MMA August 2014 Newsletter

Maryland

ISSUE 04/ AUGUST 2014

MOTORCOACH Association

LinkedIn’s New Enterprise Sales Tool

When Are We Going To Integrate Sales And Marketing?

How to increase your team’s productivity in minutes

How safe is traveling by charter bus?

Once again, Setra has raised the benchmark in the North American luxury motorcoach segment, with over 30 innovations in design, passenger and driver comfort, safety and environmental efficiencies. Daimler’s new, unique Front Collision Guard (FCG), for instance, is a passive safety system engineered to protect the driver and tour guide in the case of a frontal impact. Experience the all-new Setra TopClass S 417. From Daimler Buses North America, the worldwide leading manufacturer of buses and motorcoaches.

Motor Coach Industries 1700 East Golf Road, Suite 300 · Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 · Phone 866-624-2622 Distributor of EvoBus GmbH for Setra buses and Setra parts in the United States and Canada

Setra - a brand of Daimler AG

Don’t be fooled by its pretty face

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HOW BRANDS USE SOCIAL MEDIA/

For Debbie Curtis-Magley, Director of SAP Cross-Cloud...

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UMA REGISTRATION OPEN/

2015 EXPO Registration Now Open With a Special Deal for Operators!

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WHEN ARE WE GOING TO INTEGRATE/

We know customers want to us to engage them differently.

There’s all sorts of research...

A new LinkedIn product geared towards salespeople may soon be a mainstay in b-to-b marketing...

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THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF CONFLICT/

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SHOULD THAT EMPLOYEE BE FIRED?/ EMPLOYERS SHOULD CONSIDER OFFICE/

Employee retention strategies often focus on the corporate culture of...

Want to be a better leader? Try improving your vocabulary...

I am not a fan of conflict. I’d prefer to have zero conflicts in my life, both my personal life and my professional life...

Making the decision to terminate an employee for poor performance can...

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10 PHRASES THAT WILL/

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR TEAM’S/

When I was 16, I told my father I wanted to be a vegetarian.

“That’s great!” he said.

THE LATEST, CHEAPEST/

Uber and Lyft, as they tend to do, made parallel announcements this week: The two companies, widely...

LINKEDIN’S NEW/

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NHTSA PROPOSES NEW/

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Wednesday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking...

2NEWS INVESTIGATION: HOW SAFE IS/

TULSA - During summer, many travel to camps and events by charter bus.

Charter busses have made headlines...

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from the president/

Well the dog days of summer are almost over and school will be up and running any day now in Maryland and we want to caution all of you to drive safe and watch out for the student’s, they are our future.

MMA will be hosting its Crab Feast at The Wellwood in North East MD on September 9 and it’s still not to late to register. Contact Mary at 571-312-7117 or mpresley@ marylandmotorcoach.org to get your names in and come out and enjoy cracking crabs and socializing with other MMA Members. I’m hoping to see ALL of our member’s there SAVE THE DATE! As The Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD has been chosen for the Annual Maryland Motorcoach Association Group Leader Marketplace on March 18, 2015.

The meetings committee will meet in September to finalize details and prepare the registration materials and any MMA Member wishing to join the committee is welcome to reach out to either Mary Presley our Executive Administrator or Rich Gilbert MD Office of Tourism to volunteer.

MMA is contemplating changing our Annual Stuff-A-Bus Christmas dinner to a Harvest Fest and we want your input before we move forward with planning. Christmas is always such a hectic time of year already and we have found it harder and harder to pull member’s away from their family to attend the Stuff-A-Bus event every year. That being said we will take donations of food, toys, and funds to support our local food bank and the Toys for Tots program but we will do it instead at the Harvest Fest Dinner, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

MMA’ will be exhibiting at the Baby Boomer and Senior Expo on Wednesday, October 22 and Thursday October, 23, 2014 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Baltimore County Department of Aging’s two-day extravaganza showcases the latest in information, resources, products, and services to approximately 11,000 attendees. MMA will be handing out contact information on our Motorcoach Operator

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Member’s and encouraging attendee’s to contact them to find out what types of trips and transportation services they offer to individuals and groups, just another MMA member’s added benefit! Joining MMA in the booth will be Rich Gilbert, Maryland Office of Tourism.

Any MMA Member wishing to donate Door Prize items to be given away at the Expo should contact Mary Presley. Any MMA Member donating a door prize will be allowed to have a brochure of their company/property prominently displayed in the booth. Members are also encouraged to loan display items to be exhibited in the booth in order to attract more visitation contact Mary to discuss the possibilities.

Have a great rest of the summer!

Al Spence,

President MMA A & S Midway Trailways

FMCSA ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS

FMCSA Announces Enhancements to SMS Website The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces a package of enhancements to the Safety Measurement System (SMS) website. SMS is an automated system that quantifies the on-road safety performance of commercial truck and bus companies that is used to identify and prioritize high-risk carriers for enforcement interventions, including increased roadside inspections and compliance reviews.

