GALT Consulting LLC

Generational differences continue to be a hot topic!  I hear Baby Boomers complain that younger people don't respond to emails or voicemail messages.  They conclude that the issue is a simple lack of manners.  Meanwhile, Gen X'ers (like me) complain that Baby Boomers refuse to utilize other communication tools (like texting and instant messaging) and leave rude messages like "Hey Don!  It's Jim.  Give me a call.".  I know it's you Jim!  I have caller ID!

The truth is that communications etiquette is evolving with technology faster that the actual use of the technology.  On a given day, we have the ability to communicate with more people than ever before.  The only way this can be accomplished is through efficient use of technology.  No one is trying to be rude, but an increased understanding of the tools will yield tolerance (if not usage) of things like text messaging and other forms of social media (like blogging!).

Consider this.  A study conducted by Sprint found that a person under the age of 30 is 4x more likely to respond to a text message than to a voicemail...  and 91% will respond within the hour.  This makes sense if you consider that today people are constantly prioritizing communication needs and utilizing the right tools for the job.  A phone call takes several minutes.  A text message takes seconds.  I'm not saying you need to use it... just understand that it's not manners... its efficiency!

I had the privilege to speak to the HRMA chapter in St. Louis at the Renaissance Hotel this week!  There were about 150 HR professionals in attendance eating breakfast and listening to my presentation on "Strategically Managing the Human Resource".  I had a blast and received great feedback from the attendees.

We discussed the myth that "good people are hard to find" and how employers can utilize the good people right under their noses.  There were moments when I heard some groans as I spoke against some conventional wisdom, but I think the group enjoyed the overall presentation and left feeling energized with new ideas for managing their "human resources"!

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 Super Poke!?!  Mafia Wars?  Tweeting?  Are you serious?

Business leaders are both perplexed and intrigued by the potential of social media (ex: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, text messaging, etc)... both as a potential business tool and as a potential colossal waste of time.   The "answer" is that social media does have great potential to be either or both.

At a seminar, my friend and social media consultant Matthew P. Block met a photographer who operates multiple studios throughout the U.S.  He says that one of his goals is to get on an "LOL" basis with his clients as soon as possible.  If you don't know, LOL is an abbreviation for "Laugh Out Loud" used in emails, texting and on many social media sites.  It is obviously on the informal side of the communication spectrum... which is exactly what this photographer wants.

For example, if someone sends him an email to book a wedding at a hotel he has shot at before, he might launch an immediate response to the email saying, "great location for your wedding...  I shot a wedding there last month and the groom was thrown in the fountain... LOL!".  This reason for this is to establish a closer relationship with his clients.  He wants them to feel like they are friends.  This is the "Social" part of social media!  LOL!

Want to hear more?  Go to http://www.galtseminars.com/social-media.html and register for social media tips as well as updates/discounts for upcoming seminars / events.

On Monday, February 1st, the subscription service Leadership Book of the Month will launch.  The response for the first month has been fantastic!  This innovative service is a partnership between myself (Don Harkey) and Randy Mayes, an executive coach with the Success Coach Network.

The concept is simple.  Each month, we pick a new book on the topic of leadership or organizational development.  On the first week of each month, you receive your own copy of the book along with an executive summary of the book and its "3 Key Concepts".  In subsequent weeks, you will receive additional information on each of the 3 Key Concepts along with tools you can use.  At the end of the month, we will host a free webinar discussion of the book and its 3 Key Concepts.  This subscription service costs only $35 per month with discounts offered for longer term subscriptions.  For a limited time, we are also offering a free "BYOB" trial where you supply your own book for the first month, but get to try the materials for free.

Here are some tips on how you might be able to utilize this new service.

