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Performance appraisal.

Or, if you prefer, performance review.

Whichever term you use, mention it to a dozen of your friends — whether they typically give or receive performance appraisals — and notice the responses you get.

A grimace?

A roll of the eyes?

Tension?

A satisfied smile?

Let’s face it, mentioning “performance appraisal” gets such mixed responses because people have such mixed experiences.

Which is only to be expected… except I bet most of the responses you get are negative.

If your respondents aren’t hostile, or scornful, then they’re clearly unimpressed.

Why?

Why are performance appraisals seen to be negative experiences?

I mean, isn’t a performance appraisal simply a meeting between a manager and a member of his or her staff, where together they appraise the staff member’s performance during the year (or other time period) and agree on goals for the coming year?

Well, that’s the theory.

But in reality, many managers handle performance appraisals quite poorly. And the result is not only an unpleasant meeting, but one where the manager and his or her staff member never quite understand each other, never quite appreciate the other’s point of view, and never quite settle on appropriate goals for the coming year.

It’s almost inevitable that the staff member will end up less happy and less productive than he or she was before!

In fact, there are five (5) big mistakes that managers often make in conducting performance appraisals. Fortunately, these mistakes are easily avoided once you make a conscious effort to avoid them.

Let’s discuss each in turn.

Mistake #1: Waiting For The Performance Appraisal To Give Feedback

This is the biggie, and all too common. It’s where a manager fails to give someone adequate feedback on their performance during the year, and then dumps it on them in the performance appraisal meeting.

Unfortunately, the feedback is almost always negative, so the employee ends up sitting there in shock — at best, wondering why his or her manager didn’t say something sooner; at worst, feeling unjustly victimized.

And you have to wonder — how can a manager expect an employee to do the right things, the right way, if the manager hasn’t provided any guidance or feedback all year?

The solution: make it a habit to tell your employees if they’ve done a good or poor job, and if it’s a poor job, explain how they can do things better in the future.

There should be no surprises in the performance appraisal!

Mistake #2: Overemphasizing Recent Performances

It’s all too human to remember, and give greater weight, to recent events rather than earlier events. However, this can lead to an inaccurate and unfair assessment when it comes to reviewing an employee’s performance.

To avoid overemphasizing an employee’s recent work, take note — and ideally take notes — of the employee’s work throughout the year.

Mistake #3: Being Too Positive Or Negative

Some managers feel uncomfortable giving negative feedback and consequently, can omit to give employees the constructive criticism they need to improve. And then there are other managers who are instinctively too negative, leaving the employee wondering if they can do anything right!

While, as a manager appraising someone’s performance you should give your honest opinion… you also want your employee to understand and appreciate what you’re saying.

So instead of being too positive or negative — which can result in the employee not believing what you say — think about the impact on the employee you want, and communicate your feedback accordingly.

Mistake #4: Being Critical Without Being Constructive

Following on from Mistake #3… some managers can be too critical and neglect to provide any constructive advice on how an employee can improve.

This doesn’t help the employee or the manager. Even if your criticisms all have merit, if you don’t explain how the employee can improve, he or she is likely to miss the validity of what’s being said and simply think he or she is being victimized. Not to mention the fact that his or her performance won’t actually improve.

So if you need to be critical, be constructive too!

Mistake #5: Talking Not Listening

The final big mistake that managers make in performance appraisals is doing too much talking and not enough listening.

These meetings are supposed to be interactive — where the manager doesn’t simply relay his or her own appraisal of the employee’s performance during the year, but also listens to the employee’s viewpoint.

If, for example, you have criticized the individual’s performance — it’s not only fair, but important, to get the employee’s response as to why he or she may have underperformed.

Moreover, a key objective of the performance appraisal is to agree on goals for the following year. How can there be true agreement and commitment to such goals, if you don’t learn the employee’s point of view?

As you’ve probably gathered, you can avoid these five mistakes — it just takes a little effort. It’s certainly worth it — if you think employee satisfaction, productivity and performance are important!

Anna Johnson is the author of the How To Manage People System, including her book, How To Manage People (Even If You’re A Control Freak!). Get Anna’s FREE 12-page report How To Be An Outstanding Manager — The 8 Vital Keys To Managing People Effectively.

Ever wondered how some people have everything that the dream of and for many it just remains a dream? Here are some tips on how to help turn your dreams into reality. Fortunately, it’s not a question of genetics or luck; it’s down to the thinking strategies that we use.

Understanding what is important to us. Craft goals in line with our values.

If a goal is in line with our values we get energy and motivation that lead us toward the goal. Most of us have experienced this type of energy and motivation at some time in our lives; maybe Birthdays and Christmas as Children and as Adults buying a house, getting married or looking forward to a holiday in the sun.

The curious thing is how little we target the use of this behaviour towards things that we want in life. It’s because we spend little time working on making our goals fit that we have such a high failure rate at achieving them.

I’m sure you’ve set New Years resolutions. How many of those did you achieve? What was different, I wonder, between those that you did achieve and those that you didn’t? I suspect that for those that you did not achieve, beneath the reason for not doing so, the cost in terms of time, money or loss of something else was too high.

If we have a greater understanding of our values, craft our goals in line with them, and address some the other key areas listed here, we are rewarded with the energy and motivation to make them happen - with ease.

Optimise the use of our time.

To optimise our time on and towards what we want we must first gain a greater insight into what is important to us, and having done so we must then distinguish between the activities that we do that are important and urgent.

In my experience this is not a regularly practiced technique; too many people are reacting, reacting to activities that are asked of them or are left to the point of being urgent. Examples of this are leaving the utilities bills to the last minute or working under a demanding boss or chaotic organisation.

Once understood this essential time management technique is easy to master and is commonly taught in time management programmes. Understanding it within a great context of achievement makes it that much more relevant to learning and putting into practice.

Start with what you have now, with the end in mind

Having both established goals that are in line with your and optimised your time, you need to make a start. It’s important that the start is made with the goal in mind and with a degree of realism on the resources that are available now. Delusion is the result of setting off without a realistic view of what the present situation is. And Delusion soon turns to disappointment which in turn turns to frustration and ultimately little or no significant progress.

At the end of the day we only have 3 resources: Physical and mental energy, time and money. It’s key that we learn how to make optimal use of these resources.

Meeting challenges
No amount of planning is going to cater for every eventuality. Many people consider these unplanned events to be problems that prevent progress and give up at that point. People that achieve are not put off by these events and are more energised by the richness of the opportunities that are enveloped in these events.

