Smile and your workers smile with you
How you treat your workers will largely dictate how they will treat your clients and customers, writes Art Petty. "Employees mirror the treatment they receive from their leader," Petty writes. "Give your employees a reason to smile."
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It’s no coincidence that Steven Slater, the now-famous JetBlue employee, has been elevated to the status of a working person's hero. He did what so many frustrated employees would love to do, if only they had the courage, the beers, and the inflatable slide to help them escape a less-than-pleasant office environment.
It should come as no surprise, though, that the most successful businesses are the ones that work the hardest to please their employees, and it's up to managers to make sure they're giving their staffs what they want to the best of their abilities.
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Don't ban your workers from keeping tabs on the competition
Corporate leaders shouldn't freak out if employees talk to their counterparts at rival firms, writes Leonard Fuld. Information is a two-way street, and companies that ban workers from contact with competitors risk isolating themselves -- or, worse, creating a culture of mistrust in which employees do what they must to gather information, but then lie about it to their bosses. "Such unrealistic rules are no more likely to stop the flow of competitive information than Prohibition stopped the flow of liquor," Fuld writes.
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The best bosses don't beat around the bush
To lead people effectively, it's important to be direct, decisive and disciplined, says former Hearst Magazines chairwoman Cathleen P. Black. Debate and deliberation are useful up to a point, Black says, but difficult decisions should be dealt with as swiftly as possible to keep problems from festering. "The point is to solve it right now, and don't let stuff simmer overnight. Don't let it linger," she says.
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Cathleen P. Black, on Career Risk-Taking — Corner Office - NYTimes.com
How the best companies really get things done
Companies must embrace the spirit of innovation and involve employees in decision-making, writes Richard Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting. "Involving people in decisions gets them focused on generating solutions to problems rather than complaining or waiting to be told what to do," he writes. "If your employees don't have a sense of ownership, nothing truly great can occur."
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5 secrets of companies that execute well | SmartBlog on Workforce
Google's decision to hand out companywide bonuses and to boost employee salaries 10% in an effort to retain key workers may be a waste of money, August Turak writes. Research shows that to drive satisfaction and productivity in the long term -- and hang on to talent -- workers need to feel a greater sense of purpose in their work. "We are actually most satisfied when we are sacrificing for something worthwhile," Turak writes.
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Study suggests that keeping wary workers engaged may be as simple as granting flextime or approving a title change.
Keeping employees engaged in the midst of layoffs, pay cuts and a skittish economy can be difficult. A new study suggests that organizations should adopt policies that address different generations of workers' needs, rather than attempting one-size-fits-all fixes.
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Report: Workers' Needs Vary By Age - small business - productivity - employee engagement
One of the things that continues to surprise me is that when times are bad, organizations still spend money on employee engagement surveys. What are they expecting these surveys to tell them? You only need to walk around the office or factory and listen into some tea room discussions to find out that employees are not engaged because they are worried about their jobs.
This leads us to two major issues to consider during tough times. The first is how we inspire confidence and innovation in an organization that appears to be in freeze mode. The second is what you should measure as an indicator of employee engagement.
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The vast majority of senior executives admit that employee disengagement is one of the biggest threats facing their business. But despite this, issues round morale and motivation are rarely discussed at board level and most companies simply choose to ignore the problems caused by disengaged staff.
According to a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, more than eight out of 10 top executives in companies across Europe and the Middle East view disengagement as one of the three biggest threats to their business.
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Use sticky notes to become a better boss in 2011
It's the time of year when business leaders start taking stock of their achievements and making sweeping plans for the months to come -- but most people won't follow through on their good intentions, writes Marla Tabaka. To keep your goals in mind in the New Year, try plastering your office walls with sticky notes of various sizes and colors.
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Improving internal communications at Salesforce.com required providing more support to managers, says Jeremy Henderson, director of internal communications. Adopting an internal social-media network just for managers has been particularly productive, he said. "Using internal social media breaks down silos, encourages collaboration and connects people in a meaningful way," Henderson said.
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How Salesforce.com puts managers at the center of internal communications | SmartBlog on Workforce
Talented but arrogant workers may think they're worth their weight in gold, but they're not always worth the headaches, experts say. Lew Bayer, president and CEO of Civility Experts Worldwide, recommends gauging the true cost of obnoxious employees by keeping track of their time drain -- whether it's management hand-holding or sick days racked up by co-workers trying to avoid uncomfortable situations.
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Hell hath no fury like a sidelined employee
Managers who deliberately leave certain workers out of the loop, whether for strategic, political or pragmatic reasons, could be causing themselves major headaches down the line, writes Heidi Grant Halvorson, a motivational psychologist. Sidelined employees don't just get annoyed, they start questioning the foundations of their workplace relationships, Halvorson writes. "The short-term gains could be far outweighed by the significant losses of trust, cooperation, loyalty and motivation you create," she warns.
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Understand the true cost of leaving people out | SmartBlog on Workforce
There are always awkward moments when a company's new hire is younger than the team he or she is managing.
Older employees who thought they were in the running for the same position may feel slighted, others may assume youth amounts to inexperience, or they may not be bothered. Often though, the experience tends to be just as uncomfortable for the new boss who is aware of joining a closely knit team, not only as an outsider but a young one at that.
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10 Ways to Manage Employees that Are Older Than You : Managing :: American Express OPEN Forum
Opinion: Labor Department plan will bring new pressure on employers
The "operating plan" for the Labor Department's Office of the Solicitor could result in enforcement officers from multiple agencies showing up at business sites, in greater use of the courts to enforce rules and a policy of "shaming" businesses into compliance, writes John Fund. The Labor Department plan comes as liberal groups are urging the Obama administration to use executive orders and rule-making authority in the face of a Republican-led Congress.
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How does a company get on the list of the top 25 best small-business workplaces? Jill J. Morin, CEO of serial award winner Kahler Slater, has a few suggestions: Build trusting relations, encourage respectful collaboration and have regular "creativity fire drills."
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Make your workplace one of the “Best” | SmartBlog on Workforce
How does one get on the list of the top 25 best small-business workplaces? Jill J. Morin, CEO of serial award winner Kahler Slater, has a few suggestions: Build trusting relations, encourage respectful collaboration and have regular "creativity fire drills."