1. It will keep you up to date on the latest concepts out there without requiring you to read a whole bunch of different books.  Our material will stand on its own.  If you like what you see, read the book.  If not, don't and you will still get a lot of value from our "bite-sized" summaries and tools.
2. More than one company has expressed interest in utilizing Leadership Book of the Month as a low cost employee development program.  Corporate subscribers can inquire about our customized webinars that can become a great forum for specific and energetic discussion within the company on specific ways the information can be utilized.
3. Think of the service as an "accountability partner".  Once a week, you get an email.  If you take 5 minutes to review the material each week, you will find new and exciting ideas that you will end up utilizing in your business.
4. For the "go-getters" out there...  don't try to implement every tool we introduce.  Find the one's that best apply to your organization or your situation.
5. Spread the word!  This service becomes even more powerful when your colleagues, friends, and clients are on the same page.  Get them signed on and multiply the impact! 

Randy and I are both very excited about this new service!  Go to www.leadershipbookofthemonth.com to sign up for your free trial month!  We'd love to hear your feedback!

Most change efforts fail.  It's really just that simple.  You see a change you want to make in your organization, you attempt to make the change, yet things stay the same.  Why?

"The Three Laws of Performance" by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan talks about this.  In short, the world is complex, so humans break things down into simple packets in order to try to make sense of it all.  This is our perception.  It's the way we see things.  A CEO of a major corporation has a very different perspective than a life-long factory worker.  So what happens when the CEO and the factory worker try to get on the same page?  They don't even speak the same language!

In order to change, people must change their perception and meet in a common area.  This requires listening, learning and practice.  All parties must listen to each other and try to see reality over their own perceptions.  The team must learn a common language so they communicate from similar perspectives.  Finally, the group must "LIVE" the change and practice it so that it becomes the way they do things. 

Change is hard, but it's not impossible.  All it takes is a change in perception!

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Our culture has encouraged us to break apart and keep separation between certain components of our lives.  I'm not sure if this comes from our government's philosophy to separate "church and state" or from corporate America who likes to break itself down into manageable bite size pieces rather than think "big picture".

In "the Process", I mention that in order to be successful, you must know what you are passionate about and good at.  I was talking with someone recently who asked me, "Passionate in relation to what?  Work?  Home?  Church?".  I responded that true passion is not limited to its application.  The things you are passionate about and good at can and should be applied EVERYWHERE in your life!  As my friend and executive coach Randy Mayes says, "You are the best at being you.  No one has ever been created to be a better you!".

Being self-aware of your strengths and passions is extremely valuable.  If you are not sure, then follow this simple exercise.

1) Write down all of the tasks you do in a typical day (at home, at work, etc...)
2) Score each category with the following:
      1 - I am not good at this and don't particularly like doing it
      2 - I am competent at the task, but not better than average at it
      3 - I am excellent at the task, I can do it better than most people, but it takes some energy
      4 - I love doing this.  I actually feel more energized after doing this task!
3) Start with the "1's" on the list and figure out how you can get rid of these tasks.  It may not be possible to eliminate them all, but do the best you can.  Then go to the 2's.  Then even the 3's.

Imagine your life spent doing only the things that give you energy, both at home, with friends, and at work!  This would be a great life to live!  I know that you won't eliminate all of the 1-3 tasks, but you will be surprised at the fulfillment and added value you will produce!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!  It is a new year and a new decade and I hope that you are ready to gear it up.  If 2009 was the "Year of Fear", 2010 will be the "Year of Passion"!  It's time to get to work.  Here are 5 questions that you should be able to answer related to your business going into 2010.

1) What are you Passionate about?
All too often, we separate "business" from "personal".  However, this is a critical mistake.  We will spend 40% of our lives at work, so why wouldn't we apply the same passions and values we have in our personal life to our business?  Great businesses know what they are passionate about and they focus on this passion.

2) What are you Good At?
Sometimes it is tempting to focus on the weaknesses within your organization.  However, you should really put everything in terms of your strengths.  What strengths are you not utilizing?  How will your strengths position you in the market?  Working within your strengths is like swimming with the current.