With the right mindset the journey to achievement can be viewed as one opportunity after another to reinforce the ability to succeed.

How we use our imaginations

All human beings are blessed with incredibly powerful imaginations. However many imagine outcomes of the future that are not going to be to their advantage. Imagining negative outcomes leads to worry, stress and fear and drains our energy and motivation.

Imagining a positive outcome of the future releases more of the energy and motivation that we need to succeed at our goals.

Fortunately the structure that we use in our minds is the same for both negative and positive imaginations. And with the right know how one can use the skill that generates fear into one that generates excitement and anticipation.

Forming our goals well

When forming our goals it is essential that we consider a number of factors; a compelling view of how things will be when we have the goal is as important as a clear understanding of what we will lose when we have it. Many times the likely loss prevents us from achieving what we want because we have not adapted our thinking around the loss.

A prime example of this is giving us smoking - many people fail to give up because having a cigarette provides them with a valuable 5 minute break. When the break is factored into the future along with the goal the chances of success are considerably increased.

Believing that it is possible that that it is for us

It is important that we hold certain helpful beliefs about the goal. Many people hold negative beliefs about whether the goal is achievable, whether they will ever achieve it and even whether it is really for them.

It is important to overcome these beliefs or sabotage will result.

Fortunately we are not born with our beliefs and the ones that we develop through childhood and in to the present moment can be changed.

Mark Spall is a Coach and Leadership trainer and delivers his materials through a variety of innovative mediums. More on Mark can be found at .markspall.co.uk. Mark is the founder of the Agile Leader Network (www.agile-leader.com), a knowledge base and support network for young people who wish to achieve their best in their careers and their businesses.

As a cleaning company we place a very high value on our staff, they can make or break your business. They are our greatest asset and also our greatest liability. Consequently maintaining an excellent working environment and keeping staff well motivated is one of our primary goals. The same applies to most businesses although it is especially important in the cleaning industry because of the potentially high turn over of staff that is somewhat traditional in this field.

We go into many businesses in carrying out our cleaning and as the current trend is for cleaning to take place during normal working hours we see many of these in operation on a day to day basis. Some of these are large organisations with well over 100+ people working on the site others are smaller concerns with perhaps 5 or 6 people employed. Each manager has their own method of managing their staff and some of the places are happy environments where the individuals actually enjoy going to work, others are places full of grumbles where the people cannot wait to go home.

By and large the atmosphere in the workplace seems to be a reflection of the managers. It never ceases to amaze me how some managers talk to their staff or not, because quite a few have decided that e-mailing them is better despite the fact that they may be in the next office. It is written down therefore it is done and no longer my problem seems to be the attitude. From a personal point of view I could not tolerate this.

One of the reasons we go to work with others is for the social interaction and this is being gradually eroded in the modern work place. When I did work in such an establishment it became commonplace for people to send out memos. Memos had their place, if a meeting was being arranged for example where time and place and agenda needed to be specified. However I concluded that well over 90% of the memos sent out to me were not informational but requesting me to do something.

This I used to take as very bad manners and throw most of them in the bin until the persons concerned were forced into actually talking to me. Discussions we used to have around this issue always centred on how more efficient it was to send out requests on bits of paper. To me it seemed that it was depersonalising the work place and increasing the amount of paper that was being shuffled around. Now it is used as a method of everybody covering their backs in case something goes wrong. It may be me being ‘difficult’, and it may be necessary to shuffle all this paper around but I just find it sad that the workplace has deteriorated to this level in many instances.
How do we keep our cleaners happy? We treat them as human beings who deserve the right to be spoken to correctly. Please and thank you seem to be very under used words in the workplace nowadays. We find that a please and a thank you goes a very long way in maintaining staff morale as does actually talking to them rather than leaving messages.

It is very noticeable that the good environments to work in, where people are happy, the bosses actually communicate with their staff on a human level and the word thank you is heard quite a lot.

Just remember how you feel when some body says thank you to you when you have done something for them and conversely how you feel when there is no response!

David Andrew Smith is the owner of www.wesparkle.co.uk, a cleaning services company which operates throughout the UK

Delegation is one of the most important management skills. These logical rules and techniques will help you to delegate well. Good delegation saves you time, develops you people, grooms a successor, and motivates. Poor delegation will cause you frustration, demotivates and confuses the other person, and fails to achieve the task or purpose itself.

Delegating is nothing but “Internal Outsourcing”. The main purpose of delegating is “Time Management”…so that you can concentrate on big…main assignments, assignments which need your attention. But what can you delegate, is an important question. I am of the opinion that “One shall not delegate what they themselves cannot do”…that means you can delegate only those things..assignments which you…yourself are comfortable in doing. When you delegate, the message that you are passing to the other person is that, “Look, I can do this and can do more efficiently but I want you to help me in doing this assignment so that I can concentrate on other issues/assignments”. Most of the time we have seen bosses delegating those assignments which they themselves are not able to do and then there the message is, “I don’t know how to do it and hence I want you to do it”. So, now the most important question…how good are you in delegation.

Relation between Outsourcing and Delegation.

Outsourcing is the transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process. The customer receives a service that performs a distinct business function that fits into the customer’s overall business operations.

There are two principal types: “traditional” outsourcing and “greenfield” outsourcing.

In “traditional” outsourcing, employees of an enterprise cease to perform the same jobs to the enterprise. Rather, tasks are identified that need to be performed, and the employees are normally hired by the service provider.

In “greenfield” outsourcing, the enterprise changes its business processes without any hiring of personnel by the service provider.

Main purposes of Delegation and/or Outsourcing are:

Cut costs
Increase productivity
increase security and reliability
maximize uptime
Concentrate on core competencies

Delegation V/S Empowerment

Delegation is an old idea used in the traditional management model. The idea was to make sure that responsibility and authority were equal for every job. When delegation was implemented correctly, people had the authority that they needed to execute their responsibilities. Limitations of this approach: assigning authority does not mean that someone has the ability, motivation, and understanding necessary to perform.

Empowerment is a core concept of the new management model. In the new-generation adaptive organization, delegation is replaced by empowerment, and responsibility by ownership. Authority and responsibilities are formal aspects or organizing. They are based upon organizational properties and not individual capabilities. Empowerment and ownership are social aspects of organizing, They are based on efficacy and initiative, and not just on roles and requirements. They belong to people.

Now, continuing with delegation

So, are you SMART in Delegation or SMARTER?

A simple delegation rule is the acronym SMART, or better still, SMARTER. It’s a quick checklist for proper delegation. Delegated tasks must be:

Specific
Measurable
Agreed
Realistic
Time bound
Ethical
Recorded

Traditional interpretations of the SMARTER acronym use ‘Exciting’ or ‘Enjoyable’, however, although a high level of motivation often results when a person achieves and is given recognition for a particular delegated task, which in itself can be exciting and enjoyable, in truth, let’s be honest, it is not always possible to ensure that all delegated work is truly ‘exciting’ or ‘enjoyable’ for the recipient. More importantly, the ‘Ethical’ aspect is fundamental to everything that we do, assuming you subscribe to such philosophy.

What To Delegate

Don’t delegate what you, yourself is not able to do.
Don’t delegate what you can eliminate. If you shouldn’t be doing an activity, then perhaps you shouldn’t be giving the activity away to others. Eliminate it.

Delegate routine activities, even though you don’t want to:

Fact-finding assignments
Preparation of rough drafts of reports
Problem analysis and suggested actions
Collection of data for reports
Photocopying, printing, collating
Data entry

Delegate things that aren’t part of your core competency. For small businesses, these include accounting, web site design, deliveries, hardware upkeep, software help, graphic design, travel arrangements, patenting, legal issues and even HR functions such as payroll.

Some things you can’t delegate: performance reviews, discipline, firing.
Create a plan to delegate. Don’t give out assignments haphazardly.
Invest short term time in training to gain a long term increase in productivity.
Others may end up doing a better job than you can or finding new ways to complete a task.
Delegate, don’t abdicate. Someone else can do the task, but you’re still responsible for the completion of it, and for managing the delegation process.

Things to keep in mind…while delegating

Make sure the standards and the outcome are clear. What needs to be done, when should it be finished and to what degree of quality or detail?
Delegate the objective, not the procedure. Outline the desired results, not the methodology.
Ask people to provide progress reports. Set interim deadlines to see how things are going.

Delegate to the right person. Don’t always give tasks to the strongest, most experienced or first available person.
Spread delegation around and give people new experiences as part of their training.

Obtain feedback from employees to ensure they feel they’re being treated appropriately. A simple “How’s it going with that new project?” might be all that’s needed.

Be sure to delegate the authority along with the responsibility. Don’t make people come back to you for too many minor approvals.
Trust people to do well and don’t look over their shoulders or check up with them along the way, unless they ask.
Be prepared to trade short term errors for long term results.
When you finish giving instructions, the last thing to ask is, “What else do you need to get started?” They’ll tell you.
Give praise and feedback at the end of the project, and additional responsibilities.

Delegation as a Process…Procedure involved in Delegation

Before starting lets understand the various barriers in Delegation

The biggest barrier to delegating is overcoming the entrepreneur’s curse: insisting on doing it all. That’s a fatal error that prevents start-ups from growing into viable companies.

Here’s how to tell if you’re digging yourself into a hole. When a friend asks, “How was work today?” do you talk about how much work you did? Or do you focus on the work that you coached others to do?

If you discuss how well your employees are “stepping up” and “lightening my load,” that’s a good sign. It shows you’re delegating in a meaningful way. But if you sigh and summarize all the rush jobs you had to handle and all the fires you had to put out that indicates you could benefit from more delegation.

Beware of giving the following excuses to avoid delegating:

1. “It takes too long to explain.”
2. “No one on my staff is capable of doing it.”
3. “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.”
4. “My people are already overworked. I can’t dump anything more on them.”

Which of the above statements have you made to rationalize your lack of delegation?

Although you may offer the above excuses, your real reasons for refusing to delegate may appear below:

1. “I’m comfortable doing things myself. If I give that up, then I would wind up operating my company in a way I’m not comfortable with.”
2. “It’s my company, so it’s ultimately my job to run everything.”
3. “What if the other person messes up? We’re a young company, and we can’t afford any mistakes.”

Can you think of any other reasons why you don’t delegate as much as you should?

Why you Should Delegate?

You free yourself to run your business and see the big picture.

1. You develop your employees and make them more valuable.
2. You spread accountability to encourage a stronger, more resilient team.
3. You can respond faster to changes in your business when you can rely on nimble employees to take charge.

Delegation involves three elements:

1. responsibility
2. authority
3. accountability

When you delegate, you distribute responsibility and authority to others while holding them accountable for their performance. The ultimate accountability, however, still lies with you.

THE PROCESS OF DELEGATION

Stage - I: Choose What to Delegate

Study what kind of job you intend to delegate. Plan how you are going to present the assignment, including your requirements, parameters, authority level, checkpoints, and expectations.

To determine what tasks you should delegate, begin by keeping a log of what you do during the day. After two weeks, review your daily activity log and ask yourself if it truly reflects what you should be doing.

Say you make the most contribution to your firm by focusing on five duties:

1. Courting new customers
2. Mapping out your firm’s growth strategy
3. Exploring acquisitions and marketing alliances
4. Analyzing new markets for your products or services
5. Coaching employees

If your activity log shows you do not spend the bulk of your time in these five areas, this should spur you to delegate. Squandering your day on minor matters will divert you from what really counts and stymie your company’s growth.

Do delegate:

1. All routine or even sporadic clerical duties (filing, counting, sorting, routine reports)
2. Making minor decisions
3. Answering routine questions
4. Minor staffing problems such as scheduling
5. Anything your employees are expected to do when you’re not there
6. Jobs that can develop the employee in other areas for potential promotion

Don’t delegate:

1. An emergency or short-term task where there’s not time to explain or train
2. Morale problems
3. A presentation to investors about your company’s financial performance and future plans
4. A job no one else in the company is qualified to do
5. Personnel issues such as hiring, firing or disciplinary matters

Stage-II: Choose the Right Person to Delegate to

Andrew Carnegie once said, “The secret of success is not in doing your own work but in recognizing the right man to do it.”

The key to finding the right person to delegate to is to match skills and personality to the task at hand. As a preliminary exercise, ask each of your employees these questions:

1. What would you like to learn more about at this company?
2. What areas would you like to expand your skills?
3. What parts of this company do you feel you know the most/least about?
4. Are you eager to change your current job duties in any way? If so, how?

Armed with the answers, you can delegate duties to people who are receptive to accepting them.

Also consider the work habits of individuals on your team. Some people may need lots of explanation, while others merely want to know your expectations and any guidelines before they’re left alone to “get it done.”

Stage-III: Communicate What You Want Done

Rather than rush to give “do this, do that” orders, effective delegation consists of explaining the WHAT and the WHY:

WHAT do you want the employee to do?

WHY did you choose them to do it?

When you delegate, include a “WHAT-WHY statement.”

Examples:
I’d like you to make ten survey calls to find out what our customers think of our new product. Given your excellent phone manner, I think you would represent us well and get people talking.

We need to turn in some financial information to state regulators by next Friday, and I want you to confirm all the numbers are up-to-date and accurate in our financial exhibits. You’re a stickler for details, so I’m depending on you to crosscheck everything.

Can you write a letter to our suppliers about our new purchasing policies? You’re familiar with our expense control measures and you’re a good writer, so I think you would be perfect to write this letter and provide the proper context.

Before delegating your next project, compose a WHAT-WHY statement:

Rehearse this statement out loud to see how it sounds. You may want to practice with a trusted adviser and get feedback.
When you’ve polished your WHAT-WHY statement, you’re almost ready to delegate. But first, prepare answers to these three questions:

1. Who should the employee work with on this assignment? Who’s available to offer help?

2. What resources or tools are available?

3. What’s the deadline?

Weave the answers to the above questions into your instruction. Encourage the employee to take notes, especially to confirm the deadline so there’s no misunderstanding about what you expect at that time.

The final step in communicating what you want done is to gauge the employee’s willingness to comply. End by asking, “Are you excited about doing this?” or “Do you feel comfortable tackling this?”

You might also ask for input on how the individual intends to get started. Example: “How do you plan to approach this?”

Stage-IV: Follow Up

Establish checkpoints to monitor progress. This discussion should be a collaborative process where you reach mutual agreement on how you intend to follow up.

You have three options to track an employee’s work:

1. Scrutinize and approve every step of the assignment before the worker proceeds to the next stage.

Advantage: You ensure the project is completed satisfactorily, and you can satisfy your urge to know what’s going on throughout the process. Many control-oriented entrepreneurs prefer to keep a close watch on an assignment after they delegate it, especially if it involves lots of details or complicated steps.

Disadvantage: You might make the employee feel stupid by signing off on each step. You risk showing you don’t trust others to think for themselves without your constant oversight. Plus, it takes more of your time.

2. Set a date for the individual to complete the work. Instruct the employee to come to you with any questions along the way; otherwise, you stay out of it.

Advantage: You give the worker a chance to operate independently without lots of interference. Your hands-off role also frees you to do what’s most important.

Disadvantage: You may be in for an unpleasant surprise if the work isn’t done by the due date or it’s done incorrectly, and you may have no way of knowing how it’s going unless the employee chooses to keep you informed.

3. Designate a manager who’s in charge of overseeing the employee’s work. This is really double delegation: you’re assigning work to someone and assigning a supervisor to monitor that work.

Advantage: You increase the odds the work will get done properly without having to spend time tracking it yourself. You can also give your team leaders a chance to expand their supervisory role by making them the “contact person” for your employee and by having them follow the worker’s progress.

Disadvantage: In a fast-growing business, you may not have the luxury of putting a manager in charge of monitoring an employee’s work. And that manager may not have the time to track the project carefully or provide meaningful help to the employee.

Before concluding…lets do an introspection and lets check how good or bad you are in delegation.

Answer each statement with the corresponding number using this code:

1 = always

2 = sometimes

3 = never

___I find that my employees consistently look for ways to relieve the pressure that top management faces without being asked.

_____I’m free to “think big” because my colleagues and employees handle all the daily operational stuff.

_____As my company continues to grow rapidly, I’m totally comfortable letting go and putting others in charge of pieces of my business rather than clinging to control.

_____I prefer to spend 30 minutes training an employee to do a new task than just doing it myself in five minutes.

_____I say to an employee “Let me show you how to do that” far more than I think to myself “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done right.”

_____I look for opportunities to praise my managers for delegating to their workers.

Review your answers. If your total score is 6-8, then you’re an excellent delegator. This Business Builder will reinforce much of what you’re already doing and introduce you to some new techniques.

If your score is 9-14, you’re on the road to becoming an effective delegator. But you need to raise your awareness and make a more concerted effort to coach others to plug holes and take on more responsibility.

For those who score over 14, you’re not alone. And you’re honest! Many entrepreneurs need to confront the fact that they just can’t do it all, and that assigning jobs to others is a vital part of building a business. Ask any legendary business builder including our own Edward Lowe to identify a key to transforming a great idea into a thriving enterprise, and here’s the answer you’ll hear: harness the drive, skills, and talents of every employee.

Conclusion:

Managers delegate work not to just relieve their workload, but to allow the employees they supervise to grow professionally. Effective delegation is a two-way discussion and understanding. Be clear about the delegated task, give employee(s) an opportunity to ask questions, monitor progress and offer assistance as needed. Use effective delegation to benefit both yourself and the person to whom you delegate. DOs and DON’T of Delegation…

DOs

Chose delegates based on a fair and objective assessment of his or her skills and abilities in relation to the requirement of the task

Give precise instructions; use simple procedures; show employees how to do something and explain why it is done that way

Show how each delegation contributes to organizational goals

Clarify expected results

Develop together standards of performance; recognize superior performance

Discuss problems; answer questions; seek employees’ ideas about how to do the job

Be supportive; exhibit trust; keep your promises

Praise positive achievements in public

DON’Ts

Don’t delegate in a haphazard fashion

Don’t over-exercise your power; don’t try to dominate the delegates; be rather a leader than a mentor

Don’t criticize employees in front of others

Don’t overreact to problems or mistakes

Don’t over-control the performance

That is all I have to say about delegation as “Internal Outsourcing”. Lets discuss. Looking forward to your inputs/comments.

Ten ways to improve chances for success:

1. Be realistic - Make sure that the resolution(s) is realistic. For example, losing thirty pounds by the end of February is not safe or realistic. Set yourself up for success by setting one or two reasonable and attainable goals that stretch your capabilities.

2. Write down your goal and action steps - Breakdown the goal into achieveable parts called action steps. With the completion of each action step you are moving closer to accomplishing your goal.

3. Set a time table - Without aspecific completion date your resolution is only a wish.

4. Read the resolution(s) each night before bed and again when you wake up.

5. Determine what you will sacrifice - Accomplishing your resolution will take time and effort on your part. What habits and behaviors are you willing to change in order to reach your goal?

6. Be determinated and miminize excuses. You will face some hurdles as you strive to be successful. Avoid making an excuse a roadblock that stops you from reaching your goal. Measure your progress toward reaching your goal. Your action steps and the completion date are two valuable tools to check your progress.

7. Use positive affirmations like “yes, I can and I will.”

8. Minimize the Bummer Words” words - “no, can’t, won’t, never, maybe, and if.”

9. Ask yourself each day “Did I give my best effort today’s activities?” An honest answer will help you stay focused and move you closer the successful completion of your New Years Resolutions.

10. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Good luck! This is your life! Your goals! Your success!

You are a WINNER!

- # -

For your FREE subscription to “Teaching Moments” visit the website at:
http://www.TeachingMoments.com
314-664-6110

John Bishop is the is the author of the Goal Setting for Students® book which has recently won three national parenting book awards.

He is also the Executive Director of Accent On Success® an organization dedicated to giving parents and teachers the tools they need to help children succeed in school and in life.

The keystone to efficient information and repositing direction lies with a simple principle: information has a lifecycle and it should only be stored as long as compulsory by stage business and regulatory requirements. Nevertheless, the traditional methods of giving medication do not suffice for the complex relationships among structured and unstructured.

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To further complicate matters, new terminology is being introduced, additional skill sets mandatory, products immature, and the financial impact of effectuation is empirically only just being understood with the first generation of products. This ambiguity has a electric potential to derail a robust framework that has the ability to deliver on historically unmet necessarily needed for our ever-expanding, informationdependent industries.

Continued from page 1. First, a current service line mustiness be conducted. This should articulate and quantify the existent technologies, procedures and policies already adopted by the company. The also moldiness classify available personnel skill sets, organizational maturity, and functional windows needed to satisfy the SLAs.

With the foundation in place, known issues, risks and current initiatives be classified and ranked by significance. Secondly, the future state or “to-be” model be created. Clear benefits driven by the occupation drivers and corporate agendas (i.e., alignment) be amalgamated to create a cohesive framework that meets the organizational goals and objectives. With the “to-be” model defined and approved, a fit-gap analysis tin can be done that articulates the problem areas, opportunities and architectonic strengths.

After creating a program of work, a high-level design of the product and services should be developed. This design volition highlight the estimated benefits, potential difference vendors, proposed execution scenarios and sequence of activities that testament result in a working set of pilots. With the selection of headstone vendors, buffer projects toilet be undertaken. These cowcatcher projects wish provide the confirmation for the benefits, risks and approach needed for further investment.

Once completed, the results bequeath be a “go/no-go” decision point for the organization, and additional commitment and investments for ILM realization. Adjustments also leave be made from the pilot burner project’s outcome to the plan, resources and budgets. With the pilot light projects and customizations completed, a rollout plan for the tested environment be undertaken. Only segments mature in their lifecycle be considered.

Proper training and education be conducted. A refresh approach to integrate future segments be defined and intermingled into the PMO, methods, and architecture. By its very nature, ILM is not static. It is a layered and mixed series of product, processes and reposition automation that lavatory result in drastically improved information accessibility, usage and bottom-line results. Many companies today unwittingly practicing ILM–using inefficient, manual processes contained within vendor-specific platforms resulting in a high TCO. A viable solution for organizational profitability, cost containment and risk of infection mitigation is contained within the ILM architecture.

Over the next two to three years, the robustness of the products rapidly advance in support of the architecture allowing for significant improvements in warehousing innovation, productivity gains (due to automated rules and policies) and conformity disposal. While caveats to ILM exist, the job drivers for its integration and carrying out cannot be ignored. Organizations seeking to deploy these enterprise-based solutions consider that the potential drop currently outweighs a vendor’s ability to make it a reality in the short term. Still, the enterprise identify the critical requirements and embrace the winder strategies spell the market is maturing.

Identifying and embracing the vital requirements and strategies take time and executive commitment, which is usually greater than the time needful for delivery.

The offerings deployed today significantly mature in 2004/2005 as they assimilated into common applications, databases, middleware, and memory . ILM is not just about computer memory , it is about proper alignment with line of work of necessity to effectively ensure the capture, categorization, integration and disposal of . The tonality to the information “hydra” lies with in effective, qualitative and quantitative hazard governance coupled with a clear understanding of the interrelationships between project efforts.

Without an active ILM approach aligned to the organizational culture, the measured value (real or perceived) of technology investments continue to be disappointing patch exposing the organization to increased litigation and scrutiny.

Jack Palone www.northfacejacket.net/

Have you ever thought about changing the world? What would you do to make a difference? I’m sure you’re thinking, “But I’m only one person. How can I make any real changes in the world?” Start by making a difference in your neighborhood or community. When you change, a reaction is started and the world will change around you.

Following are five kindness motivation tips from the E-book, “101 Ways to Change the World”. I’ve already done the hard part for you - figuring out where to start. Now all you have to do is pick one or more kindness motivation tips and get started. Just jump right off the deep end and go for it!

1. Contact your local school district and ask how you can help. You may be:

Mentoring a child

Helping them study

Reading out loud

Monitoring the lunch room - whatever it is it will make a difference.

Our kids truly are our future. We can’t do too much for them!

2. Take your old magazines to a Senior Center or Shelter. If you’re a kid, take your magazines and comic books to your local doctor or dentist’s office. Kids waiting to see the doctor will have something interesting to read.

3. Do you play a musical instrument? Offer to teach someone:

Maybe it’s a kid who can’t afford lessons on their own.

Maybe it’s someone who is homebound.

Maybe it’s an elderly person who has always dreamed of playing the piano - or some other instrument.

4. Organize an ‘Instrument Drive”.

Put a notice in your local paper.

Get your local radio station to help you.

There are a lot of musical instruments lying around in people’s homes that can make a difference for the people listed above.

5. Create a ‘Birthday Jar’ or a ‘You’re Special Jar’. Too often it’s easy to notice the things we don’t like about people - the things that irritate us. How about taking the time to come up with all the reasons we are thankful for the people in our lives? Here are some ideas:

fix things around the house before I even ask.

help your little brother get dressed in the morning.

always have a smile for people.

keep in shape.

Come up with as many as you can - try for 365 if it’s a Birthday Jar - but any amount will make a difference to the person receiving it.

Print out a whole list

Cut out each entry

Put them in a big jar. Whether you use an old mayonnaise jar or a beautiful ceramic one, it’s what’s inside that will change the world for the person receiving it.

There you have it - enough kindness motivation tips to start you on your mission to change the world. Invite a few friends and neighbors along. Imagine how much faster you can change the world with others helping you make a difference!

As creator of Together We Can Change the World Day, Ginny Dye shares ways you can make a difference that can be found in the e-book entitled “101 Ways to Change the World” Subscribe today at http://www.101waysseries.com

This groundbreaking leadership research by has received extensive endorsements and enthusiastic reviews from well-known prominent business, political, and academic leaders who either participated in the study or reviewed the research findings. You will discover the proven success habits and secrets of people who, in spite of difficult or life threatening challenges shaped their own destiny to become successful, effective leaders. The full results of this research will be presented in the upcoming book by Dr. Howard Edward Haller titled “Leadership: View from the Shoulders of Giants.”

The nine initial prominent successful leaders who overcame adversity that were interviewed included: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Dr. John Malone, Larry Pino, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar.

The data from the above nine research participants was materially augmented by seven other successful leaders who overcame adversity including: Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, J. Terrence Lanni, Angelo Mozilo, Dr. Nido Qubein, and Dr. John Sperling.

Additionally, five internationally known and respected leadership scholars offered their reviews of the leadership research findings including: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Jim Kouzes, Dr. John Kotter, Dr. Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley.

This is a short biography of one of the principal participants who generously contributed their time and insight for this important research into the phenomenon of how prominent successful leaders overcome adversity and obstacles. This is Monzer Hourani’s story:

Monzer Hourani was born in what was then Palestine, in 1944. He shared that “we are a Lebanese Christian family, from southern Lebanon. We’ve been there for ages. Our family was a major land owner in Palestine . . . . but when Israel became a state, we were forced out of Israel.” The Hourani family returned to southern Lebanon to rebuild their lives and try to rebuild their fortune.

Unfortunately, civil war, which began in Lebanon in the late 1950s and continued for years, would devastate Lebanon in general and the Hourani family in particular. Monzer commented that “starting in 1958 there was a civil war in Lebanon. My mother was killed on my fourteenth birthday, right in front of me. Unfortunate thing happened, so, it’s very tragic in my opinion.” During the civil war, he did not know for weeks whether his family had survived the various battles.

Monzer said, “I was offered a scholarship to go to Russia, to a major university, in physics, but I refused it. I really wanted to come to the U.S., because I liked the west, in fact, I liked John Wayne.” He applied and was admitted to the University of Texas in Austin. He spoke primarily French with very limited English. At the University of Texas “they had a French professor and a physics professor to do the exams.” Monzer arrived in the U.S. in 1965, studied at the University of Texas, in Austin and “graduated in 1969 with a degree in Architecture and a second degree in Structural Engineering, with two degrees.”

Monzer Hourani is the founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Medistar, a Real Estate Investment Trust specializing in the building and development of hospitals and integrated medical office buildings. I initially interviewed Monzer during a two-day visit with him at his headquarters and at his home, in a suburb of Houston, Texas. We have also exchanged follow-up telephone calls since the in-person interviews.

In Houston, Monzer developed large commercial real estate projects in the late 1970s. He had successfully negotiated with both Lebanese and European investors to back him in major real estate projects in Houston. He described being caught in the major real estate recession in Houston in the 1980s. According to Monzer, “The recession was more like a depression, and many developers went broke.”

The banks that had provided Monzer’s construction loans failed and he could not get the loans that he needed to complete the buildings that he already had under construction. Monzer had personally signed for these loans. The foreign investors told Monzer, “Don’t worry about it.” And then not only did they not help, but they demanded their money back.

These events caused Monzer a major business and financial problem. “During all this time, my partners in the middle of all this, my foreign partners, asked for all their money back.” He worked hard to turn around the various projects and was successful, in spite of adversity and obstacles. Then he added, “I paid them [the investors] back.”

The Resolution Trust Corporation was established by the U.S. Congress to resolve problems with Savings and Loans, as well as Banks. According to Monzer, the RTC not only refused the remaining loan funds, but also wanted Monzer to immediately pay off his loans on the uncompleted projects.

Monzer had “offered my personal real estate and investment lands as additional collateral to the RTC” and asked them to continue to fund his loans. “My land was taken by the RTC, then sold at bargain prices to their friends in less than arms-length transactions,” leaving Monzer with a deficit still owed to the RTC. He had to battle “the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was full of ignorance, stupidity, and graft, in my opinion.”
His land was taken and sold to others and Monzer was left with debt. He was then sued for over a quarter of a billion dollars.

Monzer’s lawyers advised him to file bankruptcy, but he paid off his debt without doing so. Monzer said, “In spite of literally living in hell as a developer, I kept my word.”

In the 1990s, Monzer rebuilt his real estate development business. His firm has “built tens of millions of square feet of hospitals, high technology-integrated medical office buildings, and large office buildings.”

Many of the major medical office building projects in development at that time were for HealthSouth. Accounting irregularities were discovered at HealthSouth which lead to the arrest, but not conviction, of its chairman, Richard Scrushy and the near destruction of HealthSouth, as a firm.

Monzer again faced a major financial crisis. Refinancing by a new financial partner has allowed Monzer and Medistar to continue to grow. Monzer summed up his journey as a leader: “We survived the Houston disaster in real estate. We are a successful Houston developer, which is an endangered species.” Monzer Hourani and his entire team at Medistar are working daily to serve the medical office building development and state-of-the-art hospital construction needs of the medical community throughout the entire United States.

Copyright 2006 © Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D.

Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D.

Chief Enlightenment Officer

The Leadership Success Institute
www.TheLeaderInstitute.com

HowardEdwardHallerPhD@msn.com

Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D. is the Chief Enlightenment Officer of the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho based The Leadership Success Institute. His Doctoral dissertation in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga Univ. included interviews with prominent US leaders in business, politics & education.

The initial nine prominent leaders who overcame adversity included: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, Dr. John Malone, Larry Pino, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar.

Then seven more leaders, who overcame adversity, were interviewed including: Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, J. Terrence Lanni, Angelo Mozilo, Dr. Nido Qubein, and Dr. John Sperling.

Five internationally known and respected leadership scholars offered their reviews of the Dr. Haller’s research findings including: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Jim Kouzes, Dr. John Kotter, Dr. Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley.

http://www.TheLeaderInstitute.com

A new client recently admitted to me sheepishly that she often didn’t get to complete a client’s work until the client called to see if it was ready. I admired her honesty if not her time management skills.

I’ve had times in my past sales career when my work load got so out of control I worked in a similar fashion - on the priority of the moment. This method of work gives real meaning to the saying “The squeaky wheel gets oiled.”

Recently I sent some chairs out to be reupholstered. The fellow who picked them up said they would be done by the end of June. On July 15th they still had not arrived. I’d been calling about them since July 1st. The person who answered the phone said that the reupholstery had been completed but the painting was not.

We all have had times when we have promised something to a client or customer only to have life happen and we miss the date. When it is more routine than we care to admit however it would be best to examine our way of working so that we can find a solution to the problem.

“Promise Little, Deliver Everything” is the tenth “Principle of Attraction” in Thomas Leonard’s book The Portable Coach.

“Every step of the way, I made a point to under promise and over deliver. In the long run, that’s the only way to ensure security in any job.” says Howard Schulz CEO of Starbucks Coffee in his book Pour Your Heart Into It. “Under promising and over delivering” it is a way of work that is so much easier said than done.

When a client asks, “When will that be ready?” What is your response? If the client doesn’t ask, do you promise something anyway or just let the work go to the bottom of the pile?

As a sales professional my customers always wanted their system as soon as they ordered it! I had to quote a reasonable time for me to get the order in and the factory to deliver the product. Some work I did myself and other parts of the order I needed others to do. Everyone had to adhere to a schedule to get the job done on time.

Even with the best of intentions this system sometimes doesn’t work because the unexpected happens. According to the reupholsterer the painter needed to put more coats of paint on the frame than he originally thought he would. The problem was that they told me this on July 15th not on June 30th so I had two weeks to feel frustrated and angry.

Most business owners don’t intend to disappoint clients. Sometimes it is the unexpected that gets in the way. Other times it is our inability to grasp all the other priorities we have and to see how this particular job fits into our work schedule. Having a way to regularly review what is outstanding and what the priorities are for the day, week and month helps to get realistic about what can be finished and what cannot.

If however you wait until the client calls to do the work, you are using a very stressful and exhausting method. If you have a lot of work that you manage this way, you are constantly under the gun to get something done for someone. Receiving calls from the client will be unpleasant. That’s a recipe for burnout!

Life will be so much easier if you start using a good time management program. Hiring a coach or advisor to help you to incorporate good time management skills into your work environment also will ease the burden.

Take Action:

1. Take stock of your work habits. Do you under promise and over deliver? Where are you doing the reverse? What can you do about it?

2. How do you review your work load? Do you read your mission/vision weekly so you are clear on your goals? Do you do a weekly review of your priorities? Do you proactively call clients whose work will be delayed?

3. How do you decide the date by which you can promise to deliver? Do you co-ordinate it with other people’s schedules? Are you good at forecasting and then delivering?

4. Need some help with time management? I work with lawyers and other professionals to get focused on their life priorities so they can forecast delivery dates and deliver quality work.

About Alvah Parker

Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker’s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. To subscribe send an email to join-roadtosuccess@go.netatlantic.com.

Parker’s Value Program© enables clients to find a way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. She is both a Practice Advisor and Coach to attorneys, managers, business owners, sole practioners, and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at http://www.asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

Military formations have long sought to lessen the tension between the rigidity of their organisational structures and the need for quick, decisive, imaginative leadership plus flexibility of movement on the battlefield. General George Armstrong Custer’s ego, for example, blinded him to the realities of the situation at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and it cost many men their lives in consequence. The US Cavalry of the nineteenth century seems to have lacked the organisational checks-and-balances required to halt one man’s dangerous ambitions. But too much centralised control, red tape and restraint can be just as risky as too little.

During Operation Mercury, the German airborne invasion of Crete in May 1941, General Bernard Freyberg, the island’s commander, and his subordinates opted for an outdated static defence in the face of aggressive, highly motivated but lightly armed paratroops. It was largely thanks to Freyberg’s autocratic style of leadership and obsolete military thinking which allowed the Germans to eventually wrestle control of the island away from its Commonwealth defenders, a numerically superior force, and impel a humiliating evacuation.

Not only did the Germans employ every technological advantage available to them, but they also harnessed the esprit de corps, or fighting spirit of the Fallschirmjaeger (paratroops), a wholly new type of warrior. Unlike most of its adversaries at the time the German military machine believed in swift campaigns of strike and manoeuvre. By forming all available units into Kampfgruppen, or Battlegroups, a local commander had the tools, knowledge and freedom of action to ruthlessly exploit the slightest weakness in the enemy line without hesitation. In contrast, Freyberg’s unit commanders exercised almost no freedom of control over the battles they fought and lost.

You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader be killed you can yourself fulfil it.
‘Ten Commandments of the German Parachutist’, The Fall of Crete by Alan Clark.

Typically, the British Army of the Second World War still believed in training its soldiers to simply obey orders without asking too many questions. Officers rarely took NCOs into their confidence about operational matters, let-alone the rank and file. Consequently, when a unit’s officer was killed or badly wounded there was no one ready to take command with enough operational knowledge to complete the mission. The Germans adopted a far more enlightened and pragmatic policy, whereby every man was expected to be able to step into the shoes of his direct superior. The German Army’s system encouraged and rewarded initiative, flexibility and daring. The result was a crop of fine, resolute, gifted planners and aggressive leaders, such as Erwin Rommel, Walther Model and Kurt Student. Only later, as the war progressed, did the British and other Allied armies start to gradually adopt similar methods.

Victory or defeat in the corporate sphere may not cost lives but can certainly cost livelihoods. Rigid organisational structures and strong corporate cultures can often do more to hobble talent than harness it. Instead of fast-moving, flexible organisations always ready to ruthlessly exploit a competitive advantage, many companies are hindered by their own bureaucracy and an army of timid, indecisive middle managers. For fear of making the wrong decision, and being held accountable, these people make no decisions. Instead they choose to endlessly analyse or prevaricate. For far too long UK businesses have failed to appreciate the importance of investing in professional management training, internal communications and leadership skills.

In many ways the German military approach can be likened to Charles Handy’s concept of a ‘doughnut organisation’, as expressed in his book The Empty Raincoat. As a central organising principle Handy suggests a balance between ‘core’ roles, responsibilities or duties and a ‘bounded space’ where initiative, daring and imagination can be expressed, cultivated or tested. The major difference between a doughnut organisation and a traditional hierarchy, whether commercial or military, is one of trust.

The Allied commander of Crete saw no place for discretion or freedom of action among his line officers. Strict control of troop dispositions was supposed to ensure a predictable outcome. This proved counter-intuitive, as it simply robbed line-officers of their freedom of action; the ability to adapt to changing circumstances on the battlefield. The German system also sought to impose a regime of strict discipline and obedience within its ranks. The Germans instilled an extreme sense of duty and loyalty to the Fatherland within its troops.

However, this was tempered with trust in a shared vision, values and beliefs plus a man’s personal qualities, such as integrity, intelligence and courage, as well as his professional talents. Men were recognised, rewarded and quickly promoted for their daring, inventiveness or inspired leadership. It’s hardly surprising to learn that many of Germany’s senior commanders during the latter stages of the war had been relatively junior officers at its outbreak.

Today we see many variations of Charles Handy’s doughnut organisation as numerous enterprises finally come to realise that bureaucracy tends to be cumbersome, unresponsive, costly and uncompetitive. One example of just such a transformation is the HM Treasury’s National Savings and Investments agency (NS&I). Until the late 1990s NS&I employed a staff of over 4,000 to develop, promote, sell and service its wide range of government-backed saving and investment products such as ISAs and Premium Bonds.

The new shape of work will centre around small organisations, most of them in the service sector, with a small core of key people and a collection of stringers or portfolio workers in the space around the core.
Charles Handy, The Empty Raincoat.

Finding itself increasing squeezed by new web-based entrants to an already overcrowded financial services market, NS&I struck a deal with Siemens Business Services (SBS). Siemens assumed responsibility for the bulk of NS&I sales and back office operations, excluding Post Office Counters Ltd. Over 3,500 NS&I employees, mostly sales, customer service and accounts people, transferred to SBS, securing their jobs and long term futures.

The remaining NS&I ‘core people’ were then trusted to concentrate solely on the development, marketing, advertising and launch of new financial products to the marketplace, or enhance existing ones. SBS received a guaranteed 10-year contract to run the NS&I call-centre plus its online and mail order businesses. Having dramatically increased its sales force almost overnight, Siemens could immediately compete for additional service sector contracts. SBS also furnished NS&I with the advanced IT systems necessary for them to get closer to their customers, understand them better, explore new market opportunities, and compete more effectively.

To deliver its products and services so they consistently surpass customer expectations, its essential that a company’s brands, people, suppliers and partners are carefully aligned and demonstrate a high level of interconnectedness. That same organisational structure must also be flexible enough to anticipate and adapt to changing customer needs, new opportunities and competitive threats. An organisation’s people must be given trust, encouragement, focus and direction rather than rules, regulations or limitations. Modern IT, IS and CRM systems can also provide the necessary tools for quick, confident decision-making, and sharing of corporate knowledge.

The process of gathering, assessing, sharing and, most importantly, using information cannot be underestimated. The fall of Crete clearly illustrates the point. History taught General Freyberg that only a naval blockade or amphibious assault could capture his island. That meant deploying many of his men to defend the various ports, harbours or other small anchorages that punctuated the coastline. The Germans had other ideas. German strategy relied on surprise, speed and a radical new form of airborne warfare. Success or failure hinged on the paratroopers immediately seizing Crete’s airfields rather than its harbours.

To secure and hold the airfields German paratroops had to be swiftly reinforced and replenished with food, ammunition and medical supplies while their wounded were evacuated. The landing strips would also provide a base from which to fly continuous fighter and dive-bomber missions against the island’s defenders. Certainly Freyberg’s men did defend the airfields, but both he and they seem to have totally misjudged their strategic importance. It was a simple enough equation: hold the airfields and hold the island. Do this and any seaborne element of the German invasion force would then be powerless to intervene.

However what made the loss of Crete such a bitter Allied defeat was the fact that Freyberg, his superiors and political masters knew exactly when, where and how the Germans intended to strike. Thanks to the code-breakers of ULTRA having deciphered most of the Luftwaffe’s Enigma radio traffic, the secret of Operation Mercury was out. Possession of this knowledge itself created a dilemma for the Allies, or so argues historians and academics. By acting on intelligence gained by ULTRA the Germans might be alerted to its existence, and change their codes in response. Faced with a potential intelligence blackout Allied High Command had a difficult choice to make. Ultimately, they chose to sacrifice the island rather than risk ULTRA.

Today, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems a highly questionable decision not to have shared or fully exploited ULTRA-gained intelligence for the defence of Crete. So what went wrong? It seems that Allied planners no-longer trusted themselves to make fair-minded strategic assessments or recommendations based on situational analysis alone. Doubt eroded their confidence, made them unnecessarily cautious, and blinded them to the possibility of inflicting Germany’s first major defeat of the war. After all, the Germans knew that airborne assaults were always hazardous adventures, and something of a gamble. Crete’s garrison was a well-equipped, experienced and a numerically superior force, which should have been quite capable of repelling an attack by lightly armed infantry.

In truth, surprisingly little about the failure of Operation Mercury would have given the Germans cause to question the security of their Enigma codes. On the other hand, an Allied victory at this juncture of the war would have been an enormous boon, after so many defeats. Morale across Europe would have soared while the myth of German invincibility would have finally been dispelled. And this achieved just a month before the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Strategically, the holding of Crete would have made the Mediterranean a much more dangerous place for German and Italian convoys, and placed greater pressures on their forces in the Middle East.

The decision to protect the ULTRA secret was one thing, but the failure to apply some sound military judgement in the defence of Crete was quite another. Any Allied officer worthy of the name should have learned some stark lessons about German strategic thinking, and the tactical deployment of Special Forces like paratroops since 1939, and planned accordingly. The Fallschirmjaeger should have been completely overwhelmed when at their most vulnerable: while aboard their slow and unarmed JU52 transport aircraft; during their descent; or just after landing, before they could retrieve their weapons containers. Instead, despite suffering initial heavy losses, the Germans were able to adapt, overcome and finally win a truly stunning victory.

As for the Allies, their defeat had no single or readily identifiable cause. Everything from poor communications to an inflexible command structure contributed to their eventual overthrow. Of course, the lesson to be learnt here is that if something as intangible as trust, given or withheld at critical moments, can decide the outcome of battles then think about what it can do for your business.

Source:

Battle Group! German Kampfgruppen Action of World War Two, by James Lucas, Arm & Armour, London, 1993

Changing Bureaucracies, William Antonio Medina, Marcel Dekker, 2001

Crete - The Battle and Resistance, Anthony Beevor, John Murray Publishers, 1991

The Empty Raincoat - Making Sense of the Future, Charles Handy, Arrow Books Ltd, 1995

The Fall of Crete, Alan Clark, cassell military paperbacks edition, 2001

The Lost Battle, Crete 1941, Callum MacDonald, MacMillan, 1993

About Charlie the copywriter

Charlie Trumpess is a marketing communications copywriter with over a decade’s corporate experience. Today he provides copywriting services to small and medium size businesses.

Visit http://www.charlie-the-copywriter.co.uk

Email: charlie@charlie-the-copywriter.co.uk