Building A Learning Organisation

A learning organisation is an organisation that learns and encourages learning among its people. It promotes exchange of information between employees, hence creating a more knowledgeable workforce. This produces a very flexible organisation where people will accept and adapt to new ideas and change through shared vision.

It is said that the only constant in life is change and organisations are not spared. Change brings about not only uncertainty and risks but also opportunities for growth. Those organisations that can manipulate the information available have a bigger chance to succeed. It is therefore important for everyone to be more knowledgeable about the work environment they are in. Building a learning organisation is a means to a business goal. It is not a new theory but a concept that has become an increasingly widespread philosophy in modern companies, from the largest multinationals to the smallest enterprises. It is to be applied according to the circumstances of each business, which has to cater for it at strategic and operational levels.

‘Systems Thinking’ takes a holistic approach to learning whereby not only does the organisation learn but so do all its employees, irrespective of their role within the organisation. Information has to be disseminated to all levels and does not stop at top management, thus, facilitating learning through flexibility and open communication by removing barriers to communication and adopting flatter organisational structure and design.

Therefore the message is clear: any organisation that is committed to future success must become a learning organisation in order to compete and survive. Today continuous improvement is a must. “Any organisation is only as good as its people and continuous improvement in business is about the development of people and therefore creating a learning culture.” (Sheppard)

Systems Thinking
The idea behind the concept coined ‘Systems Thinking’ in the 1950’s was that enterprises need to be aware of both the company as a whole as well as the individuals within the company – taking a holistic approach to managing. Gould-Kreutzer Associates Inc. defined it as “a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things; to see the forest and the trees.” System Thinking therefore tries to change the managerial view so that it includes the ambitions of the individual workers, not just the business goals.

However, it was only during the 1990’s that this concept started to be taken seriously by organisations. Systems Thinking nowadays is synonymous with Peter Senge, one of the modern day gurus, who in his book “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organisation” popularised the concept of the learning organisation, and referred to ‘Systems Thinking’ as the Fifth Discipline. Since its publication in 1990, more than a million copies of this book have been sold and in 1997, Harvard Business Review identified his book as one of the seminal management books of the past 75 years.

According to Senge, learning organisations are “organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. ”
Senge posits that the dimension that distinguishes learning from more traditional organisations is the mastery of certain basic disciplines, which he regards as a series of principles and practices that we study, master and integrate into our lives. The five disciplines that he identifies are said to be common to all learning organisations.

They are:

1. PERSONAL MASTERY. This is the discipline of ‘continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.

People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode, continually clarifying and deepening their personal vision. This takes place by assessing the gap between their current knowledge and the desired knowledge, and by practising and refining skills. This develops self-esteem and creates the confidence to tackle new challenges.

2. MENTAL MODELS. These are ‘deeply ingrained assumptions, generalisations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. ‘

The discipline of mental models starts with turning the mirror inward; learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. Every individual has his own perception of the things around him. This happens consciously and unconsciously and therefore, if team members can, through positive, constructive criticism, challenge each others’ ideas and assumptions, they can begin to perceive their mental models, and to change these to create a shared mental model for the team. This is important as the individual’s mental model will control what can or cannot be done.

3. BUILDING SHARED VISION. Senge sees this as ‘the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create. ‘When there is a genuine vision (as opposed to the all-to-familiar ‘vision statement’), people excel and learn. To create a shared vision, large numbers of people within the organisation must draft it, empowering them to create a single image of the future. With a shared vision, people will do things because they want to, not because they have to.

4. TEAM LEARNING. Such learning is viewed as ‘the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire. ‘

It builds on personal mastery and shared vision, but these are not enough. People need to be able to act together, as virtually all important decisions occur in groups. Adults learn best from each other and with team learning, the learning ability of the group becomes greater than the learning ability of any individual in the group.

5. SYSTEMS THINKING. The cornerstone of any learning organisation is this fifth discipline. This is the ability to see the bigger picture, to look at the interrelationships of a system as opposed to simple cause-effect chains.

Systems thinking shows us that the essential properties of a system are not determined by the sum of its parts but by the process of interactions between those parts. This is the discipline used to implement the other disciplines. Without it each of the disciplines would be isolated and would fail to achieve its objective.

How to build a learning organisation
The challenges facing managers in applying these five disciplines at the workplace are the following:
. Building a sound base
. Apply the Golden Rules

BUILDING A SOUND BASE
Before a Learning Organisation can be achieved, a solid foundation has to be in place. This can be implemented by taking into account the following points.

~ Awareness. Awareness of the benefits of a learning organisation must permeate to all levels not just the management level. A learning culture must be fostered among the employees that survival of the fittest depends on having a knowledgeable workforce. Change should start and be supported from top management and this ‘new’ culture should be manifested in the commitment to learning, personal development of the individual as well as valuing people and their divergent views.

~ The Environment. The right environment must be in place so that learning can take place. Centralised, mechanistic structures do not create a good environment. Organisations having organic structures are well positioned to develop into a learning organisation. An organic structure places less emphasis on giving and taking orders and more on encouraging managers and subordinates to work together in teams and to communicate openly with each other. Authority, responsibility and accountability flow to employees with the expertise required to solve problems. In a nutshell, a flat organisation, whereby communication can flow in all directions and foster innovation amongst its employees.

~ Leadership. Managers must adopt open communication management styles so that employees will be able to question and come forward with ideas. Understand that mistakes and errors are part of this process and therefore employees should not be in fear of reprimands. Managers must also provide commitment for long-term learning in the form of resources (money, personnel and time). The amount of these resources determines the quantity and quality of learning.

~ Empowerment. Employees should be empowered to take decisions and actions. Let them own the process whilst monitoring all that is happening. Only through motivation and innovation will the employees grow and learn, equal participation should be encouraged so that employees can learn from each other simultaneously. The benefits are for themselves and the organisation.

