Women finding balance

The world of communications, especially when you focus on the strategic standpoint, is extremely exciting.  We have discussed effective leadership and being a strategic communicator from a personal level all the way through to effectively leading a corporation with a clear vision.  For many women, being intellectually challenged and stretching her leadership muscles in the corporate world can be extremely difficult when trying to balance it with a family.  Sheryl Sandburg says, "Women struggle the most between professional success and personal fulfillment".  Luckily, with technology rapidly advancing and social media taking on various roles, the opportunity for women to spread their creative wings to fulfill this desire is growing exponentially.  For example, many women are working corporate jobs from home, creating and maintaining blogs that attract sponsors and a large following, and entrepreneurs are starting their own businesses based from their home.  

I agree with Sandburg on a couple of points regarding women who want to remain in the work force or are coming back into the work force.  First, she says to "sit at the table".  This means we do not need to underestimate our abilities and we need to have confidence to negotiate for ourselves in the corporate world.  Instead of sitting on the side of the room quietly we need to be sitting at the table with confidence knowing we deserve our own success (this is defined differently for each person).  Healthy competition is lucrative in many ways, whether in a corporate setting or from home. 

Second, Sandurg says "don't leave before you leave".  In other words, remain focused on your vision and keep your foot on the gas pedal until something changes between your personal and job worlds (i.e. deciding the become a stay-at-home mom).  Continue looking for new opportunities for growth and advancement.  If the choice has been made to continue being present in the corporate world after beginning a family, make sure your job is challenging, rewarding, and that you feel like you are making a difference.  Finding that balance can be very difficult, especially
if our job is boring because we put on the brake pedal too quickly.

 John Maeda discusses in his TED talk "How art, technology, and design inform creative leaders" how our computer can be thought of as our spiritual space of thinking.  This is an extremely stimulating thought for a woman in search of balance who might need to blend her corporate and family lives.  Maeda states that "technology makes possibilities, design makes solutions, art makes questions, and leadership makes actions".  Art is an entity where some questions may not have answers.  For a woman seeking balance creative leadership expands her world.  A creative leader is interactive (see previous blog) as opposed to the traditional leader who practices one-way communication. She improvises when appropriate as opposed to following the manual.  The creative leader loves to learn from mistakes (visionary blog) as opposed to avoiding mistakes.  The creative leader resembles a jazz ensemble as opposed to the orchestra model of a traditional leader.  The creative leader is open to unlimited critique and taking risks(transparency blog) as opposed to limited feedback and sustaining order. 

 

Whether a woman wants to exercise her mind and abilities in the corporate world, at home with her family or both, creativity is the operative word in finding balance and we can do it!  Success and happiness look different for each person.  We simply need to give it all our very best and stay focused on the goals before us.  I have enjoyed tying these blogs together and I look forward to continuing in the future.  My blogs may not be on a weekly basis as this particular class is coming to an end.  However, we will be communicating again soon!

Avoiding filter failure

Would you generally describe society today as patient or impatient?  Relaxed or fast-paced?  Having plenty of quality time or never having enough time?  Seeking truth and valid knowledge or simply looking to be entertained?  I think most of us would agree that the second answer to each question is the one we would give and that is very unfortunate in many ways.  Dan Gilbert in his TED talk "Why We Make Bad Decisions" says "our brains were evolved for a world in which people lived in very small groups and rarely met anyone who was terribly different from themselves, had rather short lives in which there were few choices and the highest priority was to eat and mate.  THIS IS NOT the world we live in today".  We have evolved in many wonderful ways; however, our ability to effectively make sound and responsible decisions/choices has basically been left behind by the pace of technology, lack of time, and pure laziness.  The amount of information we have available to us today is staggering.  JP Rangaswami says "there is no such thing as information overload.  There is only filter failure.  We have to start thinking about how we create diets and exercise within ourselves to have the faculties to deal with information and to have the labeling to do it responsibly."  He asks a very important question:  What would happen differently in your life if you saw information the same way you see food?  Would you be healthy, content, and energetic or would you be obese, disease stricken and lethargic?
In my previous blog I discussed decisions we make with our children and making time for what matters.  This goes for anything of importance in our lives, including our business practices and how we implement and measure them.

