Watch the following situation occur in conversations among consultants. Many consultants place extreme value on people’s feelings, beliefs and perceptions. That’s their natural “lens” on organizations. Many of them are from fields of psychology, human resources and coaching. In my experience, they often conclude their clients have problems primarily with, for example, interpersonal conflicts, emotional …

(This post has been moved to https://management.org/trng_dev/evaluate/evaluate.htm#roi.)

In the previous post (Part 2), we covered questions 4-6 of the 15 questions to address in the “plan for a plan.” This post explains questions 7-9. 7. What’s Your Schedule for Developing the Plan? Too many organizations do planning by gathering planners into one retreat where they tweak wording on the mission statement and …

In the post, Part 1, we reviewed the first 5 practices. This post is a continuation from that post, and reviews the remaining 5 practices. 6. Ensure strategic plan that includes action plans The action plan part of an overall strategic plan specifies who is going to do what and by when in order to …

consider using Twitter as a tool for engaging them. TJ McCue, Founder of Sales Rescue Team, offers case studies on web traffic conversion using Twitter. Companies such as Etsy, JetBlue, NakedPizza, Pepsi, and Levi’s are role models for smaller businesses by using Microblogging to actually close sales.

Is your great idea actually a great idea? Feasibility testing is how you find out. Start with your goals. Sure, everybody wants to make a million dollars. But how will you define success? Finish this sentence: I will consider this business successful if after three years, at a minimum, it ______. List just two or …

DON’T make the media your primary means of communicating on pending or current litigation in progress. Journalists are not a reliable means of ensuring that your key audiences receive your messages, nor is it a reporter’s job to make sure everything you think is important gets to the right people. DO communicate directly with your …

Meetings can take up a large portion of anyone’s working day and for many of us, demands on time in the office are already high. So in an ideal world every meeting should count, with specific objectives and results making the time invested worthwhile. All too often though, meetings – even during and afterwards – …

Development is, by definition, the process of creating and enhancing relationships with (potential) donors. It is the introduction of (prospective) donors to a non-profit organization, building their interest in the organization’s mission/services, developing in them a passion for the mission and a commitment to the organization’s future, getting them to make-the-gift, and maintaining the relationship …

I live in the Kansas Flint Hills. It’s ranch land, no more than 4 people per square mile. (No surprise, then, that I do most of my coaching by telephone.) But we are a community. And we have no shortage of issues requiring leadership. Leadership is not the same as Authority. As we blog about …