First item: Lessons from the great NHL face-off :
There are three periods in a hockey game and three lessons about negotiations that can be drawn from the lengthy dispute between NHL owners and players, according to Vancouver negotiation strategist Neil Patton of Pre-Th!ink Inc.: 1 Starting with strong, inflexible positions can lead to challenging negotiations. The players' position was "absolutely no salary cap" whereas the owners were after "cost certainty." The NHL stance was flexible with various avenues possible to achieve cost certainty, whereas the player had only one option, creating a win/lose situation. Focus on your interests in negotiations, as the owners did, rather than a fixed position to attain those interests. 2 Great negotiations have flexibility in the style they employ in each negotiation. The players made huge gains in the 1980s and 1990s when they were hard-nosed and the league more conciliatory. The NHL toughened up this time, but players' boss Bob Goodenow didn't change his style, apparently assuming the league would cave in. "To date, it would appear Bob Goodenow has one gear. The owners made the necessary adjustment; the NHL players association did not," Mr. Patton says. 3 Use concessions strategically. The players showed how not to make concessions when in December they went from no salary cut to a unilateral 25-per-cent cut. "That's a lot of concessions in one press release," notes Mr. Patton. Instead, dole out your concessions over time.
Management: Earning trust when you're a stranger in a strange land:
Expatriate managers sent out by North American companies to overseas foreign operations need the help of the local staff to understand the new environment and build relationships, but often the colonial roots to globalization in which the local team is treated inequitably leaves those managers struggling without support -- or even as a target for sabotage. In The Academy of Management Executive, Soo Min Toh, a professor at the Rotman School of Management, and a Texas A&M University colleague offers solutions, including: Change existing compensation policies, so that the expatriate manager is not paid five to 10 times as much as the other staff, who after all are working for the same company and facing the same local living expenses. Consider adjusting the pay package after a few years, so the expatriate is paid as if a local employee, but in turn make sure he or she is properly rewarded by the experience and next job.
Provide training in cross-cultural understanding to both expatriate and local staff.
Provide formal incentives to local staff for supporting and mentoring expatriates and participating in a buddy program.
Leadership: Rudolph Giuliani's recipe for overcoming obstacles: Optimism and courage are vital ingredients for a leader, according to Rudolph Giuliani, who dazzled with his deft post-9/11 stewardship of New York City.
"Be an optimist -- someone with the right motives, hopes, dreams, visions, aspirations and solutions to problems," he writes in Executive Excellence.
People like optimists -- nobody likes to go to dinner with a pessimist -- and optimism serves as a magnet drawing people to you.
Courage is also vital, and not beyond your capacity. "Courage is not the absence of fear but the management of fear and risk to do what you have to do," he says. Let your fear help you to understand the risks and overcome them.
Power Points: Problem solving, visiting, standing out and much more Be the answer man: Never present a problem to your boss without having a suggested solution ready -- even if that is only an investigation or talk to a disgruntled customer that will provide momentum toward a final answer.
Source: Brand Autopsy blog Interruption etiquette: Keep your unscheduled visits to a colleague's office brief -- five minutes should be adequate in most cases. The tempo of such interruptions should be faster than talks elsewhere. Source: Supervision The first 100 days: If you're being interviewed for a job and have a good feel for the landscape, hand out your plan for the first 100 days on the job to differentiate yourself from other candidates.
Source: Lifehacker blog Logo aid: Unless you know typography and design, don't follow the many businesses using computer clip art to design their logo. Word Art is fine for a garage sale but not for a professional business.
Source: Shotgun Marketing Blog Ergonomically correct: To check if your monitor is at the right height, turn it off; close your eyes; position your head in its most natural posture; and then open your eyes, which should be looking approximately two inches from the top of your computer display area.
Source: 3M.com