One of the main things a strategic communication leader can do to help clients understand an evaluation that includes both tangible and intangible aspects of a program is that while communicating the business numbers (tangibles) such as referrals, sales, ROI, and analyzing web numbers the intangibles have the opportunity to play out naturally in the way we share, listen, react, and talk with our clients.  Understanding and experiencing intangibles is completely different than having hard copy measurements.  I have no doubt we will progress in the area of measuring emotional reactions when our brand is presented through social media, clients feeling respected as a person and not just a number on our bottom line, transparency (we have covered the importance of this well but not necessarily how and if we can measure it), the effectiveness of two-way communication between a brand and its clients, and a person's influence among their different networks and how it affects our company and brand.  The intangibles are what drive a consumer to our brand over our competitors.  We all have the ability to be more educated now than ever before with all of the information available to us.  Being able to appropriately filter the information and make well-rounded decisions is where many intangibles come in including how we handle crises.
The intangibles range from our employees to our stakeholders to our potential clients.  We can take a resume and actually call referrals to measure a potential employee's actual experience.  A background check can let us know to a certain extent a person's citizenry and moral code.  The intangibles are measured with how that employee attaches him/herself to the company's vision and how they perform according to that vision.  Then, from within the company how are we communicating effectively with our employees as well as with our publics?  We can indirectly measure these intangibles based on the success of our tangibles such as consistency in the value of our products and systems.  How do we measure our "why", the transparency of a company and its leaders, the effectiveness of our vision, and what sets our leadership apart? We might not be able to completely measure intangibles.  However, we have a responsibility to connect with people from a human perspective and not just an institutional perspective, be a positive influence, recognize those who contribute to the value of our brand, be trustworthy and transparent, acknowledge the value of our employees and leaders as well as our publics, and be proactive in creating a healthy two-way communication environment.  The tangibles will look much brighter! 

How do we measure intangibles and how well our filter is working on a personal level?  We are overloaded with information that simply is not true and by motives that are selfish and dishonest.  How do we know we are using discernment and making knowledgeable decisions?  Two cases that are headlining the news right now are Paula Deen and the Trayvon Martin case.  Let me ask some questions.  Do you personally know Paula and/or Trayvon and/or George Zimmerman?  Have you watched the entire Martin/Zimmerman trial yourself?  Have you read the actual depositions with Paula Deen versus her accusers?  Have you been getting your information about these people from the National Enquirer and fascinating stories on Facebook and talk shows or from verifying the sources and facts yourself?  Are the conclusions you have deduced racially driven? We should strive for truth and knowledge and appreciate the plethora of information we have available to us while keeping our filter clean and at maximum performance level.  When we do this we are able to walk through this fast-paced, technology driven life consistently making decent choices. This is not always the case,of course.  We are also able to spread truth and growth through word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  This is especially true among professional communicators.  Here is an example from one of our leading professional communicators that, I believe, could have been improved upon by just as effectively providing the same historical approach for all aspects of racial degradation (since the majority of his speech was regarding emotions/reactions based on racial history and experiences) and challenging everyone to take the time to make educated evaluations and handle the situation with actions that would edify each race instead of validate the concerns he proposed.  I reiterate everyone.  What happens when pool water goes through the filter?  The filter catches all the crap, including the hidden particles, and flushes clean water out at an accelerated rate through the jets.  Wouldn't it be marvelous if the majority of social media and communication professionals effected this kind of outcome!  Tangible results would be astronomical because the intangible elements would cause them to soar.  Rangaswami also told us to "balance our diet to make an effort to prevent diseases and toxins."  Our personal relationships, social media relationships, business and professional relationships, as well as the relationship between an organization and its key publics should positively impact the well-being of each other.  For the public relations relationship this involves impacting the economic, social, political, and/or cultural well-being of the other entity.  Let's strive to be the pool water coming full force out of the jet!
 
Joy:  An abiding (resting, dwelling, remaining in) sense of happiness.

Let's Enjoy Our Children! A Persuasive Appeal

What are two things that are scarce in our society today?  Available quality time due to increasing demands for it and face-to-face interaction due to the explosion of social media.  Yet as parents these are two things that our children desperately need and want.  Who wants an emotionally healthy and stable child?  We all do.  Who is a perfect parent?  No one is.  However, we can strive to be the best parents for our children that we can and enjoy the journey along the way.  Veola Vasquez with Focus on the Family says in her article “Emotional Development” to “Be purposeful in guiding your child's emotional life. Focus intentionally on his emotional needs. These needs are just as important as his cognitive, physical and spiritual needs. Some ways to do this are:  1.  Build a strong bond by spending quality time with your child. Experts agree that parents who interact regularly with their children — beginning in infancy — develop stronger bonds. 2.  Stay emotionally in tune. Connect with your child on an emotional level. Attempt to understand what she is feeling. When she is happy, be happy for her; when she is sad, cry with her. 3.  Model healthy emotional relating. Your children will mimic the way you handle emotions and the way you relate to others. By managing your own emotions in a positive way, your children will learn to do so as well. 4.  Teach children how to handle negative emotions. Doing this well does not come naturally. Children need to be taught how to handle defeat, deal with conflict or be angry in a healthy way. Children who are taught these skills early are better able to handle negative feelings as adults.”  All of these things take time.  Harley A. Rotbart, M.D. from Parents magazine reminds us that we only have 940 Saturdays typically between a child’s birth and them leaving for college.  260 of those are gone by age five.    