The enhancements provide clearer descriptions and easier, more intuitive navigation features. The enhancements were derived from feedback solicited from motor carriers, law enforcement personnel, industry representatives and other stakeholders who were given an opportunity to critique various website enhancement proposals. The changes to the SMS website do not alter the SMS methodology or affect a carrier’s safety rating, which is subject to 49 CFR part 385, Safety Fitness Procedures. The enhancements are a continuation of FMCSA’s efforts, first announced in April 2010, to provide the motor carrier industry and

other safety stakeholders with more comprehensive, informative, and regularly updated safety performance data. FMCSA will implement the SMS website enhancements by August 4, 2014. To assist users in adapting to the SMS website enhancements, FMCSA will hold three educational webinars, with two on August 20, 2014 (10:00-11:30 a.m. and 2:00-3:30 p.m.), and a third to be held on August 21, 2014 (2:00-3:30 p.m.). Webinar participants will be able to ask questions and receive real-time responses. Additionally during the webinars, FMCSA staff will discuss and answer questions on the Agency’s new adjudicated citations policy, which takes effect August 23, 2014. A full copy of the Federal Register notice is available here.

To register for one of the upcoming three educational webinars, visit: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa. dot.gov/files/docs/SMS_Display_Changes-New_ Adjudicated_Citations_Policy_Webinar_2014.pdf.

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HOW BRANDS USE SOCIAL MEDIA

Andy’s Answers:

How brands use socia for crisis managemen For Debbie Curtis-Magley, Director of SAP Cross-Cloud Social and Community at Ariba, social channels are great tools for handling company crises. While most brands define social media ROI as “return on investment,” some see it as “rescue of image.”

In her presentation at SocialMedia. org’s Brands-Only Summit, Debbie discusses three different crisis management scenarios in which social media can help.

Here is a quick breakdown: Critical crises: Debbie explains that the social media team will most likely be the first to see an issue come up. It’s their job to alert PR, who will act as the company’s main voice.

Employee misbehavior: Debbie shares the steps for using social to handle these situations: Team members acknowledge

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the issue, provide the relevant contact information, and listen to feedback.

Customer chaos: When customer emotions run high, it’s best to prevent any kind of engagement that could tip them overboard.

Debbie warns to avoid humor and stay clear of trolls. She says when you try to engage with a malicious audience, it allows them to dominate the conversation.

For more details, check out Debbie’s full presentation in the video below.

You can also download Debbie’s slide presentation.

Want to see more social media case studies like these? If you’re a social media leader at a big brand, we’d love to have you at our next Brands-Only Summit in Orlando, Oct. 27 to 29.

al media nt...

the social media team will most likely be the first to see an issue come up. It’s their job to alert PR, who will act as the company’s main voice.

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2015 UMA AT TRAVEL EXCHANGE

UMA Registration Open 2015 EXPO Registration Now Open With a Special Deal for Operators!

2015 UMA Motorcoach EXPO at Travel Exchange is now open!

Registration for the 2015 UMA Motorcoach EXPO at Travel Exchange is now open!

For the first two weeks, operators can save $50 off registration! But hurry, this special offer expires on June 5th and is the lowest registration price we will offer for the remainder of the 2015 registration period! This is just one way of showing our appreciation for your loyal support.

But that’s not all...To give you a little ‘taste’ of what 2015 has in store, everyone who registers by June 5th will also be entered into a random drawing for one of four fantastic New Orleans themed prizes!

Taste of Café Du Monde which includes coffee and chicory, beignet mix, powdered sugar, powdered sugar shaker, two logo mugs, an apron and a stainless napkin holder.

Some Like It TABASCO Hot which includes classic TABASCO original red sauce, milder TABASCO garlic sauce, TABASCO green sauce, two jars of TABASCO 7 spice home-style chili starter (spicy and mild) and a travel pack holding four TABASCO original red miniatures.

Sweet Nut Things, a sweet and nutty candy gift basket from Southern Candymakers containing luscious Original Creamy Pralines, Assorted Tortues and irresistible

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Glazed Pecans will gratify even the nuttiest of nut addictions.

Zapp’s Zampler which includes the top five flavors of Zapp’s New Orleans kettle style potato chips: Regular, Jalapeno, Cajun Crawtator, Voodoo and Mesquite BBQ. Your full registration gets you all-inclusive access to UMA and NTA education sessions, trade show floor entrance, breakfasts, lunches, the annual UMA Vision Awards dinner and joint UMA and NTA events such as the opening “Big Party in the Big Easy” at Mardi Gras World. We have a lot of new and exciting things developing for 2015 and you’ll want to make sure you plan your trip to stay through end of day Wednesday, January 21 so you don’t miss anything!

You can complete your registration online here or by completing the registration form and mailing or faxing to the UMA office.

Lodging Made Easy: EXPO Hotels in New Orleans One of the many benefits of having EXPO in New Orleans is that our official event hotels are very convenient to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. In 2015, we will have four hotels, and three are within easy walking distance to the show: Courtyard Downtown New Orleans Convention Center Hotel, Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Convention Center and the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.

Our fourth hotel, New Orleans Marriott Hotel, is perfectly positioned near the action of Bourbon St. and the Convention Center. So whether you’re looking for a quieter room with easy access after a busy day at EXPO or want to be in the heart of the French Quarter for some after-show excitement, we’ve got a hotel that’s right for you! Hotel reservations will open soon - stay tuned!

For the latest information on 2015 UMA Motorcoach EXPO, visit www. motorcoachexpo.com!

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UBER AND LYFT

The latest, cheapest services from Uber and Lyft will upend transportation even more Uber and Lyft, as they tend to do, made parallel announcements this week: The two companies, widely (and not quite accurately) synonymous with “ridesharing,” are testing big new services that look, well, a little more like actual ridesharing.