3) What Value do you provide for Others?
Business owners often get so focused on the nuts and bolts of their business, that they forget the real value of the products and services they offer.  As my good friend Brett Curry says, customers don't buy products and services, they buy value.  McDonald's doesn't sell cheeseburgers, they sell consistent convenience.  Harley Davidson doesn't sell motorcycles, they sell the feeling of freedom.

4) How will you tell others about your Value?
You may have a great product or service that your customers find very valuable, but are you getting the word out?  Many business owners rely on being "trappers", which can work for established businesses or for businesses with unusually high demand.  However, it is healthy for every business owner to spend some time learning to be a "hunter".  How will you get your message out?  What is your message?  (hint: it is related to the answers of the 3 questions above).

5) How will you Make it Better?
Every business in the world can become better at what they do.  This means becoming more efficient (without sub-optimizing... that is another article), providing better service, improving the product, finding new ways to provide value, assessing the market, etc.  Where do you start?  Start with your people.  Ask your people where the opportunities lie within the organization.  Ask your customers why they use you and what you can do better. 

If you and all of your people know the answers to these five questions, your business will be in for an exciting and prosperous 2010!

Invocation from Rotary Meeting today...

"Gracious Heavenly Father,  

As we celebrate together the end of another year, we offer our thanks to you.  

We thank you for challenges you presented us that reminded us of what is truly important in our lives.  

We thank you for the times when things didn’t quite go our way as you remind us that true fulfillment comes from following Your Mission, not ours.  

We thank you for these people who surround us, energize us, and challenge us.  

We thank you for this Country where freedom still reigns and we have the power to question our leaders.  

We thank you for the brave men and women who answer the Call and make sacrifices for our Nation, our People, and our God.  

We ask for your continued guidance and for the wisdom to know that our real needs will be met even when our desires are not.  

And God’s people said…   Amen"

I have often stated that there is a gap between theory and industry.  Part of the problem is the volume of information that is available out there.  Some the information is very valuable.  Some of it is misleading and potentially damaging.  How do you know what is good?  How do you find the time to keep up with it all?

Randy Mayes, owner of the Success Coach Network, and I have partnered up to provide an answer to these questions.  It is called Leadership Book of the Month.  Subscribers receive a book on organizations / leadership / personal success each month along with a summary of key information (3 Key Concepts) and ways to apply the information (3 Action Steps). 

Visit http://www.leadershipbookofthemonth.com to learn more and to subscribe!

If you are in doubt that we are entering into a completely "new economy", consider the changes in the way we are communicating today.  Specifically, let's consider broadcast TV.  I predict the end of broadcast television as we know it by the end of this upcoming decade.

As a proud member of Generation X, this would seem like a staggering prediction 15 years ago when families would change their schedule around what was to be showing on television that night.  Yes, we had VCR's, and they got used, but as a whole, people know what night their favorite shows were on. 

Then the DVR came into existence.  Now we record programs much more easily (no more "is this tape empty?").  In fact, many DVR's find shows it "thinks" we would like and records them just in case.  As software and hardware technology shifts the control of the entertainment center from the airwaves to the PC, we have the increasing ability to watch what we want to watch, when we want to watch it, where we want to watch it. 

Have you considered the impact on this with your business and the economy?  Not long ago, companies could launch high dollar ad campaigns to win over the consumer because almost everyone was watching.  GoDaddy and Pepsi used extensive marketing campaigns during the Super Bowl to win over consumers.  This year, Pepsi is not even going to advertise during the Super Bowl.

The impact is huge.  It means that small businesses can have a louder message to consumers.  My friend and communications expert, Matthew Block, points out that the communications model for the world is actually regressing.  100 years ago, people did business within their village based on personal relationships.  Then broadcast media and newspapers shifted us to a brand society where we focused on the loudest and most creative message.  Today, we are going back to the village, but this time our village is much bigger and not based geographic location.  The internet and the wide spread use of social media and cellphones have created virtual villages. 

This is truly a New Economy.  As you plan for 2010 and beyond, consider the impact the market will have on your business and impact you want your business to have on the market!