From where do we find this time?  First, we need to remember that it is the quality of time, not the quantity.  We need to take the minutes we have and turn them into memorable moments.  And, when we make it enjoyable and create little traditions along the way we find ourselves carving out more time with our children and actually looking forward to it.  Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, M.D. say in their book The Five Love Languages of Children, “Quality time is a parent’s gift of presence to a child.  It conveys this message:  ‘you are important.  I like being with you.’”  This is going to look different for various situations such as single parent homes, number of children, whether one or both parents are working, etc.  I have worked a full time job from home with two children, I have been a single mom with a part time job from home, and I am now a married stay at home mom with three children and I am in graduate school.  The seasons of time I have had with my children have varied greatly and now my 13 year old is becoming more independent and spending time away with his friends so our time is beginning to look a little differently.  Some ideas that don’t necessarily require a lot of time are eating breakfast together and praying for the day or taking them out to breakfast before school, going to have lunch with them at school, stopping for a moment when we get home from work with no distractions to hold their hand, look in their eyes, and find out about their day, let them help cook dinner even if it gets messy, take their favorite book and have a picnic at the park, take them out for an ice cream, have movie night with popcorn, go for a walk and take crazy pictures of each other along the way, include them in grocery shopping and let them pick out ingredients for their favorite meal, play a board game together, build a fort with them, make a little flower garden together and regularly check it together, go to the library and do story time together, and leave them encouraging notes wherever we can to surprise them and remind them one more time that we love them.  Have a bedtime routine that is packed with meaning, even if it is five minutes.  We need to make the most of every moment we have with our children and show them how important our time is with them.  This will impact generations to come also.

           

Another easy way to make the most of the time we do have with our children is to understand their love language and let that be our primary focus with each child.  Chapman and Campbell list the five love languages as physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, and acts of service.  Each child has a primary love language that best communicates love to him or her.  We can learn how to transfer our heartfelt love for them to the hearts of our children.  For children with their primary love language as physical touch, “a tender hug communicates love to any child, but it shouts love to these children”.  These children are usually very touchy, feely because they are speaking their own language.  For the children with words of affirmation as their primary love language, “words are powerful in communicating love.  Words of affection and endearment, words of praise and encouragement, words that give positive guidance all say, ‘I care about you.’  Such words are like a gentle, warm rain falling on the soul; they nurture the child’s inner sense of worth and security.  Even though such words are quickly said, they are not soon forgotten.  A child reaps the benefits of affirming words for a lifetime.” For the child whose primary love language is quality time (with even more emphasis than normal) it means giving that child your undivided time.  It includes positive eye contact, sharing thoughts and feelings, quality conversations, storytelling, etc.  For the child whose primary love language is gifts, the “most meaningful gifts become symbols of love and the child must feel that his parents genuinely care through the other love languages”. We need to “give less rather than more and carefully choose gifts that will be meaningful rather than impressive.  When your child has the primary love language of acts of service, they tend to appreciate things we do for them on a different level.  “The ultimate purpose for acts of service to children is to help them emerge as mature adults who are able to give love to others through acts of service.” 

           

A fun idea would be to set up a date with your child and go through the quiz in the book to find out what their love language is and discuss it with them.  Find out what things mean the most to them and celebrate their individuality.  Share with them specific reasons you love them and remind them how thankful you are that they are yours.  This face-to-face time never needs to be replaced by social media (texting our children even when we are in the same house, Facebook instead of going through pictures together, tweeting messages that can be shared through a hug or laugh or tears, etc.).  Dr. Christopher Healy from NC State University says, “The written word can be so hard to discern because of the lack of voice inflection, eye contact and facial expressions.  As the newer forms of communication boom in popularity---texting, emailing, and tweeting – the human emotion gets further and further removed from the message”.  Let’s turn off the television and our electronic devices and spend some quality time with our children. 

          

For various reasons we all tend to be physically and emotionally drained at the end of most days.  As parents we also need to give attention to our own physical and emotional health to be able to make the most of the snippets of time we have with our children.  Some things we can do are put the phone on vibrate and listen to relaxing music on the way home from work, stop the car before we get home and pray, take a few minutes to get a cold drink and change into comfortable clothes before settling in with the family, have a set bedtime for the kids and grab a magazine and get in a bubble bath to wind down for the day, light candles and play music while cooking dinner with no electronics and create a relaxing mood for the entire family, and we cannot be afraid to sometimes let our children know we cannot wait to spend some time with them but we need to take a breather first.  We have real emotions also and they need to see us be honest and handle them in a constructive way.  We have good days and bad days; wonderful seasons in life and some that are not so great.