For the complete article, go to:
Make your workplace one of the “Best” | SmartBlog on Workforce
A continuous lack of employee engagement is threatening the economic recovery, according to new research. An analysis of reward, benefit and savings programmes in UK multinationals by Mercer has found a disconnect between employers and employees on the perception and value of their organisation’s reward and development programmes.
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Whether charity, community or environmentally based, a comprehensive CSR initiative has the potential to motivate team members and impact a company’s internal reputation.
However, a well thought out CSR strategy is also a powerful tool in engaging external stakeholders. A company’s ethical reputation can increase customer loyalty and attract investment, thereby increasing its profit margins. Yet, a company’s commitment to corporate responsibility must be advocated from the inside out.
For a company’s CSR strategy to truly resonate among its team members, they must be considered at every stage to ensure that it is in-keeping with their own principles, as well as the company’s overall business objectives.
Ultimately, without the support and active participation of the company’s team members in a CSR strategy, the initiative would falter. It is only as strong and credible as its employees’ dedication and belief in the cause.
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For Benito Cachinero-Sánchez, corporate vice president of human resources at ADP, No. 49 in The 2010 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity®, the whole premise of employee engagement is about making companies more human.
To illustrate his point, Cachinero-Sánchez began his presentation at DiversityInc's learning event in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8 by showing a Microsoft commercial that aired in the United Kingdom, where a Black woman states, "It's nice to be heard."
"How many of us feel that sometimes, we are not heard?" Cachinero-Sánchez asked the audience. "It's nice to be heard. Imagine an organization where it's nice to be heard and, more importantly, imagine an organization where you have a kernel of an idea, a small idea, a silly idea, an improvement on a work process … and they take it on. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful because the default assumption … is that you were not going to be heard."
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Employee Engagement: Capturing the Human Spirit - DiversityInc.com
Do you try to trick recruiters to get rid of problem employees?
Don't lie to recruiters and give stellar recommendations for workers in the hopes they'll get the job and leave -- or be evasive about the skills of a top worker in the belief it will keep him or her on board, Suzanne Lucas writes. "Instead of undermining your good employees and lying about your bad ones, how about you work to develop your bad employees so that they can take the place of your good employees?," Lucas writes.
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I’m Sabotaging My Employees’ Job Searches Through LinkedIn Connections | BNET
Hugs all round for Panda Express employees
Panda Express is using team-building exercises lifted from self-help manuals to boost both morale and companywide sales. The fast-food chain's employees -- known as the "Pandas" -- share tearful stories about their upbringing, and plenty of hugs, before discussing ways to improve efficiency and boost profits. "You grow as a person, and then you will grow in business. That's how you go forward," explains co-CEO Andrew Cherng.
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Don Morel, chairman and CEO of West Pharmaceutical Services, says he likes to question young job candidates about current events to see whether they might make good managers. "We might ask a young college graduate what they think of health care reform and what they think the downstream implications will be," he says. "It's not a right or wrong answer that we're looking for. We're looking for that clear indication of whether they are up to speed with what is going on in the world, whether they can think in a pressure-packed situation."
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Embrace the chaos to turn your workers into leaders
Sometimes the best way for a leader to bring out their workers' hidden strengths is to allow themselves to become completely overwhelmed, writes Peter Bregman. By taking on so much work that you can't possibly handle all of it personally, you force your workers to step up to the plate and assume pro-active leadership positions of their own.
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Why Leaders Should Try to Be Overwhelmed - Peter Bregman - Harvard Business Review
6 leadership lessons from Colin Powell
Successful leadership encompasses a number of core attributes, said Colin Powell, a former secretary of state, national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to attendees this week at the American Wind Energy Association Fall Symposium in Phoenix. Instilling trust in people you command is crucial, he said, and it must be clear that you're serving the greater good. "Increasingly, our people want to see leaders who are respected, leaders who are selfless," Powell said.
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Live from AWEA’s fall symposium: Colin Powell’s lessons on leadership | SmartBlog on Workforce
Fear and loathing in the C-suite
Too many bosses seem to believe that their job is to instill fear in their workforce, writes Mike Myatt. That may work when it comes to achieving short-term goals, but it'll make your workers hate you -- and the moment they sense weakness, they'll abandon you in droves. "If you believe that instilling fear in your employees is a good thing, you may be a tyrannical bully, but you are certainly not an effective leader," Myatt writes.
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Miss the free office soft drinks, commuter subsidies — and yes, even those year-end holiday parties? Don't despair. The workplace perk is beginning to make a comeback.
During the recession, many cost-conscious companies furloughed fringe benefits such as holiday fetes, bonuses and free snacks. But now that the economy is improving, some perks are slowly being reinstated.
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To strengthen your company's basic values, start sacking people
If you offer your workers incentives to adhere to your company's basic values then you're doing something wrong, writes Charles H. Green. Rather than cajoling workers into following the rules, start sacking people who don't personally cherish and abide by the values your company stands for. "Values are Jacks for openers, table stakes," Green writes. "If you're not motivated to live by your company's values, your company should tell you that you've got the wrong company."
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Are your company values important enough to fire people over? > Trust Matters
Molson Coors engages employees using plain English
To improve engagement, Molson Coors Brewing started at the top by encouraging leaders to communicate with employees in a concise, jargon-free way, says Jill Hollingsworth, the company's director of employee communications. The "Our Brew" program, which aims to create a common identity within the company, also includes an intranet for sharing stories and a town-hall initiative to keep the CEO accessible to employees.
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How Molson Coors brewed up stronger engagement | SmartBlog on Workforce
Why avoiding conflict can cost you in the long run
Leaders can't avoid addressing conflict or it will breed distrust and resentment within a team, Brie Hobbs writes. "Find a way to resolve the issue in a way that reinforces respect, value, and security for every individual involved so instead of paying for it, you all learn from it and move forward," Hobbs writes.
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The High Cost of Avoiding Conflict :: Refresh Leadership | Fresh Ideas for Today's Business Leaders
How Frito Lay improved engagement with far-flung employees:
To reach its 50,000 workers spread out over some 35 sites -- and the majority not on a computer every day -- Frito Lay found that the best way to communicate with workers is by using customized methods for each audience, says Katherine Ritchey, Frito Lay's director for internal communications. Some successful strategies include print newsletters with localized content for employees and podcasts for senior management.
