Seth Godin’s blog is required reading for me. He has lots of insights into marketing in the web age as well as good general observations.

In a recent article he said,

“Just doing my job”. What a bogus excuse.

If you take a job, you’ve bought into what the company does. You’re responsible.”

The tenor of the article is about not making excuses for working for companies who don’t do the right thing, but I’d like to add a corollary. If you have accepted a position with a company, then you’re bound to operate by their rules, or get out.

When you apply for a job you usually believe it is a good fit for you and that you will be successful. This is not a passive process – you are responsible for this choice. Your employer has a responsibility to make sure you understand the role and your responsibilities, and you have to perform to the best of your ability.

When circumstances change, or are not what you expected, ask your employer for help. If you remain dissatisified after this, it’s time to consider your exit strategy. No one enjoys someone whining about the company, it’s policies and procedures, especially if they’re choosing to remain there. Behave responsibly and you will continue to enjoy the respect of those around you. Most importantly you’ll take care of your own wellbeing and self respect.

Why invite an independent resource to your very important strategic planning day or your next really important implementation planning day?

As experienced CEO’s MD’s and GM’s my associates and I agree that when developing  strategic plans for your business, it’s important for you to  be a part of the planning team. It’s very difficult to lead a session and be an effective participant at the same time. Using an independent and experienced facilitator allows full participation and contribution from the team. You also have the benefit of  the experience the facilitator brings.

Another benefit  is an absence of personal agenda. The facilitator and (now very popular) co-facilitator can keep the group on track by managing the process and providing constructive feedback and suggestions if  the team becomes bogged down.  In terms of  time, energy and quality outcome this is a valuable investment in achieving  clarity of delivery of the shared commitment.

The team may also request some creativity exercises to take them out of their familiar way of doing things to give them an opportunity to learn a new skill or a new way of approaching ideas, in our experience maintaining higher energy levels during a demanding and challenging process.

One of our most popular processes is leading planning days with two facilitators.  The facilitators have a better opportunity to observe the process and provide quality feedback to the group on their energy and participation.

Another interesting learning for us is that this is quite economical. Some of our clients have spent 3, 4 and 5 days away with teams developing very important plans. We have found that by increasing the professional support by co-facilitation, the time required to create the plan is often halved  or more.

Experienced facilitators take a comprehensive brief and  prepare rigorous processes to cover the collection and review of information, the exploration of green field ideas, conducting a risk analysis before the final plan creation. This is their job which allows the team to stay inside the process, optimising their skills and experience to create plans that secure their future business success.

The feedback we receive from this particular process is invaluable to us and of course validating. I would like to share with you some points that are indicative of a strategic planning team’s reflections;

This is the first time I have left one of these sessions not drained.

I feel ready to go back to work and get straight into this

I am amazed at how pleasant this was and how much we achieved in so little time

It was so good to spend quality time with my colleagues and deliver a great result

Let’s make this our new standard

So good to remove the old adversarial defensive behaviour

One hour session - 200 ideas

Report writing is something most of us have to do in our work lives or as members of associations we belong to. Here are ten tips for you.

1. Follow a Structure

There are many articles and publications on how to structure a formal report. At the least include;

• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

2. State the aim/purpose of the report in the introduction.

Even if you have to be blunt, put a big H2 heading saying “Aim” and then state:

“The aim of this report is to….”

It lets us all know what the report is about.

3. Use the “Journalistic Six” in developing the body.

The “Journalistic Six” is a checklist reporters use for developing their stories. It answers the questions:

• who
• what
• where
• when
• why
• how

4. If you have lots of technical information, attach it as an appendix.

Winston Churchill was really hot on this during WWII, when, as you can imagine, he had lots of bumf* to read.

5. Know your audience.

If the report is going to be read by the CEO, CFO and HR Manager you will have to express it differently than if it is going to be read by the Chief Engineer.

6. Do not use technical words, acronyms or jargon.

Unless you are absolutely sure that everyone who is going to read the report understands them, do not use the above, especially TLA’s (three letter acronyms). In general use plain English without foreign words.

7.  Separate facts and opinion.

Otherwise it detracts from the credibility of your report.

8. Conclusions and recommendations must be supported by the body of the report.

Firstly, make sure that you do have conclusions and recommendations. Reports without them that peter out into nothingness are frustrating to read. Also make sure that you have achieved your aim.

9. Review the document for accuracy, brevity and clarity.

Revise, revise, revise. Get someone else to proof read your document.

10. Follow George Orwell’s advice.

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.