage counseling? I suppose it is. Some marriages get better after counseling, particularly if the couple involved wants things to get better. Some marriages get worse, and people leave the relationship.  The same thing happens when employees leave for another job.

(I’m reminded of the old joke, “How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change).

The key to achieving engagement is to change the conversations that employees and leaders have about the business. It’s about making time to talk, listen, and take action on what workers will tell you about how to improve the business, the work environment, and the culture of the company. It’s simple, but oh so complex in execution. These conversations can lead to changes in business processes, job design, organization design, systems, policies, management practices, hiring practices, and a number of other things. But the key ingredient is getting employees involved (and, dare I use the word “engaged”) in changing the conditions in which they work…for the better. More than just a “suggestion box” program, the idea is to change that conversation that employees and leaders have about the business.  This is “business as unusual”.

Don’t be over-confident though. While some leaders have the intuition and the experience to lead these kinds of change initiatives, it is often advised to have an experienced OD professional assist in conducting these conversations to move from talk to action. Leaders will find value in having an experienced set of eyes and ears looking at the same situation they are looking at, and seeing it with a professional perspective.   And a good OD professional will bring a variety of new approaches to consider – not just a “one-size fits all” solution.

So what are some simple things leaders can do without an OD professional to offer support?  No surprises really.  Here’s a short list:

1. Encourage people on your team to form the natural friendships that foster a positive working environment.  (Or at least don’t discourage it).
2. Encourage discussions about how current work processes might be improved, particularly with cross-functional work processes
3. Set up a peer recognition program.
4. Hold regular discussions with your employees about ways they can continually improve their skills on the job.  Consider job rotation or cross training.
5. Listen to your employees’ ideas and, when possible, implement them

Frankly, I get discouraged working with leaders who don’t “get it”. Many leaders simply equate employee engagement initiatives with an increase in the training budget or consulting expenses. And while these may, in fact, be outcomes of an employee engagement initiative, there is a reason for that. It’s because to get a return, you need to make an investment – an investment of time, money, and effort. All leaders ask for the ROI. And so they should. Well, the ROI is there. The research proves it. If a company can get a 10% or 20% improvement in productivity, sales, revenue, profitability, market share or any other key performance indicator, would it be worth the investment?

What does your leadership team have to say about the importance of employee engagement? And if it they see engagement as something of value, what strategies are they using to more fully engage the potential of the workforce?

Stuck in a rut? Still worried about the recession? Well, I hate to say it, but you know you’re doing it to yourself, right?

Self-fulfilling prophecies are very powerful. Now I’m not saying that the skies are always filled with warm sunshine and pretty rainbows. I am, however, saying that you can choose to see them that way if you want.

Does this all sound easy to say for a guy who was born and raised in Los Angeles where it’s “shorts weather” most of the time? Well it is, but not because of the physical weather around me. It all has to do with my perspective on how I choose to view the world. I’m not ignorant to the global financial crisis we all experienced in 2009. I’m not even in denial about how much hard work it’s going to take to dig ourselves out of the mess we’re all in. I just believe in myself and know at the bottom of my heart that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

Two years ago, I decided I was on the downhill slide of being overweight and physically unfit. No argument about how I got that way – too much holiday cheer, not enough time at the gym, too many late nights working and definitely not enough sleep! For the better part of a year, I told myself, “It’s OK. It’s just a busy time at work.” But then I said, “This is ridiculous! I’m not even 40, and I refuse to spend the rest of my life like this…” Well, now I’m in the best shape of my life. Really! I weigh about 20 pounds less than 2 years ago, I ran a 5K for the first time of my life on Thanksgiving Day, and I’m now training to run 4 more races this year – including the coveted 10K “Mud Run” at Camp Pendleton in June.

For what it’s worth, I didn’t expect to be in the best shape of my life when I decided to focus on personal health. I didn’t even know that was possible. What I did know is that “trying to lose another 5 pounds” wasn’t the right approach for getting into shape. Instead, I focused on living a healthier and more fulfilled life by getting into shape. Being in the best shape of my life was just a welcome surprise that came as a result of focusing on the positive results of my near-term efforts.

Another key area of focus for me this past year has been sales. For those of you who are in sales, you probably recognize the name Chet Holmes and have read his book entitled the “Ultimate Sales Machine”. There are lots of people in this world who wish they were better salespeople or wish their customers would stop saying no to them. Both of those sentiments are true for me too. I just stopped letting them be my primary focus (dare I say the stories I told myself to justify my lack of sales in a down economy). Instead, I told myself that I was the “Ultimate Sales Machine” and focused my energy on making that happen – by reading great sales resources, by reinventing some of our consulting offerings, and by being more confident with my go-to-market strategy. Now I may not be the “Ultimate Sales Machine” based on Chet Holmes’ standards, but I sure feel better about myself and the results that I am producing these days than I did before I shifted my perspective.

