David Nova

on September 24, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Director, Human Resources

Tools for retooling

Several weeks ago, I was focused on completing a home project and looked in my messy toolkit for a carpenter’s square, a basic tool for any homeowner.

After searching the garage, I was unable to locate the tool (I would later discover my 6-year son used it for one of his many “construction projects”). So, I used my best judgment and eyeballed it. The end result was a completed project, but with flaws.

Have you ever taken this approach with people?

I believe each of us has a toolkit from which we can select to motivate, correct an employee’s behavior or reward their performance. And no, I’m not talking about a hammer. I’m talking about Management 101 tools that support and guide employees in their pursuit of professional development, compensation, promotion, or whatever the end result should be. When we don’t have the correct tool, we might eyeball it and end up with a result that’s flawed.

Have you examined your toolkit lately?  What’s in it? What’s missing?

As the recession ends and consumer confidence rises, companies will begin hiring. NOW is the time to look in your toolkit to see what you’re missing. Set some goals (and budget) to acquire those tools. They’ll come in handy when you want to attract, recruit and retain highly qualified employees.
 
Managing employees can be tough but also very rewarding. Especially when you have the right tools.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on September 16, 2009

category: integrated marketing

Vice President/Marketing

What do you think of Facebook Lite?

I stumbled across an article called “Business Implications of Facebook Lite” that gave me pause. 

I’ve taken a peek at the “lite” version – and found that I kind of enjoy the only somewhat more cluttered look. You get the usual ad on your news feed, but on your profile there’s only one ad, where you’d normally get three. Here’s what the author thinks:

While users may consider this an advantage, the advertisers will now have more competition for fewer appearances. Depending on how many users are on Lite, this may make advertising rates increase on Facebook.

I wonder if advertisers might not also find this advantageous. After all, isn’t clutter also a problem? Normally, buying your way out of clutter would be ridiculously expensive – or impossible. You could sponsor a full TV show and eliminate the competition, but that’s awfully pricey. Anything less than full sponsorship would be logistically difficult. A direct marketer can’t prevent other email or direct mail from coming into a prospect’s inbox.

I hope that it works out for Facebook – and gets adopted by other media, as well. It’s not that I don’t like advertising. I just think it could be more effective in smaller doses.

What do you think?

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on September 11, 2009

category: direct marketing

Vice President/Marketing

Is our fate written in the stars?

Nobody likes to be labeled, but everyone loves putting labels on other people. Baby boomers, Gen X, Millenials. You can’t avoid the label. You can only say, "Wait a minute. I’m not like that."

Here’s a commentary on MediaPost that tells us about the motivations and feelings of people based on their age.

This makes me a little crazy. I share a birthday with my husband. Same day. Same year. We do not necessarily share the same outlook on spending, saving, investing, the future or anything else.

I’m not saying we’re at odds about these things. I’m just saying our birthday doesn’t make us identical. Others in our circle are different from us -- even though they’re close in age.

This is the equivalent of astrology in my book. Complete bunk. Does anybody buy this, besides the people making it up? They do these interviews . . . and they find patterns. But it’s all subjective.

Then you end up with conclusions about Gen Xers that sound odd: "Their orientation -- about everything -- is defensive." That’s just not a believable conclusion. Unless you’ve never met anyone born in the ’60s or ’70s, except maybe to interview them.

Maybe I sound defensive. But I shouldn’t be, because I’m not an Xer. I’m one of those "resilient" boomers.

 

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