Uber unveiled UberPool, in beta in San Francisco. Lyft introduced Lyft Line, a take on “personal transit” launching there as well. Both services are throwbacks to the traditional carpool as Silicon Valley would re-imagine it. Thus far, the two companies have wielded data to pair passengers and drivers-for-hire in real time. Now they’re aiming to link passengers with drivers with other passengers, leveraging within their growing networks efficiencies where two or more riders heading in the same direction might travel there together.

The idea is both the logical next layer to everything both companies have built thus far and a sign of their ambitions to supplant much more than Friday night cab rides.

Trips through the new services would function a lot like they 12 www.greenazine.com

currently do through both apps. You call a car through the shared service. A nearby driver (a non-professional in his personal car) accepts the ride and picks you up. But then, on your way to your destination, the app continues to search for other potential passengers headed the same way.

Lyft claims that 90 percent of its rides replicate similar trips that someone else is taking within five minutes. That claim is vague, but it’s plausible in a big, dense city: Researchers at MIT who’ve looked at taxi data in New York have concluded that 80 percent of all trips there could be shared with minimal inconvenience to each rider. Those MIT researchers envisioned a cab network centrally optimized through real-time data that looks strikingly like what Uber and Lyft are proposing.

With UberPool and Lyft Line, the rides will not be free (this is where the concept diverges again from the traditional

carpool). But both companies are promising still bigger discounts off their cheapest services to date. Uber says a shared ride will cost 40 percent less than a solo UberX ride; Lyft is promising “up to 60 percent” off the original, with the price depending on the odds that another rider is traveling your way, too. With the even lower rates, both companies are angling for the parts of the transportation market that are seldom served by taxis: daily commutes to and from work, errand runs for which you wouldn’t pay $10 a pop — but for which you might pay $5.

They’re aiming, in effect, at the kinds of trips you’d more likely take in your own car—which also means they’re aiming at your car itself. “At these price points,” Uber declares in its blog post announcing the beta, “Uber really is cost-competitive with owning a car, which is a gamechanger for consumers.”

Here’s how Lyft co-founder Logan Green

put it to Farhad Manjoo at the New York Times: “We don’t want to be the option that people use only when they’re heading out for a nice evening. We want to be something that people use twice a day, every day.”

By invoking the idea of “personal transit,” Lyft even seems to be aiming at rides you might otherwise take on the bus or train.

A particularly intriguing passage from the company’s announcement: We’ve spent our entire lives moving around transit. Paying to rent near it.

Sprinting to catch it. Timing our days to its timetables. But from today on, transit comes to us.

Piling more people into fewer cars makes economic sense for both companies. As they sprint to the bottom of the market, trying to collect three and four-dollar rides — opposite, for Uber, from the high-end towncar trips that launched the company — the strategy could come at

a cost to their other customers: drivers.

It wouldn’t make sense for a driver to ferry you across San Francisco for $7.

But it might make sense if he has three passengers in the back each paying $7.

Likewise, a $50 surge-pricing ride home from the bar on Friday night might not make sense for you as a rider. But the same trip could suddenly becomes more feasible if you combine it with several strangers.

For now, both companies say riders will be guaranteed the cheaper shared-ride rate even if the network doesn’t turn up additional passengers to join you (yes, their models are strikingly similar in many ways). That means that Uber and Lyft will be on the hook to pay drivers the difference as they test whether the ride-matching math behind all of this will actually work in the real world.

What both companies are proposing is logistically and technically more complex than what they’ve done to date.

Such a system optimizing shared rides across an entire city requires more data from each passenger (each now must give origin and destination details up front). It requires coordinating data among more parties (several of whom will be moving targets). It also requires nailing the details at the margins of each transaction: Are people willing to go two minutes out of their way — three minutes? four minutes? — to collect a fellow passenger? Will you wait on a street corner a little longer for a cheaper shared ride than a solo one? How much longer? How dense a network of users and drivers do you need to make those numbers work?

For Lyft, the idea of returning closer to ridesharing’s roots — more people, using fewer cars efficiently — is at the core of its business. For Uber, the strategy is one piece of a bigger picture that involves providing transportation for every context and every kind of customer, from the businessman on a corporate Amex to the guy who normally takes the

We’ve spent our entire lives moving around transit. Paying to rent near it. Sprinting to catch it. Timing our days to its timetables.

But from today on, transit comes to us. bus. Along the way, though, Uber will no doubt get closer through this exercise to honing the kind of back-end logistics platform that could eventually move just about anything.

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INTEGRATE SALES AND MARKETING

When Are We GoingTo Integ And Marketing?

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grate Sales

We know customers want to us to engage them differently. There’s all sorts of research that says customers want to self educate. Other research showing that customers are engaging sales people later in the process– largely after they have determined the problem, determines their needs and requirements, and in fact narrowed their solution alternatives to a few choices (of which they are indifferent).

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Are we designing and implementing our customer engagement processes in ways that create the greatest value for them?

Likewise, sales and marketing are facing pressures.

Recognizing the desire of customers to self educate or to avoid seeing sales people, they are providing more content. Using marketing automation tools, they are able to “move” the customer through their cycle–appealing to their desire to self educate and defer sales engagement.

Sales loves this, like everyone else, sales has too much on their plates. So taking a lot of the upfront work off their shoulders is helpful. Getting to the customer when they are truly qualified and saying, “This is what we want, how much will you charge us to buy if from you,” focuses the selling activities immensely.

It works when it works–but is it really working? Are we really engaging the customer in the way that is most helpful to them–rather than what they want?

Are we designing and implementing our customer engagement processes in ways that create the greatest value for them, while positioning us most favorably?

Are we integrating and sequencing marketing and sales activities in a way that optimizes the customer buying experience?

