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As a manager or leader, do you let your people assume more responsibility when they are able? Do you know when
that is, or do you keep telling yourself that they aren't ready yet?

In my travels from organization to organization, I talk with thousands of people every year who want to be treated as
"partners" rather than as employees. They want information to flow up as well as down. But, oftentimes, leaders do
not want to give up control.

I knew a CEO who was the leader of one of the world's largest global organizations. He received feedback that he
was too stubborn and opinionated. He learned that he needed to do a better job of letting others to make decisions and
to focus less on being right himself. He practiced this simple technique for one year: before speaking, he would take a
breath and ask himself, "Is it worth it?" He learned that 50% of the time his comments may have been right on, but
they weren't worth it. He quickly bega n focusing more on empowering others and letting them take ownership and
commitment for decisions, and less on his own need to add value.

Your employees understand their jobs. They know their tasks, roles, and functions within the organization, and it's
time for you to let them do what they need to do to get the job done. But there is a critical point that is often missed:
It isn't possible for a leader to "empower" someone to be accountable and make good decisions. People have to
empower themselves. Your r ole is to encourage and support the decision -making environment, and to give employees
the tools and knowledge they need to make and act upon their own decisions. By doing this, you help your employees
reach an empowered state.

The process does take longer ² employees will only believe they are empowered when they are left alone to
accomplish results over a period of time ² but it's effective and worth the time. If a company has a history of
shutting down or letting go of initiators, for instance, the lead er can't just tell employees, "You are empowered to
make decisions."

Part of building an empowering environment is dependent on the leader's ability to run interference on behalf of the
team. The leader needs to make sure people are safe doing their jobs. To make sure this happens, an ongoing
discussion of the needs, opportunities, tasks, obstacles, projects, what is working and what is not working is
absolutely critical to the development and maintenance of a "safe" working environment. You are likely to spend a lot
of time in dialogue with other leaders, employees, team members, and peers.

Following are a few things leaders can do to build an environment that empowers people.

1.m £
 to those who have demonstrated the capacity to handle the responsibil ity.
2.m =     in which people are encouraged to grow their skills.
3.m —  others' decisions and ideas unless it's absolutely necessary. This only undermines their
confidence and keeps them from sharing future ideas with yo u.
4.m £

  and autonomy over their tasks and resources.

Successful leaders and managers today are willing to exercise their leadership in such a way that their people are
empowered to make decisions, share information, and try new things. Mo st employees (future leaders) see the value
in finding empowerment and are willing to take on the responsibilities that come with it. If future leaders have the
wisdom to learn from the experience of present leaders, and if present leaders have the wisdom to build an
environment that empowers people, both will share in the benefits.

There are many more things that leaders can do to build and environment that empowers people. Please send any
ideas you have. I would love to hear them!
-    
  
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It may be that the current economic situation will not change as quickly as one would hope, particularly for the
hospitality industry.

In fact, it could be more necessary than ever to continue adjusting expenses to account for the continued change in
revenues. More importantly in an industry where labor is the biggest operating expense, the challenges are still
greater than in other industries as productivity is tied more conspicuously to qualit y of service and consequently, to
overall guest satisfaction.

Certainly, while operators continue to adjust rates and struggle with business, one thing that remains is that the labor
expense is still the single largest operating expense for hotels and hot el companies. Consequently, with changes in
one there should be reciprocally appropriate changes in the other. More simply stated, companies cannot continue to
operate with the same labor expenses for what should be a longer than expected time period of de creased revenues.

On the other hand, hotels or hotel companies could choose to remove positions as they think appropriate without
proper study and analysis; however, they could then be opening themselves up to more extreme effects on the guest
experience. If the guest experience is disrupted, then guest satisfaction will be lowered and hotels or hotel companies
will have initiated the one thing that they absolutely cannot afford to do - and that is to jeopardize the only revenues
or potential revenues that may be available.

By now it should be more obvious that reducing labor costs is not as simple as merely reducing staff counts by a
given percentage in order to meet financial expectations. Additionally, cutting the wrong staff in the wrong
departments may also result in difficulties that are realized farther down the line. Either approach could impact guest
service by placing additional strain on staff or effecting business operations in the future such as by creating a back
log in guest comment attent ion or other necessary follow up on the administrative side.

At a time when watching expenses is crucial because revenues have gone flat, no business can afford to mishandle
what revenues are available. Therefore, it is imperative for hotel and company ma nagers to project labor properly and
frequently based on productivity indicators such as cost per occupied room, labor cost percentage, cost per guest,
hours per occupied room, cost per cover, number of hours/minutes to clean a room, number hours/minutes t o serve a
room service order, cost per treatment, cost per round of golf, etc.

More importantly, these measurements must be made available on a daily basis, since doing so only weekly or
monthly may be too late to correct the problem or to avoid the expe nse. Equally important is that these measurements
should be done at the job level and categorized by fixed and variable position - not just by department, to ensure that
data is more meaningful.

To understand how much labor is needed to operate any hotel, managers must be able to determine how much work
each fixed and variable employee can perform. More specifically, too few employees scheduled on any given day
may result in service that is below expectations, while too many employees scheduled will result in higher labor
expense for the day and consequently, a reduction in profits. The solution to such a challenge is to know how many
employees are required given the estimated number of guests anticipated on any given day.

To determine this number of employees, one must have a clear idea of the productivity of each of its employees.

It is this above scenario that presents the definition of productivity as the amount of work performed by an employee
within a fixed period of time.

Measuring this productivity is determined by the productivity ratio, that is:

°



 





In order to utilize this ratio, it is important to understand that there are 5 key employee related factors that affect
productivity:

÷m c
  ' ± choosing the correct talent for the appropriate positions so that efficiency levels are
optimal prior to the beginning of training.
÷m  ± as the old saying goes, practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.
Providing the proper tools to any staff allows for better execution at the desired service levels.
÷m '
 ± direction from experienced managers is paramount to achieving fluency in any operation.
Establishing clear goals and objectives for trained employees with checks and balances along the way will
produce consistent results.
÷m ' ± planning the correct number of staff required for optimal performance during varying levels
of occupancy and general traffic throughout restaurants, golf operations, spa facilities, etc. must be done so
as to accommodate guest needs without an unnecessary number of staff members on hand.
÷m — '  ± the hospitality industry is supposed to be about taking care of guests first and
foremost while delivering an exceptional experience which would in turn have them repeat over and over
 again. This experience must always be delivered with a conscientious eye towards limiting expenses so as
to achieve profitability.

=

If it is established through the analysis of productivity that labor costs are too high; it is then important to identify
problem areas to take corrective action. If the overall pro ductivity of the labor force does not improve as a result of
initial corrective action, then additional or other corrective actions must be taken.

