Russell Martin and Associates Learning Flash March 2007:
A New Beginning
Exactly one week ago,
Vija
Dixon,
our Empress of Marketing, had extensive surgery for
pancreatic cancer. It was a tough go, but through her
own determination and tons of prayers from many of you,
she is doing very well. It is, of course, the beginning
of a battle that we will all help her fight. Please
keep her in your thoughts and prayers. If you would
like to drop her a note, you can do so at her carepage
“WeloveVija” at
www.carepages.com, an amazing use of the power of
the Internet. There you will also see updates on Vija’s
journey. She also requests, that in lieu of flowers,
you donate blood. She used up 20 units!
The
same week my niece Aleesha Martin had brain tumor
surgery, and our dear friend and customer Jeff Clancy’s
wife Tina had a quadruple bypass. Miraculously, they
are all doing well, so keep the positive karma going!
So,
in March, I look forward to Spring – a new beginning
away from the pain, fear and worry of last week, the
crazy weather across the country, and the uncertainties
of the world. Join me in hope, which is,
ironically, RMA’s motto for this year!
In
this issue:
-
Last Call: Unexpected Project Manager Workshop 3/6
-
Advance Order: The 10 Steps to Successful Project
Management
-
Spring Sale: The Other Books
-
Coffee, Tea and Me: Where’s Lou in March
-
Seven Ways to Build Trust as a Leader
-
Send One Suit Week
to Kick Off in March
-
Among Tech Execs, Men Face Gender Wage Gap
-
Back to Basics: How to Write
-
I
love NPR
-
Study: U.S. Workplace Not Family Friendly
-
Trainers: Stay on Top of Your Game
-
It’s Almost Magic
-
Contest: Leprechaun Trivia
-
Blog Update: We’re All in This Together
-
Generation Buzz
·
Best of Dilbert’s Out-Of-Office E-Mail Auto-Reply
-
Duh: Job Satisfaction Relates to Performance
-
Our Project Management Model is Famous
-
How to be a Hoosier
Last
Call: Unexpected Project Manager Workshop
Are
you doing more project management than you ever dreamed?
We still have four openings for our workshop in Indy
next week. It will be Tuesday 3/26/07 from 8:30- 4:30
at the One America building in beautiful downtown
Indy. Check out the website for more information:
http://www.russellmartin.com/pr_unexpected07.htm
Advance Order: The 10 Steps to Successful Project
Management
My
newest book will be unveiled at the ICE ASTD conference
in May. My editor, Christine Cotting and I have become
best friends (at least she’s pretending to still like
me), and Corey Wilkinson has done a great job with the
illustrations of the 3 pigs. Yes, that’s right.
Intrigued? You can preorder at
www.russellmartin.com. I’m proud to announce that
over 3000 copies have already been sold!
Spring Sale: The Other Books
I
just returned from a wonderful trip to Training 2007 in
Orlando (sun, 80s, wonderful). Nice meeting those of
you who are getting this newsletter for the first time.
My three presentations were: Software Training:
Starting the Project Well, Training Triage: Great
Solutions in a Moment’s Notice; and Project
Triage: Managing Through Chaos. If you missed the
conference, but would like a copy of any of these,
please let us know. The bookstore ran out of three of
my books, so I will extend the offer to you that I
extended at the conference:
Type
“TRNG07” in the discount code field and get any book,
free shipping, signed plus a little fabulous
merchandise!
This offer is good until April Fools Day!
Coffee, Tea and Me: Where’s Lou in March
3/13-16 Leadership Retreat - New Jersey
3/23 My 50th Birthday…
aarrrrrggghhh
3/30 Spring Break begins – Phoenix /
Grand Canyon
The
rest of the time I’m in Indy. Give me a shout!
Seven Ways to Build Trust as a Leader
We
have so many ways to help you grow your leaders,
including:
·
Leadership Training Our popular
leadership classes in a book, complete with everything
you need to teach it yourself.
·
IT Leadership Alchemy IT leaders use this
book to lead in the moment.
·
Web 360 Assessment Use our competencies or
your own – reality check!
·
Leadership Coaching We offer live and
phone coaches. Got an immediate issue? Rent an expert
leadership coach from us for 1 hour!
·
Leadership Retreats Let us design and implement a
life changing event for your company specific to your
needs.
For
more info, contact Margie Brown,
mbrown@russellmartin.com
Here
are seven actions from brilliant Kevin Eikenberry (www.kevineikenberry.com)
that you need to “get” in order to earn higher and
higher levels of trust:
1.
Get feedback.
Learn more about how much people trust you and where
your trust is weakest.
2.
Get
clear that you are responsible.
Justifications, rationalizations and blame won’t change
how much you are trusted, only your behavior will.
3.
Get over yourself.
If you want to be more trusted, you need to be more
focused on the needs of others.
4.
Get it done (on time).
When you tell people you will do something, you need to
do it.
5.
Get them help.
As a
leader in particular, people recognize that you might
have expertise, resources, budget or other ways to help
them; so, help them!
