Tag: books

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Engagement

“Share of Mind, Share of Heart” Book News

Nonprofit professionals, leaders and volunteers interested in Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits now have the option to purchase it in both print and electronic versions. In response to numerous requests, my latest book is available for purchase and download at Energize Inc.’s Bookstore. I’m honored that Energize, Inc., a valuable resource for ALL things related to volunteerism, has chosen to offer my book.

For those readers who prefer print, Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits is conveniently available online through WME Books, and Amazon.

Categories
Engagement

Employee Turnover Revisited

The economy has changed significantly since the 2008 publication of Leigh Branham’s book, The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave. Enough so that Branham wrote a second edition of his book based on new data collected from employee exit surveys.

Branham states upfront that the reasons given by employees for leaving their jobs are “fundamentally the same.” What has changed are the implications from the data. For example:

  • Employees are “five times more likely to leave a job because of an internal issue than in response to an outside opportunity …”
  • Since employees don’t just leave for better opportunities (although that’s what they’ll tell the company because it’s easier), most employee turnover is avoidable and potentially preventable.
  • Employees may leave their immediate managers, but they also cite lack of trust in senior leaders as a key reason for disengaging.

Dissatisfaction with pay is cause for some turnover, but more as an emotional issue related to salary fairness than with the actual amount of the salary itself. Branham explains that employees “are bothered by inequity – knowing that they make less than others who are no more qualified, or even less qualified than they are. They feel the injustice of getting the same pay raises as those who have contributed far less to the organization than they have … It all adds up to feeling  ‘less than.’”

If you care about employee retention

This book will help you better understand why employees leave and what you can do about it. Branham shows how to recognize the warning signs that employees are getting ready to exit and shares examples of what employer-of-choice organizations do to minimize turnover. Given employees share responsibility for their own engagement, he also offers suggestions employees can consider before they leave as a last resort.

The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave provides research-based evidence that:

“Most of the reasons employees disengage and leave are consistent, predictable, and avoidable, if the employers have the desire to retain and are willing to invest the time to take preventive or corrective actions.” – Leigh Branham

I strongly recommend Branham’s updated book for managers and business owners who need to address employee retention for a better bottom line.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

What They’re Saying About “Share of Mind, Share of Heart”

I’m thrilled with the positive response to my new book, Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits.

I’m honored to share these more detailed book reviews by Ivana Taylor, Small Business Trends, and Wayne Hurlbert, Blog Business World.

Here are several recent reviews that I’m also honored to share.

“With a great passion for (and deep expertise in) nonprofit marketing, Sybil Stershic has written an immensely practical, valuable book. “Share of Mind, Share of Heart” clearly explicates both marketing fundamentals and more sophisticated concepts for nonprofit marketing professionals in plain, easy-to-understand language, with concrete examples.

“Unlike many academic texts on nonprofit marketing, this book is peppered with questions designed to get you thinking tangibly and immediately about how the concepts discussed can be applied directly to the day-to-day business of your organization. I found her insights into internal marketing tools of engagement to be particularly apt and important. Too often in leanly staffed, undercapitalized nonprofits where staff is pressed for time, we overlook this crucial area. Morale and profits suffer as a result, with organizations sometimes seeming disconnected and disengaged from their customers, volunteers, and (in some cases) overall mission.

“‘Share of Mind, Share of Heart’ is a book that should be on the shelf of every nonprofit marketer, both novices and veterans.” – Andrew Edmonson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Houston Ballet

“Like the author, I have served on a variety of non-profit boards and counseled them about marketing. I’ve found that the whole idea of marketing is intimidating to many non-profits. They often believe marketing is too complicated for them and requires a commitment of resources (both human and monetary) beyond their capability. This insightful book dispels these fears as myths. Marketing is presented here as it truly ought to be: a simple, people-based idea about creating and communicating value. Each chapter provides an understandable exercise that will cause the reader to pause and reflect upon how to bring the marketing concept to life in any non-profit.”     – Frank Haas, Dean of Hospitality, Business and Legal Education, Kapiolani Community College

“Every now and then, you find a book that contains more than a powerful message—it houses a poignant experience. Share of Mind, Share of Heart is an experiential wisdom-sharing tome written for organizations that benefit us all. Full of practical how to’s and laced in the language and philosophy of non-profits, it will open eyes, enhance skills, and enrich outreach.” – Chip R. Bell, noted author and consultant, The Chip Bell Group

Special thanks to Andrew, Frank, Chip, Ivana, and Wayne for taking the time to review and share their thoughts on my book!

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

The Assimilation Approach to Employee Onboarding

Not all organizations offer a formal orientation or onboarding program for new employees. Even so, they shouldn’t leave the process to chance.

Corporate without class
by David Zinger

“The new guy
down the hall
needs to learn
how we do
things around here.
We’ll train him
without a course
by rolling eyes,
banter at lunch, and
afternoon chocolate bribes.
He’ll fit in,
won’t make waves
and tread lightly
around cultural cubicles.”

Assorted Zingers by David Zinger, with great cartoons by John Junson.

Categories
Engagement Featured Post

Can You Achieve 100% Employee Engagement?

One of the best descriptions between employees who are engaged and those who are not comes from Blessing White:

” … engaged employees stay for what they give (they like their work) [whereas] disengaged employees stay for what they get (favorable job conditions, growth opportunities, job security).”

Given the choice, most companies would prefer their workforce be comprised of fully engaged employees. But is total engagement attainable or even realistic? According to employee engagement author and consultant Leigh Branham, not all employees choose to be engaged:

“Most employees want to be engaged [while] other employees simply don’t view being engaged as a desirable, or even possible, personal goal. They see work as a necessary activity, but not as a source of fulfillment. Many have a strong work ethic, but are uninspired by their managers or their daily work environment, so they withhold much of their energy and effort.” 

Just because every employee isn’t interested in being engaged doesn’t mean management should give up on it or work harder to force it on employees. Neither scenario creates a positive work environment.

While 100% employee engagement may not be realistic, smart companies focus on what they can do to maximize engagement in their organizations – including hiring right from the outset, recognizing and reinforcing a positive work culture that values people (employees, customers, business partners, etc. ) as well as profit, and keeping it simple.

[Image courtesy of http://www.peopleinsight.co.uk/]

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 2

Upon learning about my new book, Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits, my friend was puzzled. “I don’t get it,” he said, “especially when nonprofits are so mission-driven. Aren’t the people who work there more engaged than those who work in the for-profit sector?”

My friend’s presumption about nonprofit engagement is a common one. Regardless of whether an organization is profit-driven or mission-driven, the quality of workplace engagement depends on the organizational culture and how its people are treated. Nonprofits can’t claim any advantage based on employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission.

As nonprofit employee and consultant Jinna Halperin wrote in Voices from the Field: Nonprofit Workplace Culture – Why it Matters so Much to Us:

“All nonprofits are dysfunctional in some way or another and figuring out where to hang your hat requires one to assess whether the level and type of dysfunction is personally tolerable …

“I am no longer driven only by the mission of the organization. Having so many issues about which I feel passionate and on which I have worked, I have come to believe that employment happiness at nonprofits is more about how one is treated and whether one’s contribution is respected …”

An inspiring mission may attract talent employees and volunteers to an organization, but it takes much more to get them to stay. People need to feel they matter as much as their work.

Note: To get a look inside my new book on nonprofit engagement, stay tuned for next week’s post.

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 1

My love of nonprofits started in my teens when I volunteered to work at a summer camp for intellectually disabled children. Since then, I’ve served a variety of nonprofit organizations in a range of roles that include frontline volunteer, committee member, advisory member, board member, board chair, and in a professional capacity as a marketing & organizational advisor.

Here’s what I’ve learned based on my personal and professional experience:

1. Mission matters – it provides organizational focus and intention. It also brings together the people who share a passion for the mission and want to do something about it.

2. The people behind the mission also matter – the employees and volunteers who carry out the mission through their dedication and commitment.

3. People’s passion for the mission should not be taken for granted – employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission does not guarantee their continued commitment to an organization.

These valuable insights are the basis for my new book that I’m excited to introduce here. I wrote Share of Mind, Share of Heart – Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits to help nonprofit leaders, executives and managers better engage the employees and volunteers who carry out their organization’s mission.

My book will be published shortly. In the meantime, I’ll share more about nonprofit engagement and my new book in the next two posts.

Categories
Engagement

People, Purpose and a Positive Brand

Much has been written the past few weeks about Greg Smith and his public reasons for disengaging from Goldman Sachs – with a lot of the discussion centered on the importance of corporate culture.

Employees don’t work in a vacuum. For better or worse, they’re greatly impacted by “the way things are done around here” and what actions get rewarded and reinforced; i.e., behaviors that reflect a company’s culture and values.

Sure, a company needs profits to survive … but profit is only one of several components critical to sustainable success. A company also needs its employees, stakeholders, and partners associated with the enterprise to be aligned around a purpose that goes beyond pure profit. As these successful executives have learned:

“Maximum growth and high ideals are not incompatible; they’re inseparable. … A brand ideal of improving people’s lives is the only sustainable way to recruit, unite and inspire all the people a business touches, from employees to customers. Without that connection, no business can truly excel.” Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble and author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies

“The companies that put profit before people are a vanishing breed. Companies big and small, with a multiple stakeholder approach to business, the ones that value their employees and customers as much as shareholders, are realizing that the financials only get better. If you want to make more money, focus on your people first. It’s not only the right thing to do. It’s good for business.” Paul Spiegelman, founder and CEO of the The Beryl Companies, in his article “Attention Goldman Sachs: Time to Buckle Down and Focus on Culture”

“Over time, as we focused more and more on our culture, we ultimately came to the realization that a company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin. The brand is just a lagging indicator of a company’s culture.” Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

The bottom line: Focusing on people and purpose creates a strong culture and positive brand that helps drive profits.

Categories
Engagement

Employee Engagement is Looking Up


Above the bottom line by David Zinger

“Dwelling above the bottom line
our contributions
our meaning
our routines
our relationships
our passions
our connections
our fears
our irritations
our time
our lives.
Business is looking up.
It doesn’t all come down to the bottom line.”

From what perspective does your organization view the bottom line?

[Source: Assorted Zingers  by David Zinger, with great cartoons by John Junson.]

Categories
Engagement Marketing

An Almost Perfect Workplace

One of my favorite business books is Zappos.com’s Culture Book that is published annually. It’s written by Zappos employees who share, in their own words, what the company culture means to them.

I ask participants in my internal marketing workshops to consider if their organizations would be willing to solicit employee comments about their workplace culture, publish the results, AND THEN make them available to the public? The responses reflect how confident and proud managers are of their organizational culture.

Occasionally I encounter people who joke about companies, like Zappos, that are known for having a strong employer brand. Typical comments include:

  • “Yeah, they’re the ones who put the ‘cult’ in culture!”
  • “I wonder how much Kool-Aid the company trucks in?”
  • “Where DO they find all those happy employees?!”

I find the folks who make these jokes to be cynical, even downright dismissive, as they struggle to comprehend an engaging place where employees actually enjoy going to work.

Yes, Virginia, there are such workplaces … and most of their employees appreciate how fortunate they are to be working in such organizations.

Just as important, these employees also know that an engaging workplace doesn’t ensure an idyllic one. Engaged employees accept that not every day will be perfect. As a Zappos employee acknowledged in the latest Culture Book:

“A lot of people might say that Zappos employees work in an unrealistic culture, where everyday frustrations don’t occur and cupcakes grow from rainbows in our break room. While I’ve yet to see the cup-cake-producing rainbow, I can say that we do have all of the same pet peeves as everyone else, but because of our Zappos Culture, we rise above it and overcome.”

Well said!

[2010 Culture Book excerpt used with permission. © 2012 Zappos.com, Inc. or its affiliates.]