Archive for April, 2011
Performance Management vs Performance Punishment
April, 2011
Performance Management vs Performance Punishment
A primary leadership responsibility is to plan and support the work of others to achieve the results that they have been asked to achieve. This involves informing staff about work responsibilities, setting and interpreting work performance standards and giving appropriate feedback.
One of the biggest causes of workplace unrest and low job satisfaction is poor “performance management”, especially with staff who are under- performing to the required standards.
Research shows that poor performance management is one of the main contributing factors to staff absenteeism and turnover.
A leader’s inability to provide timely and appropriate performance feedback often results in the staff member becoming distressed; resulting behavioural changes become apparent, affecting the staff member’s performance.
Managing performance involves managing the effective work performance of staff as well as managing those challenging behaviours that affect individuals, teams and the overall performance of task achievement in the workplace.
The introduction of performance appraisals to organisations some years ago appeared to be the answer to addressing and meeting benchmarks for continuous improvement!
Performance appraisals help to identify skill gaps and training needs; provide areas for praise, promotion and in some instances, a pay increase. However they are often huge ‘time wasters’ and cause anxiety for both the leader and staff member.
Poor performance managers ‘performance punish’ their staff and create situations such as overlooking achievements; focus on what staff are doing wrong; take credit for another’s work and instil ‘fear’ in staff members. At times it can be simply the ‘language of the message’ that a leader uses, rather than the message content that causes a staff member to act out poorly.
To performance manage effectively a leader needs to be in tune with the team, its members and their tasks and roles. An effective leader has a good understanding of him/her as well as others, with an awareness of his/her shortcomings and strengths.
Most employees want to do a good job; however when they don’t know what is expected of them they can’t perform at a satisfactory level. Therefore an agreement between a leader and each of staff member on what is to be done ; what results are to be achieved; and the priorities on the use of time is essential to successfully promote performance.
Performance management is an ongoing, continuous process where praise for work well done is given consistently, as well as feedback on work performed below standard. A leader who has the skills required to consistently promote good / great performance is gifted in the understanding of human behaviour.
However, a leader who practices performance punishment can learn new skills to make the necessary changes to their leadership style and in turn reap the rewards of a high performing team.
It is true that we operate at the ‘speed of life’ today; we are constantly under pressure to meet deadlines, produce more in less time and with fewer staff. A leader can easily feel pressured rather than well paced. A skilled leader with excellent performance management skills is aware of the talents, strengths and weaknesses of their staff and is able to allocate tasks and activities accordingly. A smoothly running team is a well performance managed team.
Performance management includes ongoing activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. It focuses on the performance of the organisation, the department, and the processes to build a product or service, how teams function or individuals operate.
Performance management focuses on the tasks rather than the behaviour. Although behaviour impacts upon tasks, the focus is the task, the impact upon the team or the overall affect of goal objectives.
Remembering that Leaders lead people, Managers manage processes.
The easiest way to bring about change in behaviour is to focus on the positive rather than trying to change a negative. Provide employees with opportunities to receive and give feedback regarding their performance in a positive safe environment and support those behaviours you do want. This leads to less error and waste, increased productivity as well as enhanced employee motivation, commitment and a sense of ownership.
Article by Jan Sky
Posted in Leadership
Case Study – Why Can’t We Keep Our Staff?
April, 2011
Case Study – Why Can’t We Keep Our Staff?
Organisations benefit from a continued self reflection!
Third Sigma provides a number of diagnostic strategies which enable organisations to get to the heart of breakdowns affecting the bottom line.
One popular and effective avenue is the use of Human Synergistics diagnostic tools.
Download the Case Study of Company “X” which Lyn Traill has been working with. (PDF)
Posted in Leadership
Case Study – Culture, Customer Service and the Bottom Line
April, 2011
Case Study – Culture, Customer Service and the Bottom Line
The bottom line can benefit from measuring and changing culture!
Third Sigma provides a number of diagnostic strategies which enable organisations to get to the heart of breakdowns affecting the bottom line.
One popular and effective avenue is the use of Human Synergistics diagnostic tools.