~ Learning. Company-wide training is to be made available. This may take the form of simulation case studies where brainstorming sessions will be beneficial to all participants.
APPLY THE GOLDEN RULES
The following practices and approaches can be used while managing the learning process.

1. Thrive on change. Management must not be afraid of change. There should be commitment to and focus on the things that matter most. Change is necessary and therefore clear objectives and plans must be in place. Change will translate itself into a learning opportunity.

2. Encourage experimentation. Change will bring along uncertainty and risks. Experimentation is a necessary risk. Accept mistakes as a normal process and encourage employees to come forward with ideas. Learning from mistakes is often more powerful than learning from success. The most important thing is to ‘fail intelligently’ to learn something from mistakes. Apply reviews of the whole change process and reward individual effort.

3. Communicate success and failure. Let there be a communication system of disseminating information and knowledge that reaches everyone efficiently, for example, through company journals, website, job rotation programs etc.

4. Facilitate learning from the surrounding environment. Learn from internal factors such as processes and procedures at work and find ways of how to improve learning from competitors. Avoid their mistakes and copy their well-achieved results. Can also form alliances to have a cross fertilisation of ideas. Build a relationship with customers. Apply an outside-in policy to strategies. Customers provide free advice through their complaints, suggestions and surveys. After all, the organisation survives through satisfying customers. Theirs might be the best advice.

5. Facilitate learning from employees. Offer continuous learning and multi-skilling opportunities. Remove hierarchies and empower people to experiment and take decisions. The people at the lower ranks in an organisation are the ones who know most of the problems within the business. This means that more often than not, the employees themselves know what needs to be done to improve the business.

6. Reward learning. Have a proper performance appraisal system to reward those employees who are embracing the learning culture to boost morale. Remember that everybody wants their work to be appreciated. Make sure therefore that individual performance is linked with organisational performance.

7. Intentionally retrieve and retain company memory. It is important to keep a record of processes and achievements so that learning will not be lost; it can be passed on to those coming later on into the company and also the company can refer back to information held. The learning process must be planned and objectives for it set. It must be monitored and reviewed all the time.

Through the learning organisation process people will develop, the brains of all employees are switched on, not just those of the few, and a feel good factor is created through greater motivation. A more flexible workforce evolves by building organisations fit for human beings. People will become more creative and social interaction will improve. Teams and groups will work better through knowledge sharing, becoming more interdependent, increasing responsibility at all levels and developing an entrepreneurial spirit. The company will benefit from better customer relations, the breaking down of traditional communication barriers, and from the increased creativity and innovation of its people that should give it a competitive edge.

Strategic Marketing Or Marketing in Aviation

Strategic Marketing or Marketing in Aviation
Effective marketing depends upon effective marketing system employed by an industry or separate companies. Marketing as an activity is carried out in a variety of contexts. The most obvious context is of course the sale of goods and services to end-users. Marketing can be described as one of the functional areas of a business, distinct from finance and operations (McDonald, Christopher, 2003). Marketing can also be thought of as one of the activities that, along with product design, manufacturing, and transportation logistics.
In general, aviation industry is one of the profitable industries today which is characterized by of rapid technological and marketing changes. Nevertheless, the present situation requires cooperation between airlines and airports which should help them to market their services effectively to their clients.
Marketing strategies include a wide variety of techniques aimed to deliver customer satisfaction and safety. New product and services development, technological changes mark the main strategic activities in this market segment. Technology, being a universal factor that crosses national and cultural boundaries, plays the crucial role in aviation and aerospace industry. It should be mentioned that technology is truly “stateless”; there are no cultural boundaries limiting its applica¬tion. Once aviation technology is developed, it soon becomes available virtually every¬where in the world.
In regional markets such as Europe, the increasing overlap of advertising across national boundaries and the mobility of consumers have created opportunities for aviation and airlines marketers to pursue pan-European product positioning. For instance, in 1970s the jet airplane revolutionized communication by making it pos¬sible for people to travel around the world in less than 48 hours. Tourism enables people from many countries to see and experience the newest products being sold abroad. One essential characteristic of the effective global aviation business is face-to-face communication among employees and between the company and its customers. Without modern jet travel, such communication would be difficult to accomplish (Bellis, 2001).
New transportation technology significantly reduces the level of prices. The costs associ¬ated with physical distributionboth in terms of money and timehave been greatly reduced as well. The per-unit cost of shipping automobiles from Japan and Korea to the United States by specially designed auto-transport ships is less than the cost of overland shipping from Detroit to either U.S. coast. Another key innovation has been increased utilization of 20- and 40-foot metal containers that can be trans¬ferred from trucks to railroad cars to ships.
Another technological innovation, which helps to improve marketing activities is the Internet and World Wide Web. Airlines and aviation can be called boundaryless or global industries, and for this reason Internet and Intranet services has become a driven force for them.
Today’s information technology allows airline alliance partners to sell seats on each other’s flights, thereby helping travelers get from point to point more easily while boosting revenues for companies such as United Airlines and Lufthansa. Meanwhile, the cost of international telephone calls has fallen dra¬matically over the past several decades. That fact, plus the advent of new communi¬cation technologies such as e-mail, fax, and video teleconferencing, means that man¬agers, executives, and customers can link up electronically from virtually any part of the world without traveling at all.
When a company establishes a site on the Internet, it automatically becomes global, at least in terms of its potential to reach global customers with information. At present, Internet usage is heaviest in the United States. Even as that situation changes, however, many constraints must still be overcome before Internet merchandise purchase transactions can become borderless (Joines, Scherer, Scheufele, 2003).
Marketing departments in aviation and airline industry work closely with R&D departments to ensure that the products which are developed are those which cater for the changing needs of target customers and different needs of varying customer segments. In recent years, high failure rates in the introduction of new products have led departments to be very risk averse, with most ‘new’ products emerging being merely extensions of exist¬ing product lines and not truly new and innovative offerings.
The marketer’s role in aviation and airline new product development is therefore about providing a link between the market and the design department, with customers and R&D technicians both being involved in the process. It also requires involving senior management, as changes in customer demand and purchasing patterns may have serious implications for future busi¬ness objectives and directions.
The main marketing strategy in aerospace and aviation industries is to design a product that consumers did not explicitly request. The challenge of course is to get out in front of consumers; to extrapolate and infer future customer needs. Yet traditional forms of marketing research seldom seem to provide the insight necessary to engage in creative marketing. The basic aerospace initiative include:
“Re-invigorate basic and applied research in aeronautics and aviation.
Develop aviation/aerospace technologies that will significantly lower noise, emissions and fuel consumption.
Address the cost, frequency and reliability of entering space, and increase its economic viability.
Fund revolutionary, not just evolutionary, changes to the air transportation system to obtain greater capacity, safety, traffic flow and automation” (U.S. Aviation and Aerospace Industries, 2003).
It is easy to see the rationale for presenting the marketing department as the linchpin in the new product devel¬opment process. They are the conduit of information between the market, and the firm and the various departments involved in the new product development process. Taking on a pivotal role means broader involvement of various stakeholders which can be further facilitated by project teams which bring members of all groups together at the same time to discuss and attempt to solve mutual problems. “Infrastructure and air traffic management issues will be a new topic to address both on behalf of aerospace manufacturers and service providers and the SBAC airports segment” (UK aircraft and aerospace industry, 2005).
The above apparently suggests that new product development is purely finding out what customers want and then delivering it. It is possible to suggest, however, that cus¬tomers do not always know what they want, or at least cannot articulate it in concrete terms.
David Kiley expresses an interesting idea supposing that Airlines “are not marketing even if they think they are”. He explains that “consumers are, for the most part, choosing based on where their frequent flyer miles are (that they collect through their jobs) and price. The typical leisure traveler these days is checking online via Orbitz, Expedia or one of the other services for prices and schedules. When the selection of options comes up from United, Northwest, Delta, American, Air France, Virgin Atlantic–how many people are choosing based on how they feel about the airline?” (Kiley, n.d.). On the other hand, it is difficult to deny the role of advertising in airline marketing which has a great influence on consumers preferences and choice.
Today, customer service in airlines relies on reputation and trustworthiness and this no less true in the new forms of system-service. In fields such as package delivery and money management, consumers are seeking indications that their risks will be minimised or eliminated. For these kinds of consumer acts, customer service plays an essential role in assuaging the fears of consumers by projecting an image of trustworthiness and expertise (Johnson, Scholes, 1998).
The Choice of Press issues is based on readership. It refers to the total number of people who probably will read the publication. For example trade and technical publications are often read by people other than the purchaser at the purchaser’s place of work. Sunday newspapers and colour supplements are invariably passed around the family for reading. Therefore, readership figures may be several times larger than circulation figures and help to tell us how many people may read the publication. The readership profiles usually indicate the demographic characteristics of the readership, such as age, sex, income and, in particular, socio-economic grading of readers, quintessential to the effective targeting of a company’s advertising. For instance, “Delta has recently kicked off a new campaign, themed “Good Goes Around.” American has been running sentimental TV ads with the slogan, “We Know Why You Fly.” (Kiley).
For maximum penetration it may help to select primary (first choice) media that interlock or cross support each other. If deeper penetration into the same target market, for example, is required, then vertical advertising in the media that reach the same target market will be sought. For example, advertising on commercial television may be linked with advertising in the magazine that provides the program schedules for viewers, or local radio advertising in a particular area may be accompanied by direct mail or press advertising. “The airline industry has literally fought for deregulation that has made each company nothing more than a commodity” (Kiley).
Without new qualitative service airlines companies will not be capable to achieve the overall objectives, that is why the main objective of a company is to maintain the level of service quality and develop strategies to improve its services. Service concepts are based on understanding the unique environment in which a particular firm operates. Usually, airline companies find specific marketing strategies and then translate them into a detailed plan of action which foresee an efficient marketing effort. Implementing a customer oriented strategy is more important than any other techniques. It also means impressing upon the entire staff the importance of customer service because a satisfied customer is the best marketing tool available.
All customers have some expectation of the quality of services which have to be provided. Present day situation is marked by two factors specification, which is to do with the ‘design quality’ of service, and conformity, which is to do with the ‘process’ quality which is achieved are of particular importance to customers. Ultimately they are the two factors which deter¬mine the quality levels provided by a companies to their customers. These two factors however are themselves determined by other factors.
Specification in the airline industry is determined as a result of an organization’s pol¬icy, which in turn resulted from decisions on its market policy, and consideration of the market or customer needs and requirements, and the activ¬ities of competitors. This is the process of designing quality into the service (Ennew, Reed, Binks, 1993). For instance, “Airlines are scrambling to fill seats and make their customers happy, that’s clear. British Airways just this week signed a deal with the Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE) hotel-booking arm of Expedia inc company Travelscape, enabling the airline’s passengers to book rooms at more than 40,000 hotel properties” (Cox, 2002).
Proof of customer contact improvement includes measuring customer satisfaction, establishing new performance standards, and thereby gaining greater control over, and routinisation of, professional service work. At the same time, quality improvement through self-directed project teams has evolved into a practice whereby task forces adopt goals and use methods that are centrally determined. In this manner, ’success’ is evaluated by others through institutionally defined performance improvement measures (Mascarenhas, Kesavan, Bernacchi, 2004).
Today, a wide range of Web services are adopted by airlines and aviation to contact with the customers and to ensure customer satisfaction. It is not a unique and a new form of service but still it is one of the most beneficial areas for attracting a new customers and providing new services for target customers. For instance, “Travelocity provides Internet and wireless reservations information for more than 700 airlines, but it doesn’t have special marketing relationships with all of them. It did sign a similar deal with Continental in January and has deals with British Airways, JetBlue and America West, among other airlines” (Cox, 2002).
For airlines companies, Internet rationalizes the expensive and cumber¬some proposition of large-scale customer service. Second, the system serves to reduce at least the appearance of risk associated with time-space distanciation and the opacity of the expert system.
In only a short time, online finance has become immensely popular around the world. This might have something to do with the fact that in climates of risk, especially those involving investments, many customers prefer a ‘hands-on’ approach. Indeed, online services and trading has several advantages for customers. The main, it is available around the clock. There are, of course, risks for customers associated with online trading (Mascarenhas, et al, 2004).
In aviation this approach includes maintenance of high standards which is a key factor in effective customer contact. The purpose of maintenance is to attempt to maximize the performance of service by ensuring that it performs regularly and efficiently. Service, however complex or simple, however cheap or expensive, is liable to breakdown. The effective operation of any system is dependent on the maintenance of all parts of the system, e.g. buildings, services. Indeed, company welfare or personnel practice is designed partly as a maintenance activity, e.g. training and retraining to maintain the availability of appropriate skills, facilities to maintain human capacity, counselling to maintain interest and motivation (Joines et al, 2003).
The audiences may be geographically dispersed in time, but they share common interests that are perhaps difficult to serve profitably though other international media. The online airlines sites (www.bluejet.net.tc or www.britishairways.com) thrive because they offer their participants the following: a forum for exchange of common interests; a sense of place with codes of behaviour; a meeting place for specialists; the development of stimulating dialogues leading to relationships based on trust; encouragement for active participation by more than an exclusive few.
“Customers can book on-line at www.CanJet.com through CanJet’s Reservations Sales Centre” (Cox, 2002). Service, however complex or simple, however cheap or expensive, is liable to breakdown. Another alternative is to deliver ads via third-party ad-server companies which can serve ad messages simultaneously to multiple Web sites, measure results, produce consolidated reports, report on the success of the entire campaign, and analyze these results immediately, enabling advertisers to quickly assess the ongoing effectiveness of the campaign.
In traditional markets, dual distribution systems are not uncommon; there are numerous examples of companies using more than one channel of distribution to sell to different groups of customers. However, the process of managing multiple distribution systems can be both tricky and risky. While electronic commerce is creating new opportunities for differential pricing, it can also make such pricing strategies more difficult when it is used to provide customers with better information about their choices. Indeed, customer ignorance -about prices, features and relative product performance - has traditionally been a source of profit for companies. The relationship marketing process involves an iterative cycle of knowledge acquisition, customer differentiation and customization of the entire marketing mix. This process is sometimes referred to as a learning relationship (Johnson, Scholes, 1998). A learning relationship between a customer and an airline comapny gets smarter and smarter with each individual interaction, defining in ever more detail the customer’s own individual needs and tastes.
“The leadership position of the U.S. aviation and aerospace industries is being eroded by foreign competitors who benefit from extensive government subsidies” (U.S. Aviation and Aerospace Industries, 2003). In aerospace services is creating new flexibility for consumers and for business, government markets. And innovation is also occurring through experimentation with new approaches to market development in emerging markets There appears to be a mismatch between the technology incorporation cycle and the technology introduction cycle. Just when the customer feels comfortable with a given technology that they have acquired, a new version comes along making the earlier one obsolete.
A problem with aerospace industry is that although there are only a few major companies, these companies have a majority of the control over the market, requiring an extremely unique spin off of this already established product to have a chance at success. There are many innovative products that enter the sector every year. A talented company management could definitely add these product to the list if they are willing to work hard, think outside of the box, and put their heart into their company (UK aircraft and aerospace industry, 2005)
Competitive pressures have prompted many airlines and aerospace companies to involve marketers in design, manufacturing, and other value-related decisions from the start. This approach is known in some circles as boundaryless marketing. Rather than linking marketing sequentially with other activities, the goal is to eliminate the communication barriers between marketing and other functional area’s. Properly implemented, boundaryless marketing ensures that a marketing orientation perme¬ates all value-creating activities in a company (McDonald, Christopher, 2003).
A partnership marketing strategy is the quickest and cheap¬est ways to develop a global strategy in aviation. It allow share control over assigned tasks, a situation that cre¬ates management challenges. Partnership in aviation is attractive because high product development costs in the face of resource constraints may force a company to seek partners and the technology requirements of many contemporary products mean that an individual company may lack the skills, capital, or know-how to go it alone (UK aircraft and aerospace industry, 2005).
It is possible to conclude that aerospace and airline industries mature, fragmentation is overcome and the industry tends to become a consolidated industry dominated by a small number of large companies. Although industries begin by being fragmented, battles for market share and cre¬ative attempts to overcome local or niche market boundaries often result in a few com¬panies’ obtaining increasingly larger market shares. When product standards become established for minimum quality and features, competition shifts to a greater emphasis on cost and service. Slower growth combined with overcapacity and knowledgeable buyers put a premium on a firm’s ability to achieve cost leadership or differentiation along the dimensions most desired by the market.
The increasing opportunities of the Internet offer another area of strength for airlines marketing stretagy. Customers want more help with the Internet, airlines in a better position to give it to them. In the traditional brand relationships, communication flows between the marketer and the consumer. The key to airlines successful relationship marketing program is information. The better information that a company can propose to a particular customer, the more value that firm will potentially be able to provide that customer.
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"Discover Your Creativity"