          
From this point forward, let’s be the best parents we can be and maximize the time we do have with our children and create lasting memories and keep their love tanks full.  We as parents have made mistakes and will continue to make mistakes; however, we can set the example and be an encouragement to parents around us that quality time with our children is vital and blesses our hearts as well as theirs.  Neither our lives nor the social media world with falter because we turn off our iphones and love on our children.  Let’s have fun!  

Leadership and Crisis Communication

  Ten or fifteen years ago when a crisis occurred, companies had at least a 24 hour period to reconcile what had happened and put together an effective plan to communicate with the public, stakeholders, etc.  Now, there is little to no time.  For instance, when Flight 1549 crashed in 2009, Kevin Smith reported the incident on Twitter within two minutes after the crash occurred.  Because Southwest Airlines was already engaged in social media they knew immediately about his posting and responded within 16 minutes after his first tweet.  They were able to be proactive and respond in real time to this crisis of attack on the company and they did so by interacting directly with Kevin Smith and others on Twitter.  Dan Landau says, "Today with social media platforms like Twitter, posting a tweet is like having a press conference with the world.  Organizations must begin to understand that today, anyone can be a journalist and individuals can report whatever they want to anyone in the world in just a few seconds".  Let's think about this for a moment.  This has many good implications for those motivated to compliment and help a company.  However, we are discussing crisis communication.  Any person including those with no moral compass, no decent standards of citizenry, severe lack of intelligence, and narcissism can now communicate to the world in a split second basically anything that entertains them at the moment.  Let's all pull our hair out right now!  An example of this is when Domino's Pizza had two employees post disgusting videos of how they were contaminating the food. The main problem is that consumers are able to generate information and that information go viral quicker than crisis communicators are able to appropriately respond to a crisis incident.  Eddie Obeng said, "all the rules are gone.  Instantly in this environment all the possibilities which turbulence brings are available." One thing that Domino's could have done differently is respond the second they were notified of what was going on with a statement letting everyone know they were investigating and verifying all information, they apologize for any and all inappropriate behavior that did not represent the integrity of the company, and assure everyone that it would be handled and that Domino's would keep everyone up to date as the process unfolded.  Then, once they had all the information and knew the videos were valid and created by actual employees they could, in more detail, outline their strategy for responding to be truthful as well as avoid lawsuits.  The fact that Domino's had to implement their crisis strategy plan in the midst of an actual crisis has put them in an excellent position to be proactive if a crisis happens again.  

Online crisis response plans must be an integral part of marketing plans if the company wants to remain in charge of its reputation instead of its antagonists.  We have to realize what a powerful force social media is because it allows information to be shared instantly with anyone in the world, people all over the world are using it, and it is extremely easy to use social media to spread information immediately to a wide audience.  The wit of Domino's team to respond using the same mediums (i.e. Twitter and YouTube) that were used to distribute the critical information and videos so they could take charge of the situation was ingenious.  It showed respect for its customers by reaching out to them where they were (online social media sites) and by being empathetic and genuinely concerned. This is also why Southwest Airlines was successful in their crisis communication response because they fought viral with viral.  Domino's made sure its publics understood that swift and appropriate actions were being taken to remedy the situation and make sure it did not happen again.  They practiced transparency, which placed them ahead of the marketing curve (we discussed transparency in my previous blog).  This case is a realistic example of the massive impact social media has on public relations practices and the systems that need to be integrated into PR to control crises and reputation management. 


There are many things that can be done by a company to place itself in a healthy position to deal with a crisis when it occurs.  It starts with leadership.  A leader should be someone who is prepared to manage the crisis and protect the company's profitability, reputation, market position, and have systems in place for the human resource managers.  If the franchise owner at the aforementioned Domino's would have used professional judgment and took the time to hire employees with a strong work ethic and integrity, this crisis could have been avoided.  The female involved had already committed multiple crimes that were part of her public record.  Wooten and James tell us in their article "Linking Crisis Management and Leadership Competencies:  The Role of Human Resource Development" that "crisis leadership demands an integration of skills, abilities, and traits that allow a leader to plan for, respond to, and learn from crisis events while under public scrutiny."  Neil Chapman helped with crisis communications during the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill and explained that these abilities in leaders and CEOs is vital because part of their job is remaining effective while under extreme pressure and fatigue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjb196dB0VY  He said that Tony Hayward did a fabulous job prior to the oil spill in having systems in place for successful communication between the proper agencies and establishing what the roles and responsibilities of the various communicators were.  Hayward also established a strong sense of teamwork striving for a common goal.  The human tragedy was that eleven people lost their lives.  Chapman said you cannot "PR that away".  It then turned into an enormous environmental disaster and BP's messages had to be very clear:  

1.  They had to attack the source of the oil, 

2.  They had to clean the oil from the water, 

3. They had to defend the shore, and 

4.  They had to restore peoples' lives.  

Two things that social media really played into during this crisis in a negative way were it overshadowed the fact that BP was reacting to and operating under the United States government and Tony Hayward was attacked because of comments he made under extreme pressure and fatigue even though it was not mentioned that he had done several hundred beneficial interviews along the way also.  Effective leaders need to be prepared for crisis management by being "able to sense early warning signals that announce the possibility of a crisis, having the ability to avert crises and prepare should they occur, having the ability to maintain damage control by keeping the crisis from expanding to other parts of the organization or its environment, being responsible for implementing short and long term plans designed to help resume business operations, and to encourage learning lessons from the crisis to come out better on the other end".  Bill George with the Wall Street Journal said "a crisis provides the leader with the platform to get things done that were required anyway and offers the sense of urgency to accelerate their implementation".  Eddie Obeng says, "The real 21st century around us isn't so obvious to us.  So instead we spend our time responding rationally to a world that we understand and recognize but which no longer exists.  Technology is accelerating things exponentially and the key is implementation.  Make things happen!". http://www.ted.com/talks/eddie_obeng_smart_failure_for_a_fast_changing_world.html  Tim Tinker in his article "Eight Best Practices for Applying Change Management in Crisis and Emergency Events" says "capturing stakeholder insights during an emergency enables the strategic leader to drive long-term direction and evaluate programs for their inherent risks and benefits". 

Some things that are vital in gaining back some control, organization, and maintenance to communications especially during a crisis are partnering with the public and listening to their concerns, being honest and transparent, remaining accessible to the media and meeting their needs, being compassionate and empathetic, practicing patience and be good-humored, remaining calm, and using credible sources.  It would greatly help also for employees and consumers to "learn how to accept uncertainty and ambiguity while organizations are grappling with these new directions with social media and remain calm, patient, and positive.  Constructive criticism actually helps a company learn through a crisis so they can effect change and improve.


 

OMG! It's transparent and I can see you!

Morgan Spurlock is a humorous American documentary filmmaker and television producer that is unique, witty, passionate, and transparent.  He defines transparency as "free from pretense or deceit, easily detected or seen through, readily understood, characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices".  Yikes!  For many businesses, marketing departments, advertising agencies, and media organizations this can be extremely scary, unpredictable, and risky.  Spurlock has spent years examining societal issues by putting himself amidst them in an effort to make them engaging, interesting, and breaking them down in a way that makes them entertaining and accessible to an audience.  He has been to jail, worked in a coal mine, and eaten nothing but fast food for thirty days.  For his movie "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" Spurlock challenges companies to be transparent and take a risk by being a part of this endeavor.  It is a film about product placement and advertising where the entire film if funded by product placement, marketing, and advertising.  http://www.ted.com/talks/morgan_spurlock_the_greatest_ted_talk_ever_sold.html The response was less than stellar. When it was explained that the movie would include how it all actually happens, the majority wanted nothing to do with it.  They wanted to be able to tell "their story".  He said "his idea had one fatal flaw.... transparency".  For the seventeen brand partners willing to take the risk and participate in something they were unsure of, it has paid off nicely.  With digital media the success of this movie exploded within its first two weeks before even being put on the market.  FAST is an operative and imperative word in our society today.  Henry Ford said, "If we asked the public what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'".  Most of our society today if asked that question would include the word fast in their answer also.  We are getting everything faster with its advantages as well as its disadvantages.

Cowley and Barron in their article "When Product Placement Goes Wrong" defines product placement as "a combination of advertising and publicity designed to influence the audience by unobtrusively inserting branded products in entertainment programs such that the viewer is unlikely to be aware of the persuasive intent".  The goal is to induce positive associations toward the brand that has been conspicuously placed.  For instance, in three movies that I love (images below) all strategically placed the logo for Starbucks.  I remember the scenes well.  However, until studying product placement and writing this blog I did not remember them particularly drinking Starbucks coffee.