To me, it seems like we really haven’t designed the engagement processes that enable us to achieve the things above.

Largely, marketing and sales are still separate and sequential processes. In the old days, marketing created demand, then passed off a lead to sales. In

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the new “marketing/sales integration,” marketing still creates demand—it may nurture and develop it further–ultimately passing a lead off to sales. It may be a much higher quality lead, it is certainly much later in the process.

So all we’ve done is changed the point at which leads pass from marketing to sales, but have we really improved the buying experience, are we really helping customer create the best outcomes they can possibly achieve. Furthermore, we’ve really not integrated and changed the marketing/sales process–they are still sequential, they are still largely independent of each other.

Before I go on, things are better. High quality, targeted, relevant content contributes greatly to educating the customers, focusing them on critical issues and improving our own sales/marketing capabilities. Marketing automation tools help us (and the customer) get the most relevant content to the right person at the right time. Intelligence from the

marketing tools can enable the sales person to improve the quality in which they engage their customers.

So things are better–but not necessarily right.

Much of this is based on the assumption the customer knows what they are doing. They recognize there are things they can do better, there are opportunities to improve and grow. It assumes they perfectly know their situation, and can perfectly define the issues they should be addressing, what they should be assessing, how they should be educating themselves and evaluating alternatives.

It assumes customers are constantly scanning the horizon, looking for new things to do, continuously learning, improving, investigating–even though there may be no obvious need to change.

Further, this assumes the customer knows how to organize themselves to define new opportunities (which they had been unaware of), to address divergent agendas, priorities, and interests in the

team, and to even know they should enter a buying process.

The problem is, too often the customer is clueless– not because they are dumb, but because the don’t necessarily know what they don’t know. They are so consumed in their jobs, they may not have the time to learn and understand new ways of doing things.

They may be prisoners of their own experience, so they don’t know the right questions to ask. However, well intended, they may just be off in the wrong direction, through no fault of their own.

To want to consume content, they have to know there is something they should be doing. They have to search to find other views, they have to know how to find the right information, they have to navigate and filter the overwhelming amount of confusing and different views on the web.

Helping the customer get it right is too important to leave them alone in the early stages of their buying process. Helping them get it right may even be about kicking them into a buying process.

So too much of our current approach to the marketing and sales process may be in response to what customers want, but not what is right and what they need. It assumes they know what they should know, not what they do know. It assumes they know the right questions to be asked.

Overlay this with our own drives to improve marketing and sales productivity–getting more from each dollar invested in each.

Taken together we create a perfect (or imperfect– depending on your point of view) that keeps us from serving the customers as effectively as we should, from creating the value they expect and deserve.

We need to reassess the engagement process. I suspect it’s not a set of sequential processes, but interleaved processes. The sales person may be the very first person to engage the customer. Helping them understand the opportunity to change, perhaps getting them hot and lathered to do something new.

Then it may be marketing’s role to educate. Then the sales person might be involved in helping the customer manage their own internal buying process, then marketing might provide more focused content, then sales might solve the “last mile” problem– focusing specifically on “what is means to me”—the customer.

Helping the customer get it right is too important to leave them alone in the early stages of their buying process. Helping them get it right may even be about kicking them into a buying process.

Most marketing/sales integration efforts has improved the quality of information, has increased collaboration and shared metrics, but largely isn’t much different than the old days.

To really help our customers, particularly in areas where they don’t realize they need help, we can no longer look at marketing and sales integration as sequential processes, but look at the issues customers face in deciding to buy and buying. We have to get the resources, sales and marketing, engaged with the right customer, doing the right things, at the right time.

What are you doing to redesign your marketing and sales processes to optimize the outcomes customers get from their buying experience?

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LINKEDIN’S NEW TOOL

LinkedIn’s New Enterprise Sales Tool Could Be Big For B2B Marketers Sales Navigator Pushes Relevant Updates on Target Accounts Into a Single Stream

A new LinkedIn product geared towards salespeople may soon be a mainstay in b-to-b marketing departments.

The product, a standalone, more powerful iteration of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator functionality, will offer a curated stream of updates from target accounts , surfacing the type of data -- job changes, press announcements, status updates and blog posts -- that can help b-to-b marketers more effectively drum up the sales-ready leads they’re tasked with generating.

“This idea of having a standalone experience with

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a list of accounts and insights pushed to you, none of that existed before,” said Sachin Rekhi, group product manager at LinkedIn. Much of a b-to-b marketer’s time can be spent combing through the web to find information on individual prospects and target accounts, which can give a company an edge when trying to win business. This product is meant to help people searching for those insights find them more effectively. Users start off by

inputting the industry, job functions, seniority levels and accounts they’re looking at and the product does the rest, building the stream and learning as it goes.

Companies with buyers in finance functions, for instance, will be shown news stories about target accounts when the CFO is mentioned. The product can also push status updates from leads after its users save them individually The new Sales Navigator is likely to

be used heavily by companies’ leadgeneration departments -- meeting setters for sales which often sit in marketing. But the implications spread across b-to-b marketing which, despite talk of new tactics, is still at its core tasked with generating new leads, gathering intel on target accounts and providing industry insight to sales and the c-suite.

The information can also be pushed back and forth between Sales Navigator and client relationship management tools

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such as Salesforce. Leads and accounts from within a CRM tool, for instance, can sync with Sales Navigator, enabling it to start surfacing information about them.

When accessing a prospect record within a CRM tool, LinkedIn information can show up, providing a deeper picture of the prospect.

