Welcome to the February 2008 issue of Rise & Shine
Your Leadership Solutions and Resource Newsletter!
New Horizons (News from RSC)
As we shared at this time last year, we have the good fortune to be working with a very exciting new international secondary school located in Hsinchu, Taiwan (http://www.hdis.hc.edu.tw/). This has been a very rewarding experience which has resulted in decision that one member of our team (Rick Pierce) will be spending the current semester (Feb – June, 2008) full-time in Hsinchu.
Working/consulting internationally has taught us a great deal about ourselves, our business, but most of all about the numerous challenges which must be faced when working overseas. The items listed below represent a few of the most significant which we have face and which most companies/individuals working overseas will face at one time or another:
- Culture – Perhaps the most challenging issues which need to be faced are those involving cultural differences which exist in the country you find yourself working in.
- Language - Among the most obvious challenges are those related to language. While it may not be necessary to become fluent in the native language, it is a definite advance, and a sign of true respect to at least become familiar with the basic greetings.
- Customs – Of equal importance to building positive relationship with your overseas clients/customers is learning common social gestures and basic expectations. This can become extremely important when it comes time to negotiate and agree upon a working contract. (There is nothing worse than insulting someone by starting business to soon or ignoring local customs and expectations.)
- Food – It is always helpful to familiarize yourself with the local foods of the country you will be visiting/living in. If you are not careful, you can either find yourself eating something which violates your own personal or religious customs, or you can find yourself insulting your host/hostess by your reaction to the food being served. In addition, if you are not careful about what you eat or drink, you can very quickly find yourself not feeling well, or in some cases violently ill.
- Travel – Another critical area to consider is travel time and conditions. If is important that you schedule your travel so as to leave yourself enough time to recover from the “jet lag” before having to function at a high level of proficiency. Naturally, this will differ from person to person, but at a minimum you want to insure yourself a good nights sleep if at all possible.
- Health – A third critical area of concern is health care.
- Insurance - It is always a good idea to check with your insurance company to make sure you are covered in case of accident and/or illness while traveling.
- Medications – It is also important to make sure you have an adequate supply of both prescription and over the counter medications to see you through your entire trip.
- Records – As is true whenever you travel, it is important that you keep any important information regarding allergies or other medical conditions easily accessible with your other important documents.
From our experience, working internationally can be an extremely exciting and rewarding experience. Like all good things, however, you experience will be enhanced if slow down, learn about he culture you will working in, make sure you have all your documents in order, plan ahead, and do everything you can to find some time to enjoy the uniqueness of the any country you have the opportunity to visit.
Shining Stars (Best Practices)
Murray Risk Management and Insurance is this month's Organization of Excellence. This independent insurance agency is now in its 3rd generation of ownership since it was founded 76 years ago by Paul G. "Pop" Murray in downtown Lancaster. Now, with branches in Mechanicsburg and Quarryville, 132 insurance specialists, and over 12,000 clients, this company has certainly experienced success in the Central PA area. Part of the formula for their success is focusing on supporting employees and their community. Here are a handful of the strategies this organization uses to build a culture of commitment:
- A system of educating employees on the benefits of their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), including an ESOP committee charged with reinforcing the benefits of this structure with staff throughout the year.
- A strong belief in community service, especially encouraging employees to be actively involved in local events sponsored by local non-profits.
- A hiring process in which candidates get to meet the people in the department for which they are applying and have the opportunity to ask questions. The employees then provide feedback before a hiring decision is made.
- A technology committee that brings representatives from every department together to discuss how to improve technology use within the organization.
- An annual meeting in which the financials and strategic plan is explained to the employees so that employees connect their roles with the overall direction and mission of the organization.
This organization won the Best Places to Work in PA award in 2005. These strategies are just a few that helped them earn this honor. Maintaining an environment with a family atmosphere is difficult as a company grows, but this one has achieved this goal. We thank Richard Rankin, CEO & President, for meeting with us to talk about this organization. More information about Murray Risk Management and Insurance can be found at their website, www.murrayins.com.
World Views (In the News)
Make Goals Not Resolutions
Imagine you're a consultant to the New Year's Resolution industry. Your clients are a deeply dysfunctional bunch. Every January, they proudly announce their resolutions. Two weeks later, most have already veered off plan, and by mid-spring, they may not even remember having a resolution at all. To find another set of clients who blow their goals so consistently, you'd have to start serving defense contractors.
If these were goals, mind you, we'd all consider ourselves utter failures, but with our resolutions, we get a pass. So how do you make sure your business is setting goals rather than resolutions?
To sniff out whether your business is pursuing a goal or a resolution, follow the fun. What's fun about goals is the end point, the completion. If your goal is to "grow sales by 13% in the Southeast region," and you nail it, you're ecstatic. What's fun about resolutions, on the other hand, is the announcement. Think of a stereotypical offsite meeting where a team has the sudden epiphany: What we really need to do is "Amaze the Customer!" That's a resolution, and its unveiling probably feels as good to the team members as their new-year illusions of running triathlons or spending more time with their kids.
Resolutions feel good coming out of our mouths, but they lack enforcement. We all know that when congresspeople can't achieve a goal, like passing a decent health-care bill, they'll pass a resolution instead, which allows them to declare how irritated they are about the state of health care. (So next time you miss your quota, try sending around an Email Resolution: "Resolved: I deplore the people of the Southeast and their hateful unwillingness to buy 13% more product from me.")
Add publicity and accountability to a resolution, and you get a goal. At Microsoft, for instance, employees set ambitious goals for themselves each year, called "commitments," that are created in consultation with their peers and supervisors and later made public. Peer pressure, or even just peer awareness, is a powerful motivating factor. So, does your IT director know your marketing director's goals? Is there a public folder for goals on your intranet?
It's possible to turn a lofty resolution--to get in shape, to be a better dad, to "amaze the customer"--into an achievable goal. But to pull it off, your present self may have to outsmart your future self. For instance, if you go on a diet, you'll immediately banish all sugary and fatty snacks from the cupboard. Because you know that in a weak moment, your future self will not resist the Call of the Oreo. It's not easy to change your behavior; it's easier to change your environment, which in turn will change your behavior.
Strangely, it suffices to change your mental environment. The psychologists Peter Gollwitzer and Veronika Brandstätter studied college students who had to write a paper about how they spent Christmas Eve. The catch was that they were supposed to submit the paper by December 26. At this point, the paper is in resolution territory: It feels good to imagine yourself getting a good grade by writing the paper. But, as with January gym memberships, the outcome was not pretty. Only a third of the students got around to submitting a paper.
(Adapted from: Dan Heath and Chip Heath , FastCompany.com, Feb 2008)
Rays of Hope (Stories/Parables)
Buddha and the Abuse
It is said that on an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry.
The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, "If someone gives a gift to another person, who then chooses to decline it, tell me, who would then own the gift? The giver or the person who refuses to accept the gift?"
"The giver," said the group after a little thought. "Any fool can see that," added the angry stranger.
"Then it follows, does it not," said the Buddha, "Whenever a person tries to abuse us, or to unload their anger on us, we can each choose to decline or to accept the abuse; whether to make it ours or not. By our personal response to the abuse from another, we can choose who owns and keeps the bad feelings."
~ author unknown |
Thank You
On behalf of all of us at Rising Sun Consultants, we want to thank you for reviewing the February edition of our Rise & Shine Newsletter and we want to wish you all …
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your interest in Rising Sun Consultants and we invite you to visit our website (www.risingsunconsultants.com) and encourage you to submit a question for a future addition of Rise & Shine.
Until next month: Always Keep Your Eyes on the New Horizon! |