And I could go on and on… Just about every facet of my life has a self-fulfilling prophecy – one that is motivating and inspiring and produces phenomenal results or one that doesn’t serve me very well at all. You must be confident in yourself and move from “I think I can” to “I KNOW I will”! Treat your desired results as if they are inevitable outcomes, and you will be much more likely to achieve what you want in life without exerting wasteful energy focusing on the things you don’t want to do.

So what are your self-fulfilling prophecies? And how are they working for you?

Entertainment.  It’s all around us.  The late night talk show wars between Jay, Conan, and Dave.  The new TV season is starting with American Idol and 24, and SuperBowl Weekend is just on the perceivable horizon.  I don’t know about you, but we live in exciting times!

Really?  Really?  What have we become?  Does Hollywood really dominate our attention so much as to dull our senses about what is going on in the world around us?  Have we become so numb to our world that we let “The Tonight Show” shenanigans take precedence over what happened in Haiti these past weeks?  Or to take precedence over what’s going on in our own homes with our spouse and children?

We are deluged daily, not only with entertainment, world news of disasters, war, and economic turmoil, but we are “attacked” with e-mails (let’s start a contest to see who gets more than 500 e-mails a day!), and overwhelmed with requests for our time to attend meetings and teleconferences.  Where do we draw the line?  When do we start to get control over our lives and our time?  How do we start to manage our commitments and keep a focus on the important relationships in our lives to make a statement about what is important to us?  How do we dig out of everything that gets piled on top of us so that we can breathe fresh air and regain a sense of balance that will both sustain us and energize our efforts to lead more productive and fulfilling lives?  Is this all too much to ask?  Is it pure fantasy that we can actually achieve this?A little over 25 years ago, I had the fortunate opportunity to participate in a program that truly changed my life and that provided me with the foundational tools and experiences to launch a career in OD.  The program was called the HRD Intern program, and it was conducted by the brilliant staff of consultants at University Associates (UA).  The program was expertly designed and elegantly facilitated so that upon completion, I (and other participants) left with a much clearer sense of “self” and “purpose” that would enable us to more effectively operate as a catalyst for positive change in organizations.

Oh, getting my Masters degree in Counseling was a great foundation, too.  But the UA Intern program was not about “book” learning where theories and concepts were king.  The Intern program was about getting centered on who I was as a person.  It was about getting clear on my values….on what was important in my life, and on what I needed to do to be “on purpose” in all of my interactions with clients, colleagues, family, and friends.  It was about having access to, and learning from some of the great thought leaders in the field of OD including John Jones, Phyliss Cooke, Will Schutz, Warner Burke, Len Goodstein, Paul Hersey, and Bill Pfeiffer.

The Intern program was designed to enable an experience of personal growth, as each of us learned to struggle with our own idiosyncrasies, our own interpersonal needs and issues, our own values and beliefs, and our own weirdness.  But it also enabled us to integrate our very personal learning with our professional development.  We learned that if we are to be instruments of positive change in organizations that we must first learn to change ourselves and thus become more positive role models to those we are encouraging to change.

So what did I learn?  It’s difficult to capture in words, because so much of the learning took place on an experiential level.  And experiential learning is, by very nature, transformational as it causes learning to occur on not just a cognitive level, but on a physical and emotional level as well.  But if I were to capture a few key points about what I learned to be more “centered” and “on purpose”:

• I am “on purpose” when my thoughts, intentions, words, and actions are focused on jointly optimizing my client organization’s needs and objectives with those of the employees working there.  In other words, I use myself as an “instrument” or “catalyst” for positive change by applying my knowledge of people and organizations to design and implement new systems, processes, structures, and roles to help companies become more profitable and to help employees feel more fully engaged.

• Through various structured activities, personal growth group experiences, and intensive self-examination and assessment, I learned how to become more “centered” and “comfortable in my own skin”.  I learned more about who I was (values, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, needs, drives, etc.) so that I could become a more effective human being in interpersonal and group situations where people look to me to offer helpful insights, counsel, and advice on how to improve leadership and organizational effectiveness.

Looking back on that period, I realize that it was my experience in the HRD Intern program, and my fortunate opportunity to work as an employee at UA for nearly four years, that caused me to shift my career focus from becoming a Counselor to a Consultant in OD.

If you are an OD professional, what foundational experiences led you to choose OD as your career of choice?  What are you doing, or what have you done, to develop yourself for a career in OD? For all professionals, how do you stay “centered” and “on purpose” amidst the onslaught of information overload and the demands of competing priorities?

As for me, I try to attend at least one major conference a year (Linkage and/or OD Network) to “recharge my batteries” and expose myself to new thinking.  And I try to do at least one “retreat” a year where I commune with nature and some good friends or family in the peaceful surroundings of the Sierra Nevada, but I confess that these things get harder to do amidst all of my other commitments.

