Open Discussion Management

I always find that the most difficult part of running a company has to do with the management of people. I find that most people have egos and its very hard to "let your guard down" and give and receive constructive criticism. I just dealt with an issue when I had one manager give unclear direction to a staff member. The staff member tried to execute on the direction they were given, but because of the communication issues, did not preform at the level that was expected. The manager that gave the incomplete direction gave additional direction, again unclear, and the staff member responded in a manner that was inconsistent with their performance level and unacceptable. When I looked at the issue is was very clear that the employee was frustrated with the direction they were given and the lack of support they received. Their performance was closely associated with this frustration. When I approached the manager with this observation, they had a lot of difficulty in seeing the issue and only wanted to criticise the employee.

The amazing thing is that neither party recognised that they were not working well as a team and it was effecting both their careers and their clients. It was clear that the reaction from the employee was unacceptable, but the lack of direction and lack of support from the manager was the catalyst for the issue. Many people believe that you should have individual discussions with the employees to correct the situation, but I believe that you need to rally the team, identify all issues, and allow for an open discussion..

Problem Solving

Over the last few weeks I have facilitated several "brainstorming" meetings to solve client issues. I try to focus on objectives (what are we trying to accomplish), roles (who is impacted), process (how should it work), and information (what is the detailed information that needs to be transmitted from person to person). This approach helps to simplify problems and not get caught on why something cant be done.

Business Development

Over the last few months I have gotten back into doing some business development. I have surprised myself in regards to the number of leads I have been able to produce. My business development staff have inquired as to why I have been so successful and I can only come up with two things:

1. Target your message - if you are talking to a bank, craft it to their specific problems and have examples of other banks you have helped. I believe that if nothing else people have an interest in what other companies in their industry are doing (enough to get you an appt)

2. Find the right contact within a business - I was able to get an appt with a company that my business development manager had been targeting for several months. All I did was search for the company email extension "@abccompany.com" + marketing. This search returned the email address and contact information for the director of marketing (it was exposed on a site in which they were on a board of an org). Using this contact information and a message targeted to her vertical market helped me gain an appt.