Shera R. Sever: Igniting the Spark™

It’s 2009. Let’s all agree- Collaboration is a Social Imperative.

Thus, I am delighted to be  one of 20+ contributing writers to the just released publication,

42 Rules for Successful Collaboration

What do Cisco, Disney, Toyota, Mindjet, Adminstaff, Joire De Vivre have in common?

RULE #29   Use Leaders as Collaborative Strategists

2009, ©Shera R. Sever & SuperStar Press

Get the right people on the bus and in the right seats, with a commitment to building a best-in-class collaborative culture.

Focus on internal-facing collaboration that encourages collective intelligence (simple yet intentional engagement).

Recognize those within the organization who consistently share information, resources, responsibilities, while engaged in and committed to organizational and personal excellence.

Start with Talent Management

• Get the right people on the bus. Build a superior team by recruiting those who have a track record of working and playing well with others, and communicating with transparency, while confronting brutal facts.

• Make collaboration a core competency for any position. Define the specific functions and expectations in the professional development plan.  When collaboration is a core value, employees are able to see the results of their work and the impact it has on company, clients, and colleagues. This in and of itself is the reward.

• Create a Collaboration Manager/ Coordinator position to promote, coordinate and manage your internal systems for knowledge sharing, skill and learning development. Look beyond HR, Marketing or Corporate Communications for this collaboration evangelist. Design the position around competencies and overarching organizational goals and objectives.

• Engage all your people in “big picture” solutions. Interestingly enough, a 2008 study available through the Society of Organizational Learning shows that fewer than 35 percent of employees from 100 companies surveyed, know or are clear about how their role fits into the bigger picture—the overall business objectives and strategic plan. Best leaders motivate with questions, not initiatives.

• Focus on “internal facing” online communities. Awareness Networks released their 2008 white paper, revealing that 82 percent of over 162 leaders surveyed have seen that Web 2.0 technologies (particularly “company branded” Wikis) increase knowledge sharing, employee collaboration, and improved internal communications, and help employees “find” each other.

• Continue to make Learning & Development a top priority. Optimum learning and development occur in systems where there is a rich web of interactions—and this is collaboration. As organizational leaders, ask where collaborative learning communities could be built or expanded upon?*

What new leadership and communication skills are needed cross-functionally to allow for full collaborative engagement in your organization?

*Note:  Some of the most impressive learning communities are being birthed in the non-profit sector. Paul Hawken’s WiserEarth.org site encompasses shared knowledge and learning communities from more than 13,000 organizations worldwide.

Back  in the mid-90′s, while launching my training & consulting company , Cross Currents Communications,  (my fourth business), I was highly influenced by two powerful mentors: William Bridges and his declaration that “the job is obsolete” and  Tom Peters, who provoked us to Break all the Rules.

Thanks to these revolutionary visionaries and the recession,  we all have the opportunity for reinvention, authenticity, and to “think and be different,”  ie to stand out IN our purpose.

We all have a chance to learn, improve, and build up our skills. We all have a chance to be a brand worthy of remark. Today, we all need to be  CEOs (Chief Enlightenment Officers) of our own companies and to be Head Marketers/Directors of Fulfillment for the brand called You.

Here are a few questions I use in working with clients ready to let go of job titles and duties as their identity, and start thinking of themselves as a company:

1. Start by identifying the positive qualities and characteristics that make you distinctive from your colleagues. What do you do better than anyone else? What are you passionate about?
2. What have you done recently to make yourself stand out?
3. What would your students, customers, clients or colleagues say is your greatest and clearest strength? If you don’t know, ask them.
4. What is your most noteworthy personal trait?
5. What is your “feature-benefit” model? (Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises?; Do you complete projects within the allotted budget?)
6. Ask yourself: What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value?
7. Ask yourself: What do I do that I am most proud of? (What have I accomplished that I can share confidently and consistently?
8. What value do I offer? Become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value, that you are proud of, and most importantly, that you can shamelessly take credit for.
9. Finally, ask yourself: What do I want to be famous for?

Once you have worked through the above, with the help of a coach or mentor, you should be able to answer what I call the Golden Branding Questions:

What makes you different? What is it that makes my product or service different and stand out?

After working through the answers  edit it down to 15 words- this is the beginning of your branding message- Brand You .. You, Inc.

Starting my career in the “non-profit” sector over 25 years ago, I’ve always been a huge advocate of social entrepreneurship, and an evangelist for learning and social profit leadership models. I was very encouraged to see Social Entrepreneurship Goes Mainstream as a feature article in last month’s issue of Ode Magazine.

Social entrepreneurs are change agents and pioneers for humanity who have merged their business, service and life purpose to benefit disadvantaged communities and ultimately society at large.

“Social entrepreneurs never let a crisis go to waste. These visionary leaders take this economic upheaval to be a blessing, providing a chance for business to transition from an anonymous, complex system to one that is direct and transparent.” Ode Magazine, March, 2009

I believe Social Entrepreneurship is where we all need to be focusing our business development models. It’s no longer about you  OR me, but about WE and the cooperative advantage, rather than the competitive advantage. It’s about our personal visions and our business mission serving the greater good along with sustainable practices and metrics.

“In a world where change is escalating exponentially, the only way we’ll make it is if everyone has the mindset of a social entrepreneur.”-Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka

2009: The Year of the Awakened Entrepreneur In my  January, 2009 Leading Visions to Action e-zine, I declared 2009 the Year of the Awakened Entrepreneur and listed some criteria that I believe need to be part of the mindset of entrepreneurship in these rapidly changing times. There is more need and more opportunity than ever before for Awakened Entrepreneurs. As Joanna Macy provokes us in her book,  World as Self, World as Lover,“What will you tell your great, great grandchildren you did during the Great Turning?”

So in this period of innovation and reinvention, how can you merge your life purpose and what you stand for with a business for the greater good?

Who are your power partners within  your community and network?
Do you need support in clarifying your vision, purpose, strategy, and content marketing?
What arising needs do you see your business fulfilling?

Authenticity is the key buzz word in the world of marketing. Clean, lean, and transparent systems that are both inward facing (internal partners/staff), and external facing (clients and community) is what we all need to be aiming for and creating.

One of the upsides of the recession is that more and more ecopreneurs and enterprises are utilizing the power of doing more with less by going “green”.

So many in fact, that it leaves those of us who were active in the “ecology movement” of the ’70′s  concerned with  “greenwashed ” marketing.

Read what British Journalist, Nick Rosen,  has to say about “What’s Wrong with Green?“. A fabulous media portal that I’ve been following is Worldchanging – a global network of independent journalists, designers and thinkers covering the world’s most intelligent solutions to today’s problems. Read the latest on Bright Green, Light Green, or Dark Green.

Are you starting a “Green” Business or “Green” Career?  Use my organizational development frame to determine how “green” your enterprise is:

1. 98% of all waste is generated outside of the home- through manufacturing, transportation, distribution. Does your strategic plan include Triple Bottom Line Metrics- measuring performance against economic, social and environmental parameters?

2. Ecological Footprint- What’s your personal and business footprint? The Global Footprint Network has developed one of the most comprehensive methodologies and guidebooks in measuring ecologicial footprint and overshoot.

3.  Collaborative Entrepreneurship: Rather than compete with other small green businesses or “ecopreneurs”- cooperate and collaborate.  What other small “green businesses” can you partner with to offer your clients more complete packages of sustainable products and  services?

4. What is the organization’s commitment to Personal Ecology? At the most fundamental level, start with The 5R’s: Respect, ReThink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Have you seen The Crude Awakening?

5. Citizen Education- Today, there are a tremendous amount of resources available to awaken each and every one of us to our responsibilities of living sustainably-moving from a mindset of consumer to the mindset and actions of citizen. How transparent and educational is your marketing?

6. Green Business Certification- The San Francisco Bay, where I am based, has one of the most advanced Green Business Certification Programs in the USA. Click here for more information.

7. Read and apply Peter Senge’s, et.al.: The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World.

Sustainablilty is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous and enduring, more intelligent, and even more “competitive”. Paul Hawken

I am working on the development of a 16 -week on-line High Performance Human Resources Management course for one of my clients.

Initially, a two- day seminar which I developed in 2007 for the CARAT Executive Leadership Institute, this course emphasizes the synergistic systems inherent in  talent management, retention, learning, and overall organizational effectiveness and growth.

According to the “2008 Ethics and Compliance Risk Management Practices Report, one-quarter of organizations have a desire to engage employees in learning, but are challenged to put their corporate values and integrity into action.

One of the key (and often times) most challenging strategies in birthing a learning culture in an organization is to discard the old paradigm of organizational “silos”.

Learning is not a one-time event. A true learning culture is based on an organization’s mission and core values where learning (human capital development) is transparently woven into all roles, functions, divisions and regions of an organization.

Understanding that Human Capital (Workforce) Development is an organization’s greatest asset is critical. Like any transformation, evolving into a Values-Based Learning Culture does not happen overnight, but rather requires strategic, thorough assessment of leaders attitudes, management approach, and current learning curricula.

Read more in this months’ issue of Chief Learning Officer.

Last night, I had the opportunity to hear one of my earlier mentors, CJ Hayden ,speak as part of the monthly meeting at Spirit and Work Resource Center in Berkeley, CA. CJ, a principle at Wings Business Coaching, was a wonderful role model for me when I started Resumes That Work™ back in 1995.

Now the author of two books, CJ has found her true calling as a coach for social entrepreneurs- a calling that resonates with the core of my being as well.

In her presentation, she highlighted a very important distinction between a socially responsible business and a social entrepreneur. Social entrepreneurs are first and foremost Change Agents. Their reason for being is to lead SOCIAL CHANGE with an entrepreneurial approach. They are not merely socially conscious business owners with a desire to reduce their environmental footprint.

One of my long term clients, CEO Women in Oakland, CA is a perfect example of social entrepreneurship. Executive Director, Farhana Huq has received multiple awards and micro loans with the “Start Your Own Business” training for immigrant and refugee women.

So how do Social Entrepreneurs fund their ventures and earn a living?

• Micro-enterprise loans (Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank)
• Non-profit organizations with earned income- (Delancy Street in San Francisco)
• Teaching, writing, speaking engagements that fund their ventures
• Grants, fellowships, or awards
• Through another business that runs the social venture (examples: Paul Newman’s Own Foundation or Steven Van Yoder and the GIVE Foundation )
• Selling products and services from the social venture itself: (example: Lila Igram and Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund)
• Through a working spouse or parent (wow!- any extra spouses or parents out there to support my vision and venture?)

“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.” ~ Joel Barker

Conscious Capitalism is what we’re talking about, and I am committed to leading social entrpreneurs’ visions to action.

“We have the ability to go within our hearts and give what we discover (there) a voice”, said internationally acclaimed author, Gay Hendricks , keynote speaker at the San Francisco Writers for Change Conference.

Gay Hendricks announced at the conference that Five Wishes will be his last book. He will now committ his knowledge, expertise, and experience to mentoring the next generation of writers. In alignment with his passion for technology, writing, and helping others awaken to their power, authenticity, and expanded relationship potential, Hendricks continues to be on the forefront of conscious relationships and new media publishing.

When working with editors, Hendricks reminded attendees that “It’s a rare person who hears what she/he doesn’t want to hear.”

Hendricks encouraged conference attendees to:

Take the time to write one good page a day. ( He has been doing so for 30 years)

Ask yourself:

• How can I serve?
• Is this true? Is this the truest way I can say this in the written word?
• How am I getting in my own way? or How is my brain getting in my way?
• As a writer, what does my audience need? What will awaken my audience to the voice and truth in their own hearts?

Many thanks to Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen, Co-founders and Directors of this 2nd annual conference, for creating such an inspirational platform for change!

The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world-we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep,to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.

-Joanna Macy, author World as Self, World as Lover

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Initiative held it’s second Global Gathering on the campus of Mills College in Oakland, CA on June 26-29.

Nearly 200 committed facilitators (including me) from four continents ,along with guest speakers Lynne Twist, Brian Swimme, and Joanne Macy , among others, gathered to re-affirm, apply, and expand our commitment to an environmentally sustainable, socially just, spiritually fulfilling presence on this planet as the guiding principle for these times.

The Global Gathering re-ignited in me what really is important – and what I am committed to- on a personal, professional, and collective level.

It’s easy to forget that real change begins with changing oneself.

At the conference, all of us felt and agreed that this is a most amazing time to be alive, that we don’t have all the answers, and that in fact, we may or may not be successful in creating the personal and collective changes that must take place now.

If we focus our actions on cooperation, not competition, on doing more with less, (and perhaps on DOING less and BEING more), heal our addictions to consumption, and re-claim the role of world citizen founded on interdependence and respect for the dignity of all life,we may be able to “turn the wheel” towards sustainable solutions.

Turning the Wheel. . .

• WHAT can I start doing today and the rest of the year to bring more cooperation and collaboration into the company culture, our teams, client relations, and communities?
• WHO am I mentoring? WHO are my mentors?
• WHO are my”emPower partners?” Is there a team, a social network, forum, panel, or consortium that can be formed with “competitors”?
• WHAT is my role and contribution to the “Great Turning”?
• What will future generations learn from and do with your contributions?

High Performance Volunteer Management-Recognizing Stellar Volunteers

More and more, we find organizations and small businesses depending upon volunteers, committees, and even interns to carry out their vision by providing leadership and support in marketing, organizational development and change initiatives.
How do we recruit and retain stellar volunteers? What motivates volunteers? In one word, it’s: RECOGNITION.

THE VOLUNTEER CREED
If you want my loyalty, interests, and best efforts, remember that . . .

1. I need a sense of belonging.
2. I need to have a sense of sharing in planning our objectives.
3. I need to feel that goals and objectives are clear and obtainable.
4. I need to feel that what I am doing has real purpose and contributes to human welfare.
5. I need autonomy and collaboration in setting standards for performance.
6. I need to know what is expected of me (not a laundry list of “duties”.)
7. I need to have challenging responsibilities within my range of interests and abilities.
8. I need feedback about my progress.
9. I need to be kept informed.
10. I need to have good rapport with and confidence in the leadership of the organization.
11. I need timely recognition.

Adapted from The Effective Management of Volunteer Programs, By Marlene Wilson

There are many ways to fulfill the needs of volunteer staff. High retention of volunteers starts with:

* a well-planned volunteer recruitment strategy in alignment with long-term organizational goals.
* very clear descriptions of the volunteer roles with expected outcomes.
* performance development plan and feedback system that promotes professional development.

How we as leaders provide recognition to professionals who volunteer is one of the topics I will be addressing this week in a one-day workshop with over 35 Chamber Chapter Leaders from the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“I can live on one good compliment for 2 months”
Mark Twain

Collaboration in the Workplace
“None of us is as good as all of us.”
© Sheryl R. Sever (Coach Shera)

Fostering teamwork is creating a work culture that values collaboration. In a teamwork environment, people understand and believe that thinking, planning, decisions and actions are better when done cooperatively.

As One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard discovered, people recognize, and even assimilate, the belief that “none of us is as good as all of us.” High Five, The Magic of Working Together.