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Live from Orlando: Frito Lay gets creative communicating with frontline employees - Miri McDonald
Managers often give "useless advice" in performance reviews, such as telling an employee to "write better" or "be more helpful," Paul Hebert writes. Everyone wants to do well, and offering such feedback doesn't help anyone. "You need to dig into the issue and find out 'why' the outcome isn't happening," Hebert writes.
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Fistful of Talent: Just Throw Strikes. Worst. Management. Practice. Evah.
Does it seem like most people are just a tad on edge lately?
According to the findings of "Stress in America," an annual survey conducted by Harris Interactive in conjunction with the American Psychological Association, three-fourths of the American population suffer from unhealthy levels of stress.
"America is at a critical crossroads when it comes to stress and our health," Norman B. Anderson, Ph.D., CEO and executive vice president of the American Psychological Association, said in the report's press release. "Year after year, nearly three-quarters of Americans say they experience stress at levels that exceed what they define as healthy, putting themselves at risk for developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and depression."
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The key to making sure employees are engaged and moving toward the same innovation target is continually communicating what is expected for "this month, this quarter, this year," and the role they need to play, says Thomas M. Connelly Jr., DuPont's chief innovation officer. While there is a "healthy rivalry" within the DuPont innovation ranks, he says, the teams "are very focused on delivering, and collaboration is a key tool in accelerating results."
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Lessons on innovation from DuPont’s Thomas Connelly | SmartBlog on Workforce
As you move up the leadership ranks, you must learn to give up what you worked so hard to get: control, Terry Starbucker writes. If you don't learn to trust your team and give up some of your control, you'll doom yourself to mediocrity, he writes.
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The One Thing Every Leader Has To Give Up | TerryStarbucker.com
Instead of just firing a difficult employee or putting up with the bad behavior, managers should have a frank conversation with the worker, stating clearly that improvements need to be made and his or her attitude needs to change, Pat Lencioni writes. Then, if the employee refuses to change and decides to leave -- or is eventually fired -- the manager "will be able to act with relatively little guilt, knowing that he did everything possible to achieve a better outcome," Lencioni writes.
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As women climb the career ladder, executives of both genders will need to stop worrying so much about work-life balance, says Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld. Rather than agonizing over missing your child's birthday or soccer game, decide what you can afford to skip and what you absolutely must attend, make the necessary arrangements -- then stop moaning and get on with your job. "Don't come to regret having missed some of these hallmark events," Rosenfeld says. "You can't do all of them, and I think making some of those choices is important."
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The need to understand the impact of employee engagement on customer satisfaction is more important than ever. So what needs to be considered?
It’s almost trite to quote statistics on employee churn within contact centers. However, high agent churn is a well established if not completely well understood fact of contact centre operation. Employee engagement has been shown to be a key driver in reduction of attrition.
But how do you get staff to be more involved in the business? What do you need to do to increase job satisfaction and encourage employees to deliver consistently high performance levels and reduce absenteeism and defection?
The obvious answer is to find out what motivates each employee. Forward thinking companies are now moving beyond that, also asking how they can link employee engagement and customer satisfaction. The obvious linkage is from increased satisfaction to increased customer retention to increased revenue.
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When I was a very young journalist, full of bravado and barely concealed insecurity, Ed Kosner, editor of Newsweek, hired me to do a job I wasn't sure I was capable of doing. Thrown into deep water, I had no choice but to swim. But I also knew he wouldn't let me drown. His confidence buoyed me.
Some years later, I was hired away by Arthur Gelb, the managing editor of The New York Times. This time, I was seduced by Gelb's contagious exuberance about being part of a noble fraternity committed to putting out the world's greatest newspaper.
Over the last dozen years, I've worked with scores of CEOs and senior executives to help them build more engaged, high performance cultures by energizing their employees. Along the way, I've landed on four key capacities that show up, to one degree or another, in the most inspiring leaders I've met.
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The Four Capacities Every Great Leader Needs (and Very Few Have) | Fast Company
The most recent jobs report showed that employers added just 64,000 workers in September, local governments cut 95,000 jobs (mostly temporary census employees) and unemployment held steady at 9.6%. Clearly, employers aren’t looking to expand their ranks.
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Employers looking to boost workers’ proficiency in the 4 Cs - Articles - Employee Benefit News
Dealing with mental health issues
Employers need to become more familiar with some of the behaviors that signal a worker might have a mental health problem, Trish McFarlane writes. "And, for those employees who may just demonstrate a characteristic or two, find ways to engage them in their work so that you can mitigate many of the negative impacts of their behavior," McFarlane writes.
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Do you know what your employees really think of you?
Many bosses are less beloved than they believe, according to one recent employee survey of both employees and managers. A third of workers think they're smarter than their bosses, the survey found, and respondents consistently said their leaders were far less visionary and nurturing than they appeared to think. "Bosses may not recognize how bossy they actually are," Adecco's report observes.
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Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Ask someone for the qualities of a good manager or leader and you're likely to get a laundry list of attributes -- all of them positive character traits.
Good communicator, inspirational, problem solver and cool under pressure are likely to be on anyone's short list.
But what about those other qualities? Let's call them the less attractive ones that often are a part of the package that makes up a successful manager.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Business Administration studied the development of leaders over a three-year period and found that negative, or "dark side" personality traits have their place too.
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There can be only one boss, says U.S. defense chief
If the U.S. military knows anything, it's the value of strong leadership, says Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. To get anything done right requires a tough chief capable of pushing back against the crowds and standing up for what he or she believes to be right, Gates argues. "Look in all the parks in the whole world, and you'll never find a statue built for a committee," Gates says. "Whether it's in business or anyplace else, it requires one person who has a vision and then has the ability to execute that vision."
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As the workplace and the global economy evolve, leaders will need new skills and new management styles, writes Alan Murray. The best leaders will be those who stay flexible, plan ahead and proactively seek out new strategies and new ways of thinking about the world around them. "Managers will not be able to assume they know the answer -- because more often than not, they won't," Murray writes. "You'll need to be willing to hear hard truths from your employees, your customers, your suppliers and anyone else closer to a changing marketplace than you are.”
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Companies across the world are struggling to fill their senior leadership positions and plan their workforce needs for the future, according to new research.
A global report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) finds that 56% of corporate executives cite a critical talent gap for senior managers’ successors.
The report suggests that while it is generally easier and more effective for homegrown talent to step into leadership roles, firms fill more than half of their executive positions from outside. BCG suggests that internal leadership-development programmes need to be improved.
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Are some people more likely to be engaged at work than others?
Yes, according to recent research. An important new study with the best evidence yet that employee engagement might indeed facilitate performance also suggests that value congruence, perceived organizational support, and core self-evaluation (CSE) might be engagement enhancers.
Read more: http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2010-07/personality-and-employee-engagement/#ixzz117v4sfWT
Personality And Employee Engagement | Bret L. Simmons - Positive Organizational Behavior
Increasing employee engagement improves absenteeism rates and take-up of benefit packages according to new research.
The report also finds that the benefits of a high employee engagement level can be significant to a company's bottom line.
This is illustrated as workers demonstrate a real commitment to their organisation and its values including showing a willingness to help out colleagues.
Read more: http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/cover/news/1735796/employee-engagement-improves-benefit-useage-absenteeism#ixzz10wHvtGKZ
IFA Online - News, blogs and analysis for IFAs. Visit the website now.
Employee engagement improves benefit useage and absenteeism - IFAonline
Have you got the leadership gene?
Biologists are looking to win a spot in America's business schools by studying the genetics and biochemistry of management. Researchers have already found that genetic variations can explain a leader's successes and failures, and that variations in sex hormones play a role in sales. "Management science looks set for a thorough, biology-inspired overhaul," according to The Economist. "Expect plenty more lab coats in business-school corridors."
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Douglas R. Waggoner, CEO of Echo Global Logistics, says the Generation Y workers who dominate his company have taught him a lot about innovation and new ways of working. "People don't really care what your title is or how long you've been around. It's more like, 'I've got a job to do; how are you going to help me do it?' and, 'These are the problems we're facing; how are you going to help me deal with them?' "
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The depressing vogue for having fun at work
ONE of the many pleasures of watching “Mad Men”, a television drama about the advertising industry in the early 1960s, is examining the ways in which office life has changed over the years. One obvious change makes people feel good about themselves: they no longer treat women as second-class citizens. But the other obvious change makes them feel a bit more uneasy: they have lost the art of enjoying themselves at work.
The ad-men in those days enjoyed simple pleasures. They puffed away at their desks. They drank throughout the day. They had affairs with their colleagues. They socialised not in order to bond, but in order to get drunk.
These days many companies are obsessed with fun. Software firms in Silicon Valley have installed rock-climbing walls in their reception areas and put inflatable animals in their offices. Wal-Mart orders its cashiers to smile at all and sundry. The cult of fun has spread like some disgusting haemorrhagic disease. Acclaris, an American IT company, has a “chief fun officer”. TD Bank, the American arm of Canada’s Toronto Dominion, has a “Wow!” department that dispatches costume-clad teams to “surprise and delight” successful workers. Red Bull, a drinks firm, has installed a slide in its London office.
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Enticing Employees
The recession has left its mark on top employees -- who are both disengaged from their current organization but hesitant about looking for employment elsewhere. In addition to revisiting leadership-development and reward-and-recognition programs, HR leaders should consider changing the organizational design.
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U.S. business leaders need to show their workers a little more love, writes executive coach Debbie Robins. By putting their workers' well-being first, leaders inspire loyalty, boost productivity, burnish their public image and ultimately make their companies more competitive, Robins argues. "The companies that have awakened to human capital as their organization's greatest asset are raking it in," she writes. "It's time to take the word LOVE out of your CEO closet, dust it off, and put it to work."
Follow the link, for the complete article:
Are you giving your workers enough love? - Related Stories - SmartBrief on Leadership
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Are you ready to meet the tech demands of younger workers?
If employers want to attract younger talent and keep them satisfied on the job, they need to work closely with their IT departments to make sure their technology keeps up with a younger generation's expectations, Andy McLoughlin writes. At the same time, employers should use their tech-savvy employees to generate new ideas and help train other workers, he writes.
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Employees really dig gardening benefit
Establishing a garden for employees not only promotes healthy eating, it helps them save money on grocery bills, advocates say. "It's an innovative, inexpensive way to provide a benefit for employees when times are tough," said Fred Haberman, co-founder of Haberman & Associates, which sponsors a company garden.
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Do you need to be kicked out of HR?
With so many qualified people on the job market, there's never been a better time to upgrade the talent in human resources, Charlie Judy writes. "There are so many great people on the streets right now -- find them, bring them on and relieve yourself of that dead weight that just sucks the life out of our collective reputation," he writes.
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BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government Friday issued a white paper on its human resources, highlighting the country's policies to cope with employment pressures and a lack of "high-level innovative talents."
The white paper, released by the State Council Information Office, introduced the country's human resources situation, related laws and regulations and protection of workers' rights and interests.
The 41-page paper, the first of its kind in China, says China's 1.3 billion population is "a vast reservoir of human resources," and "actively developing human resources, bringing into full play the potential ability and value of each individual and promoting the people's all-round development" is a significant aim.
China has a labor force of more than 1 billion people, 112 million more than in 2000, and the number of employees reached almost 780 million, more than 45 percent of whom were women, it says.
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China issues white paper on human resources, highlighting employment, innovation
Companies find happiness is good for business
There are few better investments a company can make than in their own workers' happiness and engagement, writes Cindy Krischer Goodman. A recent study found that firms with high levels of worker happiness outperformed the broader stock market by an average of 19%, suggesting that cultivating a cheery workplace can help companies gain a key competitive advantage. "The companies expanding, taking over competitors and shaping their industries are those with happy workers," Goodman writes.
For the complete article, follow the link:
Companies who invest in employees' happiness rarely regret it - KansasCity.com
Why hard work and talent aren't enough
To reach the pinnacle of your profession and become a powerful, effective leader, you need more than just hard work and talent -- you need the active support of those who've already made it to the top, says Stanford University professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. That means that networking and securing high-level mentors is the key to winning a corner office, Pfeffer argues. "What will make you successful are those people higher up who have power over your career. Your job is to make them want to make you successful," he says.
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Employees are tired of "doom and gloom" benefits message
Employees say that they don't want to see the same confusing, boring and complicated health care message delivered every year during the open enrollment period, D Mark Schumann writes. Instead, they'd rather be educated before the enrollment period about what health care cost challenges the employer faces -- and then be allowed to contribute ideas, he writes.