Data on leads, such as a job changes, might also be useful

in scoring leads to prioritize and tailor messaging, a task usually performed by marketing-automation tools. But for now, Mr. Rekhi said, Sales Navigator does not integrate with marketing-automation systems.

“We’re seeing the CRM tool as the real hub that our customers have asked us to integrate deeply with,” he said.

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TEAM’S PRODUCTIVITY

How to increase your team productivity in minutes eac

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m’s ch month

Sweet 16?

When I was 16, I told my father I wanted to be a vegetarian.

“That’s great!” he said. He jumped up from the couch, went to his file cabinet, and pulled out old magazine articles and copies of nutrition guidelines. You see, my father was a vegetarian. The articles he gave me discussed how to balance amino acids and other nutrients. I studied those articles and got started, and I was a strict practicing vegetarian.

For three days.

So, you can imagine my reaction when, decades later, our 16-year-old daughter came to my wife and I and said, “Hey guys, I want to be a vegetarian!”

I explained to her that India was the cradle of excellent vegetarian cooking and that the very word came from an Indian word meaning “lousy hunter.”

(Well, that’s what Andy Rooney said!)

What do you suppose was the difference between my short-lived experiment and my daughter’s lasting lifestyle change?

Despite my fatherly wisdom (or perhaps because of it?) our daughter went on with her plan. And for several years now, she has not eaten meat.

The foundation of change What do you suppose was the difference between my short-lived experiment and my daughter’s lasting lifestyle change?

Let’s start with me. Why do you think I wanted to be a vegetarian? You might think it was because I wanted to be like my father. Nope. I’m not proud, but the simple truth is that in my warped adolescent brain, I figured that being a vegetarian would somehow help me get a date.

Now contrast my shallow motivations with my daughter’s reasons. She wanted to live a more sustainable, less impactful lifestyle, didn’t want to inflict harm on other sentient creatures, and wanted a healthier diet.

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down to one thing: our reasons why.

Her “whys” were deep, compelling, and lasting. Mine were shallow and short-lived.

Now think about the work you ask of your team. The work you just thought about — that’s their “what”: the reports, the phone calls, the meetings, the manufacturing, the planning, the calculations, all the “stuff” we do.

The critical leadership question In fact, this question is so vital, so full of life, energy, and potential that I can confidently say it is the most important question you can ever answer for your team. The question is simply: “Why?” This isn’t a question about great metaphysical or philosophical dilemmas. It’s about the most practical question every team member needs to be able to answer.

Simply put: Why are they doing what they’re doing? Your job as a leader is to connect the “what” to the “why.”

If you’ve ever seen the classic 1967 movie “Cool Hand Luke,” where Paul Newman’s character serves time in a prison chain gang, you’ll remember the ditch scene.

The jailers force Luke to repeatedly dig and refill the same ditch. The meaningless labor is designed to break his spirit. When you don’t connect the “what” to the “why,” you condemn your team to soulless drudgery.

Is your staff doing work disconnected from real meaning or purpose? If so, there are two possible reasons: (1) your staff don’t understand the “why” behind the work, or (2) there is no legitimate “why.”

“Whats” without “whys” are a waste.

They waste time. They waste energy.

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They waste your people. When you say, “I believe this matters and here’s why…” you provide clarity, hope, and purpose, but you also create an opportunity for your belief to be challenged.

This is a good thing!

Every single task performed by every single member of your team should somehow serve the mission of your organization. If it does not, it needs to be challenged, reexamined, and a better way found — or the task should simply be eliminated.

Otherwise, you’ve sentenced your team to do work meant to break their spirit!

Double your team’s productivity You can take just five minutes per month and double your team’s productivity by simply asking them to think about various “whats” and asking, “Why do we do these things?” Don’t treat this activity as a quiz. Treat it as a mutual exploration — a chance for all of you to discover together why something matters.

In just five minutes, you will discover a renewed sense of purpose, people sit up taller, smile and have pride in what they’re doing. Sometimes participants in this activity even shed tears as they rediscover the meaning in their work.

Are you nervous?

If you don’t like the answers you discover, that’s OK. If your “why” is all about you (e.g., “I’m doing this for more money, power, or prestige”), you are right to be concerned.

People aren’t stupid. When it’s all about you, they’ll know it, and you can expect them to only do what they have to do. People work best when their work has meaning (and I’m

When you connect “whats” to “whys,” you tap into natural energy and vastly increase your team’s productivity.

sorry, but your personal success isn’t meaningful to your team).

If you examine your big “why” and the answers are shallow, vapid, and uninspiring, I applaud you for having the courage to go there.

Now take the next step: Where can you find meaning?

Why is the work important? How does it contribute to a bigger picture? If it does not, can you take steps to eliminate those tasks?

Your turn When you connect “whats” to “whys,” you tap into natural energy and vastly increase your team’s productivity. Leave us a comment and let us know how you make sure every task has purpose and meaning behind it.

Be the leader you want your boss to be!

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31

EMPLOYEE BE FIRED?

Should That Employee Be Fired? Ask These 5 Questions First.

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Have you motivated the employee to perform?

Most employees need both rewards and consequences to perform up to their full potential.

Making the decision to terminate an employee for poor performance can be gut wrenching. Most business owners want to give their people every chance to succeed, but you can’t continue to invest in poor performers indefinitely. Still, it’s difficult to know exactly when it’s time to call it quits.