For instance, the approach to reducing labor -related expenses for fixed payroll is different from the appro ach to
reducing that of variable payroll. One can decrease variable expenses by increasing productivity, improving the
scheduling process, eliminating employees, or reducing wages paid. On the other hand, one decreases fixed expenses
by reducing wages paid as a percentage of revenue while also increasing sales volume. In every case however, a hotel
operation thrives if productivity improves, wage cost remains low and revenues increase.

Time is limited in many ways today, and more so, when operating beneath the heavy weight of a longer than
expected drag in any increased revenues. It is time to take things into one¶s own hands and utilize the best tools
available to analyze labor data more effectively not only against proper indicators and historical data bu t also against
forecast and budget data. Handling this task manually or with a simple spreadsheet of limited information is no longer
enough, and certainly there is no better time than now to work towards enhancing the process so as to maintain
profitability for as long as possible during the next few years.

Once things begin to go back to what may be more normal, then hotels and hotel companies can continue to reap the
benefits of having learned how to operate more efficiently when things were down. This can only make things even
better when thing are up again.
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The employee issue cannot be emphasized enough, tough times weigh heavy on employees and they know when a
company is not performing without seeing the profit and loss statement.

The good ones start to abandon ship and seek employment elsewhere. Add restructuring and employee terminations
to the formula and keeping your good employees becomes the most life threatening issue you are likely to face during
tough economic times.

Losing good employees has a high cost associated with it.

 
  -

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 - When people enjoy and are challenged by their work they become self -
motivated.


 
 - Trust employees to make their own decisions and make their own mistakes.

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 - Excessive competition destroys morale. When teams work towards a shared goal
they become more motivated.

# 
$ 
 $ - Do long hours necessarily equal quality work? Look at whether your
organization encourages a presentee culture rather than valuing performance and results.

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- Keep employees informed on new developments in the organization
and how their work impacts the company.

&'%(ã  - Praise and recognize employees¶ successes five times as much as you provide constructive
feedback.

)*

 - Possibly the greatest single factor for a motivated workforce. How can you improve job security and
fringe benefits?

+,

 - Enable managers to coach their teams and create opportunities for people who are keen to learn
skills and grow within the organization.

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. 

- Including relaxing the dress code where appropriate, developing
areas for socializing, creative thinking, reading and giving employees quality spaces to work in (larger desks, quiet,
natural lighting etc.)

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  - When people feel they are treated fairly they r emain loyal to the company and motivated
by their work. Perceived inequality of treatment leads to resentment, low morale and lack of self -motivation.
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The economic crisis has brought about new norms, affecting hospitality organizations in countless ways, large and
small.

According to Gene Ference, President of Ference Leadership and Strategy and a leading consultant on improving
organizational and service culture, these new norms will require business leaders to take a new approach to peak
performance in the coming year.

The global economic downturn has left a permanent imprint on the hospitality industry by creating new norms in both
customer expectations and organizational ROI. To attain peak performance in this new environment, hospitality
executives must incorporate new strategies in their management toolboxes to reflect the changed reality. As I¶ll
discuss in a moment, with every perceived problem comes an opportunity.

First and foremost, the successful executive in 2010 and beyond will recognize that customers expe ct more from a
typical hotel stay than ever before. After enjoying declining average room rates during the past year, customers will
continue to demand more value for their hospitality dollar from this point forward.

Here¶s what we know about customers a s we turn the corner into the new year :

÷m People love, want and need to travel

÷m Customers increasingly want to stay in a hotel that transcends a boring box
÷m A quality product and excellent service are de rigueur
÷m Customers want hotels to provide new and mem orable experiences

The traditional two-bucket hospitality formula of quality product and excellent service permanently has a third
member: exceptional experience, and the successful leader will either adapt or watch his organization wallow.

Based on formal surveys of customers and discussions with top management at a dozen of today¶s finest hotel
companies, our Center for Survey Research has isolated six strategies that will guide industry executives to true
leadership success in what will continue to be an ultracompetitive industry in 2010 and for the foreseeable future.

&           
)

Peak performance is the ultimate organizational achievement, but it is rarely attained ± in the hotel industry or
elsewhere.

That¶s because to reach the peak all aspects of an organization must work as a cohesive whole towards a common
goal.

The traditional excellence aspects of product and service, along with the structural elements of organizational
alignment (vision, mission, standards) and departmental balance (systems, processes, resources) must work
synergistically to achieve the maximum efficiencies that provide the mise -en-place for organizational success.

Peak performance absolutely requires a ll employees to enthusiastically walk -the-talk every minute of every workday
and hold each other accountable for their results.

What has either been misunderstood or forgotten over the years is that all elements of this high -functioning system
must be in place at the outset to support maximum human performance. Recent organizational studies state that more
than two-thirds of U.S. employees do not think their company has a strategy.

Nearly the same amount do not understand the company¶s strategy when it is communicated. How can we expect
employees to be part of rather than apart from the organization when they are not clear on the organization¶s vision,
mission, or strategy ? Understanding brand requires leadership to communicate the strategies of what we are doing as
well as why and how we are doing it.
 In robust economies, growth takes care of itself. Just build it
and the customers will come. Operational and management
inefficiencies are hidden behind the veil of strong customer
demand. Resources are available but not fully supported,
people are promoted beyond their levels of competency, and
everyone thinks they understand the concept of quality.

Employee satisfaction and customer engagement are given

lip service but are not supported by employee t raining
and development. The global economic meltdown smacked
us back to a reality that rewards leaders who seek both
maximum efficiencies and strategic effectiveness in every
part of the organization.

We call that « jumping the curve » ± leaving average,

typical or normal performance behind and striving for the
peak. The leader who installs these competencies now will
be positioned for stellar performance as the economy improves.

$       

    

This means the wrong people are off the bus. In the current difficult economy, every attempt must be made to
maximize the bottom line. This means each employee must pull his weight, do more with less and, when possible,
double up responsibilities to keep qual ity high and costs low. Even the most incompetent manager can survive an up
environment, but managing down is all about ensuring efficiencies and accountabilities.

One of the few gifts in a down economy is the ample unemployed labor force from which to se lect hard workers with
good attitudes. Another bright spot is a positive change in employee perceptions. Employee dissatisfactions morph to
Ô


 , employee sense-of-entitlements change to 
, and employee it¶s-
not-my-jobs change to Sure, I can. By putting the right people on the bus, toxic energy is eliminated, A-player
energy is freed to electrify the organization and the talent pool is motivated to do the very best it can.

Your job as a successful leader is to attract, train and retain the right talent and to ensure that motivated,
peakperforming staff do not become de-motivated.

   
    

The only way to be absolutely sure is to create a scorecard for your org anization by quantifying performance and
employee satisfaction department by department. If your needle continues to move upward from average to excellent
to peak performance, you¶re doing the right stuff. If you¶re going in the other direction, stop the b us and drop off
some dead weight.