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What’s Up With Health Care Communications? (Part Two) | acommunicatorsview.com
20 ways to discover if you're hiring jerks
If you want to know whether your managers are filling the ranks with greedy and selfish employees, consider having them take the "Evaluation Gauge for Obnoxious Superstars" quiz from "Good Boss, Bad Boss" by Bob Sutton. For example, managers may be filling their teams with jerks if they hire people who "often ask for help from colleagues but rarely return the favor," he writes.
To take the quiz, follow the link:
Quiz: Are You Hiring and Breeding Greedy and Selfish Employees? | Fast Company
Get the inside skinny on employee attitudes
To get an accurate picture of where your company is succeeding -- or failing -- with employees, use "in the know" workers to help gather information, Marisa Keegan writes. "Talk to them about employee advocacy, get their thoughts on how the company can change, prove to them that you're in this to help build a better place to work, etc.," she writes.
Follow the link, for the complete article:
3 leadership lessons from Chile's trapped miners
If you want to see real leadership, take a look at the Chilean miners currently facing months trapped underground. The crew of 33 miners are taking orders from their shift supervisor, but have been delegating responsibility to one another to draw on their individual strengths and keep the team happy and healthy. "Through multiple acts of leadership they have organized themselves to take care of their bodies, minds and spirits," Eblin writes. "The way they've done it is instructive and humbling for all of us leading in much less challenging situations."
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5 ways to bring tranquility to your workplace
Business leaders can improve engagement and productivity by finding ways to appreciate their team members, says Kimberly Wilson, author of "Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play." "Small tokens of acknowledgment go a long way toward creating engagement," she says. "Be a shining example of what you are seeking in your team."
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Kimberly Wilson, on how to bring tranquility to your worklife | SmartBlog on Workforce
Technology has changed almost everything in the business world except our basic management approaches. Business model, process and product innovation are well-trodden paths, but with the exception of a few pioneering organizations, management innovation is much rarer.
The challenge ahead will be to identify how the changing nature of work and the pursuit of organizational innovation through the use of IT and new technologies will create a new model of work. Because the social technology of management sets both the tone and context within which we all work, it’s sensible to identify which practices and principles are a hindrance or a barrier and work toward alternative solutions.
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Embrace social media to drive engagement and retention | SmartBlog on Workforce
by Ken Favaro and Saj-nicole Joni
Chief executives most often work in a pressure-cooker atmosphere where two kinds of tension are present. The first kind is the natural tension that exists among top teams, in which talented, driven people who have to work together are also competing with one another for results, power, and stature. The other kind is performance tension: the stress caused by three pairs of important objectives that, in many companies, come into conflict on a daily basis. These are profitability versus growth, the short term versus the long term, and the success of the organization as a whole versus that of its individual parts. Over many years, we have worked with hundreds of CEOs as they confronted difficult situations, and we have observed that the most successful chief executives are the ones who get these tensions right. They have an uncanny ability to turn conflict, dissent, and disagreement into progress. Their mind-set is that having the “right fights” — embracing the right tensions and making them work for you — is the most effective way for companies and teams to move forward. As Brian Pitman, the former chief executive of Lloyds TSB, liked to put it: “You need real disagreement first to get true agreement later.”
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It was a routine operations review with the age-old bickering between line and support. The argument from the business heads was that support departments were just not “supporting”. Rounds of justifications and counter-justifications followed. And then came the “aha!” moment. One senior support leader thumped his fist on the mahogany table and pronounced: “I have a point to make. Please don’t keep calling us ‘support’. That makes us feel so second class. We are ‘business enablers’. Your comments imply it. So please call us that.”
Indeed it is not just the title, though that is symptomatic, but the whole attitude that organizations take towards these business enabler functions— finance, human resources, training, quality, information technology, administration. And that is the key difference, in many cases, between good and great, average and superlative institutions.
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You can't solve every fight simply by talking.
Most management theorists believe conflict emerges through miscommunication, but it's just as plausible to argue that it emerges from genuine differences in interest, argues Matthew Stewart. The first theory suggests that conflicts can be resolved simply through discussion; the second demands more difficult, more effective practical solutions. "One theory is like going to the movies. The other is like living in the real world," Stewart writes.
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More companies need to find ways to better connect senior leadership with the rank-and-file workers, as shown in the reality show, "Undercover Boss," Marisa Keegan writes. One idea: Set up an employee advocacy program.
CBS is airing a new season of Undercover Boss, which is a show where the CEO of a different organization each week goes undercover to meet with employees on the front line. While the CEOs are undercover, they talk candidly to employees asking them questions about corporate policies, employee engagement, and their personal circumstances. Every episode I’ve seen so far has completely opened the CEOs eyes to the good, the bad, and the ugly about their company. It has highlighted the disconnect between Senior Leadership and the front line employee and has inspired the CEOs to make some significant changes within their organizations.
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Your company's managers are smart, committed, and passionate. How can you make sure they perform to their potential?
When you work for yourself, as most entrepreneurs do, the notion of "managing" those you have hired to do just that may seem quaint in light of all the work you need to catch up on. But as the company you started begins to grow, and you hire more and more people to fuel that growth, it is a good idea to take a step back from the day-to-day grind and consider what it might mean to both you and your company if you devoted some of your time to thinking about how best to manage your managers. After all, the more people you empower to make decisions, and that free you up to think more strategically, the faster, at least in theory, your company can grow.
"Don't fall into the trap of believing that management is an indefinable art," says Ed Muzio, CEO of Group Harmonics, a workplace consulting firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "It's not. The key to managing anyone is to set clear performance expectations in advance, and hold the person accountable. That may be more difficult to do for managers than direct workers, but it's no less important."
How does one best managing a manager anyway? Follow the link for some strategies to consider:
When a worker leaves to work for a competitor, employers should immediately halt the employee's remote computer access and make sure all records and company property are returned, Michael R. Greco writes. Employers should be suspicious of bulk electronic transfers or unusual e-mails by the employee, which might indicate company information is being taken, he writes.
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Top Ten Things to Do When an Employee Resigns to Join a Competitor
People may be making determinations about your personality and leadership style based on your office décor, Jared Brox writes. For example, a lavish display of awards and lots of leadership books may tell others that you're a leader who needs a lot of recognition, while a stark, minimalist approach suggests a sharp focus on detail.