Download the Case Study of Company “Y” which Lyn Traill has been working with. (PDF)
Posted in Leadership
Informed Choices for More Useful Behaviour
April, 2011
Informed Choices for More Useful Behaviour
Have you ever felt an internal conflict where part of you knew something was the right thing to do and another part of you felt compelled in some way to do something else. Jan Sky related the following story to me, which clearly shows an example of when parts can come into conflict and what can happen as a result…..
“It was a beautiful Sydney spring Sunday, the sun shining, a light breeze blowing and my mind was filled with thoughts of the beach, outdoors and fun times.
I made my way to a local park right on the water front. It was glorious, lots of people about, children played in the sand on along the water’s edge and the occasional dog appeared to give mine something to glare at!
Feeling so good and absorbing the sunshine and smells of spring I sat under a tree and read.
Glancing up I noticed a beautiful Doberman prancing around in the sand and running carelessly through the water playing with an equally young and handsome Bull Terrier. My passion is for dogs and babies and I adore watching their behaviour and interactions with their ‘owners’.
These dogs presented a spectacular sight, their fine lean bodies running, playing and dancing in the sunlight. I had noticed the Doberman earlier walking the opposite direction on a lead with his owner and now he was off the lead and certainly enjoying exchanges with the Bull Terrier. His owner was desperately trying to retrieve him, calling his name to return to the lead, but the dogs pleasure took his attention away from the owner’s commands.
Finally after the Bull Terrier was taken into control by his owner, the Doberman returned to his to be put back on his lead. It became apparent that everyone had been watching with wonderment at this spectacular sight for when the owner punished him by hitting and kicking the dog, everyone gasped and made sounds of disapproval and bewilderment. “Oh, no he hit him again”; “Can you believe he kicked him?” In an instant the atmosphere was transformed from that of pleasure to that of dismay and disbelief.
This scene is not uncommon in everyday life quite frankly, when we take our own feelings of embarrassment, resentment or annoyance out on others. Rather than acknowledging how we feel and addressing our own feelings appropriately, we tend to externalise them and exhibit unreasonable, irrational behaviour at another’s expense. Owning our own feelings allows us to connect more appropriately with others and ultimately leads to improved relationships.
Going back to my story of the man with his Doberman, and reflecting on parts (or states), that make up who we are, only part of him was annoyed, embarrassed and felt resentment. There were other parts of him that loved his dog and enjoyed walking along the water in the sunshine.
Our behaviour is driven from the state we choose to be in at any given time, ie that state that is in charge. An awareness that we are made up of multiple parts gives us opportunities to change behaviour in an instant. The dog owner chose to put into executive (or boss role) the state of ‘annoyance’ and it was from this annoyed state that everyone observed his behaviour. Should he have chosen to put into executive the state of ‘love for his dog’ I am sure his behaviour would have been quite different.”
Awareness is the key to knowing who we are and giving preference to those parts in us that display best behaviour for the situation. At work, play or when socialising our behaviour is governed by our choices. Every choice has a consequence and awareness gives us the ability to choose appropriately for situations as well as embracing our best attributes.
ESI (Executive State Identification) is a process that allows you to discover your very own set of states, states that are exclusive to you and from which your behaviour is displayed. ESI is a powerful coaching process that identifies inhibiting parts which may be preventing you from achieving the levels of success and happiness you deserve. From identification comes awareness and from awareness comes choices for more appropriate or useful behaviour.”
Jan Sky has developed ESI after 30 years of experience as a corporate trainer, clinical Hypnotherapist and Coach. Jan recognised trends that were holding people back from achieving their full potential. From her extensive studies, most recently from ego state therapy, Jan developed the ESI coaching process that moves change quickly and easily.
To book your coaching session or to find out how you can find out more about ESI and its applications in organisations contact Liz or Jan on 1300 766 092.
Posted in Leadership
Are You Working With or Against the Current?
April, 2011
Are You Working With or Against the Current?
Sometimes we find ourselves caught up in life’s current drifting into situations and getting results which we had not planned for. Recently I went with the current and found myself way, way out of my depth…
I took the opportunity to go with my family to Golden Beach on the Sunshine Coast at the weekend to enjoy time out doing absolutely nothing involving any mental activity, except to plough through a Dan Brown novel (or is that an oxymoron?)
Sunday morning was a perfect Queensland spring day, temperature in the high 20’s Celcius, low humidity, and deep blue skies with the occasional wispy cloud.
Checking out the flat calm, blue water in PumiceStone Passage between Golden Beach and Bribie Island, we decided to hire a catamaran and a kayak and take to the water.
I took the kayak, and went straight out from the shore confident in my abilities on the flat water. I felt like I was paddling on a lake, it was so easy to make progress. I called to my husband on the catamaran, to let him know how easy kayaking is since I was just going with the current and not putting in much effort. It was so easy, so effortless. Oh, if I had just listened to what I was actually saying to myself!!
This is a good time to confess that I know precious little about tidal movements, currents and the like. I am a born land lubber. I had no idea that the incoming tide was creating a very fast current to the south between the island and the mainland, and what looked like flat calm to me, in the absence of white surf, was in fact hiding a very strong south bound tidal current.
After 5 or so minutes of peaceful drifting, wondering idly if the sun would join up the freckles on my arms, and other equally important questions on the meaning of life, I looked at the shore and realised I had indeed drifted easily with the current. I was a long, long way from my starting point and from my family on their catamaran.
Not being in any way alarmed, and in total blissful ignorance of my real situation, I pointed the kayak north toward my family’s boat and paddled toward them for about 10 minutes. I was still enjoying the perfect Queensland Sunday. Looking towards land I realised with dawning horror that my efforts were in vain, I was not moving closer to my family. In fact, I was paddling hard against a current which seemed to be gaining strength.
Undeterred, I increased my efforts. I concentrated on my paddling technique to improve efficiency of movement and effort and focussed on the goal of reaching my family in the catamaran, now some 150 metres distant. I started to make slight, very slight, headway. After 5 more minutes of hard paddling, I was feeling mildly panicked as I realised I was getting more and more tired and I was firmly caught in the current.
There was no way I was going to get to my family if I kept on doing what I was doing.!!
I was out of my depth without a life vest on a kayak in deep water!
Thankfully I have good friends who are qualified Surf Life Savers. I remembered a conversation where they explained how occasionally tourist visitors to Australia get caught in rip tides. A rip tide is an invisible (to the untrained eye) trap offshore that unwary swimmers can get caught up in and get dragged in the rip away from shore. The swimmers often battle the rip until exhaustion takes over and they drown. The trick, my friend told me, is to swim across the rip at 90 degrees to safety – never to swim against the rip.
Remembering this conversation, and hoping the current was indeed a channel, like a rip, I turned the kayak through 90 degrees and headed west across the current to shore. I changed my point of focus from reaching my family to getting myself to safety.
A few more minutes of effort took me out of the current channel into safe waters. After this slight detour I redirected the kayak north and paddled toward my family still sailing in blissful unawareness on their catamaran.
I like to take the lessons from difficult situations and to see the life metaphors as well.
Sometimes in life we drift along easily and effortlessly riding the current of life to where it takes us, only to find we have drifted over the years to a long, long way from where we had planned to be.
Sometimes too, we struggle towards a goal that we have a strong emotional investment in, only to find that in the struggle we are making no progress and simply exhausting ourselves getting nowhere. The current we are struggling against is just too strong for us.
And sometimes too, when we take stock of our situation, we find that focussing on a different short term goal will get us much closer to our long term goal with a lot less effort and a lot less risk.
If you are in a position where you find yourself a long way from where you wanted to be, or if you take stock and find that you are putting in a lot of work and effort not getting anywhere then I suggest you take timeout to look at what current you are drifting in or what current you are fighting against.
Coaching is a simple way to review where you are and to assist you to refocus on the goal which is most likely to get you to where you really want to be.
Your Third Sigma International coach can help you to identify and clarify;
- Your long term goals, where you have emotions invested,
- What currents you may be drifting in taking you away from your goals, or conversely,
- What currents you are struggling against which may be sapping your energies and preventing you from reaching your goals.
- And importantly what short term direction adjustments you could take to get to calm waters where you can recharge and renew your focus.
Coaching with Third Sigma helps you to put your energies towards heading in the direction which will take you to your long term goal with the least effort.
Call us on 1300 766 092 or email direct to to get help working out which direction your current is heading and to get where you really want to go.
Posted in Leadership
Case Study – What a difference a Style Makes
April, 2011
Case Study – What a difference a Style Makes
Download the PDF domain names search engine
Posted in Leadership
Four Generations in the Workplace
April, 2011
Four Generations in the Workplace
Have you ever wondered how come there are people older, or younger, than you who seem to have completely different attitudes to work, and life?
Increasingly commentators are referring to the marketing demographic segments in explaining changes in the workplace.
Whilst we at Third Sigma recognise, honour and celebrate individuality, we see in our work some of the intergenerational differences which can (and do) lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict.
Jan Sky has provided an introduction to the 4 Generations in the workplace today….
Understanding the 4 Generations active within the Workplace
There are likely to be up to 4 Generations in your organisation at present. Each generation has its own distinct set of values, view of authority, orientation to the world, sense of loyalty and expectations of leaders and the work environment.
Characteristics of the 4 Generations:
Veterans
Born between 1920 and 1945, these people are still well represented in Australia’s boardrooms. This generation is currently playing the majority in the generation wealth transfer and in the workplace are predominantly male and Anglo Saxon origin.
- Grew up during wartime
- Grew up with shortages and a sense of lack. Careful spenders, hoard things just in case they become useful ….someday
- Tend to be disciplined, respect law and order, like consistency
- Past orientated and can be perceived to be absorbed by history
- Tend to stay a long time in one workplace.
Motivators
- Formally rather than informally
- Communication face-to-face and phone not email, Text
- Explain logic of actions
- Traditional recognition, eg plaques, photo’s etc
Baby Boomers
Born between 1946 and 1964 they are by population, the largest generation in history. They always believed if they worked hard and did a good job; the organisation would look after them. In the recession of the early 1990’s, many Boomers became redundant after decades of service, so their loyalty wasn’t rewarded. Baby Boomers begin reaching retirement age in 2011.
- Open minded, rebellious in their youth, conservative in their 30’s and 40s
- Optimistic, ambitious, loyal, believed employment was guaranteed
- These are the children of the cold war and nuclear age.
- Job Status and symbols important
- Espouse values of ‘inclusive’ leadership, but often do not have the required skills
- Focus in workplace on process and output, not implications and outcomes
- Prefer face to face communications
Motivators
- Need to see steps toward defined goals
- State objectives and desired results expected of team
- Love pep talks
- Recognition with wide public profile, eg company newsletter
Generation X
Born between 1965(ish) and 1979, Generation X is the smallest of the groups, they often had both parents working, hence also know as ‘latchkey kids’.
- More resourceful, individualistic, self reliant and irreverent
- Focus in the workplace on relationships, outcomes, their rights and skills
- The children of the space age
- Not interested in long-term careers in one corporation, corporate loyalty or status symbols
- Strong memories of not having work and of the recession
- Easy to recruit, hard to retain
Motivators
Generation Y
Born after 1980, they are also known as the Millennium Generation and have similar values to Veterans.
- Optimistic, confident, sociable, strong morals and sense of civic duty
- The children of the information age
- Comfortable with peers of differing ethnicity
- Recognise choice as a career driver
- As a group have never know a sense of lack, items they want are accessible and disposable
- Have been brought up with the belief they can do anything
- Women and men will expect greater workplace flexibility
- Think DIFFERENTLY to any other members of the workforce
- Prefer to maintain relationships electronically
Motivators
- Provide opportunities for continuous learning and building skills
- Know their goals and explain how they fit into the ‘big picture’
- Be more a coach, less a boss
- Communicate informally through email and hallway conversations
- Inspiring leadership
- A supportive environment which encourages new ideas and gives constructive regular feedback
- An environment that respects skills, creativity and entrepreneurial flair
- Access to the most up-to-date technology, state of the art training
For Veterans and Baby Boomers, their first career lasted a lifetime and they tend to look at their CV’s as a record of achievement. Generations X and Y watched their parents lose their jobs, so don’t see themselves as indispensable, but as a marketing commodity instead.
Generation X will change career at least three times, and Generation Y five times. They see their CVs as marketing documents and since they’re interested in increasing their marketing potential, every career move doesn’t have to be upwards. Sideways is just fine.
While Veterans and Boomers see training and development only from a technical perspective, Generations X and Y feel training enhances their CV and makes them more marketable, as well as helping them learn further skills. Generations X and Y are more interested than Veterans and Baby Boomers in Soft Skills like communications, conflict resolution, influence and persuasion.
Veterans and Boomers prefer formal learning in a classroom environment. Generation X likes an interactive environment and Generation Y is happy to learn online. Therefore, when organisations getting into online training start thinking ‘one size fits all’ and that everyone will embrace online training as a time-saving device, this is not the case. Most Veterans and Baby Boomers do not take well to online training.
Generation X may be technically adept and open to online training, but they prefer debate and round-table discussion. Generation X may see the internet and technology as a tool, but to Generation Y it’s a way of life. Y uses conference call facilities and chat rooms far more than Generation X and for social reasons rather then purely business reasons.
Generation X may have invented communication technology and SMS text messaging but Generation Y is currently creating a ‘global village of communication’. Generation Y is the Net Generation, focusing on technology as part of life, not just a tool.
Veterans and Baby Boomers gave up work-life balance to pursue career, status and acceptability, both in society and at work. Baby Boomers effectively created the concept of workaholics. They do whatever is expected of them by their organisations and never say ‘no’. In the process Baby Boomers have paid the price. They are the most married and divorced generation in history.
This has had a significant impact on Generations X and Y, who both marry later. Generation X women establish career first, then get married, then have children. They watched their mothers try to balance work and home life and get discriminated against for having children. Generations X and Y insistence on a work-life balance, has contributed significantly to today’s declining birth rate, ageing population and ageing workforce.
Generation X sees a work-life balance as working ten to fourteen hours a day for ten months of the year, then taking two months off to do something they’re passionate about, like travelling. Hugh Mackay calls Generation X the Options Generation, always exploring their options.
Another important difference about the generations is that Veterans and Boomers, particularly men, have their identity tied to their jobs. In social situations, they ask, “What do you do?” Generation X and Y don’t do this. Their identity is not inherently linked to their work. For Generation X and Y it’s about doing challenging work and being part of a team.
Generation X and Y will not tolerate inauthentic leadership. They want to work for managers and leaders who deliver what they promise.
Generations X and Y recognise that sometimes you need to work harder than other times, but they also expect give and take. They might work for months on a project, then ask for a long weekend. If you deduct it from their leave, that’s not a good thing in their eyes. They’ll think they’ve done the right thing by you and now you’re doing the right thing by them.
Tags: 4 Generations active within the Workplace, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Veterans
Posted in Leadership
Viable Workplace Systems and Conversations
April, 2011
Viable Workplace Systems and Conversations
The Viable System Model as a Framework for Understanding Organisations
It is a passion of ours to examine what makes organisations run effectively then apply what we find with our clients. Lyn Traill explores some conceptual analogies which may assist you to make your organisation run even more effectively.
From research and observation, there is no doubt in my mind that effective conversational techniques are a key to effective organisations. I have been studying and working with different models and will share some of these over the next few newsletters.
The VSM (Viable Systems Model) was introduced in an article by Raul Espejo and Antonia Gill
The cybernetic aspect of the model makes it very relevant for today’s thinking. Stafford Beer created this model as an analogy to our own recursive living system, to help understand organisations and their various systems.
The diagram below sets out the systems he is using in his metaphor of the human organism as an organisational system.
The environment is demonstrated as a fluid moving object, within which all systems are recursive, getting away from the top down approach.
Implementation: The System 1 – the analogy is to the human system which involves all muscles and organs – the parts that actually DO something.
This is the core of the recursive model, and has its focus on the primary activities – production. It is important to note that this system can be made up of a number of primary activities each being its own viable system.
Coordination: System 2: Relating to the sympathetic nervous system which ensures that the interactions between muscles and organs are kept stable.
This is a vital part of having each of the above systems communicating with each other. The importance of the teams sharing common standards, approaches and values to achieve synergy is stated, resulting in more autonomy and, most importantly empowerment! This is also the area that deals with ‘conflict’ and provides stability to the organisation. This appeals to me as it moves away from the top down communication to effective two way communication systems benefiting from a shared vision and values.
Control: System 3: Relating to the Base Brain which ensures that the whole complex of muscles and organs work together for optimum performance.
I see this as the accountability system. In my experience of late, employees respond well to an effective form of accountability and VSM offers an effective monitoring system which does not espouse the ‘big brother’ attitude but a more collaborative system, employing effective conversations that reflect a genuine caring for those involved in the operations. In order for it not to reverse back to the top down system, the VSM monitoring system should only link two adjacent levels of recursion.
Intelligence: System 4: Relating to the Mid Brain – the senses – where we make all our future plans, projections and forecasting.
A vital part of organisations today is looking to the future – ensuring that they survive in a changing environment. The primary activity is given continuous feedback about what is happening in the market place and ensuring that there are plans for long term viability. Ongoing conversations are vital so that each system is aware of what is happening at every stage in the organisation.
Policy: System 5: The higher brain functions – the cortex.
This vital link, System 5, functions with an overall context. This is the policy making function. Unlike many policy making institutions, where policy spells control, the VSM model is about providing clarity about direction, values and purpose and to provide the highest quality conditions for the organisation to be as effective as possible. It provides the ultimate authority but the decisions of this system are few because it serves as a final check against direction after the extensive work carried out by and between the Intelligence and Control functions.
The strength of this model is the continual conversational process that happens between and within each system. While this appears to be a highly structured process, the systematic two-way communication processes still allow a great deal of flexibility within each level. Because of the robustness of the structure, new strategic business units can be inserted into a level without having to change the surrounding structures. With the conversations that should continually happen in and between each level, all members of the organisation are always in tune with what is actually happening and what the operational needs for the future may be.
To explore how this metaphor applies in your organisation and to use it to increase effective organisational communication, contact Lynn Traill on 1300 766 092.
Posted in Leadership
Get your Emails to works for you – 1
April, 2011
Get your Emails to works for you – 1
Are your emails working for or against you?
There is a saying that “the meaning of communication is the response you get”.
Are you getting the results you want from your communications? Can you be more influential? Can you get better outcomes from negotiations and meetings? Each month in eNews we will be exploring communication in its various forms.
Love it or hate it, email is a tool that has completely invaded our daily working and personal lives. It is quickly replacing phones as our main communications tool. It allows us to confirm orders, schedule meetings, send notes and attachments and distribute information to large groups quickly and easily. Because we use email is a simple delivery device for text, many of us are unaware of its powerful ability to deliver messages to customers, prospects and associates
Treat it as a letter
With various office tools such as word processors, photocopiers, fax machines and now email sending correspondence has become much faster. Unfortunately, with this increase in efficiency, the involvement of a secretary has largely disappeared. The secretary played a key role, as s/he was able to correct spelling, grammar and a variety of other errors in a letter so that a polished, formatted document was sent to the recipient.
Email is a powerful tool that can motivate, communicate, propose and deliver detailed information, but it also allows virtually anyone in your company to send electronic letters to anyone …whether they are other employees, customers, vendors or prospects – without any checks and balances on the language, grammar, content or layout of the message.
A message sent out by a well meaning but poorly skilled author may not present the right image of your company when the recipient reads it.
If you use email to follow up on customer orders, confirm appointments, or interact with customers or prospects on a regular basis, create a professional image for your organisation by using email templates. This concept is not new. A ten-minute investment of your time on a decent search engine will turn up a wide variety of resources on the web to help you get some templates up and running. Some are free downloads.
Here are some useful links.
www.officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/ Microsoft has a comprehensive template gallery on their site with samples of correspondence for all business situations download free.
www.letterslibrary.com has a few sample letters for download but most are available for a fee.
Whatever you use as the source of your templates, download them, take some time to change them for your own use and put them in a letters library on the company server. This way everyone will have access and, as changes are necessary, everyone has access to the new copy right away.
Liz Cassidy, founder of Third Sigma International is an author, Speaker, Trainer and Executive Coach dedicated to facilitating results in the businesses, professional and personal lives of her clients. For more information https://www.thirdsigma.com.au
Posted in How to Get the Best Results From your Email Communications
Get your Emails to works for you – 2
April, 2011
Get your Emails to works for you – 2
Use cc and bcc with discretion
Continuing on our theme that “the meaning of communication is the response you get”.
Are you getting the results you wanted from your communications, can you be more influential? Can you get better outcomes from negotiations and meetings? Expanding on emails.
Use cc and bcc with discretion
There are three address fields in Outlook; To, cc, and bcc.