You have permission to publish this article in its entirety,
electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as Robert
Leggett’s byline is included. A courtesy copy of your
publication would be appreciated.

ARTICLE WORD COUNT: [794]

KEY WORDS: discover your
creativity,creative,creativity,unique,uniqueness,discover,copywri
ter,logo,headline,slogan,bulleted benefits,hypnotic words,Claude
Hopkins,Jay Abraham,Ted Nicholas,develop your
uniqueness,discover your creativity,dream your solutions

SUMMARY: As a growing copywriter and Cyberspace Marketeer, I
often seek new ideas and ways of doing stuff.. But before this
process can happen, I have to “pay my dues.” I do this through
research over the Internet. I get out and socialize, during work
time and play time. Only afterwards am I able to discover and
lay out creative, unique solutions.

Copyright 2005 - by Robert Leggett - All rights reserved

* * * * * * *

You have a choice. Do you want to be constructive and positive
in a unique way? Or do you want to be destructive and negative
in a unique way? History has proven the futility of the latter
goal. So let’s focus on your unique capacity to better yourself
and those around you.

In western music there are 12 notes per each octave on the
keyboard. Only 12 notes. From these simple 12 notes come the
various musical works of Mozart, Brahms, Rossini, Beethoven,
Donizetti, Bach, Strauss, Wagner, Puccini, Verde, Gershwin,
Gilbert & Sullivan, Rogers & Hammerstein. The Beetles, Merle
Haggard, Marti Robbins, Louis Armstrong, Elvis, Aretha Franklin,
Little Richard, Pointer Sisters and countless other unique
performers, composers, and musical forms. What a variety from 12
basic notes!

As a growing copywriter and Cyberspace Marketeer, I often seek
new ideas and ways of doing stuff.. But before this process can
happen, I have to “pay my dues.” I do this through research over
the Internet. I get out and socialize, during work time and play
time. Only afterwards am I able to discover and lay out
creative, unique solutions.

When I am given a set of parameters, I must intensely focus upon
these, and then forget about them. Within a week a unique idea
“pops” into my consciousness. Several weeks ago, I was
consulting with a new client. He had “Hummingbirds” as part of
his logo. He needed a slogan. He is in the restaurant trade. How
can I tie the concept of “hummingbirds” in with food service?
Over time we discovered “Every Bite - Hummingbird Light” Now he
has a powerful slogan. We created a good headline featuring his
current offering. We listed bulleted benefits (yes, a tiny
hummingbird was used as each bullet). And a great slogan. His
publicity pulls very well. He is unique in a positive way.

Logo. This is usually a unique graphic. Sometimes it can be a
simple choice of font face, relative sizes, and placement. But a
“killer” graphic logo is best. The logo reflects your whole,
unique business philosophy and image. It has to be so crystal
clear the public recognizes it instantly. The Colonel’s bucket.
The golden Arches. CocaCola Bottle. No words are needed. Never
Copy. You may Modify. Create New is best. Focus on this task.
Then let it go. You might “dream” the solution. Perfect your own
unique logo.

Headline. Vital to keeping interest of your target market. Going
further with the above “Hummingbirds” copy we told basically
what it was, “Sunday Evening Roast.” Then, right below that
line, we “painted a picture” “Imagine yourself dining with your
special someone on a secluded terrace. Your cozy wooden table
and chair - your temporary sanctuary from a hard plastic world.
Your candle gently flickers with each passing breeze. You are
enjoying the intimate lightness of Hummingbirds’ unparalleled
Sunday Roast.” Needs a little fine tuning - but it works.

Bulleted Benefits. Continuing down Sumptuous Starter-dishes
Mouth-Watering Main Course-dishes Seductive Desert-Your choice
Free Glass of Red, Rosé, White (Enjoy wines a step beyond - We
taste and recommend)

Slogan (modified) follows. “Your Traditional British Roast -
Every Bite - Hummingbird Light”

After that comes phone number, location, directions etc.

However, at the last minute we decided to add in this area.
“Twiggy” 2-Course (price) “Henry VIII” 3-Course (price)

Our target market was the British couple or foursome looking for
a great Sunday Evening Roast.

Over the years I have collected aids and studied various areas
of marketing. Long ago I got copy of active verbs. Recently I
got list of “Hypnotic Words” and successful headlines used over
the years. Also a list how different colors effect emotions.
These are all great references when I am stumped or want to make
my copy even better. Some of the “greats” which come to mind are
Claude Hopkins, Jay Abraham, Ted Nicholas. Actually, some of the
best ideas can be found on current Internet sales letters.
Occasionally I find the rare good headline in SPAM sent me. Yes,
I even study some SPAM.

I have discovered my target market. They need my copywriting
skills…the undercapitalized, open-minded, serious
entrepreneur. Nobody in my immediate vicinity practices
principles of good copywriting. I am unique. I am creative. My
clients are unique. They seek creative solutions. They are fun
to work with. Our creative ideas keep amplifying each other’s.

No matter what profession(s) you are into at this time, develop
your uniqueness, discover your creativity, dream your solutions.
The more you practice, the easier it becomes. By the way, I had
no idea what I would write about this month. I kept thinking and
thinking. Then “pop” - here it is. Now to polish it up 24 hours
from now. 828 words now and finally edited down to 794.

Employee Motivation - The VERY Easy Way!

We all like to be acknowledged, but for thousands, even millions of employees, such recognision never happens.

From one day to the next, there are no positive messages for their contribution - yet as their boss, you can do this - and it will pay untold benefit for your business, organisation and, of course, you and your people.

Encouraged by the recognition, Sarah Lewsiton went home from work that day, full of self-belief and wonder that she had made the leap at last.