The following five questions, based on the work of Rick Brocato and Marc De Simone, are invaluable when deciding between investing more time and effort in developing a poor performing employee or throwing in the proverbial towel: 1. Does the employee clearly understand your expectations?

More than 50 percent of the disciplinary actions we’ve dealt with in our careers have had at least some aspect of misunderstanding between the employee and the manager.

First, explain your expectations in detail. Next ask your employee to show how they will fulfill the requirements. This will help to eliminate miscommunication.

2. Have you removed all organizational roadblocks?

Organizational speed bumps may include policies, procedures, internal politics or a lack of critical resources. Removing hurdles helps employees to be more effective. However, don’t let yourself get sucked into the employee’s personal problems.

Management only has the power to remove roadblocks that are internal to the organization. You can’t be responsible for removing employee-generated roadblocks. Only the employee can deal with his or her own personal issues.

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3. Is the employee fully trained and has he or she had enough time to practice? While your employee professed experience during the hiring phase, all organizations are unique. Different computer systems, policies, procedures and corporate culture can prevent good employees from being immediately successful.

Make sure the employee is appropriately trained and has had sufficient time to practice the new skills.

4. Have you motivated the employee to perform? Most employees need both rewards and consequences to perform up to their full potential. An environment that is skewed heavily to either one or the other will result in dysfunction. Giving employees praise for a job well done often results in them repeating the behavior.

Catch employees doing something right and tell them about it.

Likewise, employees must understand that poor performance may result in discipline and/or termination. Avoiding negative feedback may make things easier for the manager in the shortterm, but it’s unfair to the employee and will result in greater problems in the long-term.

If you can answer the first four questions with an unequivocal “Yes,” you are ready to consider number five: 5. Is the employee capable and/or willing to do the work? An employee who is not “capable” is easier to understand. Some 34 www.greenazine.com

jobs aren’t suited to certain individuals. Perhaps the physical requirements are too strenuous or the intellectual demands are above his or her cognitive capabilities.

If this is the case, you might be tempted to move the employee to a new role. We urge pursuing this option with great caution.

Termination is usually the best course. Under any circumstances, you need to examine your hiring process. How did an incapable employee get the job in the first place?

Sometimes the person is fully capable, and for whatever reason, internal to them, is unwilling to perform. At this point, it’s time to end their employment. You cannot continue to pay someone who is unwilling to do his/her job.

It’s tough to know when it’s time to dismiss a poor-performing employee. Answering the five questions above will help you to avoid terminating an employee before you have taken reasonable steps to help him/her succeed. They will also keep you from throwing good money away by continuing to invest in a lost cause.

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35

OFFICE DESIGN

Employers Should Consider Office DesignTo Be Part of Employee Retention Strategy Employee retention strategies often focus on the corporate culture of a company, but the physical space an employer provides also plays a role in determining whether employees stay or go.

From how comfortable chairs are to how much space is allotted for each cubicle, each detail of the office layout must be considered, as even the smallest aspects of the work space mean a lot to employees on a day-to-day basis, office design professionals told Bloomberg BNA. “A good office is almost like a good

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home,” Chopovsky said. In a home there are different “zones” that enable different activities, he said, and that should be the same for the office. Some spaces enable conversation, others privacy and others stress relief.

Employee retention “is a function of the culture, but the culture, space and fellow employees make up the ethos or spirit of the company,” Max Chopovsky, founder of consulting firm Chicago Creative Space, told Bloomberg BNA July 23.

“We highlight the importance of the space because it is equally important to the people and the culture at any given

organization,” he said.

According to Chopovsky, the office configuration shows that the employer is genuine in trying to enforce its culture since office designs are costly and usually long-term endeavors.

“A good office is almost like a good home,” Chopovsky said. In a home there are different “zones” that enable different activities, he said, and that should be the same for the office. Some spaces enable conversation, others privacy and others stress relief, he added.

“The space should never be an obstacle,”

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Chopovsky said. “It should just work.”

Find Out What Employees Want To help achieve the culture an employer wants via its physical space, Chopovsky advised, the first thing to do is to observe the employee population to see what they need. “Listening to what they want and need is paramount,” he said.

While a trend today is toward open-space layouts with little privacy, Chopovsky advised against forfeiting every inch of private space. Smaller rooms for employee privacy are often the most used by employees, he said.

According to Chopovsky, traditional office design layouts feature dark interiors, but that is the opposite of what employees really want. Employers should take into account how much natural light is let in and where the windows are positioned. People work better with access to outside views, he said.

Josef Kaiser, managing director of Vitra, a design company based in Birsfelden, Switzerland, told Bloomberg BNA July 28 that spaces with an abundance of

natural light keep employees energetic and productive. He also recommended that managers should have offices among the employees to remain accessible and to promote collaboration.

An Office That Promotes Health Kaiser suggested that employers consider an office that ergonomically supports the health of employees. People should only sit during 50 percent of their workday, should be able to stand for 25 percent and should feel free to move around the other 25 percent, he said.

A space can encourage employees to be healthy by facilitating worker mobility, Kaiser said. For example, placing a printer kiosk away from employee cubicles or having a central place to deposit trash, instead of having receptacles in the employees’ cubicles, encourages movement throughout the day, he said.

Chopovsky said that different generations may want different things in a work space. He noted that younger employees often see less distinction between work

traditional office design layouts feature dark interiors, but that is the opposite of what employees really want. and play. Giving them a space to build relationships with co-workers will make for a more cohesive staff and improve productivity, he said.

According to Chopovsky, open space that might seem to be wasted can actually be the most beneficial area in an office.