That is how this strategy works.  It is not meant for us to know we are being persuaded to drink Starbucks coffee.  The more we are exposed to a product through its placement in television shows, movies, sports etc. that we are interested in, the more our explicit memory for the brand increases.  The hidden motive of persuasion is the advantage that product placements have over traditional television advertising.  Although I already enjoy Starbucks products, I am sure it is solidified by how much I am exposed to its product placement in the things I enjoy watching.  Product placement becomes a problem with ulterior motives are perceived and viewers realize that a brand is placed in the program to influence their brand attitude.  For instance, if a woman is entrenched emotionally in a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie and then realizes a brand keeps popping up and takes her attention away from the meaning of the movie, she is probably going to develop a negative attitude toward that brand.  It depends on whether the viewer is "higher in program liking (HPL)" or "lower program liking (LPL)".  The HPLs depend on a program to satisfy their entertainment goals.  I would imagine Nascar, Super Bowl, soap operas, talk shows, etc. are examples that would be included in this category.  One of the advantages of the Starbucks placements above is they correlated with what was going on in the movie and did not avert my attention.  However, when a brand is dissimilar to where it is placed, it can become annoying and obvious which brings with it negative connotations. 

Another marketing strategy that can be controversial is word-of-mouth marketing.  The positive aspect is when it is used openly (involving transparency) and generates "buzz" without risk of loss.  This happens in audiences where people are planted to clap and laugh at certain times.  WOM becomes controversial when a shill (someone planted) pretends to be neutral when, in reality, they are secretly working for the person or organization.  This happens quite often in politics.  Jonathan Ressler, a prominent stealth tactician, says, "if you do it right, people never know they have heard a marketing pitch.  It's just a matter of presenting stuff in a different channel and trusting consumers to be smart enough to make their own choices".  This makes me want to be on my Ps and Qs and not be taken advantage of or made to look foolish.  I would rather make well-informed decisions than be fooled.  How about you?

Transparency works on both ends of the spectrum.  Balanced transparency creates a positive rapport between company and client.  Transparency and risk also provide opportunity for people.  Spurlock says, "if you take chances and take risks, in those risks will come opportunity.  When you push people away from that you push them towards failure".  The seventeen brand partners that joined him for the journey are thankful he invited them to take the risk. This also applies to us as leaders and how we challenge our employees.  We need to train our employees to embrace risk that includes a logical component so that we prepare our entire company to be greatly rewarded.

If asked what your personal brand would look like, what would you say?  I would have to say mine would be an ELF CCC (enjoy life fully while crazy, casual, classy).

Leadership that is visionary

A visionary is defined as "a person with original ideas about what the future will or could be like or someone who thinks about and plans for the future with imagination or wisdom".  Having true leaders with vision is vital in the market today with technology rapidly advancing by the second, international competition expanding, and deregulation of markets ("revision, reduction, or elimination of laws and regulations that hinder free competition in supply of goods and services, thus allowing market forces to drive the economy").  Leaders are who advance change to compete effectively in the business environment of today and the future.  While leaders are constantly learning and assertively and strategically moving the company forward ahead of the competitive curve, management is vital in keeping the organization operating reliably and efficiently.  Managers are the nuts and bolts of the operation.  They plan, budget, handle staffing, problem solving, structure job definitions, and evaluate performance.  Successful management produces quality products that continue to increase profitability. 

Leaders, on the other hand, empower the company and produce useful change at an accelerated pace.  They set the direction for the company, motivate action in its management and employment at every level, and they put systems into place to "allow for growth, evolution, opportunities, and hazard avoidance".  The management is quintessential in applying and maintaining these systems as well as being innovative when the systems are continuously transforming to stay ahead of the competitive curve.  An extraordinary leader with a great vision for South Africa and humanity spent 27 years in jail thinking about his vision.  His name is Nelson Mandela.

 
Leadership and management need to work together on all levels of the organization.  This requires effective and efficient internal communication.  The leaders should be able to trust that the managers are going to excel in keeping the company running at maximum efficiency and maintaining optimum quality products.  The managers should be able to trust the vision and ability of its leaders to keep the company moving forward.  Both leaders and managers should always be knowledgeable and current on policies, procedures, guidelines, systems, and expectations.  From this point, employees on all levels can remain well informed.  The mission statement and goals need to be clarified during the hiring process.  Internal e newsletters and web casts can keep all employees informed and updated on the company, changes, new policies, promotions, awards, etc.  Also, having videos in the intranet from upper management can be an interesting way to keep all employees updated on what is going on in the organization.   Jerry Porras defines a built to last leader as someone who "focuses on building their organization across all dimensions.  This includes building the people, building, the culture, building the systems, and building the technology".  A great leader builds companies around their own brilliance, abilities, technical knowledge, ideas, and creativity.  When their leadership is gone the company tends to falter.  On the other hand, a built to last leader helps to build a strong organization with strong leadership across the board so their success stands the test of time.  Encourage being willing to communicate, be consistent with all forms of communication and create a feeling of inclusiveness up and down the organization, not just laterally.  We have to let our personal pride down sometimes and be proud of our team around us and enable them to shine as well.  This is part of leadership as well as management being credible and legitimate.