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How being "dissed" can decrease productivity.
There may not be outright discrimination in a workplace, but smaller slights and differences in treatment or "micro-inequities" can be just as damaging to employees' morale, job satisfaction and productivity, Michelle T. Johnson writes. "[I]t's something everyone has experienced in the workplace: feeling blown off, dismissed, ignored, slighted, subjected to different standards or inferior treatment, treated as 'less than' for no good reason," she explains.
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Psychologists say that narcissism is a measurable trait, and one that has specific and predictable consequences in the workplace. To manage a narcissistic employee, anticipate potential problems and set clear boundaries, advises Bret Simmons.
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LeaderLab » Seven Things to Expect From Your Narcissistic Employee
Are you afraid to pick a fight with your workers?
Too many leaders avoid workplace conflict at all costs -- and that's a dangerous habit, writes Ron Ashkenas. A culture of "niceness" tends to produce a mindset in which people are afraid to ask important but awkward questions, or to launch any innovations that might rock the boat, Ashkenas argues. To put things right, start by being brutally honest with yourself -- then gradually extend the same courtesy to your workers.
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Is Your Culture Too Nice? - Ron Ashkenas - Harvard Business Review
As business around the world is increasing, global employee engagement is waning significantly.
In fact, in the most recent study of employee engagement levels by Hewitt Associates, the report found that engagement levels at the end of the June 2010 quarter represented the largest decline Hewitt has seen in 15 years.
Not surprisingly, this dramatic drop is due to the growing strain between employers and their employees. Employers are attempting to stabilize their financial situations and their employees are exhausted after 18 months of stress, insecurity, and bewilderment thanks to the effects of the recession and their employers’ actions.
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Global employee engagement declining. ~ Friday, 13th August 2010 from 4Hoteliers
I was with my mentor today and we were talking about his time in management and he was relaying a story to me that left me stuck for words. In fact the message was so basic that I may have disregarded it completely.
He was telling me that he had just taken on a new role in a large organisation and he received the wonderful perk of having his own secretary. At the end of his first day or so he uttered the two magic words - not the kind uttered by Harry Potter but the kind expressed my masters in the area of people motivation - wait for it - yes he said "thank you". As I said I almost disregarded this information but his secretary was gobsmacked and may have visibly appeared shocked so he said "What's wrong?" thinking he may have inadvertently insulted her. But she said "I have worked here for 25 years and you are the first person who has thanked me". 25 years and not one thank you - where did the woman ever get the motivation to come into work?
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Employee Engagement and Motivation - Two Magic Words That Will Multiply Team Performance
With Annual Benefits Open Enrollment season rapidly approaching in the US, human resources and benefits professionals have started to plan, prepare, and develop their set of materials, communications, and tools to help their employees navigate through what can be a complex and confusing collection of plans, features, costs, and even tax implications.
Absent life changing events like marriage or birth or adoption of a child, open enrollment is the only scheduled opportunity for employees to re-evaluate and potentially change their choice of medical, insurance, and other company sponsored benefit plans. Most organizations prepare some kind of annual open enrollment package, or update the company intranet with information and perhaps even some tools like downloadable worksheets or online calculators to assist employees in the process of evaluating their known and anticipated needs against the available choices to help guide them to make what is hopefully the ‘best’ choice for their circumstances.
But still these resources often are overlooked, can be ignored, or themselves are almost as complex as the plans and options they are trying to explain. Sometimes trying to make sense out of complicated and detailed plan offerings is beyond the capability of traditional methods of communication.
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Employee engagement: It's in the eyes
Looking for simple ways to tell whether employees are engaged? Look at their eyes, says George S. Barrett, CEO of Cardinal Health. If employees look at a manager when he or she is speaking, then it's a sign they're listening and engaged. If they shift their eyes away or down when the manager speaks, it could be a signal that the connection has been lost, he says.
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Corner Office - Cardinal Health’s Chief - Leaders Need Peripheral Vision - Question - NYTimes.com
I’m so heartened to see evidence that employers are still interested in fostering engagement in their workplace cultures — even in these times when “they should just be glad they have a job” is a management model that actually feels a little legitimate. Well-written engagement surveys are a very good thing. Scores that report all raves? Okay. Scores that are a little bit good and a little bit bad — even a lot bad? Fabulous!
But how can that be? Isn’t the name of the game to have great engagement scores? Actually, no. The name of the game is to have a great engagement culture. So what kind of scores should you look for if positive scores aren’t the goal? Answer: Accurate ones. Well, that’s self-evident, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think.
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FedEx uses social media to engage workers worldwide
FedEx's Enterprise 2.0 effort, which uses social media and technology to achieve targeted business goals, has enhanced the way the company connects and engages a far-flung workforce. "People now fully expect to connect and collaborate across geographies and boundaries of all kinds. They have opinions on many things and expect to be heard," says Diane Terrell, FedEx's vice president of strategic communications.
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Instant delivery: FedEx uses social media to connect workforce - Articles - Employee Benefit News
In all too many companies, Kimmie the junior HR associate leads a conference room full of half-asleep employees through a positively delightful Power Point presentation outlining the benefit plan options for the coming year.
She hands out brochures and enrollment documents, and sends the employees off to wade through co-insurance charts, legalese disclaimers, and provider directories. Hoping to avoid the hassle involved in switching plans, most employees just pick a plan and stick to it, whether it’s right for them or not.
When it comes to health care benefits, employees can be pretty clueless. It’s not their fault, though — there’s just a lack of education about options, and employee benefits aren’t the easiest thing to understand in the first place.
But, Kimmie’s Power Points are great! How bad could this problem be?
Two-thirds of employees don’t know about their health benefits. Two out of three. Sure, they know they have benefits, but they don’t know the intricacies of those benefits and how to fully leverage their coverage.
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This interview with Quintin E. Primo III, co-founder and chief executive of Capri Capital Partners, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Capri is a real estate investment and development firm based in Chicago.
Q. What were the most important leadership lessons for you?
A. Leadership, in my opinion, is best learned, or honed, through adversity. And it’s in times of adversity that one must step up to the plate and do something. You have to do this, or do that, but you just can’t stand still. You have to take action in adversity.
