Management Information |
Executive Humor at Meetings
I don't encourage managers to wear funny hats, appear in self-deprecating skits, or otherwise emulate Saturday Night Live in an attempt to manufacture an image as, "Look, folks! I'm just one a' the guys!" If clients insist, I do what I can to help. I want the money. But it's not usually such a hot idea. I know it's done. Frequently. And I read reports of the exhilarating effects created by executives who deliver call-to-action keynotes dressed as a gunfighter or sumo wrestler. I notice, also, that these reports are usually written by those who work for the speaker, or by meeting producers retained by the speaker's company. A field sales force may see their management only once or twice a year; usually at the annual sales meeting. They need to know that those running the store have a clear vision of where the company's going, and what it will take to get it there. And giving them Bozo the clown doesn't do a hell of a lot to convince a sales force their future is in good hands. Conventional wisdom tells us the confident and secure executive isn't compromised by a little benign buffoonery. Well, maybe. In my experience, however, confident managers are secure enough to bypass situations that often succeed in converting respect to ridicule. It's usually the uncertain manager who clutches at these moments in an attempt to create a public charisma that personal performance has never provided. The bottom line for the executive comic? Don't get beaten by your own shtick! http://www.thewritingworks.com John Mackenzie has been creating award-winning corporate communication elements for 30 years. He's also co-founder of The Writers Roundtable, a group of self-employed business communication writers who met (occasionally) at the Writers Guild of America in New York City. During 15 years of operation, The Roundtable maintained a standing door prize for any writer who had a client that paid in 30-days. The prize was never collected.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Employee Success! - 7 Ways Feedback Works By sharing how well you are doing and how well your expectations are met, your people get to understand better. So, frequent, realistic, objective feedback is not seen as criticism, more a way of each in your team helping each other get better, building on the success you already have. What is the Most Difficult Part of an Improvement Program? Answer: Starting one.Most of us realize that there is probably a better way to perform certain functions or tasks, but improvement programs seem to take second seat to getting the product out the door. To Meet or Not to Meet - What are the Questions? Meetings can be a total waste of time or a powerful and productive communication tool that solve problems, stimulate ideas, promote team spirit and generate action. The results lie totally in how they are run. Change Management "It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change". -Charles DarwinThe world today is changing faster than ever before. Eight Key Steps to Building B2B Major Account Client Alliances Audiences who saw the fabled Broadway musical, Chorus Line, marveled at the intricate timing and seamless interaction of the dancers as they mastered the choreographer's precision steps after many false starts in rehearsal.At the final curtain, the stage is crowded with dancers whose images are multiplied by mirrors strategically placed about the stage. Sweet Parting Of Ways Why settle for bad feelings when your employee leaves the firm? Human resource managers can help to sweeten the occasion during the exit interview, and get valuable information to help the company in the new knowledge age.More often than not, human resource (HR) managers place more importance on job interviews than on exit interviews. Team Motivation - Tough Enough to Care Sir Alex Ferguson has just celebrated his 1000 game incharge of Manchester United, probably the world's mostsuccessful soccer team.I have a great deal of respect for Sir Alex as a manmanager. Managing Workplace Conflicts Kinds of Workplace ConflictsLet's start by identifying where conflicts happen. Think about the kinds of conflicts that happen around your workplace. The Ten Keys to Maximizing Employee Performance 1. Let people know what you expect. Unravelling the Data Mining Mystery - The Key to Dramatically Higher Profits Data mining is the art of extracting nuggets of gold from a set of seeminngly meaningless and random data. For the web, this data can be in the form of your server hit log, a database of visitors to your website or customers that have actually purchased from your web site at one time or another. Empowering Others - Giving Them Some Control It's been a pretty good weekend around the place - not done a lot, but I have done what I've wanted to do - and that makes the difference.I changed my role when I first left the employed world. Innovation Management - Six Crucial Steps Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Virtual Assistance: A Money Saving Opportunity For Employers What is a Virtual Assistant? A Virtual Assistant is a highly skilled, independent entrepreneur who provides business services in a remote or virtual environment. Some have used terms like telecommuter or working from home. The Three-category Approach to Performance Management: Effort, Ability, or Environment Performance Management is the act of managing personal or organizational performance. What can complicate this process are all the factors that can arise where a textbook process meets the situations and people that exist in your world. The 70% Solution: Practical Testing and Version Control "What do you mean you need to push back the launch date?"Says the CEO. Says the CFO. How to Overcome Your Fear of Firing OVERCOMING FEAR OF FIRING "It was obvious that this employee could not relate well to clients. But I could not bring myself to fire him. How to Dodge Distribution Difficulties It happened again. I ran into an old friend while registering for the World Masters Games last month and as we were catching up, she complemented me on a necklace I was wearing. 11 Strategies on How to Work in An Open Plan Environment Many work environments now are open plan, with only a few senior managers having offices of their own. This style of work can have great benefits for team building - fostering cooperation and collaboration and can be wonderful for developing the social aspects of teams, but on the flipside, it can drive some people crazy and be damaging to productivity. The Diamond Cutter Geshe Michael Roach is a Princeton graduate and a Buddhist monk. After graduation, he spent seven years studying the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. Creativity and Innovation Management in Conservative, Staid Organisations Conservative and staid organisations generally have a harder time implementing creativity and innovation into their day-to-day work processes and people. Leaders may want to capture the benefits of creativity and innovation, yet there may be relevant and almost contradictory issues that they have to deal with, including:a) It may be that a conservative culture is desirable (may result in a greater fit with the client base, for example). |
home | site map | contact us |