This open area allows employees to get together in an informal environment, he said. Adding such a space, he said, “turns out to be one of the most valuable things you can do.”

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BETTER LEADER

10 phrases that will make you a better leader “I believe in you.” I may have saved the best for last.

What a way to express confidence in someone’s ability or potential!

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Want to be a better leader? Try improving your vocabulary.

to come up with ideas, and inspire commitment.

No, I’m not talking adding the latest management and leadership buzzwords or jargon to your repertoire. If that’s what you’re looking for, try the Wall Street Journal’s Business Buzzwords Generator. You’ll be able to walk around uttering leadership gibberish such as “Moving forward, it’s time to act with strategic vector and transform our team bandwidth” and “Looking forward to 2015, ideation will be key to our ability to impact the solutions holistically.”

It’s not an exhaustive list – just a collection I’ve picked up over the years – so please feel free to add your own in the comments section.

I’m talking about adding some powerful phrases to your vocabulary that will engage and motivate, encourage people

2. “Thank-you.” Use these two powerful words as a response to constructive feedback (which should be seen as a gift), positive feedback, as a way to express

1. “How can I be a better leader?” Credit goes to Marshall Goldsmith for this one.

Variations of the question include “How can I be a better parent?” “How can I be a better spouse?” and “How can I be a better child?” Just make sure to listen and say …

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gratitude for going the extra mile or a job well done, or when someone brings bad news or a problem to your attention.

3. “Nice job.” Variations include “good work” and “way to go.” Giving positive reinforcement becomes even more powerful if when it’s specific, timely, and you can explain why (positive impact), but let’s not over-complicate it too much for now.

4. “What do you think?” Credit goes to Tom Peters for this one. Asking someone for their opinion or ideas is the ultimate demonstration of respect. And when you get those ideas, don’t forget to go back to #2.

5. “How can I help?” Often used as a way

to express support during a development discussion, in problem solving, when someone is going through personal difficulties, or when problems or ideas are brought to your attention.

6. “What’s possible?” Credit goes to Jack and Carol Weber for teaching me the importance of “possibility thinking.”

Instead of coming up with reasons why something won’t work, ask yourself and others “what’s possible”. And if they do come up with examples of how similar ideas have been tried in the past and have not worked, use the phrase “Up until now.”

7. “I don’t know.” Use this when you truly don’t know the answer to a question or

solution to a problem – it demonstrates humility and authenticity. It goes well with “what do you think” as a follow-up.

8. “Why is that important to you?” This question demonstrates that you care, and you’ll learn a lot about the person’s motivation and values.

9. “Help me understand.” A much better way to understand someone’s logic, reasoning, feelings, etc… than “really?!” or “seriously?!” or “what the heck are you smoking?!”

10. “I believe in you.” I may have saved the best for last. What a way to express confidence in someone’s ability or potential!

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39

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The Vital Importance o Resolution

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of Conflict

I am not a fan of conflict. I’d prefer to have zero conflicts in my life, both my personal life and my professional life.

My preference however is unrealistic because conflicts are a part of life. They happen! As a matter of fact, if you have a pulse and interact with other human beings then you will have conflicts too.

Some people will go to extreme lengths to avoid conflict. I think they avoid them because they believe all conflicts lead to poor outcomes. They have so little confidence in their own communication skills that they fear losing control of their emotions and making the situation that originally caused the conflict even worse.

That’s a challenging way to go through life for anyone. If you have that challenge and you’re in a leadership position then it’s far more than a challenge, it can be a disaster.

Unresolved conflict leads directly to unreached potential. Let me repeat that in case you missed it… unresolved conflict leads directly to unreached potential. Directly!

If you’re a leader who avoids conflict then you’re a limited leader at best. You can make great decisions, hire the right people, build solid products, and be liked by everyone. What you can’t do is lead your people and your organization to their full potential.

It’s like seeing $40 on the ground and bending down to pick up $20, hoping that somebody else will pick up the other $20 and put it to use. You just left half of your potential “find” lay there.

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Unresolved conflict leads directly to unreached potential. Let me repeat that in case you missed it… unresolved conflict leads directly to unreached potential.

Directly!

Hope may sound nice in a speech but I’m sorry to say, it’s a real crappy business strategy.

Leaders cannot simply hope the conflict resolves itself. Conflicts seldom disappear, they just simmer below the surface causing havoc in your organization. If you don’t care enough about your people to proactively, compassionately resolve conflicts then you likely don’t care enough to truly lead.

Conflict resolution is a vital skill that leaders need to learn.

If you view conflict as dangerous, it tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you go into a conflict situation already feeling threatened, it’s tough to deal with the issue in a healthy and productive

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way. Instead, you are more likely to shut down or blow up in anger.

Conflict elicits strong emotions and often leads to hurt feelings and disappointment. When handled in an unhealthy manner, it can cause irreparable harm, resentments, and long-lasting distrust. When conflict is resolved in a healthy and productive way, it increases your understanding of the other person, builds trust, and strengthens relationships.

This is true in both your personal and professional lives.

Effective leaders possess the capacity to recognize and respond to the things that matter to the other person. They respond in a calm, non-defensive, and respectful manner. The are ready to forgive and forget if necessary and they are able to move past the conflict without holding on to resentment. Effective leaders know that compromise is not a dirty word and that while accountability may play a role in conflict management, punishing does not.

Authentic servant leaders hold the belief that facing conflict head on is the best thing for both sides. When dealing with conflict they care enough to listen with more than just their ears. They “tune-in” to the other person to completely understand what they are saying and why they are saying it.