So, back to my opening comments on entertainment…… I confess to be an addict to “24” and “American Idol”, and I have them set to “record” on my DVR.  (We all need our “guilty pleasures”.)  And I wish that I could apply some sweat and muscle to rebuilding Haiti, but since I can’t I will donate money so that others can.  But I do hit the “delete” button on more and more e-mails, and I am continually striving to keep my priorities clear and in focus.  (I need to make more time for my hobbies of playing guitar and photography for sure).  But I am curious to hear what you do to make (and keep) yourself the best “instrument of change” that you can in whatever you do.

In today’s turbulent times, employees are discouraged by the continuing global economic crisis and broader world news, organizations are becoming completely consumed by draconian cost-cutting measures simply to stay afloat, and customers are still finding it difficult to make purchasing decisions. During this period of furious business change, now is the time for business leaders to take the offensive and renew their organizations.

STRATEGIC ORGANIZATION RENEWAL unlocks value in your business by optimizing organizational performance and protecting customer loyalty.  By engaging this process, business leaders align near-term business strategies necessitated by today’s unprecedented economic challenges with not only the desire but also the ability to prosper in the recovery.

Join us for an engaging session on January 28, 2010 at ASTD – Special Division (Organization Development)– where we explore the concepts and share practical tips for renewing your organization!  Learn how to change the game by using this opportunity to renew your business and create a ready platform for growth and innovation in the future.

In this session, we will:

•    Discuss today’s unprecedented economic challenges and our current context for change as the recovery sets in

•    Review the concepts of Strategic Organization Renewal – a proven approach for optimizing organizational performance and protecting customer loyalty

•    Develop specific strategies you can use to put this powerful approach into action and produce better business results before it’s too late.

For more information, click here.

All of us at Plus Delta Consulting have been reflecting on what we will do as we enter the New Year to improve performance in our organization – and with our client organizations. 2009 was a rocky year for many, and I for one am very glad to put it behind me. With that said, I’d be remiss if I simply said, “Thank God it’s over!” without doing any planning for 2010.

As we enter the New Year then, we’d like to recommend 5 simple steps for you to drastically improve performance in your organization. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take as you begin the New Year to produce better results? Please take a moment to comment below and share your own actions and ideas with us and all of our readers.  Until then, here’s our list!

1. Plan your future from the future:

If anything was possible for you and your organization in one year from now (or even 10), how would you have the future be? Suspend reality for just a moment, and don’t worry about being practical or even reasonable. Focus on defining your ideal future based on your most important values and longer-term business objectives. And don’t frame this as “fixing” something that already exists or working within your current constraints.

This is purely a process of creation. By the way, you need to enlist the support of your team and explicitly ask those around you what contribution they would like to make to the organization and the world around them – again given no constraints – to develop a shared vision for this ideal future. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish if you work together as a team to achieve this future from the future!

2. Conduct a “Quick Pulse” assessment of your organization:

Good health and wellness is critical to the success of any organization. If you want to produce better results, you need to determine what’s working well across your organization today as well as what opportunities exist to improve performance moving forward. This doesn’t have to take a long time. Just talk to some of your key managers and staff and ask them what they think. You can also administer an online survey to gather information quickly from a wider audience. Together, this process of listening to your people will help you understand their individual perspectives about organizational performance and quickly gauge what your organization needs to do differently in 2010. If you tie this information back to your company’s strategic objectives, you will have all the ingredients you need to create a recipe for success this year.

3. Talk to your people and become a mentor to them:

Do you have a forum in place today to tell your employees what they do well and what they aren’t doing so well just yet? Are you giving your direct reports the feedback they need to succeed? Feedback is a gift. At Plus Delta, we say “Feedback, Feed-forward”. If you don’t take the time to talk to your people, they won’t know what to continue doing nor will they know what to stop doing.

One simple activity is to conduct a quick goal-setting meeting with your employees in which you clarify what to Start, Stop and Continue doing in 2010 to be more effective. Match this against your more formal (or informal) performance review process, and you’ll be able to see where things are in alignment versus where they are not.

But remember, the process doesn’t stop here… Your employees need you to provide ongoing feedback and coaching throughout the year to stay on track. Being a mentor is not a one-time event, and creating sustainable results doesn’t happen after one sit-down together. Continue providing feedback to and mentoring your people on a regular and ongoing basis to produce long-lasting positive results.

4. Take a step back to examine how you’re managing performance from a company point of view

When we work with clients to help them improve performance management in their company, often their focus is on the question of “how do we raise the bar?” or “how do we have those ‘difficult’ conversations with poor performers?” or “how do we do a better job of defining and measuring goals, objectives, and key performance indicators?”.  But when we actually get into a conversation with them about what’s working and what’s not working, it turns out that their real issues are more related to managing organizational performance.  What we begin to hear are things like, “we have too many competing priorities” or “our project priorities continually shift, so we can’t help our employees prioritize what’s important from one week to the next” or “what are priorities for our group are not priorities for the other groups we work with.”