In America, many of our institutions such as schools, our family structures, and our pastimes still emphasize winning, being the best, and coming out on top. Workplaces that exemplify and reward teamwork are not yet the norm.

Organizations, however, are working on valuing diverse people, ideas, backgrounds, and experiences. As part of the social transformation that we see taking place globally, collaboration, co-creation and cooperation seem to be values that are being more readily embraced and promoted in organizational development.

Having consulted many senior managers, educational, and organizational leaders over the past 13 years, I’ve included here my Ten Tips for Building Terrific Teams as your quick guide to cultivating successful teams, encouraging creativity and innovation, and attaining optimal results within your business or organization.

TEN TIPS for BUILDING TERRIFIC TEAMS

1. Communicate Clear Expectations. It is crucial that team members know why they are working together, and how their role, functions, and outcomes contribute to the bigger picture and overall success of the organization, its clients and coworkers. As a leader, how clearly you communicate the overall vision, mission, and values of the organization will be the power driving the team forward.

2. Have an agenda with objectives at team meetings. Allow time for progress updates, discussion, brainstorming, and action plans. It can be particularly beneficial if the meeting facilitator is trained in Cross-Cultural Awareness, or Marshall Rosenberg’s NVC practices. Using these techniques will help keep a diverse team cohesive and focused, encourage everyone’s participation, and can easily diffuse and transform stagnation. Change, creativity and solutions are not birthed in a static environment. Are necessary concerns and misunderstandings raised and properly addressed on your team?

3. Include your consultants and independent contractors in your brainstorming meetings. One of the biggest mistakes some organizations make is to not include consultants and independent contractors in staff meetings, project updates, long-term goals and vision. You will get a lot more mileage from your consultants when they are included in discussions and sessions affecting your organization’s direction and growth. Consultants are typically natural networkers and wealth of resources. They can easily be a powerful contributing factor to your organization’s long-term success and expansion.

4. Cultivate an atmosphere where team members can appreciate the diversity of talent on the team, not just in skill set and areas of expertise, but from a whole person perspective. If the team is working on a long-term project consider investing in the Myers Briggs assessment, DISC or an Enneagram training for the workplace.

5. Have a rewards or recognition program in place. Giving public recognition on the company intranet, newsletter, or in a staff meeting, or rewarding high-performers with gift certificates to a spa or event, are just a few low-cost, no-cost ways to acknowledge team members for a job well done.

6. Build fun and shared occasions into the organization’s agenda. Hold potluck lunches; take the team to a performance or cultural event. Host dinners at a local restaurant, (include your associates’ families) or plan an outdoor event such as hiking, bicycling, or even river rafting.

7. Encourage collaborative leadership models within your workplace. Move away from traditional, hierarchical leadership models that are deadening to the human spirit and that can create separation, distrust, and a competitive environment. Focus on cooperative models for team performance. Rotating facilitators at your weekly or monthly meetings is one way to begin this shift. Appointing co-managers to lead a project is another effective strategy.

8. Create opportunities for giving and receiving feedback. In his recent visit to San Francisco, the Dalai Lama continually emphasized the importance of dialog, along with education and training. How well trained are you and your people in examining assumptions, active listening, asking for clarification, and other non-defensive communication models that make it safe for you and your associates to express needs, be heard, and enthusiastically create innovative solutions with and for each other?

9. Provide resources. One of the surest ways to create chaos and diminish motivation, performance, and morale is to expect people to perform without the tools and resources they need to deliver outcomes they are proud of. Be sure everyone has the basic information and tools they need to perform, including healthy, ergonomic workstations.

10. Form a Green Team at work. Help your people raise their awareness of opportunities to save energy and contribute to a healthy and sustainable environment. By allowing others to take leadership and responsibility, passion takes hold. A green team can be very motivational for employees who want to make a difference in their work environment.

Got a great organizational team story? I’d love to hear it, along with any other feedback you’d like to share.