Our employee feedback survey research over the past 30 years has consistently shown the top six items of
dissatisfaction to be the following. The successful leader will routinely survey his staff to measure these items a nd
address problems head-on should they arise.

ÿ / 


 
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1. Perceived organization-wide favoritism

2. Lack of individual recognition for special efforts
3. Unfairness in mid -management decision-making
4. Dishonesty in communications
5. Lack of understanding of front-line work among senior management
6. Lack of technical competence in mid -management

+ $%&%.         

The hospitality industry is built on face -to-face relationships and the successful leader will not tolerate a Blackberry
or cell phone as a substitute for eye -to-eye contact ± with customers or coworkers. E-mailing, text messaging and
even twittering all may have a place in the organization, but they should never be allowed to interfere with the
dynamic interpersonal communication that is this industry¶s lifeblood.
In meetings, electronic equipment should be required to be turned off so employees can focus on the content of the
meeting rather than texting or clearing inbox es.

The successful leader would be wise to follow the lead of hospitality companies and independents across the globe
who have begun to develop policies for on-site e-communication.

At a minimum, such policies should address what e -equipment can be used and where, and training should be
provided on how to construct streamlined content and distribution lists.

The successful leader will constantly remind employees that their job first and foremost is to serve the guest ± a
fellow human being who ultimat ely pays their salary.

- $%&%.   ) 
    )

In normal times, uncertainty is bad for employee morale: in economic crisis, uncertainty is devastating for employee
morale. In the current economy, leaders need to constan tly communicate a clear picture of the company and its
mission.

They also need to proactively manage communications by anticipating their employees¶ NEWS (Needs,
Expectations, Wants and Suggestions).

Organizations thrive on communication and fail on lack of it. If erring one way or the other, leaders need to over -
communicate regarding the status of the company, the work environment and the organizational culture. Silence
typically means bad news, while over -communication reinforces essential expectations and provides the security of
being kept current. It is almost impossible to be too informed in the workplace.

In down periods more than ever, leaders need to manage expectations regarding salary and promotions, assure all
staff that management is empathe tic to their concerns and make sure all employees are in the communications loop. It
takes only one uninformed or alienated employee to drag down an organization.

One organization we work with installed 42 -inch flat-screen televisions in staff areas to in form staff about average
occupancies, arriving VIPs, guest comment letters and guest e -mails. Information is updated daily. In top
organizations, general managers expect to meet new hires personally within 48 hours of their arrivals on the job.
When seeking dynamic feedback, leaders must be cognizant that what worked yesterday may not work today and
what worked with one generation may not with another.

Leaders also should be extra cautious not to insult individual intelligence, and they themselves must de monstrate
empathy and not leave touchyfeely aspects solely up to the human resources department.

In uncertain times, employee surveys become more important than ever as a rich and often overlooked source of
dynamic feedback material for effective team -building. A wellconstructed employee survey will measure how well
employees understand, embrace and use the organization¶s vision, mission, values, standards, systems, resources and
communications in their jobs. It will also measure employee empowerment, moti vation, satisfaction, interactions,
teamwork and passion.

Successful leaders will require survey results to be discussed in pre -shift, department and executive committee
meetings as well as workshops and retreats. Tomorrow¶s effective leader realizes « th e soft stuff is the hard stuff »,
and recognizes that it is often easier to talk about table turnover, heads in beds, and profit and loss than about the
human dynamics of people and teams.

/ $%&%.       

Total customer engagement is a two-sided coin, with the guest and his desires and expectations on one side, and the
employee and his desires and expectations on the other.

An effective leader must address the behaviors, attitudes and values of both sides to move an organization to peak
performance.

2

 

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As travel sophistication and personal incomes increase, guests seek increasingly engaging experiences from their
hospitality provider. Our research indicates the most important variable in tha t experience is an interpersonal
connection with staff who are genuine and caring.
More than ever, guests want to interact with employees who are comfortable in their own skins, have empathy and
warmth and are passionate about what they do. Guests also l ove it when employees share the guest¶s aspirations and
interests. If these elements are in place, guests view it as simply « part of the experience » when an employee makes a
mistake, feels comfortable making that mistake and has an effective recovery str ategy.

The effective leader recognizes the importance of these interpersonal ingredients to guest satisfaction and chooses
and trains his employees accordingly. While the leader focuses on vision, brand and the overall challenge of creating
an engaging, holistic experience for the guest, the leader relies on wellselected and well ± trained staff to capture
moments of service and make guests feel welcomed, appreciated and whole.

2



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The key to a peak-performing organizational culture is engaged employees who are invested in their work. As in Star
Wars, effective leadership develops cultures in which people « feel the force » rather than merely collect a paycheck.
Clarity about the organization¶s vision, mission and values allow em ployees to embrace that spirit and make it their
own.

This is why it is so important for the mise -en-place of organizational structure, alignment and balance to be in place
before leaders focus on the day-to-day elements of job satisfaction and engagement .

Put another way, leaders need to make sure employees understand the brand and their roles in helping to build,
energize and sustain that brand.

Let¶s face it, despite the bleak economy ± or maybe because of it ± some employees are actively disengaged. They
display little or no enthusiasm for their jobs and they depress team performance. Research studies consistently show
that only 25% of employees work to their full potential, more than half do only the bare -minimum required to keep
their jobs, and 75% say they could be significantly more effective if they chose to be.

In our experience, job disengagement is caused by two factors : boredom and anxiety. Boredom arises when an
employee finds himself doing the same thing over and over in mindless repeti tion. Here, the leader needs to enrich
the job and refocus the employee on the job¶s importance to the big picture. As one mason replied when a passerby
asked what he was doing, « I am building a wall. » When the passerby asked another mason, that mason re sponded, «
I am building a cathedral. »

Anxiety arises when an employee is expected to do a job and is unprepared to perform it. Either the employee
perceives himself as not having the required skill set or, in fact, the employee has the competence but la cks the
confidence to do the job. In either case, an effective leader will remove these barriers and position the employee on a
proactive track to high job engagement.

Talented employees who are fully invested in their jobs provide huge payoffs to the bot tom line. They increase
productivity, reduce turnover and generate higher employee and guest satisfaction, all of which result in more profit
for the organization.

"  .      

Transforming your enterprise int o a learning organization profoundly benefits organizational success. It ensures the
development of core competencies, creates a value for knowledge and provides opportunities to develop best
practices about factors that affect the bottom line.

In addition, such initiatives provide opportunities for meaningful interpersonal engagement for colleagues and guests
± a dynamic that often is missing in today¶s primarily task -driven economy.

What¶s more, a learning environment is becoming essential to attract a nd retain top employee talent as a new
generation greatly concerned with personal satisfaction enters the workforce and economic woes mandate longer
hours, greater dedication and increased production from seasoned veterans.