In her last job, she had always felt that she was unsuitable, in fact below par, for the place. On her very first day at this new job, it was different. On the very first day, her supervisor had recognised her in a way that no-one had done before.

At 17, she had gone into the workplace ready to conquer the world. A positive girl, she had never understood that her hard work, unstoppable enthusiasm and keen willingness might not be enough.

At the last place, where she had worked for nearly two years, they had, subtly, yet consistently, knocked that out of her, through criticising, embarrassing and slighting her.

So much so, that she had changed to be cynical, sceptical and sarcastic. In the end they had to part, badly, and it had taken a few weeks for Sarah to build the courage to go for another job.

Yet on the very first day in the new place, someone had made her day, just by saying two little words - ‘Well done’.

In life, especially in our busy workplaces, there sometimes seems to be no time to say, ‘Well done’.

Yet we all know how it feels when we are on the receiving end, just as Sarah did. It costs nothing, except a few moments and a bit of focus - but it makes the world of difference.

For Sarah Lewsiton, tomorrow would be another good day, because the culture was naturally supportive, encouraging and enlightened. And her place of work would come to benefit over the years she would stay.

She would contribute more, become a great team player, work well when delegated to and have simple, yet constructive ideas about how to take the business forward.

Two little words, ‘Well Done’ - that’s all it takes.

Getting Things Done By Unleashing your Anger

There is a lot of talk about using the power of “positive thinking” in order to get what you want out of life. The general consensus is that the more you keep your mind tuned to your Personal Positive Network, the faster you will attain the things that you want in life.

That is all very true. However, is it the ONLY path?

As humans, we realize that something in our lives is good because we compare it to something bad. We know what a full stomach feels like because we know what it is like to be hungry. We know what a white shirt looks like because we compare it to a black shirt. We perceive “good” in the world by comparing it to our perception of “evil”.

The human existence is one of contrast we experience things as being either pleasurable or not so pleasurable based on our perception of the opposite of that thing. Without contrast there can be no good or bad, there can be no right and wrong, and there can be no black and white.

If you think of happiness as a positive emotion, then you must also have experienced sadness. If you think of money as being something that makes you happy, then you must have realized what it is like to not have enough of it. If you think of perfect health and weight loss as being keys to your joy, then you must also have the knowledge of what it means to be overweight or unhealthy.

So, bearing all of that in mind, if we are supposed to attain our goals in life by positive thinking, a question is then raised about what happens to everything that we don’t perceive as “positive”.

Based on the fact that we experience positive things by comparing them to what we perceive as negative, then the fact remains that the negative things MUST exist. They have to be “out there” somewhere, or else we wouldn’t have anything to judge our positive feelings and experiences on.

Let’s jump ahead to a time in your life when you will experience some of that negativity. It’s bound to happen eventually, if you’re not already dealing with it frequently. Eventually you will have something that no matter how hard you try brings about a negative reaction or situation in your life.

If you are truly skilled in the art of positive thinking, then these circumstance will be rare, and they will pass quickly. However, the fact remains that regardless of how much of a positive person you are, there will come a time when you have to deal with something that you consider to be negative.

In a classic state of irony if one ever existed, it is possible for you to USE that negativity to achieve a positive result! Here are 3 examples:

1)Mental If something bad happens to you or becomes a factor in your life, you can embrace that negativity as a reminder of what you DON’T want in your life. If that negativity is brought about by a bad relationship, then embrace the fact that you will never be in that kind of relationship again because you now know what you DON’T want. You can take positive steps towards making sure that your next relationship has none of the negative aspects of the previous one. That same concept could be applied to almost any negative situation that affects you mentally.

2)Physical When you are upset about something especially angry or frustrated then exercise! Pound out your frustrations on the treadmill or weight training floor. Take a kickboxing class or use a punching bag. Go hit the sidewalk and see if you can break your personal land-speed record for the 2-mile run. In a nutshell, use your negative emotions as POWER to juice up a great workout. The positive side effects are that you will feel much better after your brain releases the exercise-induced endorphins, and you will also be more calm when you return home or to work where the negativity was introduced to you in the first place. Also, you get to be more healthy!

3)Task List Using the same example as when you exercise, take that bottled up negative energy and explode it onto the things that you have to get done in life. You would be amazed at how fast you can clean your house from top to bottom when properly motivated, or how quickly you can knock task after task off of your to-do list when you are screaming around with the power and the speed of a freight train behind you!

None of the words in this article are meant to imply that you should try to find negativity in your life just so you can energize your personal output. You should also not focus on your negativity and use it’s power as a “crutch” to get through life or to stay on top of your responsibilities.

No, as this article started out saying, being positive IS the way to go, and you can use the power of positivity to literally build the life of your dreams.

However, when life throws you a curve ball and you have no choice but to deal with negativity, then turn it into a positive thing by doing something good with it!

A Simple Gym Motivation Tip

You used to go to the gym. Now, you’re busy. I mean, after all, you do work all day. The last thing you want to do is hit the gym after a long day at the office (yawn).

Once you get home, you want to plop down on the couch, put your feet up, unwind and watch the tube.

So how do you motivate yourself to go to
the gym?

Don’t think about exercising just get yourself to the gym. Once you’re at the gym, your body will adapt to the environment and it will be easier to exercise.

Fitness Trainer Mike Chesbro of New York says:

“Your body is an adaptable mechanical machine that you have control of. It adapts to the environment you put it in. If you put your body in a better environment (physically, emotionally or mentally) your body will respond to it. Put yourself into the environment of where you want to be already exists.”

Showing up is half the battle. Take control of your adaptable mechanical machine. Put it in gear and stomp on that Stairmaster, or try twisting in a fitness class.

You can do it. Just get your body there and everything else will take care of itself.

How to get the kind of love you want from your man

Did you know that positive thinking, coupled with positive
action and expectation, are the keys to getting what you want in
life? It is not enough just to think positively, as most
self-professed experts will have you believe. You must start
with the foundation of thinking positive thoughts in order for
your outcome to be a positive one, but you must go to the next
step of taking positive action, and believe that your positive
action will produce the expected positive results.

Now you are wondering what positive thinking and positive action
has to do with getting the kind of love you want from your man.
The answer? Everything. Men are really easy to please, if you
understand their needs and exactly how to satisfy them, which is
precisely the subject matter of my e-book. In Passion Keys, I
lay out the keys to unlocking the passionate love that resides
in the hearts of all men. Yes, all men have plenty of love to
give, if you know how to tear down the walls around their
hearts.

In today’s issue of my newsletter, I will give you some of the
tools you can use to get the kind of love you deserve. Before I
give you this information, you must bear in mind that just one
issue of this newsletter is not enough to give you the detailed
information of how to apply them. Having said that, I will give
you four keys you can use to begin the process of unlocking the
love that is hiding in your man’s heart.

1.Warm and respectful communication - I could have simply said
communication, and left it at that, but I feel it is very
important to qualify communication, so that you are certain of
the kind of communication that will get you the positive results
you want.

Warm communication is like hot chocolate on a cold winter
morning. It is uplifting and makes you feel good all over. That
is exactly how the way you talk to your man ought to make him
feel. If you talk to him with the kind of derogatory language
that a lot of people use in their relationships, then you will
get the same old results most people get, which is the kind of
love that is always on the verge of breaking up. Use language
that is kind, considerate, uplifting and you will get the same
back with love as the icing on your love cake.

2.Kind and thoughtful acts - I call these acts of love. If you
expect love from your man, you must act in kind and thoughtful
ways. How many times have you gone out of your way to do
something for your guy without him asking? Have you taken care
of an important chore that he hasn’t been able to get to,
without his requesting you to do him a favor? Surprise him with
gifts when nothing special is happening, his birthday, your
anniversary, or special holidays. Sometimes it is not what you
do for him directly. It could be something you do for a member
of his family. Blood is thicker than water, and when you do
something that positively impacts one of his loved ones, you
have also positively impacted your guy as well. Sounds like an
ancient Chinese philosophy, but it is not. It is a universal
principle.

3.Never Nag - Nagging is one of those areas in a relationship
where women are not sure when they have slipped into the
proverbial black hole. Let me quickly give you some pointers on
what it means to nag. You are nagging when you complain
constantly about what your guy should have done but did not do,
or what he repeatedly does that is making you sick. You are
nagging when you constantly yell when you are dissatisfied or
disappointed by how your guy has handled or failed to handle an
issue your expected him to take care of differently. The point
is not that you should not be dissatisfied or disappointed when
your guy is not rowing his share of the boat. But the way you
express your discontent is what makes the difference between a
nag and someone that can effectively get her point across.

4.Be affectionate - Shower your guy with loves of hugs and
kisses. Men, like women, enjoy the attention they get when their
woman initiates affection. Do it often, but do not smother him
with it.

That is all for now. To find out how to make your man fall madly
in love with you, please visit: http://www.smartwomansguide.com.

Motivation and Dieting- What’s the missing link?

If you are like everyone else who has hit rock bottom with their
weight struggles, and have declared that this day will be the
first day of your diet, then this article is for you. To often
it seems that most dieters jump on the weight loss boat, yet
fail to bring along a months pass. Instead, they are usually on
the boat for a couple of days, or maybe a week at best.

We all have the motivation to lose weight and look good. Some of
us even diet for medical reasons. Whatever reasons motivate you
to lose weight, hold onto them. To many of us fall victim to
that one cheat day, or that one hour where we fall off the boat
and can’t get back on. My experiences with people just like that
have shed some light on that missing element that makes people
fall prey to losing their diet focus.

Consistency. Motivation is directly tied to dieting through
consistency. If we feel that we are not seeing results based on
our diet after a few days, or if we hit a plateau soon into the
program, then we start succumbing to inconsistent eat habits. We
eat whenever, usually whatever, and feel like crap afterwards.
Sure, it absolutely feels good giving in and munching up what we
have been starving our bodies throughout the diet, but usually
what happens later is that we feel bad emotionally about what we
just did and how hard we worked to avoid this behavior in the
first place.

By getting it into our heads at the outset of the diet, that
this process is a marathon and not a sprint, then we can
reinforce our consistent dieting patterns and thus stay
motivated to stay on the diet. We even get more motivated when
we start seeing results. How do we see results?

Yep. By being consistent in our diet methods.

Whether it is drinking a gallon of water religiously throughout
the day (which reminds me, I need to get up from this computer
and do just that!) or eating 5 small meals through out the day
at certain times, these events lend themselves to helping you
stay consistent.

What you will notice after several months of doing this, is that
your mental resolve to stay on the diet is incredible. Much
stronger than what you started with. Another result you will see
is that by altering your body’s eating habits and forcing your
metabolism to process certain foods at certain times, the pounds
come off at a faster rate. This, my friends, is the desired goal
in ANY diet. Stay healthy and stay consistent. I’m rooting right
along with you!

How to Manage the Employee with Attitude

Mary had “attitude”. Her manner was rude and uncooperative and her colleagues complained, but she was efficient.
Her supervisor believed he was stuck with a problem that couldn’t be solved. He reasoned that in any office there was always someone that didn’t get on with the rest of the staff, and as long as Mary was doing her job, he couldn’t do much about it. Wrong.

Behavioral problems in the workplace can and should be addressed quickly and effectively for the sake of clients, colleagues, customers and suppliers. Here is how.
There are two key dimensions to performing successfully: what is done and how it is done. Yes, the clerk did her job, but her behavior was such that the team was not functioning well.