And for me, probably the most poignant moment in my career as a leader was when my first business failed miserably. We were crushed by the real estate markets of the early ’90s. We went into a head wind, a very stiff head wind.
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But not for long. Here are the times you have to do it.
Micromanage. A dreaded word. The dictionary defines it as "to direct or control in a detailed, often meddlesome manner." Most popular management books call it something to avoid at all costs and give decisive tips on how not to do it.
As a professor of management, I often talk about empowering employees and avoiding micromanaging them. Sometimes very bad things happen when you micromanage your employees with too much attention to detail.
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I saw the funniest job ad. It said “Office Manager needed. Must be willing to work hard and juggle numerous high-pressure tasks. Overtime mandatory. Pay is not great to start but will improve as our company grows. No complainers.” I appreciate the hiring manager’s candor, but I don’t think the phone in that company’s offices is ringing off the hook right now. Low pay! Hard work! Overtime! What more could an Office Manager ask for?
That job ad is an over-the-top example of a phenomenon that’s abundant everywhere you look. Maybe the rough economy is to blame, but way too many large and small employers seem determined to beat talent away with a stick. Their job ads are unfriendly (“Candidates lacking two or more of these qualifications will not be interviewed or contacted” where we can interject the missing words “you vermin,” undoubtedly left out by mistake). Their careers sites are like stone-walled fortresses. Their interviewing manner is cold, and their overall hiring processes signal to candidates, “Go away and die.”
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Are Companies Beating Talent Away With A Stick? | Glassdoor.com Blog
No huge surprise - BP announced today that Tony Hayward will be stepping down as CEO as of October 1st. After the disaster in the Gulf killed 11, falling stock prices, numerous failed attempts to stop the oil leak and even more numerous ill-placed comments and responses from Tony (including a yacht racing episode), it was inevitable a change would be made.
As I heard the news though, my first thought was to wonder if Tony asked to be cut loose, and if not, if he is actually pleased he is being released. After all, he'll get a $1.6 million dollar payout which is equivalent to about a year's salary, he'll be able to draw from his pension which is reportedly worth another $17 million and retain his rights to shares under a long-term performance program that could be worth a hefty amount assuming BP's stock recovers. Additionally, he is being recommended for a non-executive board spot over at BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP (which, depending on who you ask may or may not be a choice appointment).
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Fistful of Talent: Money Talks: Our Problem of Paying for Problems
I was at a family reunion this last weekend and we were talking about recruiting issues. They were mentioning that despite unemployment numbers, they still had a hard time finding the right people for the most critical positions that were open. And it isn’t a question of technique, or pay or anything along those lines. It’s a situation where there is a genuine labor shortage. Only a few people could do this job in the country. They’ve done research and it is under 1,000 people.
This company has spent millions of dollars on talent acquisition alone in this one critical area of their business. Their problem isn’t going away anytime soon. And they are doing things to help but it isn’t enough.
So I asked who is going to blink first: the people that need to hire or the people that need the jobs? Whose will is going to break in order to make the tough decision that maybe it is time to retrain the workforce since many of the positions that existed a decade or two ago aren’t coming back.
No response.
Is there a third option? As I discussed with someone else, there is a short term solution. Importing talent has been going on for quite a while. The person I talked to said his company got 5% of the temporary visas they asked for though. And they certainly didn’t advertise that fact.
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New data from EAP provider ComPsych shows that HR pros say employee morale and productivity are bigger challenges for them over the next six months than health care costs and reform legislation.
Anyone else dubious?
According to ComPsych, 31% of HR managers say morale and employee productivity is their top challenge, compared to the 26% who say health care costs and new legislation. Among the other responses were finding qualified candidates (16%), handling organizational change (14%) and retaining top performers (14%).
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That's right. I'm taking the stand that all other things being relatively equal, hiring the best writer is always the right thing to do when faced with a tough choice between worthy candidates. I was reminded on this last month when my CEO gave me "Rework" by the gang at 37 signals, an interesting software company that's dedicated to writing productivity software that's easy to use. Rework includes a brief chapter that speaks the truth - hire the best writer.
Why does hiring the best writer make sense? Follow the link to find out":
The HR Capitalist: When In Doubt: Hire the Best Writing Skills...
Management gurus have long exhorted employee benefit professionals to "get a seat at the table" with the company's top executives. Why wait for an invitation? Beverly Beattie, founder and CEO of Selden Beattie Benefits Advisors, tells you how to summon the C-suite for a critical meeting to hammer out a long-term strategic plan for employee benefits in support of the company's overall business goals.
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Different Breeds of Workers
Workers Have Inherent Desire for Efficiency and Innovation
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SAN FRANCISCO — Whether he's swimming with dolphins in the Pacific Ocean or drawing inspiration from rappers, Marc Benioff has broken the CEO mold while running Salesforce.com Inc. for the past decade.
Some of his antics seem calculated to make a point about the importance of daring to be unconventional, a method that has worked well for him.
Benioff, 45, wouldn't be a billionaire and Saleforce.com wouldn't have emerged as an even better investment than Google if he hadn't been able to persuade so many corporate decision makers to change their ways.
Salesforce.com rents software for managing customer relationships and delivers its product exclusively over the Internet. The concept, often called "cloud computing," is hot now, but it was considered a pie-in-the-sky notion when Benioff started Salesforce at the height of the dot-com boom in 1999.
Back then, companies preferred to install all their software on computers sitting on their own premises. They bought prepackaged software so they could own the applications, even if it meant paying huge fees for installation and maintenance.
That mindset was so deeply ingrained in corporate America that Benioff was worried Salesforce.com might fail two years after he started the company.
There's no such worry now. Saleforce.com has more than 77,000 customers, nearly 5,000 employees and steadily rising revenue that's expected to hit $1.5 billion in the company's current fiscal year.
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The Associated Press: CEO Interview: Salesforce.com's eclectic leader
by Dr Anton Franckeiss at ASK
Avoiding a history of broken engagements
Employee engagement is currently a hot topic, partly 'helped' (to use the wrong word) by an economic downturn where organisational leanness and occupational insecurity lurk like wolves at the door. Although the economy has focused attention, it has always been important for a simple reason. Employers want engaged employees because they deliver improved business performance - increased sales, profits and productivity, and reduced attrition.
