www.1001TopWords.com |
The Few & the Many: Free Trade, Outsourcing, & Communication
Have you noticed that some sound ideas get bad publicity? Two Ihave in mind are outsourcing and free trade. No doubt you could name others, but looking at these two initiatives helps us understand a communication challenge for many companies and not-for-profit organizations. Free trade and outsourcing both produce a few (well, relativelyfew) big losers, and many (very many) small winners. More specifically, free trade leads to big losses for a relatively small number of companies and their employees. Companies can go out of business or be forced to drastically restructure; employees can lose their jobs. The adjustment painsthey suffer are very real and very significant. On the other hand, all consumers in a country that adopts free trade are winners. In other words, just about everybody. The gains for each person are small, yet, taken together those gains far outweigh the losses suffered by the losers. And the gains keep paying dividends year after year. The story is much the same for outsourcing. A few employees takea very big hit, losing their jobs. At the same time, though, a lot of other employees get to keep their jobs because their companies become stronger. A few suffer for the many. Which do you hear more about? You hear far more about the losers, of course. Why? Well, as a former news writer and announcer I can tell you that losers holler louder and longer. They actively seek media coverage. And that's not all: stories about layoffs have an inherent drama that stories about the preservation of jobs just can't match. In addition, small-scale winners often don't know they've won,how they've won, or what they've won, so they don't march in protest or call news conferences. Add to that the general principle that good news isn't big news. What do you do if you face a decision leading to many small winners and a few big losers? First, hammer away at the context, at the circumstances that drive the decision. For example, don't announce to employees that a new piece of equipment that does the work of three people will make you more efficient. Rather, explain the competitive pressures that force greater efficiency, and the consequences of failing to meet those pressures. Don't assume everyone shares your knowledge. Few stakeholders understand the broader picture, and even if they could, the pressure of day-to-day events may keep them focused on just one piece of it. It's essential to start with as few assumptions as possible. Communicate frequently: in advance, during, and afterward. Explain the problem, outline the options, list the decision criteria, announce the solution, and report on how well the solution has worked. Or not worked, which becomes the new problem. You won't convince everyone your decision is the right one, but you might convince enough people to make further progress possible. In summary, when a few people suffer big losses and many others make small gains, you can expect the losers to complain very loudly, and the winners to say little or nothing. To deal with these situations, communicate frequently and carefully. Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott's Communication Letter. If you subscribe, you will receive, at no charge, communication tips that help you lead or manage more effectively. You can get more information here:http://www.Communication-Newsletter.com
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Project Management - I Want It ALL The knee-jerk response to prioritizing requirements is to mark everything as a must-have . "I need everything before the product becomes generally available. I want it ALL!" Give me a break. Computer Consulting Profit Secrets Do you own or manage a computer consulting company? Are you having trouble growing your computer consulting company's profits? Help for the Meeting-Weary Manager Most of us have found ourselves working on a team at one time or another. That means we have been asked to attend, and even participate, in lots of meetings. Unfortunately, few of us found these meetings to be particularly effective. Many in fact are a complete waste of valuable time and resources. Crisis Management Essentials - How to Communicate Effectively During a Crisis, Emergency or Disaster A crisis, emergency or disaster can happen at anytime and anywhere. Recognition: A Quick, Low-cost Way to Motivate Employees Recognizing good performance through praise or other positive action is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to motivate people. It provides three major benefits:It lets people know that their performance was valued, and increases the likelihood that they will continue to perform well.It builds confidence so that people are willing to try new things, and develop further in their jobs. It leads to greater job satisfaction which in turn builds commitment to the manager and the employer. Seeking Help Where does the time go? Billable time. As a consultant, your practice may be doing reasonably well; you're charging $100-150 an hour. As an independent consultant, you're probably also doing everything from grinding the coffee to editing the umpteenth draft of your brochure. Think it Over Every decision is a deliberate act. It's the result of a well rehearsed pattern. Using this pattern, we often gather data, analyze it and draw conclusions without much conscious effort. We do it because it works. And it works because our life experience has refined the technique that brings us the best results -- most of the time. Its All In The Systems Have you ever noticed french fries taste the same at every McDonald's? The same can be said for Subway and its Italian BMT. How do these fast food icons replicate themselves at nearly 40,000 locations when some eateries struggle to get it right in a single restaurant? The answer is simple: it's all in the systems. Creativity and Innovation Management ? Personality Testing Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there are a number of inherent flaws. Some are noted below: Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part II SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE Benefits of Virtual Assistance A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business services to other professionals. They're considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. Communications with their clients take place through telephone, fax, email, and snail mail. As a business owner, you can save time, money, and energy by hiring a virtual assistant. Best of all, you'll have more time to do what you do best ? running a business! Change Management "It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change". -Charles Darwin Future Business Success - What Does Good Look Like? When you know you need to shift up a gear, in any area of your business (or your life for that matter), it's really important to have a vivid representation of what you are seeking.Some call these "Goals", others "Visions" and yet more describe it as a "Mission". But there is one focused way to ensure that your path is perfectly directed to where you want to get to.By asking the question:-"What does good look like?"...and applying that to where you are right now, you will easily see a path unfold.That path is about the steps you will take along the way to achieve your Good - your focal point.Struggling how to do this?Take a sheet of paper and describe the situation where you want it to be at a defined point in the future (be very specific with this). Answer the question, "What does good looks like?" using as many of your senses as you can muster.Writing it down:- Unleashes your creativity.Embeds it in your brain.andCreates a 'commitment' for the future.If you pin it up somewhere visible, you have every chance of making it happen.And once you have these great descriptions, you will find the first step, the second and onwards to make it come true. Creativity and Innovation Management: Generating Better Ideas Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are other useful definitions for both, for example, creativity can be measured according to the number of ideas produced, the diversity of those ideas and the novelty of those ideas. Internal Communication: 12 Essential Elements There are 12 essential elements of a successful internal communications strategy: Managing People - Why Is It So Difficult? Managing, supervising, being a team leader is the hardestjob in the world and I'll tell you why.Imagine what it's like to drive a car. You turn the key tostart the engine, select drive or the gear you want andpress the gas pedal. The car then moves off and if you wantto turn you rotate the steering wheel to the right or leftand to stop, you press the brake pedal. All this was quitedifficult when you first learned to drive but its easy now. Small Business Outsourcing: An Introduction Outsourcing is the delegation of a business process to an external service provider. The service provider will then be responsible for the day-to-day running and maintenance of the delegated process. Have You Always Thought That The Best Ideas Come From Research Or Management? Think Again Many entrepreneurs and chief executive officers are unaware that there are many factors that put ordinary workers at a great advantage over R&D and management when it comes to generating useful improvement ideas and even new products ideas for a corporation. Necessary Tasks You May Want to Delegate As a business owner, time is of the essence. Running a business is demanding. You are either performing the day-to-day administrative work or you're working in your business, attending to your customers or clients. What is the best use of your time? The answer is simple. Your time should be spent doing what you do best. The day-to-day administrative tasks can be delegated. It's so much easier to review work than to do it yourself! Here are some suggestions to get you started. Safety Policy Sample Outline Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most larger corporations outsource such jobs or they have someone on staff with the proper credentials in risk management. Imagine writing the safety manuals for NASA? I had the opportunity to be in the unique position of being able to imagine just such a thing when writing our company safety manuals. It takes lots of studying and review of case law to do it properly. Each industry is somewhat different and hopefully you know your industry and company well enough to give it a shot. |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |