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Who ever heard of a company’s employee handbook being discussed around the world? Well that is precisely what has happened this past week.

Billionaire property Tycoon Sam Zell has just taken over the Tribune – a major newspaper in the USA. One of the first things he did to shift the organisation culture was to throw away the old company manual and rewrite it in his own unique way.

So why is it making headlines in newspapers and magazines? Why is it being talked about in blog posts around the world? Well – it could be the way that it is written.

Rule # 1: Use your best judgment

Rule #2: See Rule 1.

That’s it. That is the one hard and fast rule. Unless a serious mistake was made when you were hired, you have pretty good judgment.

One of the clauses causing the most debate includes “working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and not considered harassment”

Great idea – but it won’t stand up in court! Employee handbooks are seen as a company declaring how it intends to deal with a situation. While the manual does go on to say how they will handle any allegations of harassment – the damage is done by the first paragraph. The reason it is damaging as it declares the company believes that poor language, racial vilification or sexual harassment in its widest sense should be tolerated within a company. This will mean that the company will have a very hard time arguing they took reasonable steps to prevent such harassment occuring.

I did say it was quirky – and quite funny in places – “Making the building too hot, banging on trash can lids or loud bagpipe music are annoyances you can complain about …”

That said – there are a lot of great features you may want to consider incorporating into your manual – particularly the core values of keep your word, collaborate, no surprises, compete, play fair, take intelligent risk, reward successful performance, question authority, serve our local communities.

There is no doubt that the quirkiness has certainly raised the awareness of the manual to all staff and potential employees in a way few companies have been able to do. The test will be when someone (and they will) tries to defeat the manual in court – what will the court think about the quirkiness and humour.

Personally I love humour, but given all of the cases I have seen I would say leave the humour out of critical business documents such as employee handbooks. It only comes back to haunt you.

If you would like to check out their manual in full I have uploaded a copy of the Tribune Employee Manual here in PDF for your thoughts and opinions.

Is the Tribune manual great or a problem that could have been avoided?

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony<

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One of my favourite trend watching sites has just released its latest summary on “The expectation economy”.

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Recently I was asked how the internet was forcing businesses to rethink their current business model.
This is a massive topic – many businesses are not aware of the changes happening around them and continue to do business in the same old way. It is working for them after a fashion – but it is also limiting their future.

But the internet is not just causing changes to business practices – it is also fundamentally changing management, marketing and leadership.

The web and the rise of social media and Web 2.0 has meant a blurring between personal and business. Many of our business contacts are now “friends” on Facebook who mingle sometimes uncomfortably with our social friends. This has an impact on the workforce as managers try and manage the productivity of work vs. recreational interaction.

The rise of the maven or star vs. company branding. With web 2.0 there is the rise of the cult hero – individuals gain a following, where their thoughts and opinions sway results. People follow people – not companies. It is now much harder to brand a company than it is to brand a leader. We saw this in the last election – with Kevin 07 vs. the Labor party reflecting the change in society.

The total reversal of product development. In the past companies had a “great idea” then created a product before taking it to market to see if it will work. With Web 2.0 that is a recipe for disaster. Now you find a niche that is not being served effectively, test the market to see if people are willing to pay for a product in that niche by selling someone else’s product and using free web media and gain proof of concept. Only once the test is proven with guaranteed results you then invest in product creation in your own right.

Impact on traditional advertising – web “direct mail” is now a science, where every element is tested, results measured and tweaked for maximum return on investment. It is very easy to now prove ROI on a web advertising campaign. Traditional forms of advertising don’t have similar speed and data availability so are losing out in terms of expenditure from savvy businesses.

Information silos are busted wide open (think Wikis). The web has meant people value instant access to information (often in an organic way vs. a structured way). Businesses are struggling to keep pace with sharing information within and across parts of the business. Many knowledge management tools where they impose unnecessary structure are not stepping up to the mark in terms of useability.

It is not uncommon for parts of businesses looking for info on the wider web because an internal silo will not share, only to find someone in that area had posted that info for all to see on a blog post etc.

The use of social media such as You Tube as a major way to communicate. People are turning away from traditional TV, magazines and newspapers. More people use Facebook, Myspace and YouTube each day than Google! Even Oprah now streams via You Tube on the You Tube Oprah Channel – that is telling you something!

I am an avid trend-watcher – every person I have worked with in the past knows that this is one of my areas of passion. Businesses need to be aware of trends building momentum and get on board before they are left behind.

The good part is that small businesses are the best placed to capitalise on these latest trends. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to reach the world with your niche product. You just need the desire, the knowledge or someone with the knowledge.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony

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Why do many small businesses think they have to “go it alone”? They believe they should be able to succeed by learning everything, doing everything, being everything to everybody. They believe the only way to succeed is by reinventing the wheel from the ground up.

If this is you then your approach is self limiting. It is costing you success and wealth.

No person or business is as island – they rely on other people to help supply their needs. Just look at the computer screen on your desk in front of you. People from around the world created it for you – they assembled the hardware, coded the software, designed the equipment that manufactured the pieces within it. People built your desk and your chair. People drove trucks to stores with your goods on the back and people sold them to you. Your desk and computer are the results of thousands of people working together to bring them to you.

Where am I going with this?

You didn’t decide to handcraft the desk by yourself. You didn’t grow the timber, cut the tree, finish the wood, make the nails and assemble it. You relied on other people’s expertise to help you. You already have the experience of relying on others – extend this further.

Where are you standing by yourself in your business? Where are you trying to reinvent a wheel that someone else already has invented? Sure you can improve the design, but fundamentally the wheel is sound. Build on it.

I see this all of the time with businesses trying to find a perfect niche no one else has thought of. It has been thought of – the question is has it been applied effectively.

I see it in businesses trying to build a product, write a policy or code software from scratch. Templates exist – borrow and build on them.

I see it in businesses trying to implement cutting edge HR practices and change initiatives when the dust hasn’t settled on the last effort. They don’t reflect on what has been done and build on that. They don’t borrow ideas from people who have successfully been there – done that.

I see it in businesses trying to market by themselves – when a shared mail out with like businesses can be cheaper and more effective.

I see it in businesses fight to gain clients – when providing referrals means everybody wins (including the clients as they get people with a great track record).

So what can you do? Stop and reflect before you act. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel? Is there already a wheel you can build on? How can you borrow ideas from other great businesses and implement them/tweak them to make them your own? How can you learn from the past and other’s experiences.

My blog contains stacks of “Twitters” about great sites around the world where people are doing interesting things. Check out some of them and be inspired.

Form your own Master Mind group to keep you motivated and to share ideas – learn from each other

Go to networking events and learn from others experiences.

Share your knowledge and expertise. Share your wisdom on social groups such as LinkedIn and Yahoo answers

- you may have the answers others need to hear
The bottom line is you don’t need to stand alone.

Ask – share – learn – build on what is already great. Your success will be so much greater as you are starting from a higher point

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff
Heart Harmony

I am always on the look-out for great low-cost marketing ideas for small business and found these ideas on the Tall Poppy Blog. While they are written in the context of party planners getting bookings – the ideas are directly applicable for any small business wanting appointments or sales from clients.

And the best and simplest idea … simply ask for an appointment with every contact!

Here’s a link to the full post if you would like some more low cost ideas.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony

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