Try looking at the issue from the other end of the telescope: what would be the benefits of having a disengaged workforce? What are the advantages of a workforce of clockwatchers who resent every working moment? Few that I can see - and it's a situation that can be avoided, with a bit of effort all round.
One key point in employee engagement lies in that 'all round'. Research has repeatedly demonstrated the links between the way people are managed, employee attitudes and business performance. And 'the way that people are managed' is more - and more subtle - than statements of terms and conditions and contractual rewards. The psychological contract - and maximising its positivity - plays an important part in driving engagement.
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A 30-year-old midlevel manager—let’s call her Fatima—is struggling at work, but you wouldn’t know it from outward appearances. A star member of her team in the marketing division of a large multinational foods company, Fatima consistently hits her benchmarks and goals. She invests long hours and has built relationships with colleagues that she deeply values. And her senior managers think of her as one of the company’s high potentials.
But outside the office, Fatima (who asked not to be identified by her real name) would admit that she feels stagnant in her job, trapped by the tension between day-to-day demands and what she really wants to be doing: exploring how the company can use social media in its marketing efforts. Twitter, her cause-marketing blog, and mobile gadgets are her main passions. She’d like to look for another job, but given the slow recovery from the recession, sticking it out seems like her best (and perhaps only) option. “I’m still working hard,” she tells a friend. “But I’m stuck. Every week, I feel less and less motivated. I’m beginning to wonder why I wanted this position in the first place.”
Sound familiar? Over the past several years, we’ve spoken with hundreds of people, in a variety of industries and occupations, who, like Fatima, are feeling stuck—that dreaded word again. According to a recent survey of 5,000 U.S. households by The Conference Board, only 45% of those polled say they are satisfied with their jobs—down from about 60% in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.
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Managing Yourself: Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Want - Harvard Business Review
The four-day work week. A sucker's play.
Lance Haun revisited the topic of the 4-day work week late last week over at TLNT.com. Lance remembers that Utah ushered in a 4-day work week policy a few years back, with the move getting a ton of hand-wringing and pontification that other states and even (gasp!) private industry would follow suit.
What happened? Public sector employers have continued to make the 4-day work week grab. Lance points to Winston-Salem, NC, Effingham County, GA, and Franklin (VA) City Public Schools as having recently implemented four-day work weeks. Lance also identified more cities like Westminster, CO and Indio, CA as considering using the four day work week.
Of course, that tsunami of 4-day work week adoption never came in the private sector. Why not? Lance thinks in government offices, even exempt employees work fairly rigid schedules, and in most of the white collar, exempt employee world, that rigidity doesn’t exist.
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The HR Capitalist: OUT: Buzz on the 4-Day Work Week. IN: Discretionary Effort...
THE members of the Village People, a pop group founded in the 1970s, are dismayed that the organisation that inspired their greatest hit is to change its name after 166 years. The American branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association, known to arm-waving disco mavens as the YMCA, announced on July 12th that it would become plain “The Y”. This is part of what the outfit describes as a “major brand revitalisation” intended to make it seem warmer and more welcoming. It may turn out to be a misguided rebranding exercise on a par with Coca-Cola’s launch of New Coke and British Airways dropping the Union Jack from the tails of its aircraft.
Non-profit organisations such as the one formerly known as the YMCA are commonly advised to become more like for-profit businesses. Management experts and consultants view them as horribly inefficient due to the absence of the concentrating power of the profit motive. The negative reaction to the Y’s rebranding suggests that non-profit outfits are not all that good at emulating business even when they try. There has been barely any reciprocal pressure on for-profit firms to learn from the non-profits. Yet this is what Nancy Lublin, one of America’s most successful non-profit leaders, proposes in a new book, “Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business.”
Ms Lublin dismisses the common charge that non-profits are inefficient. Some are, but many of them are not. She also dislikes the use of “non-profit” to describe the sort of organisation that she once founded (Dress For Success, which gives smart suits to poor women to wear in job interviews) and that she now runs (DoSomething.org, which encourages social activism by young people). “Non-profits include loss-making companies like General Motors,” she explains. “We’re a not-for-profit, as we’re not even trying to make a profit.”
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The statistics speak for themselves: Employees are staying put, seemingly trying to wait out the recession.
A survey from employment placement firm Manpower reveals 81% workers are not job hunting, even though 51% feel their career growth chances in their current position are poor.
The latest Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows some 70% of employees doubt they'll ever retire.
Employees' entrenchment seems to have rejiggered employers' priorities. MetLife's eighth annual "Employee Benefits Trends Study," reveals that 53% of employers, when asked to list their three most important benefits objectives, said controlling heath and welfare benefits costs; 47% said retaining employees, while 42% cited increasing employee productivity.
For the first time since 2006, controlling benefit costs edged out employee retention as the top concern facing employers - not a good stat for succession planning experts, already struggling to get employers' attention.
Yet they continue to press on, knowing that putting off indefinitely what employers should be planning for today may cost them dearly in the long run.
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Engaging ones employees is important; so important, in fact, that Gallup recently did a study on employee engagement and presented their data in a report entitled “Employee Engagement: What’s Your Engagement Ratio?” And many companies have taken the bull by the hornswhen it comes to engaging their employees. They have set up intranet sites that have become active and vibrant collaborative communities for their employees. These sites are similar to Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter in that employees can create profiles and others in the company can view these profiles and create discussion forums to enhance collaboration on team projects.
When taking the first steps to create and implementa collaborative tool, it is important not to overlook the process of understanding who will be using the site. Many organizations quickly assume that because their site is an intranet, only employees can have access to it. Consider bringing your business customers into the community in some fashion. If a customer has had multiple, valuable experiences with organization, they will likely be very willing to engage in your intranet. This is particularly true for business customers who utilizeyour business frequently. When customers feel engaged, they are going to be better stakeholders in all aspects of the relationship because they feel a greater responsibility to the organization.
The goal of an online community is, ultimately, to improve business. But because users of collaborative work tools can do anything with these tools, including voice their negative opinions, some companies have paranoia and are afraid to create intranets because they might disseminatenegative news. This fear is the reason that the use and success levels of social media tools in the workplace vary greatly. Some companies create collaborative areas but do not follow through to make them successful. On the other hand, some companies have assembled specific personnel to support their efforts and fully embrace social media.
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