I have included some guides on them in this article because they are often used incorrectly. Here are some hints that will help your emails get read rather than ignored or deleted.
The fields:
To: The “To” field addressees are those who are directly and primarily involved in the subject of the email or the recipient of the information/ attachment. Include names in this field if you are delivering or requesting information
cc: or “Carbon Copy” is a mode used when sending information to someone, but that you do not need a response.
bcc: or “blind carbon copy” is the least understood address field. The “blind” part means that the addressees included in this area are not seen by any recipient other than the originator.
cc: The cc field should contain contacts that can benefit from the information that you are sending to the primary contacts. Sophisticated MS Outlook users run rules on their inbox that puts cc items into a “read this later” folder. So, if you want a response from this person put them on the “to” line, otherwise your message likely will not be read on time, if ever. Be respectful on others’ Inboxes, and time, and make a conscious effort to keep the cc list as short as possible
bcc: Blind carbon copies are the weapon of choice for office politics, but they also have some good applications when you are sending information to a wide variety of contacts.
Note again that the address list of bcc recipients is not seen by anyone. Use the bcc field when sending information to ad hoc distribution lists or in any situation where it is unnecessary for recipients to see other addressees that received the same message. eg a mass mail out to your suppliers.
Correctly used cc and bcc are useful tools. Use them incorrectly and your emails may be dreaded and discarded
Liz Cassidy, founder of Third Sigma International is an author, Speaker, Trainer and Executive Coach dedicated to facilitating results in the businesses, professional and personal lives of her clients. For more information https://www.thirdsigma.com.au
Posted in How to Get the Best Results From your Email Communications
Get your Emails to works for you – 3
April, 2011
Get your Emails to works for you – 3
Some Emails Were Never Meant To Be Sent
We have had tremendously positive responses to our email articles, so I will include a few more before moving on to another communication topic.
Some 93% of communication is in body language and tone. So with the written word as in this text, emails are words on a screen, or on paper if printed.
There are none of the other hints at meaning which we receive in verbal communication to give the email congruence. E.g. there is no tone, pitch, warmth, no facial expression or body language. So, it is amazingly easy to mis-communicate using email.
Whilst email is designed to make our working lives easier, it totally messes things up if used inappropriately.
Email is entirely appropriate for normal simple communication, to quickly transfer small documents and information to a number of people and to confirm appointments and meetings. It is also useful to confirm conversation content.
But – where there could be any doubt as to the meaning or tone of the email, then it is inappropriate and – don’t send it!
When the response to an email is confused, or even abrupt, then the initial email conveyed the wrong(?) message. A phone call is required urgently to smooth the way.
The are times where emails should not be used, including;
As above where you are replying to a negative undertone in an incoming email
There is no way to pull out the send button after it has been pressed. If another form of communication is needed, either pick up the phone, or go to visit face to face.
At all costs an email war is to be avoided, as two young ladies who used to work for a Sydney Law firm found out before they lost their jobs and made front page news last year.
Where the receiver is prone to misunderstanding anything but the most explicit and simple messages.
Again, a telephone call or face to face meeting is more appropriate.
Where you are in close physical proximity to another person e.g. open plan or nearby offices.
It is more supportive of a relationship to get up and talk to them, or to call them, than to send an email.
Where the message is private and/or personal.
Apart from the potential for someone else to be at the receiver’s desk when the email comes through and seeing a very personal message (oops), there is also the potential for mistakes or lapses in integrity.
A few years ago, a young woman made international front page news after sending a private, personal and complimentary, email one morning after a night before to her boyfriend. He forwarded the email to 11 very close(!) male friends and so it went global.
Where the message is confidential or not meant to be read by other parties then perhaps it should be verbal or by letter.
It is too easy for mistakes to be made with mis-forwarding and copying emails.
It goes without saying that rude, or sexually explicit email communication should not be sent.
I had the unpleasant task last year of cleaning up the mess after a complaint was made against a staff member who sent an explicitly pornographic video around the office.
It may be tempting to forward material of this sort when it comes into your inbox. Stop for a moment and think…
Would I give this email content to another person in paper format, would I tell them this joke face to face? Would I like my partner/kids to see this material with my name attached to the send from history?
Forwarding or sending material of this nature sends a secondary message to the receiver about our values. When the material is then forwarded to someone else then they know we have “bought into” the message being distributed.
As we have discovered already we cannot control what happens to an email when it has been sent. So think before sending!
Liz Cassidy, founder of Third Sigma International is an author, Speaker, Trainer and Executive Coach dedicated to facilitating results in the businesses, professional and personal lives of her clients. For more information https://www.thirdsigma.com.au
Posted in How to Get the Best Results From your Email Communications
Get your Emails to work for you – 4
April, 2011
Get your Emails to work for you – 4
Structure
Emails are simply an electronic memo. The rules of writing the old fashioned memo in terms of structure and language still apply:
Begin with an overview summary,
Continue with an explanatory body and
Finish with a summary/ request.
Etiquette also applies in terms of addressing, checking names and titles are correctly identified and spelled.
Proof reading becomes more important in emails. Spellchecker does not pick up typographical errors which make sense e.g. “form instead of for”, “now instead of own”, “he instead of the” and so on.
Writing
As with all written communications, emails should be constructed using good grammar, avoiding abbreviations and avoiding “SHOUTING” in the content of the email. Abbreviations and shouting can be irritating to the receiver; research has shown that CAPITALS ARE HARDER TO READ THAN LOWER CASE so we defeat the purpose of SHOUTING.
Subject Heading
When forwarding emails there needs to be a subject heading to allow the receiver to prioritise when to read it. “Re ” does not inform the receiver what you want to tell them.
Make the subject heading relevant to the content.
Liz Cassidy, founder of Third Sigma International is an author, Speaker, Trainer and Executive Coach dedicated to facilitating results in the businesses, professional and personal lives of her clients. For more information https://www.thirdsigma.com.au
Posted in How to Get the Best Results From your Email Communications
Skills, Training and Government Support for Business
April, 2011
Skills, Training and Government Support for Business
I have been reading the September 2006 Submission to the Australian Government on the setting of Policy Directions for Australian Industry developed by the Australian Industry Group this week and have been struck by the section and research on “A More Skillful Australia”.
Summarising; research shows that between 2006-2016 the VET sector will be required to supply 2.47 million qualified people, of these 1.73 million will be required at Cert III – Advanced Diploma levels. ( i.e. 70%).
There will be a projected shortfall of 270,000 people with the required qualifications, based on current supply arrangements.
So, we are facing a chronic skills shortage, primarily at the trades and post trades levels. Nothing new here, you say. But, 50% of our workforce in Australia does not hold any post school qualification and there are only 13.7% of the jobs available for these people.
Looking at business strategy and our need to be nimble in international markets whilst facing a skills shortage and an ageing workforce. Businesses today cannot avoid retraining and re-skilling existing and older staff members. We cannot rely on recruiting new skilled staff any more. We no longer have that luxury.
A few years ago internal training was a luxury – now investing in a scarce resource (current staff) is a business necessity.
For further information on the AIG policy submission got to www.aigroup.asn.au
The policy submission goes on from these worrying statistics to talk about potential changes in government funding for training.
This is a new area for us at Third Sigma International as we have recently partnered with the Brisbane Learning Centre, RTO to provide one of our programs – the Cert IV and Diploma in Business (Frontline Management) – of which the Cert. IV attracts some government incentives for the employer.
The area of Government incentives for training is as confusing as Government funding for business in general.
To assist you, we have spent a few hours researching the topic of current funding support for Businesses at various levels and have included invaluable links below.
Federal Grants and Funding for business
Queensland Government Grants for businesses
Federal Incentives for Training and development of staff
Queensland Government incentives for development of staff
Queensland Traineeships available which have Government support
Given the confusing nature of the incentives and funding available at both Federal and State Level, (some business and training programs attract both – depending on who is being trained and the business situation) we suggest you ask for more details on Funding, Incentives and support by contacting your nearest RTO or New Apprenticeship Centre.
Explore www.training.com.au (A very confusing website but a must see for HR Professionals and Employers ) and http://www.newapprenticeships.gov.au/search/aacsearch.asp
Posted in Assistance for Business Professionals
List of Useful Business Support Websites
April, 2011
List of Useful Business Support Websites
Download the MS Excel Spreadsheet
Posted in Assistance for Business Professionals