So how do we become a visionary leader?  We need "to lead people into the future by connecting with them deeply in the present, listen very closely to others, appreciate their hopes, and create a shared vision". (Kouzes and Posner)  We are persistent as much as we are inspired.  We set BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) as Porras calls them that stretch us, they are not attained easily, they take time to achieve, and these goals challenge and force us to change in order to achieve them.  Along the way we get to learn new things, new skills, new knowledge, and gain new experiences.  The first step is to clarify who we are and what we want.  We need to create our personal vision and purpose.  Establishing our core values sets the boundaries for our BHAGs on the journey to our purpose.  Then, we need to build an organization that is consistent with who we are and what we want.  Our core ideology will fit with our passion for change.  Two "built to last" companies that have remained visionary and continued to prosper are Motorola and General Electric.  They failed at different points but got right back up and improved each time because of outstanding leadership.  These leaders pursued their demanding goals relentlessly with the help of a talented team who have been equally committed and engaged.  We have charismatic leaders, such as Sam Walton, who powerfully articulate their vision, they are passionate, inspirational, unconventional, willing to incur great personal risks, are personally powerful, and highly motivated to lead.  We also have leaders who are soft-spoken, gentle, serious, humble, modest, thoughtful, a good listener (see previous blog about being an effective listener), shy, unobtrusive, and quiet.

The heart and soul of my blogs is that strategic communications and effective leadership begin from the inside out.  We need to know our "why", our purpose, our vision, and our core values.  Then, as a visionary leader, we don't "doubt for one moment the capacity of the people we are leading to realize whatever we are dreaming". (Benjamin Zander)  http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html While playing a Chopin piece and bringing meaning to it for even those who do not appreciate classical music, Zander explains that we can't think about every note along the way, but focus on the journey to achieve the vision and purpose of what we are doing.  It takes a team and realizing no one is "tone deaf".  "The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound.  He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful".  

I love when I look at my children or my husband and their eyes are shining because they are excited about something, they feel important, they feel appreciated and loved, and/or they are proud of something.  After Benjamin Zander played the piece again with feeling and after challenging everyone to think of a loved one they have lost while listening, he went through the audience looking for the shining eyes who "got it"!  He said, "success is about how many shining eyes I have around me".  This is exactly what my passion is in my personal world as well as professionally.  As a leader I want to awaken all possibilities in my children, my husband, my family and friends as well as those I have the privilege of working with corporately as a professional.  If you are not a visionary leader, you have the amazing opportunity to find one, join their team, and be a part of a wonderful journey!  Happy sailing!

Being an everyday lollipop leader

We all have differing views of what true leadership is and what it entails.  Drew Dudley says "as long as we make leadership something bigger than us, beyond us, and about changing the world we give ourselves an excuse not to expect it every day from ourselves and from each other".  He also says, "we've made leadership about changing the world and there is no world, only six billion understandings of it.  If you change one person's understanding of it, what they are capable of, how much people care about them, one person's understanding of how powerful an agent of change they can be for this world, you change the whole thing".  

Do you consider yourself a leader?  The meaning of leadership is vast for each person.  The definition of leadership for me over the past thirteen years has been wrapped up mainly in the beautiful present of being a stay-at-home mom.  Stanley McChrystal, a retired United States Army General, said "leaders can let you fail but not let you be a failure".  This is a vital statement, especially when it comes to raising our kids.  I want them to love the Lord and hunger for His word, be responsible, intelligent and wise ("Who among you is wise?  Let him show by his good behavior." James 3:13), honest, a good citizen, honorable, respectable, attentive ("Hear and increase in learning." Proverbs 1:5), unselfish, kind and gracious ("Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving." Ephesians 4:32), giving, compassionate, cooperative ("Look beyond your own interests and consider others." Philippians 2:4), strong, confident while humble, strong leaders, diligent to maintain a solid work ethic ("Whatever your task, work at it heartily." Colossians 3:23), ambitious, and obedient ("Obey for this is right." Ephesians 6:1).  The first question I have to ask myself is how well have I modeled this for them?  What is my "why" as a mom in this little organization of ours?  I want to give my boys enough freedom to fail and enough effective leadership alongside my husband to learn how to get up and be strong leaders for their own families one day, in their jobs, and in their personal worlds.  Drew Dudley also says "our kids can start to watch us start to value the impact we can have on each others' lives more than money, power, titles, and influence".


