Peter Block, in his book, Flawless Consulting, suggests that certain goals and assumptions always be primary for consultants, that is, for individuals working to help people, but not having authority over those people. He suggests the following goals and assumptions. Primary Working Goals of Consultants 1. Establish a collaborative relationship with your clients As a …

As opposed to offering opinions without having all of the background and knowledge, I thought it might be more helpful to start a discussion about the questions: Many people have written that Toyota’s problem was that it sacrificed a core value of safety for profit. To frame the issue this generally is to miss the …

1. Be clear on your objective: Most coaches have an area of expertise such as: career, entrepreneurs, life, executives, financial, or branding. Match your goal with the coach’s expertise. Ask the coach about their limitations –do they coach clients with your needs? 2. What are the coach’s qualifications? Is the coach certified and by what …

Is the learning process is valued in our organization? What constitutes a learning environment? How do we know whether or not our efforts to learn are valued in our company? Some corporations such as Steel Case in Grand Rapids, Michigan make the value on learning obvious, they have a large learning department at their headquarters …

The center of the flower provides an offering of nectar for the bees to use. This nectar gives life to other plants. Similarly, we make contributions to the well being of others and the world at large through our service. When we work spiritually we provide our gifts as an offering so that we make …

Crisis: an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse (Webster’s New Collegiate). How many public relations spokespersons does your company have? The correct answer is, “as many employees as we have.” Sure, any organization can and should have a policy whereby only certain …

If I think about “Leader” as a job description I get confused. How can anyone “Lead” all the time? How exhausting! A sure recipe for failure! An invitation to the dread-disease BURNOUT. Don’t you at least need to “manage” your own schedule? What about “Management” as the complete and total sum of what you do …

I initially wrote this piece with the idea in mind that many NPOs don’t need DODs, but my wife read it and said I was totally wrong. So, the following is sort of a collaboration … actually, I won’t publish anything she doesn’t approve !! Ideally, from day one, an organization should have someone who …

The best information on this topic comes from a recent discussion at the npEnterprise Forum, the 7000-subscriber official listserv partner of the Social Enterprise Alliance. From Esther Kim: “Our basic rule of thumb is that: * it’s a social cost if it’s incurred to accomplish a social mission; * it’s a business cost if it’s …

How one smart business doubled sales through a comprehensive rebranding effort using social media consulting In this economy, business managers are finding that what worked before no longer works. Declining sales are often the first harsh blow that draws attention to a serious underlying a problem – one that they may not have even known …