When people are upset, the words

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they use often don’t convey the real issues at the heart of the conflict. When you listen for what is felt—as well as what is said—you have the opportunity to truly understand where the other person is coming from.

When you’re in the middle of a conflict, paying close attention to the other person’s nonverbal signals may help you figure out what the other person is really saying, This lets you to respond in a way that builds trust, and get to the heart of the problem.

A calm tone of voice or an interested facial expression can go a long way towards relaxing a tense exchange.

Here are a few more points to consider before attempting to resolve a conflict: Think resolution rather than winning or “being right.”

Remember, if you win then somebody else loses. If somebody feels like they have been defeated then they may withdraw for a while but the conflict still exists.

Focus on the now. If you’re holding on to grudges based on past resentments, your ability to see the reality of the current situation will be impaired.

Resolve the current conflict, don’t rehash old ones.

Let something go. If you can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, it is

When conflict is resolved in a healthy and productive way, it increases your understanding of the other person, builds trust, and strengthens relationships.

This is true in both your personal and professional lives. okay to disengage and move on.

I firmly believe the worst thing you can do when it comes to conflict management or hopefully, conflict resolution, is nothing. If you actually intend to lead then you must face this challenge head-on, in a caring and thoughtful way.

It’s how Authentic Servant Leaders deal with conflict!

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45

NHTSA SAFETY STANDARDS

NHTSA proposes new sa

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afety standards for buses WASHINGTON — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Wednesday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would create a new federal motor vehicle safety standard to protect motorcoach and other large bus passengers in rollover crashes.

The proposal aims to improve the structural design of large buses to ensure that passengers are better protected in a deadly vehicle rollover by ensuring that the space around them remains sufficiently intact and the emergency exits remain operable.

The proposed standard would establish performance requirements that each new motor coach and large bus must meet when subjected to a dynamic test in which the bus is tipped over from a raised platform onto a hard level surface. The proposed standard would: • Require space around occupant seating positions to be maintained to afford occupants a survivable space in a crash; • Require the seats, overhead luggage racks and window glazing to remain attached to their mountings during and after the test; and • Require emergency exits to remain closed during the rollover test and operable after the test.

Both the proposed test procedure and

performance requirements are closely modeled after the European regulations for large buses. In a separate rulemaking action to improve safety even further, the department is planning on finalizing requirements later this year for stability control technologies in these vehicles, which would help prevent rollovers from occurring.

“The traveling public deserves safer service and peace of mind when they board a motorcoach or large bus,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman. “Stronger large bus structures, combined with seat belt use will help keep passengers secured and protected in the event of a crash.”

“Approximately 700 million trips are taken on commercial buses each year. Raising the standard for a motorcoach’s durability, in the event of a crash, is critical to saving the lives of the passengers inside,” FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said. “In addition to taking critical steps to improve the structural design of buses, we are committed to further increasing motorcoach safety through stricter oversight, in-depth investigations into high-risk companies, and by ensuring that drivers are properly licensed and medically fit for the job.”

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HOW SAFE IS CHARTER BUS?

2NEWS Investigation: How safe is traveling by charter bus?

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TULSA - During summer, many travel to camps and events by charter bus.

carrying a group of boy scouts caught fire. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Charter busses have made headlines recently after being involved in a crash or catching fire.

In May, a bus carrying students from Lawton caught fire in Tulsa . Witnesses say a tire started sparking. Everyone got off the bus before the flames overtook it, leaving only the shell.

“When there is a problem with a bus it’s a big event,” said Michael Kraft, owner of Kraftours in Tulsa. “There are a lot of people involved, and it gets lots of attention. It attracts attention from the media. It attracts attention from the public. It attracts attention from the government.”

Five students and five adults were killed in a violent crash on a California highway. In Georgia, a charter bus

“When we got off the bus I was crying.

I was like, ‘What’s happening, our bus is on fire!,’” said Tiffany who was on the bus.

The students were headed to an archery competition in Kentucky. The fire claimed only their luggage and no one was injured.

We found a National Transportation Safety Board report from 2011 that showed some alarming statistics.

Department of Transportation regulations call for busses to be inspected every two years. But the NTSB found that only 64 percent were inspected at least once between 2009 and 2011.

More than 1,200 motorcoach carriers had been involved in at least one reported accident from 2005 to 2010, and 262 people died.

Michael Kraft says a lot has changed in the last few years. He says about the time that DOT report came out the government stepped up enforcement.

His busses are inspected annually by Oklahoma Highway Patrol, every two years by DOT, and about every 18 months for his military agreement.

“We are about three or four years into a big push by the DOT and early on there may have been some companies who were trying to skirt the rules, but I think they have all gotten the message,” Kraft said.

He says that “big push” makes bus fleets more safe on the road. But what about the other incidents. Kraft says sometimes things happen on the roads. He says if you are booking a charter company, it’s best to do your homework.

Five students and five adults were killed in a violent crash on a California highway. In Georgia, a charter bus carrying a group of boy scouts caught fire. Fortunately no one was hurt.

-- Get references. Every bus company has a DOT number that you can plug into their website and see their history, inspections, and if they are in compliance.

-- Visit the company and see the busses yourself. Price alone, he says, should not be your determining factor.

“Sitting on the side of the road after getting a terrific price is not the most rewarding experience,” Kraft said.

Kraftours has a satisfactory rating, zero crashes and not a single vehicle towed in the past two years.

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