Dudley defines a lollipop moment as "a moment where someone said something or did something that made your life fundamentally better".
 You can hear about his story at
http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership.html.  As leaders in any organization we need to begin setting the tone for effective communication by passing out lollipops.  This might be a good exercise to begin the next employee meeting.  McChrystal said, "relationships are the sinew which hold the force together".  It was vital in his experience in combat and as a highly qualified leader on many levels; it is necessary in the corporate atmosphere, as well as in the family.  Effective communication on every level serves as pieces to the puzzle.  On the corporate level, in the public sector, and in government communication internal and external communication practices are imperative for achieving organizational goals and for the organization to function more effectively.  Internally, the mission statement and goals need to be clarified during the hiring process.  Internal e newsletters and web casts can keep all employees informed and updated on the company, changes, new policies, promotions, awards, etc.  LG CNS has developed a version of Twitter called BizTweet that is a real-time public conversation in the company that is more informal and creative.  To control it becoming an electronic water cooler conversation, it uses employees' real names and photographs.  Also, having videos in the intranet from upper management can be an interesting way to keep all employees updated on what is going on in the organization.   Encourage being willing to communicate, be consistent with all forms of communication and create a feeling of inclusiveness up and down the organization, not just laterally.  In larger companies we can "develop advisory boards and task forces within each department within the company to foster communication among employees". (Parsons and Urbanski)  Leadership should set as a goal to be truthful, concise, and clear in our interactions to alleviate employee anxiety, reduced productivity, and resentment towards management.  As leaders we also need to include face-to-face evaluations and meetings instead of completely relying on internal social media.  We need to create lollipop moments within our organization.

Some forms of external communication that can be implemented are media releases, being a member of the Chamber of Commerce and advertising through their mediums, brochures, annual reports, networking groups, and facilitate ways the community can participate in company fundraisers and charity drives as well as volunteer opportunities.  Our public relations department needs to have solid, authentic relationships with external media sources including news stations, reporters, journalists, etc.  Parsons and Urbanski say we need to "create a strategy plan that identifies the company as a brand with goals and to position the company as a leading authority in the markets we serve".   We need to remain competitive and to also keep a relationship based on integrity with our competitors.  These things will create pride in the company's employees and a sense of stability and trust.

When we falter in our communication attempts, leaders need to remember that we "get knocked down and it hurts and leaves scars, but as a leader the people you have counted on will help you out and the people who count on you need you on your feet".  (McChrystal)  This two-way street comes from learning to be an effective listener (previous blog) as well as understanding generational differences (experiences, vocabulary, skill sets in terms of digital media) and being willing to listen, be transparent, and willing to be reverse-mentored.  We have to let our personal pride down sometimes and be proud of our team around us and enable them to shine as well.  This is part of a leader being credible and legitimate.  McChrystal also said "a leader isn't good because they're right.  They're good because they are willing to learn and to trust".

 A great example of successful internal and external communication is the crisis when Harvey Updyke poisoned the beautiful oak trees in Auburn's infamous and traditional Toomer's Corner.  What really caught my attention from the article by Susan E. Waters is the family atmosphere that both campuses created internally with the faculty, staff, and students as well as externally through full community involvement.  In addition to this "the rivalry between the two schools was long-standing, yet respectful, and in the usual way school rivalries unfold, it was enjoyed". p. 74  Both universities have even "announced a plan to plant sister trees on each university's campus to create a permanent and visible representation of mutual respect for the age-old rivalry between the two schools".  p. 80 Respect is a powerful word here. Auburn was respectful in promptly devising a plan to "deter its students and fans from retaliating and keeping the public informed of the trees' health and the plans for saving them". p. 73, 74  They did a stellar job ensuring that the information being released was correct and consistent.  They communicated continuously through their website with updates on the trees and other elements to the crisis.  The most important factor is they kept the tone optimistic and upbeat.  Agenda setting was powerful for Auburn because they were highly credible, they provided accurate information that was non-conflicting, and the various publics' needs for information and guidance were satiated.

Alabama was also extremely respectful of Auburn by being compassionate to what had happened to a tradition that was very important to them as well as immediately putting a plan into action to restore what was damaged.  The university informed the public that Updyke had never been a student nor a season ticket holder, they had no connection to him nor did they have any control over what he did, and they put a strategy into place to raise money to restore Toomer's Corner and plant more trees.  Alabama's use of the image restoration theory in this time of crisis was highly effective and handled well.  We now know the trees were unable to be saved and have been removed.  The restoration project that has been put into place is beautiful.

"We need to redefine leadership by how many lollipop moments we create, how many we acknowledge, how many we pay forward, and how many of them we say thank you for." Drew Dudley