These are symptoms that the management processes for managing organizational performance are either not in place or not working effectively.  By management processes, I mean the mechanisms (i.e., meetings, forums, etc.) for the management team to meet to:  a) establish a “project portfolio management plan” of critical projects over the next 90, 180 days and beyond; b) regularly revisit that plan in light of constantly shifting priorities, marketplace dynamics, competitor plans, customer demands, etc. c) to re-prioritize projects, redistribute resources, and refine objectives and milestones; and d) re-communicate the outcomes of those meetings to employees so that their work activities are consistently prioritized, coordinated, and integrated.  While it may take some effort (and time) to establish and carry out these management processes, the overall savings of time and money on the organization through improved coordination of effort will bring a significant return on investment.

5. Evaluate your organizational strategy for using social and collaborative media:

It is essential for you – and your organization – to leverage new media for increased collaboration, networking, knowledge sharing, and improved productivity.  Whether it’s updating your LinkedIn profile, starting a new blog on a question or idea you have, or leveraging Facebook to promote your company brand, these tools can keep you connected with everyone around you.

Prior to launching a social media campaign, joining the relevant social networks, and becoming more interactive in the realm of new media, you have to determine your longer-term strategy, establish goals, and create a plan. Why are you doing this? Is it to keep your friends and family informed about what you are doing? Would you like to draw customers to your company? Are you looking to improve collaboration among members of a virtual team?  There is tremendous pressure to jump right into this game with both feet, but this arena has its own set of norms and rules and there are long-term implications for deciding to use these new media channels.

Interactivity with one’s key customers and/or encouraging internal collaborative efforts in your organization can be both rewarding and highly effective in all types of companies and communities. Understanding and establishing a set of common practices and policies on how you and your employees should use these tools is critical to the success of any such efforts though, so think first. If necessary, consult an expert to guide you before getting started.

At Plus Delta, we have experienced an ever increasing flow of feedback from our clients and others that the long anticipated economic recovery is happening and the pace of the recovery will increase significantly. The information we have received is corroborated by government figures and statistics – for example: the Consumer Confidence Index rose in December, the first time in over a year; the Monthly Home Sales Prices are up for the 5^th straight month and over the last 3 months have risen nearly 20%; the Gross Domestic Product increased 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009 as compared to the 2^nd quarter of 2009.

A recovering economy dictates that your organization must be prepared for changes. Our business climate dramatically changed in 2008 and early 2009 when the U.S. economy nearly came  to a complete halt. Processes in your organization were also changed; people assumed multiple roles while they tried to accomplish the same amount of work as two or more downsized workers.

Getting frustrated by conflicting demands to continue to stabilize your organization through the traditional methods of cost cutting, job layoffs, hiring part time workers, early retirement of older workers, etc.– while trying to ramp up for the arriving economic recovery will do no good.

What is mandatory is that planning must start right now. You must begin to work with your organization to prepare for a long anticipated positive move forward. You hoped for it; you asked for it, even begged for it. Now you have got it. But what to do? Here are 5 steps to get you started:

• Learn about your organization’s performance. Do this by collecting relevant data about performance by your organization, by the competition, and by requirements of the new emerging economy. Interviews with key stakeholders, clients, and suppliers are an essential part of understanding where your organization’s performance level is and where it has to go.

• Do a SWOT analysis – be brutally honest about your firm’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Done correctly, it will provide very important information and lead to a good understanding of next steps.

• Conduct workgroup feedback sessions to gain valuable insights from the “experts.” Those who work in the processes know what will be required of them to make the changes happen. They will give extraordinarily valuable insights to next steps and how difficult the changes may be.

• Examine where your processes are today and where they will need to be likely changed, updated,  completely reworked, or simply tweaked. This examination will serve to demonstrate how complex a change will be required to perform in the new, now emerging economy.

• Conduct a survey of employees, customers, suppliers, and management to help verify all of the items you have discovered.

After you have grasped the extent of the needed changes, you are in a relatively good position to begin to plan the changes themselves, the timing of the changes and how to avoid negative impacts of the changes on the organization. You can begin to do sensible “makeover” plans and start the task of properly managing your processes for a leading role in the future of your organization.

The details of the work you do to get to this point and to move forward will provide you with the structure and plan to manage the changes that are necessary to successfully deal with the new, fast approaching economy.

Where does your organization stand? What are your most pressing challenges? Need help or have questions? Please contact us. We enjoy challenges!

Jack Weber is an Executive Consultant with Plus Delta Consulting, LLC