Managers are often surprised to learn they can take effective action to address the behavior of employees - how they go about their jobs rather than the end result.

It helps to look at the inputs and outputs of the job. While we normally prefer to measure the outputs, we also need to manage inputs and employee behavior is one of these. The sales assistant in a department store may not have much control over total sales from his area; they could well be dependent on the stock held, pricing, advertising or some other element of the mix. However, the sales assistant does have control over his own behavior.

How he presents himself, greets customers, solves their problems and handles queries are all inputs to the sales process. These inputs can be measured against established standards and the employee managed accordingly.

To look at this issue from a positive perspective, one in which we can shape the culture of the organization and consequently the behavior of our people, we need to define the type of organization we want in terms of what we call core competencies. (One of our clients prefers to call them attributes.) These can be such aspects of business as innovation, results-orientation, flexibility or customer focus.

There are in fact countless terms we can use to describe what we want to be. With every client that we have taken through this exercise, a different picture emerges. Looking at what successful people have demonstrated, and what the business requires, is a useful technique to identify the specific core competencies for your organization.

These competencies can then be expanded by describing them in a little more detail: it’s amazing how many different descriptions there can be for the word “flexibility” for example. Then comes the really useful part.

What does someone with these competencies or attributes actually do? To find out, we need to describe the behaviors we witness so that we can encourage others to behave in a similar fashion.

For example, a behavior associated with teamwork may be that the team member willingly shares information with others, or compliments others on their successes. Someone who is results-oriented will usually set clear and measurable goals - both at work and outside.

Once these behaviors are defined and communicated to the workforce, the company can then confirm that individual employees are more likely to succeed by demonstrating these traits. Employees welcome such guidance as most organizations rarely make it clear what it takes to succeed. Similarly, the company can reasonably expect employees to meet some minimal standards.

Building these behaviors into the performance management system, along with the results required from each job, provides clear measures of not only what has to be done - but how.

It is often said that we hire people for what they can do and fire them for how they do it. But, in practice, often we do not directly address the issue of how they are doing it. The usual solution is to restructure and make problem employees “redundant” or find some other reason to let them go. With a properly identified and well-executed set of competencies and behaviors we can manage the workforce much more effectively and fairly and focus on specifics. At the same time we can reinforce the positive message to other staff and customers that core competencies represent “the way we do things around here.”

There is a sample competency available as a free download at the website shown below with the author’s details.

Promote your Work With Confidence

These days it’s no longer a matter of whether an author should promote their work, but how strategically they should go about it. The unfortunate truth is that writers often fail to promote their works heavily enough. However is clearly evident that the author’s extra efforts make all the difference between a piece becoming a long-lived seller or being an out right proverbial flop.

So, what should one do to make sure this doesn’t occur? Consider your target audience!

Presumably, your work is aimed at a particular market or markets. Perhaps it is nutrition, parenting, health, travel, mystery fans, or nature. The first thing you should do is to track down the magazines that are read by the people who will be reading your book.

But before sending a press release to the publication, take time out to find the editor who reviews books or who covers the subject that you’ve written about.

Here are some ways to self-promote your book:

• Create Your Website/Publish a snippet on an Article Directory
• Arranging for an Author Interview
• Trade Shows
• Email Newsletters
• Magazine Articles

A large part of promoting your book is promoting yourself and making sure your name is recognizable to your target audience. While you may not reach cult status, you can go a long way to establish yourself as an expert on your subject matter by becoming heavily involved in the community for which you write. To Brand yourself and your work do the following:

Create Your Website/Publish a snippet on an Article Directory

Websites have become crucial marketing tools for authors and are a great calling card. Create a website that provides value to your audience and lets them get to know you and your work. Give people extra tips and tricks they won’t find in the book, update any outdated information and provide news and reviews of your books and news that you know of in the community. If you are really ambitious you can create your own community around your website.

Put the word out there – make sure you create plenty of awareness in the places that matter. One sure fire effective way of doing this is to submit/publish a snippet of your work to an online article directory, much like this one. Not only will a site like PushWord.com allow you to get your work out there for free, but it will also provide you with massive audience exposure, which is just what you will need to make your work a success.

Arranging for an Author Interview

Many publishers have done marketing studies showing that authors who provide comments on their books or participates in author interviews on the online bookstores sell more books online. This is a no-brainer as it doesn’t take much of your time and is perceived as an added value for your reader. Large websites, such as Borders.com, make a practice of interviewing authors.

Trade Shows are a fantastic place to promote your book. Every attendee and speaker is a possible book-buyer. Try to arrange with your publisher to do a book signing either at their booth or at the trade show bookstore. Many authors sell thousands of their books at a single trade show. If you can find a chance to speak at a trade show or are invited to speak on one of the panels, the best bet to opt for. Asid Trade Shows e from being great book publicity, it’s another way to get your name out there in the community.

Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are a great direct marketing tool. Though a lot of work, if done right they can lead to huge name recognition and royalty checks from book sales. Several authors have had tremendous success with their email newsletters to the tune of thousands of subscribers. A good example is the Kabalarian Philosophy Electronic Newsletter.

Magazine Articles

Article bylines have long been good book promoters. Research the major trade journals on your subject matter both in print and online and pitch article ideas tangential to your book topic. Also, you should consider writing for some major websites that serve your topic area. You can often attach excerpts from your books (ask your publisher for permission) to contribute to popular sites, which promotes your book at the same time. www.Pushword.com is a fantastic example of this.

Last but not the least, become a bit philanthropic and with a large heart give away your books for free among critics, friends and family. Also add your website URL in all your outgoing e-mails and correspondence. More mails obviously mean more views for your book!