Our research shows that younger employees value and seek as priorities : (1) working with colleagues they respect,
(2) having a sense of fun in the workplace, and (3) being offered opportunities to learn. When designed and managed
correctly, creating a learning environment can fulfill all three.

For seasoned workers, the successful leader will use learning opportunities in 2010 to provide tools for personal and
professional growth that keep employees fresh and motivated.
Learning opportunities can take many forms, from professional s kill training sessions, relationship management
development workshops and executive strategy retreats, to formalized in -house university, institute and academy
programs where graduation is held and certificates and diplomas are handed out.

The effective leader will resist the impulse to reduce learning opportunities during tight economic times, but will
instead rely on them to increase organizational efficiencies and employee motivation when it counts most, all in the
quest to achieve peak performance.

=

Tough economic times have changed the world of hospitality for good. The effective leader going into 2010
recognizes that and will commit to forging efficiencies and developing competencies that simply would not have
entered our collective consciousness if times were better.

By striving for peak performance now, such leaders will not only distinguish themselves by outperforming their more
complacent counterparts when times are tough, but they will create the foundation to truly flourish when a healthy
economy returns.
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Today, CEOs have so many things to address he or she often lacks the time to focus on marketing challenges,
delegating them instead to the marketing organization.

Yet increased competition, successfully bringing new products -to-market, and a renewed focu s on customer
engagement are making marketing increasingly important to corporate success. It is just as important for marketing to
be on the CEO¶s radar screen as compliance, inventory management, and reengineering, especially given the
continued investments many companies are making in business intelligence and customer relationship management.

We exist in a market where brands can emerge and topple almost overnight. Driving profitable revenue growth,
conducting market and customer research, gathering co mpetitive intelligence, defining new products and services,
and identifying new market opportunities are the domain of marketing and primarily the responsibility of the CMO.

Study after study suggests that many marketing functions are not in sync with com panies' overall strategy.

The impact of this lack of alignment on business is significant. Companies are experiencing a gap between actual
revenue growth and investors' expectations. If the gap persists, the result can be lower margins, loss of market sh are,
slowing growth, and defecting customers.

Therefore the CEO must also take an active leadership role to insure that the marketing department within the
organization has the skills and resources necessary to address the challenges and opportunities of the market in order
to produce the desired business results. Most every CEO we¶ve worked with would like marketing to do a better job
of aligning the marketing organization with the business¶ agenda, demonstrating how marketing efforts impact the
business and accounting for the money it invests on behalf of the firm.

As the CEO you do not need to be a marketing expert, but you do need to have a clear understanding of the role of
marketing and of how to measure marketing effectiveness beyond short -term incremental improvements in sales or
campaign ROI. Even if marketing isn¶t a part of the CEO¶s day -to-day routine, the CEO needs to leverage his or her
leadership role for marketing.

While CEOs should delegate strategic implementation and tactical decisions related to product, price, placement, and
promotion to the CMO, it is the CEO¶s job to make sure the marketing organization¶s strategy and plan support the
company's greater strategic goals. With guidance from the CEO, marketing can closely focus its acti vities on
initiatives that generate profitable relationships.

Marketing that isn¶t aligned with the business is a recipe for a myriad of business ailments. Marketing needs to be
connected to the rest of the business if it is going to take a lead in helpin g the organization achieve its strategic
initiatives. Only by aligning marketing with the strategies of both the corporate and business unit levels and fostering
collaboration between marketing and the rest of the organization can a business develop a set of metrics that will
measure marketing¶s impact.

In our work with over 100 companies, many CEOs tell us they want marketing to focus on top line growth, enable the
organization to respond quickly to market dynamics and changing customer requirements, and stimulate innovation.
What they say they see, however, is a marketing organization more focused on image and identity, tactical execution
in terms of marketing activities supporting events, lead development, etc.

We hear CEOs tell us regularly that, rath er than focusing tactical issues and reporting on response rates, leads
generated, event traffic, and other activities, they would like to understand how marketing is driving growth,
developing metrics that demonstrate how marketing is contributing to both the top and bottom lines. A bottom -up
approach to marketing accountability and metrics will fail without direction from the top.

If a CEO wants marketing to measure and convey its value in the same language and metrics used by the business,
the CEO needs to be sure the marketing organization has the tools, systems, and skills to do the job.

Being able to keep pace with the rapidly changing market and to capitalize on new growth opportunities requires a
new set of marketing skills, particularly in the are a of analytics. When we ask CEOs whether there is a clear contract
with the CMO or VP of Marketing regarding expectations and resources committed to improving marketing¶s
measurement capabilities and market and customer insights, they often admit this isn¶ t on the top of their agenda. For
marketing to be successful, the CEO has to see these as priorities and support them.

As the CEO, your definition of marketing success must be clear to your marketing people. There are so many things
that can be measured, but only a few really matter to your business. It¶s easy to think that just because something has
a number attached to it, it is a metric. Having metrics is one thing; having the right set is another. Marketing can
collect all sorts of marketing -performance metrics, from customer satisfaction to retention, and from brand awareness
to pipeline contribution.

As the CEO, you should make sure the marketing metrics suggested by your marketing leadership truly provide
insight into how marketing is supporting th e business' goals. Prior to any plan being created and implemented, the
CEO and marketing team should agree on the performance indicators that will be used to correlate marketing¶s
impact on business outcomes. It¶s important to decide at the start which me trics and key performance indicators will
have the most impact and then to track progress to these.

For the metrics to be right, they need to tie back to the business goals and purpose of marketing ± driving profitable
revenue.

Think of these performance indicators are essentially a contract between marketing and the executive team. As such
they should be based on strategies designed to create a positive experience between your targets/customers and your
company/offer that will facilitate customers stick ing with your company even in times of competitive pressure or
adversity and developing a preference to buy and use your products/services.

The performance indicators demonstrate how well Marketing understands the needs of different customer segments,
which channels to deploy to customers make buying decisions and help create preference for your company and its
products and services.

And it may not just be a question of measuring, additional marketing capabilities may be required. Almost 75 percent
of the chief marketers polled at a recent CMO summit organized by the Marketing Science Institute and McKinsey
agreed that the skills they needed were becoming so specialized that their organizations would have to operate quite
differently in the future. The changing environment calls for new marketing capabilities, both in the marketing
organization and within the company.

To ensure the marketing organization is aligned with the business, measuring the right things and that the
organization has the right skill sets, here are 10 initial questions every CEO should ask their Marketing leadership:

& How are our customers¶ needs evolving and what resources are our customers using to make buying decisions?
$ Which customer segments offer us the best opportuniti es and what marketing strategies do you recommend we
deploy to take advantage of these opportunities?
+ Where can we gain a competitive advantage?
- What business outcomes will marketing directly impact?
/ What marketing factors can make the greatest ma terial contribution to our deal and revenue targets?
" What metrics and key performance indicators will you present to show this impact?
5 How do you plan to foster collaboration between your marketing team, the sales organization, product
organization, and business units?
6 What information will you need access to measure your impact?
4 What systems, tools, processes, analytical and data management skills will you need to add to improve your
measurement capabilities?
&% What investments does the company need to make to improve marketing¶s ability to measure its contribution?

Satisfactory answers to these types of questions should help i nsure the Marketing leadership is on the right track to
being able to assess its contribution to the corporation.

The answers will help establish what metrics best measure marketing¶s impact as well as enable everyone on the
leadership team to make marketing decisions that positively impact the business.
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This year has been a tough year and even the most respected economists can¶t say for sure when we will see the real
recovery; The good news is that there are positive signs.

Even better news is the fact that you made it through one of the roughest recess ions in our history. That means you
have cleaned out your closets, weeded your garden, upgraded your work force and created a team of employees that
are the best of the best. That means you and your company should be poised and ready to really take advanta ge of the
real recovery whenever it happens.

So now is not the time to dig deeper into the bunker. Now is the time to start thinking about revisiting your
vision. Now is the time to dust off that strategic plan if you have one. If not, it would be exce ptionally wise to
consider creating a strategy team and begin creating a new or revised strategic plan. Don¶t wait until the fish start
jumping in the boat again or you may be looking at the backside of your competition who is running out in front.

—
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Let¶s start by talking about strategic focus. Leadership models and new business models are key ingredients to
success when coming out of a recession. The successful business in 2 010 & 2011 will focus on strategic thinking by
harnessing the creativity and innovation of the employees. The vehicle to accomplish this is the strategic planning
process

Strategy serves as the organization compass and roadmap to future success. Strategic thinking must be clear and
communicated effectively throughout the organization. Remember, recession can have a very negative impact on
attitude and moral. Energizing employees by getting them involved in strategic planning can negate most of their
fears and reaffirm the positive message you have been communicating. Defining objectives and developing
initiatives and action plans to meet new objectives is the basis of strategic planning.

Strategic planning is a management tool. It is used to help an orga nization clarify its future direction ± to focus its
energy, and to help members of the organization work toward the same goals. The planning process adjusts the
organization¶s direction in response to a changing environment. Strategic planning is a discip lined effort to support
fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why it does it, with
a focus on where it wants to go and how it is going to get there.

The scope of the strategy development process f or any company is dependent upon individual business needs. The
strategic planning process is a time and resource -consuming endeavor that involves many people in the organization.
This process includes both tactical and strategic application.

Executive teams become so immersed in the day to day activities of running the business during a recession that
strategic thinking with respect to long term planning is often not a priority. However, effective leaders recognize the
value of strategic thinking backed up by a strategic plan.

Strategic planning can provide:

÷m A structure for the decision making process with curbs and milestones set to guide the management team
÷m A basis for initiating new products and processes that are in alignment with and in support of long term
objectives
÷m A vehicle for the development of employees support retention and bench strength
÷m The creation of change with a vehicle to manage that chang e

A strategic plan is not a business plan and it is not the same as your annual budget with departmental objectives.
However, these vehicles become a part of the tactical support for meeting strategic objectives once the strategic plan
has been approved and implemented. To be successful in this century requires a heightened sense of awareness about
what is going on both inside and outside of the business.

It is understood that even the most effective visionary leaders of today do not have a crystal ball t hat can predict the
future. Consequently, an integral part of the strategic planning process is developing a key set of assumptions during
the end game planning process that is based on both internal and external data. By understanding market dynamics,
internal cultural shifts and identified critical constraints you have a much greater chance of success.

. ( 17

Strategic planning involves anticipating the future environment and creating an end game analysis so the decisions
are made in the present. This means that over time, the organization must regularly perform trend analysis in order to
make the best decisions it can at any given point ± it must manage, as well as plan, strategically.

Strategic planning is not a substitute for the exe rcise of judgment by leadership. Ultimately ³the buck stops
somewhere.´ The strategic planning process does not make the organization work ± it can only support the sound
judgment and reasoning skills that people bring to the organization.
Strategic planning is a creative process the starts with the visionary creativity of the owner or CEO. The fresh insight
it engenders might very well alter past initiatives. Planning also consumes resources which are precious commodities.
It can be an overwhelming and d aunting task, but it is a process that eventually defines the direction and activities of
the organization. Despite its overwhelming nature, the benefits of planning can far outweigh the hard work and pain
involved in the process.

I cannot emphasize enough that the true value of a strategic plan is not in the document itself. It is in the process of
creating it, involving many of your employees from the bottom up. This empowers them to be more effective and
better-informed leaders, managers and decision ma kers.

The time devoted to the planning process varies from organization to organization and you must decide how much
time you will devote to the kick off planning process meeting. This can take the form of a two -day retreat or it can be
an extended process. The organization will begin to realize benefits from the start.

Fundamental benefits to the planning process include:

÷m A framework and a clearly defined direction with unified support

÷m A clear vision and purpose that is owned by all employees
÷m Commitment to the organization and its goals by the employees
÷m Set priorities that match company resources
÷m Trend analysis that creates confidence in the ability to take risks
÷m Accountability
÷m Organizational structure and clarity

I know some of you are so involved in fighting fires that you believe there isn¶t time to develop a strategic plan.
Some of you may consider long term planning a waste of time. Some believe long term planning is what you are
going to do after lunch and some may even believe there i s no value in strategic planning because as the owner/CEO
you know what it takes to be successful and all your employees need to do is listen to you.

Look, to thrive instead of survive coming out of a recession means that you must create and leverage ever y
competitive advantage you possibly can. The strategic planning process alone will help you identify and create
competitive advantage.
- 0 -) #  (  (  1 
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Today's marketers are being asked to be more accountable for the money they invest on behalf of the company and to
demonstrate the contribution and value they are making.

At the same time, they are struggling to secure a more strategic place at the table and to have a role beyond sales
support. This was the case for one of our clients, a leading global provider of rugged and reliable specialty printing
solutions.

At this company, management was asking the marketing team to focus its resources on high -value and high-ROI
strategies. While senior executives had allocated what they felt was a considerable budget for marketing, the
marketing team struggled to satisfy all the re quirements within the budget parameters. The myriad and frequent
tactical requests regularly stretched the limit of the team's internal resources. In addition, the marketing organization
was being asked to quantify how it was supporting key business object ives, particularly in terms of revenue
generation and channel support.

It wasn't that the organization wasn't measuring anything; the problem was with what it was measuring. When we
stepped in and reviewed marketing's metrics, we found that this organiza tion was primarily measuring marketing
activities, such as response rates to campaigns, web site traffic and numbers of new suspects. While these are useful,
they weren't giving the team the ability to truly determine the return for the investments it was making, and many of
the metrics were too internally focused. The assessment also revealed that the organization didn't have any metrics
that looked at market or customer indicators or that directly linked the marketing efforts to specific business
outcomes.

'The interviews revealed that the activity progress reports were of little interest to these executives.¶

As a result, the marketing leadership didn't have a way to measure and communicate its value within, across and up ²
a set of relevant metrics that would enable marketers to sift through and prioritize the many requests for marketing
assistance. In addition, marketing lacked a process to help identify activities that had the most positive impact on
sales and business goals. We set about changing this situation.

It became clear early on that the project wasn't going to be about just data. It was going tobe about culture and focus,
too.

- 

We tackled the effort in several phases. The first phase comprised a marketing metrics audit. The au dit included
performing an analysis of the current marketing plan, collecting marketing metrics and internal marketing processes.
A key purpose of such an audit is to learn what is and is not being measured ²and why²as well as what data is
available and where. The audit revealed that marketing primarily provided a progress report on activities along with
clippings from press coverage.

As part of the initial assessment, we interviewed key members of the leadership team to learn the value of the current
report, what business outcomes were critical for the company and which of these they expected marketing to support
and how. The interviews revealed that the activity progress reports were of little interest to these executives unless the
results of the activit ies could be demonstrated and tied to business goals.

Specifically, the leadership team wanted marketing to drive a corporate positioning effort that had consensus within
the organization; expand partners and channels in new markets and applications; imp lement a process whereby a
pipeline of new market opportunities would being analyzed and presented to management; reduce time to revenue for
new products; and be able to attribute two points of incremental revenue growth to marketing efforts.

The company formed a cross-functional team comprising members from marketing, sales, channel managers and
customer service, as well as business analysts and product managers, to serve as the primary team to define the
metrics and develop the dashboard.

This became the core team that worked collaboratively to create a marketing metrics framework and dashboard
blueprint
In the initial working session, the team applied our mapping process to align marketing initiatives around the business
outcomes and to create an initi al set of metrics. Because the company relies heavily on the channel and partners, and
attach rates are a critical to the revenue stream, it was important that the dashboard connected marketing to these
business drivers²which was not something that had been done before. Once these phases were completed, we
developed an "as if" model, using historical data as the starting -off point to project a future state.

Then we finalized the metrics and creating the dashboard. During these phases, we worked on establis hing metrics
targets and metrics calculations; defining and evaluating data sources; and creating the visual representation of the
dashboard.

In this phase, thedialogue between marketing and sales and marketing and finance began to change from primarily
conversations related to tactics to more business outcome -oriented discussions. Once the team had completed the
model, team members captured current data and integrated it into the process iteratively, ultimately bringing the
dashboard and metrics into a p ilot stage.

Earlier, the company shared the dashboard and metrics on a limited basis. Once the dashboard and metrics were in
pilot stage, though, they were shared across and throughout the company. The marketing team now had a completely
different report to share with the leadership regarding marketing's contribution. The new dashboard provided insight
into such elements as channel marketing investment versus revenue; revenue by segment partners; and marketing's
contribution to pipeline opportunities.

These were real data points that the marketing team could use to make strategic decisions regarding changes in the
marketing mix to affect channel and cross -sales. During the pilot and afterward, the work focused on socializing the
process and metrics across the organization, as well as moving the dashboard into production.

The transformation was remarkable. In just four and half months, the company went from having no dashboard to
having a working model. And more importantly, the marketing organization cha nged from being activity- and
operations-based to being more market-, customer- and outcome-based.

Traditional metrics relating to near -term demand generation remained a part of the mix, but the new metrics enabled
the marketing organization to refocus r esources and efforts on key strategic business outcomes related to new markets
and customers, channel and segment partners, pricing and new products.

The project served as a way for the organization to better allocate its resources and play a more strate gic role.
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Like many other industries, the every day environment of hospitality includes some very useful high tech tools that
help project revenues, identify the level of sales booking pace, manage inventory, monitor payroll and more.

It remains essential though in our world of welcoming people to our establishments that we retain a solid focus on the
³high touch´ side of the every-day interactions with people.

Understanding body language is a talent that can increase your successes in life. You can recognize what a person
feels and likely thinks by examining their subliminal body language. This can be both a business and social skill that
allows you to better communicate and interact with the people in your life over the long haul.

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A person¶s words may be hinting one message to you, but her/his body language could be sending a conflicting
signal. Through body movements, lack of or full eye contact, facial expressions and gestures, you can often read into
a person¶s genuine intentions. As a rule, body lan guage communicates more about what someone says than what
her/his own words do.

People in the business community use body language interpretation everyday when they interview potential
employees. When they interpret body language, they are looking for a v ariety of movements that indicate if the
person is uncomfortable answering certain questions or talking about particular subjects.

If you observe that s/he is uncomfortable about certain points on their resume, their body language may provide you a
better analysis of past employment experience than the words and resume combined. Body language is often used in
the legal system as well, as noted that when a witness is testifying, their attorney will frequently advise them to make
proper eye contact with certain other parties (such as the jury) in the courtroom in an effort to build credibility.

  8
 -

The certification reviews for most of the programs offered by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel &
Lodging Association include a section on communication. This section includes the facts on how written
communication is best suited for technical, factual or legal effectiveness, while vocal communication is best for sales
and personal interactions.

The reason is not hard to grasp ± we hear the spoken word, but it is our body language or verbal communication that
tell us almost instantly if we have made a connection.

For example, if we send a direct mail piece about our hotel in Kentucky to a reader that has never bee n to the Blue
Grass state, they will likely pitch the flyer, as they have no connection. If they take a phone call from someone they
know slightly about the Lexington area, they might have a possible interest in the University, but they may not like
doing business by phone.

On the other hand, if we get a face -to-face meeting and ³see´ by the person¶s responses what motivates the person
about the city ± the ball team, the library, the gardens, architecture, the business department, the caliber of graduat es
from a certain program or whatever, then the connection is made.

There are entire books written about body language, and the internet has thousands of articles, advertisements and
ideas. I ask readers to consider the following as starting points:

÷m Avoid putting obstructions between you and the other person, such as a briefcase, a package or presentation
piece. This is applicable when speaking with staff or potential clients.
÷m Do not sit behind a desk, but keep the communication flow smooth.
÷m Learn about people¶s private space, which varies by gender, age and race. The closer they are, generally the
warmer their opinions are of you. The farther away that someone is, the less they care. It is worth noting
that personal space is culturally sensitive; what is considered close in one country is far away in another.
÷m Do not make others feel uncomfortable. This can be handled by ensuring the words spoken are
comprehended by the other party ± their body language will tell you if they understand.
÷m The eyes are a primary key to understanding. People who look away while supposedly listening to you are
often thinking about something else. This is why when you are talking to a group of people, if an item in
conversation interests someone who may be looking away , they will ask for you to repeat the story. Some
cultures believe that looking at someone in the eyes is a sign of disrespect, so we must be sensitive to the
cultural diversity in our hospitality businesses.
÷m Use your hands to demonstrate your point if th at is your style, but do not point AT the other person.
÷m Watch for people¶s habits, as some may be nervous, but others can be using negotiating and stall tactics.
÷m Recognize what agreement signs are, such as subtle nodding, slight smiles and the inclination to complete
the business being discussed.
÷m Recognize what disagreement signs are such as wandering eyes, frowns or folded arms.
÷m Learn to read signs of closure or acceptance, such as crossed legs or leaning inwards.
   ,  )  1
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Here are the Top 6 Reasons I hear about why people believe that their work environment could never be fun or
engaging.

1. Our work is very serious

2. There are too many overly serious people who work here
3. The management won't allow us to have fun
4. We have too much work to do, there is no time for fun
5. If people had fun all hell would break loose
6. The public or customers would think we are not doing our jobs properly

Yet, here the Top 7 Benefits I hear about why having fun at work is so crucial these days:

1. It is a low cost, easy way to build morale.

2. It enhances communication and builds social bonds that help people through the tough times.
3. It makes people want to perform well at work and be a contributing member of their team.
4. It re-vitalizes people so they are healthier and have more energy.
5. It opens up creative thinking which helps people be more resourceful with problems.
6. It helps staff build rapport amongst themselves and with clients and customers.
7. It creates a positive atmosphere that makes customers more likely to want to do business with you.

Below are some actual examples of what people do to engage and revitalize people through simple, easy to
implement fun ideas:

& 8       

Stephen Dudar (also known as Cap'n Steve) works within the Lord Selkirk School District in Manitoba. One popular
idea they used when energy was low in the office was the "ambush with nerf guns" idea. A few of them would
ambush other fatigued staff and within minutes energy levels were restored.

He says "This kind of thing turned around how we delivered services to the schools under my care as well as the
morale of my entire department." Ironically, by creating planned chaos, it made the actual work time more focused
and organized.

$ 8    
 99 )  

Don (of the Dead) Isaac works as a supervisor at the Capilano View Cemetery. He says, "April 1 is not only April
Fool's day but also Sharon's Birthday. She had just turned 64 and so we celebrated Cemetery Style. We made her a
cake that looked like a burial marker with a tombstone and artificial flowers.

We also did a Hawaiian Theme Party for Anika's birthday because she had to cancel a trip to Hawaii for her vacation.
We had Hawaiian decorations, Hawaiian Music, and we even sprayed the air with coconut room freshener. Because
staff make an effort to enjoy ourselves together it helps attract good people.

One staff member told me yesterday that she didn't know how miserable she was in her old job until she started
working with us, because we have so muc h fun. Our motto is 'A Cemetery Worker is the last person to let you down!'

+ 8 
    
)   

Lorian Markin of the Justice Institute of BC in New Westminster writes, "We are very short of storage space at the
Justice Institute and often the only place to store boxes of classroom materials is literally under our desks.

I always joke about someday making a little fort out of them, and one morning I came in and my co -workers had built
one for me!" Lorian's story won fou rth place in our annual Workplace Creativity Contest this year.

- 8   
 
  )  

Bliss Goldstein writes, "A few years ago when working with Symantec, we took two teams of folks who worked in
different groups-but needed improve communications-to the beach. Once there, we mixed them up in newly formed
teams and conducted Symantec Olympics on the Beach.

Seeing each other slipping as they raced, and limbo -ing on the sand and passing eggs on spoons had everyone
laughing together in no time. We discovered that if you laugh together, you can work together.

Just being willing to get sill y together does wonders." This story won third place in our annual Workplace Creativity
Contest this year.

/ 8           
 
    
Ruth Payne, of Cultural Affairs within the District of West Vancouver, writes, "Here's what I did to motivate and
inspire the District staff. It worked like hotcakes!

We had an exhibition entitled 'I Am More Than My Day Job'. It was for all Municipal staff, including Fire, Police,
Transit, Library. The Mayor even had a piece of art in it! Over 3000 visitors went through it. I went department to
department to drag out of employees just what they do with their creativity in their 'other life'. The result was
amazing! This is probably one of the best exhibitions ever, and who would have guessed? We had a big opening
reception and the staff that are musicians performed.

'  
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1. The public loved seeing staff that they normally associate with i.e. a Finance Clerk, now being exhibited as a
textile artist, a wood carver, an accomplished photographer, a jeweler, a mixed media painter...it helped see them
more as people and as part of the community.
2. The staff morale went sky high. I had to peel them off the ceiling. They became so darned chuf fed at being
featured and perceived as artists.

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c:

The Director of Finance, very shyly showed me some photographs he took through the windscreen as he does the
long daily drive home to Maple Ridge. He had no idea they were even worth showing to anyone. They are of the
traffic when it is raining. They are very fresh, immediate and appealing. I took him by the hand to a frame shop,
where he learned how they needed to be framed, then he did it himself to save money, and they have been the rave of
the exhibit. All three sold, AND a gallery in West Vancouver now wants to carry his work. He now has a whole new
life. He just can't get over himself!

She concludes "I love this example of the arts helps people reinvent themselves. And the best p art is that other
employees now perceive this quiet finance guy in a whole new light."

Ruth's initiative won first place in our annual Workplace Creativity Contest this year. She won a free spot in Carla's
Artistry of Change Retreat at Hollyhock Centre.
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An article appeared in WSJ titled, 'Firms Keep Brakes on Hiring: Unsure About Strength of Upturn, Employers
Produce More With Fewer Workers' -

The article notes that while hiring always lags behind economic recoveries, this time the lag is likely to be worse.
Doubts about the strength of the recovery and concerns about the potential costs of health care reform are two of the
reasons the WSJ says companies may be slower to replenish their employment ranks.

One sentence in particular jumped out at me as I read the article: ³Employers shed workers faster than they cut
output.´ In effect, output per hour grew as actual hours worked dropped - our employees are truly doing more with
less. A lot more. Workplace efficiencies and productivity increases are good, of course. But sometimes the increases
are achieved at the expense of good management practices, resulting in employee burnout.

Burned out employees aren¶t likely to deliver a stellar experience to our customers. Yes, we¶ve all had to do more,
work harder, and just get things done when times are tough, and I¶m not saying that shouldn¶t be the case. What I am
saying is that during lean times leaders hav e to be extra aware of employee morale and its impact on the customer
experience. I don¶t think most employees mind working harder if, a) they see a light at the end of the ³more with
less´ tunnel, and b) they feel appreciated for what they¶re doing.

As leaders, we can¶t guarantee an end to the ³more with less´ issue, but we can certainly do something about the
appreciation issue. Here are four strategies that I recommend leaders consider in order to deal with the employee
burnout factor:

& =  

     - Mini celebrations for getting a difficult order out on time,
surviving a busy season while understaffed, maintaining quality standards, or ³just because´ can go a long way in
letting employees know that you know how har d they¶re working.

Acknowledging strong individual performance as soon as you know about it at least indicates you¶re noticing the
situation and appreciate the extra effort. One -on-one time with employees is more important now than any time in the
recent past.

Do your employees feel appreciated?

$  
   
 
  

 - Saying to employees, ³We¶re all just
going to have to suck it up and do more with less,´ is not uncommon and not even unreasonable in lea n times. But it¶s
something altogether different if we say the same thing, but provide education on how to deal with the workload
increase.

Training on time management, dealing with difficult customers, effectively using the capabilities of current
technology, stress management, etc. are all options that, while not making the increased workload go away, help
employees to deal with it. And it says that management knows the challenges employees are facing.

What training can you provide to help employees de al with the increased workload?

+     
     
  
  - A simple revamp of the work schedule,
for example, is sometimes all it takes to make sure that you have optimum coverage at crunch times. While work
schedule changes can cause employee frustration, I find that most employees are even more frustrated when staffing
levels don¶t align with actual workload fluctuations.

One call center recognized that, due to staffing reductions, customer hold times were likely to increase, and that the
remaining employees would bear the brunt of the customers¶ dissatisfaction. So, they changed the hold message from
one that repeatedly pushed the company¶s products to one that provided famous comedy routines from the past . Yes,
hold times increased, but the increase was softened by the new message.

What tools can you provide to set your employees up for success?

- )     - This may sound strange when up to this point I¶ve been talking about companies not
hiring. The reality, however, is that many companies are hiring, just not nearly to the degree as in the past, and not
enough to meaningfully ease the workload.

So, the hiring decisions you make now may be some of the most important you¶ll ever make . These hires will need to
contribute faster than ever before and will be under the microscope of every fellow employee. A bad hire now will
hurt morale more than ever because your current employees don¶t just want help, they more than likely need help.

If you¶ve never involved your employees in the hiring process, now may be the time to do it. They have a vested
interest in a successful hire, and know what it takes to make a contribution to the team. While I believe peer
interviewing is always a good idea , now it¶s a great idea.

2


 



I¶ve heard and read many comments about how employees today need to appreciate the fact that they have jobs at all
and, in fact, most employees are appreciative. As the econ omy turns around, however, employees will begin to have
choices again.

The employment pendulum¶s swing sometimes favors companies and sometimes it favors workers. As the pendulum
begins to swing back, at least towards the middle ground, how companies have treated their employees during these
tough times will be remembered. What memories will your employees have?

    
 
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After studying the wolf and deciding to use the wolf as our company logo I believe that the wolf demonstrates a
distinctive relationship to successful leadership in the world of business today.

Wolves have leadership traits that should be envied by every leader out there in the business world today.

Traits such as:

÷m Strategy & Planning

÷m Patience
÷m Wolves Never quit
÷m Insatiable Curiosity
÷m Teamwork
÷m Sense of Urgency

The wolf is a very social animal. They travel together, eat together, hunt together and play together. There are
referred to as a pack. Just as management hierarchies vary in size, wolf packs vary in size but average six to seven
members. —  
 
 Each pack member plays a specific role with a very specific rank.
Some young wolfs go off on their own (Lone Wolves), in search of their status.

Generally speaking, the older wolves in the pack tend to be the leaders and they command the respect of the pack.
They make the decisions for the group. The pack protects itself and it protects one another.

Let¶s examine the Wolf¶s Leadership traits and what we can learn from them

'    

Wolves understand that survival depends on a successful hunt. As a result they do not practice panic response
management that we as leaders sometimes demonstrate in a crisis. Wolves actually develop a plan working together
to insure that they capture and kill their prey. Th ey are extremely patient and understand that success is not
guaranteed and that a success rate of 100% is not realistic. Every wolf within the pack has a specific role and they are
expected to live up to their responsibility.

There is evidence that wolves have some knowledge of proper prey management. L. David Mech a wolf expert found
one pack in Minnesota that varied its killing by hunting in a different part of its territory each year, allowing prey
numbers elsewhere to recover, aiding the long -term survival of the pack.

Wolves are very patient of themselves and of one another. They are very focused on their objective whatever it may
be at the time. They respect each others role and depend that each wolf in the pack will live up to their individual
responsibility. This in itself promotes group unity. Wolves are very careful that they do not enter into redundant
duplicate efforts. Each wolf can be heard by the pack; a form of individual respect.

 —. V  3 £ ù

Winston Churchill¶s famous words ---M  2 2 2  3 come to mind when thinking about how
persistent wolves are in accomplishing their objectives. Wolves seem to understand that if you fail to succeed on the
first attempt you must keep trying. It is understood wit hin the pack that you never quit and it isn¶t over until the
³Lead Wolf´ says it is over. That doesn¶t mean that the wolves are successful 100% of the time but it does mean they
never quit trying.

That¶s a good philosophy. If they¶re headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they¶ll look for another way.
They¶ll climb over. They¶ll climb under. They¶ll climb around. They keep looking for another way to succeed. The
wolf always looks ahead, stays positive and does everything possible to succeed...

1 =

One of the most common characteristics of the most successful leaders today is the extreme sense of curiosity.
Wolves share this insatiable curiosity about the world around them. They investigate everything, taking nothing for
granted. They seek out opportunity. They have established specific priorities.

 )

Wolves understand the concept of teamwork extremely well. They must work together during the hunt to be
successful. Each wolf has a role to play and all   


  and follow their leadership in almost
all things, the alpha wolves are usually the ones to make decisions for the pack when the group should go out to hunt
or move from one place to another.

The other Pack Members all have positions in the hierarchy inferior to those of the Alpha male and female. The
young adult wolves, who are the grown -up offspring of the Alpha pair, have their own special roles under the
leadership of the Alpha male.

Some people have noticed that ravens circle in the air around sick deer or moose. The wolves notice the circling
ravens and realize that prey is close by. This is a remarkable relationship because both animals benefit -the wolves
find food and the ravens eat the leftovers!

'  ù

Wolves have a unique sense of urgency. They depend on one another. They are very focused hard workers when it
comes to feeding themselves. They are one of the wilds most effective hunters and yet in spite of that they hunt to
live. They do not live to hunt. They live by an unwritte n code that says the good of the pack comes first.  
  
      
  
  
 

Let me leave you with a story that I wish I knew who to give credit to. This is a simple message I found on the
Internet that I believe we should all take to heart.