6.
Get consistent.
In words and in actions, be consistent.
7.
Get to trusting them (first).
Become more trusting and you will begin to build your
trustworthiness.
Send One Suit Week
to Kick Off in March
Classic Cleaners and
Dress for Success Indianapolis have designated the
week of
March 11-17 as Send One Suit Week. The two groups will
be collecting business suits, blouses and other
donations to provide business attire to women for job
interviews. Suits and blouses only may be dropped off at
any Classic Cleaners location in the Indianapolis area.
Dress for Success expects to help about 850 clients this
year.
Among Tech Execs, Men Face Gender Wage Gap
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2087085,00.asp
The
average difference between the wages of men and women in
technology jobs declined from 10.9 percent in 2005 to
9.7 percent last year, and some female professionals now
earn more than their male counterparts for some job
titles, according to a new report from Dice, a career
site for IT and engineering professionals. Female help
desk professionals made 4.8 percent more than males by
averaging $40,937, female technical writers made 2.5
percent more at $73,816, and female IT executives (CEOs,
CIOs, chief technology officers, vice presidents, and
directors) made 1.4 percent more at $109,912.
Do
your technical people need to improve their internal
consulting skills? Writing skills? Meeting leading
skills? Overall communication skills? It’s our thing –
contact Margie at
mbrown@russellmartin.com .
Back
to Basics: How to Write
This
year, RMA is excited to be offering a Business Basics
curriculum, available as a webinar or live on-site
training events. The series includs Basic Writing,
Basic Accounting and Finance, Basic Communication and
Business Math. Contact Margie at
mbrown@russellmartin.com.
A
snippet from our writing course…Whether proposals or
emails, your writing process should break down into four
manageable steps:
·
Prewriting: collecting data and preparing to write
·
Drafting: arranging the collected material into a
written message
·
Revising: making changes and corrections to the copy
·
Refining: double-checking and proofreading to make sure
the piece is as clear, concise, and correct as possible
Sometimes you will move back and forth through these
steps. Tailor the above process to suit your individual
needs. Its flexibility will help you create your finest
writing.
I love NPR
Can you help out by signing this petition to Congress?
http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?referring_id=-155637-.ZO9aL5WAgSLZCji15y6MA
Study: U.S.
Workplace Not Family Friendly
A study by Harvard and McGill Universities shows that
the United States falls behind many other countries when
it comes to companies offering workers family-oriented
workplace policies. The study shows that the U.S. is one
of only five countries, out of the 173 that it looked
at, that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. The
other countries include Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.
The study also shows that paid paternity leave for
fathers is guaranteed in 45 countries, but not in the
United States.
Trainers: Stay on Top of Your Game
Do
you need your faculty to fire up? Are they overwhelmed
by constant change, shrinking resources and training
imperatives? Recharge their batteries with the classic
RMA workshop Teach Less, Learn More: Accelerating
Learning. Contact Margie
mbrown@russellmartin.com
to invest in the future of learning at your
organization.
Elaine Beich (www.ebbweb.com),
amazing learning consultant and prolific writer,
certainly has game. From her book Training for
Dummies, a few of her tips:
•
Approach every training program as though you want it to
be your best ever.
•
Determine how to have
more participant involvement to challenge yourself.
•
Do something a little
crazy; for example, if you are showing a video, serve
popcorn.
•
Use previous evaluations
for the program to determine an area for improvement.
•
A day before the
session, change the part of the program you dislike the
most.
•
Observe someone else
conducting the session (or other sessions) to learn.
•
Page through a Thiagi,
Elaine Beich, or Lou Russell book.
•
Experiment with a new
activity or presentation technique.
•
Conduct research about
the topic (the Web, journals, books); know something
new.
•
Invite a guest speaker.
•
Find cartoons or quotes
that relate to the session.
• Try
reverse psychology: Think about the worst job you ever
had; don’t repeat it.
It’s Almost Magic
Think of a 3-digit number. The difference between the
first and last digit must be at least 2 (for example,
124 works, 122 does not).
Step 1: Reverse the number and subtract the smaller from
the larger.
Step 2. Reverse this new number, and add it back to the
result of Step 1.
About 70% will get 1089. Use this to illustrate the
value of a process (70% will follow it and have
success), listening, etc.
Contest: Leprechaun Trivia
You may be surprised to find out (or not) that my mother
is full leprechaun, and I am half. Ask my kids. Also,
I’m pretty sure Margie is a leprechaun as well. If you
answer the trivia questions below (with blarney or
not…), you win fabulous merchandise. Send your answers
to Carol at
cmason@russellmartin.com .
1.
A leprechaun is really an Irish: Shoemaker,
Magician, Thief, Midget
2.
The color of green for Ireland symbolizes: Hope,
Nature, Life, Jealousy
3.
Why do leprechauns wear green? Loves the color,
camouflage, meant good luck, means Ireland
4.
Where do leprechauns bury their pot of gold?
5.
T/F: This is an Irish blessing – “God is good,
but never dance in a small boat”
Blog Update: We’re All In This Together
From my blog
www.itsthepeople.Blogspot.com: “The
squeeze to continuously be more successful, have a
higher income, keep up with the neighbors, etc is very
stressful. It is likely that many people are working
harder than ever, longer hours, getting less
recognition, having less job security all at the same
time. There is turmoil all over the world. The wise will
adjust. It is time to strengthen our faith in the
eternal, to spend quality time with those whom we love,
to respect and nurture our co-workers, to forgive
quickly and not dwell on the past, and to make
adjustments in our lives (downsizing, simplifying,
learning new skills, etc). There are bright days ahead
for those who "invest" wisely. We are all in this
together. Let's treat each other accordingly. – John”
Generation Buzz
Differences between older and younger workers are
largely the result of tenure, not age, according to
Purchase, NY-based Sirota Survey Intelligence.
Regardless of their ages, for instance, most employees
lose enthusiasm for their jobs after six months. Older
employees start new jobs with the same hopefulness as
younger workers," says Douglas Klein, president of
Sirota Survey Intelligence, which examined the overall
satisfaction expressed by 64,304 workers in employee
attitude surveys the firm conducted for their employers.
Best of Dilbert’s Out-Of-Office E-Mail Auto-Reply
1.
Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctor’s
having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to
management.
2.
I will be unable to delete all the unread,
worthless e-mails you send me until I return from
vacation on 4/18. Please be patient and your mail will
be deleted in the order it was received.
3.
The e-mail server is unable to verify your server
connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please
restart your computer and try sending again. (The beauty
of this is that when you return, you can see how many
in-duh-viduals did this over and over).
4.
Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me.
Please wait by your PC for my response.
5.
I'm not really out of the office. I'm just
ignoring you.
Forwarded by
TRAINING SYSTEMS, INC.
Duh:
Job Satisfaction Relates to Performance
Did
you know investing in people through opportunities to
learn and grow improves satisfaction? Quick, contact
Margie at
mbrown@russellmartin.com.
Thirty-nine percent of bottom-line performance can be
attributed to employee fulfillment, according to
"Redefining Employee Satisfaction: Business Performance,
Employee Fulfillment, and Leadership Practices," the
latest research report from Edina, MN-based Wilson
Learning Corporation, a provider of human performance
improvement solutions. "Research is showing us that job
satisfaction is at an all-time low. We think that has to
do with how much employees are finding value and
meaning, in other words, fulfillment in their work,"
says David Yesford, vice president of solution
management, Wilson Learning Worldwide. "When employee
fulfillment is high, performance is high, and when
fulfillment is low, performance, too, is low."
Our
Project Management Model is Famous
Thanks to Annika Haglund from
IBM
for citing us in her wonderful new article in the ISTE
magazine Leading & Learning. http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/Current_Issue/LandL_December-January_2006-2007.htm
Do you need help with project management? Do you
need improved project success, quickly, not the adoption
of a complete religion? Do you need it adapted to your
specific situation? Give Margie a shout at
mbrown@russellmartin.com.
How
to Be a Hoosier
Now
that we are famous, having a Super Bowl Championship
team and all, we thought we’d share how to be just like
us. It will be clear why there was no looting or car
burning after the game!
·
Know
the state casserole. It consists of canned green beans,
Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, and dried onions. You
can take it to any social event and be accepted.
·
Get
used to food festivals. The Indiana General Assembly, in
an effort to grow bigger athletes, passed legislation
years ago requiring every incorporated community to have
at least one festival per year dedicated to a high-fat
food. It is your duty as a Hoosier to attend these
festivals and buy at least one elephant ear.
·
Know
the geography. Of Florida, that is. There are Hoosiers
who couldn't tell you where Evansville is but they know
the exact distance from Fort Myers to Bonita Springs.
That's because all Hoosiers go to Florida in the winter.
·
Don't take Indiana place names literally. If a town has
the same name as a foreign city --- Valparaiso and
Versailles, for example --- you must not pronounce them
the way the foreigners do, lest you come under suspicion
as a spy. Also, East Enterprise has no counterpart on
the west side of the state. South Bend is in the north.
North Vernon is in the south and French Lick isn't what
you think either.
·
Become mulch literate. Hoosiers love mulch and
appreciate its subtle differences. Learn the difference
between hardwood, cypress and pine bark at a minimum.
Researchers think the state affinity for mulch derives
from its relatively flat terrain. People have a
subconscious need for topography, and when it can't be
supplied naturally, they are more likely to make little
mulch hillocks in their front yards.
·
You
gotta know sports. In order to talk sports with
obsessive fans in Indiana, you have to be knowledgeable
on the three levels -- professional, college and high
school. The truly expert fan knows not only the name of
the hotshot center at Abercrombie and Fitch High School,
but also what colleges he's interested in, how much he
bench-presses, who he took to the prom, and what he got
on his biology quiz last week.
Lou Russell,
President
Russell Martin &
Associates
info@russellmartin.com
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