Friend and Rollins College Professor Rick Bommelje recently shared four things that every employee wants to know. With his permission, I share them with you here:

What am I supposed to do?

The fastest way to confuse a workforce is to speak in grandiose, visionary language. People – including you and me – want to know, specifically, what has to be done as well as what “good” looks like.

Will you let me do it?

This employee mental  question is the result of too many experiences with managers who got in the way by doing #1 just fine and then jumping in when not needed.

Will you help me when I need it?

Employees do want to know that it’s ok to ask for help when the situation requires it; and, that they’ll get it without judgment. Asking for help shows maturity and character; so does giving it.

Will you let me know how I’m doing?

We all want to know where we stand with our boss. It’s just plain uncomfortable not knowing – and not knowing can cause a well-intentioned employee to continue doing things the wrong way. After all, no one is indicating that anything should change!

Rick reminds us that performance is impacted the most by frequency and timeliness of feedback.  You can visit Rick’s website at: www.listen-coach.com.

Trust is a topic I’ve addressed many times in the past. The reason I like to talk about it is I believe it is the bedrock upon which every successful organization is built. And I believe the way in which we build trust with our customers is critical.

Webster’s defines trust as a “confident expectation” of something. Doesn’t that make sense? More than anything, we want to feel confident about the products and services we consume. But in this day and age, would you agree that we approach providers with a certain level of suspicion when it comes to trust?

I received an e-mail the other day from my bank, thanking me for my business and telling me how much they appreciate my trust in them. This from a bank that recently was fined $350 million for fraudulent loans (to be fair, the unfair practices were actually perpetrated by a mortgage company the bank purchased). A bank that attempted to impose a fee for using my debit card until its customers revolted and started heading for the exits in droves. I appreciate that they appreciate me, but I still read each monthly statement scrupulously, looking for any hidden fees.

Early in December, I purchased a new bicycle for my wife as a Christmas present. The store informed me the bicycle would be available for pickup the following week. When I returned more than two weeks later, I was informed the bike had been back-ordered and would not be delivered to the store until mid-February at the earliest. No bike to tie a holiday ribbon around. And a disappointing two and a half hour drive to the city where the bike was purchased.

Obviously, I was not pleased by this turn of events, a problem compounded by an indifferent clerk who waited on me. My trust in this store being able to deliver on its promise was shaken. Before reaching home, however, the original woman who waited on me called to inform us that she had checked several other stores and had managed to locate the bike my wife wanted. Instead of waiting two months to receive the bike, it would be ready for pickup in less than two weeks. She also was most apologetic for the delay and miscommunication. Her concern and efforts on our behalf helped restore my trust in their business.

Marketeers today spend lots of time inventing new ways to ask for and thank us for our trust. But if you’re like me, you don’t put much stock in those words. Rather, you observe their behavior. How do they demonstrate they are trustworthy? In what ways do they show they are more concerned with meeting your needs than they are their own? And how do they respond when that trust is shaken by an unfortunate incident or event?

Someone once said that it takes years to build up trust and only seconds to destroy it. Another observed that trust is like a vase: once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again.

How much time do you spend thinking about building trust with your customers? What do you do in order to earn it? And what do you do to keep it?

When the Congressional Super Committee recently failed to reach consensus on major budget cuts, pundits were quick to accuse them of “kicking the can” down the road. An oft-used phrase that basically translates as deferring a decision in favor of a future date. Before you dismiss this malaise as a disease unique to bureaucrats, consider that it is, in my opinion at least, the number one cause of failures in virtually every type of organization, including higher education.

It is estimated that up to 50 percent of all businesses fail within five years of inception. But there are also many long-time companies like Woolworth’s and Border’s that have gone the way of the dodo bird. American Airlines just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.  And it seems like every week, financial institutions like Washington Mutual Bank go belly up.

When one looks beneath the hood for the root causes of these failures, a litany of excuses are offered. We tend to think these downward spirals occur over a short period of time, like a week or a month. But in most cases, they occur over a much longer period, one deferred decision at a time. One of my favorite examples is the news business. The majority of newspapers in this country are struggling to stay afloat. Why? Because they ignored the warning signs of television and the Internet over the past decades and continued to sell their product, just as they have since the country was founded: one driveway at a time.

So how does this affect higher education? Directly in the cross hairs! Institutions today, both public and private, are struggling with budgets and accountability. Tough decisions about closing programs, deferring maintenance and even selling off assets must be made every day. And yet, administrators continue to kick the proverbial can down the road in hopes the problems might just fade away.

Sadly, this erosion in higher education has been percolating for a very long time. In fact, it occurs at the rate of one student at a time, what we call retention. And while we may realize this decision avoidance behavior is not a good idea, we’re lulled into thinking that there will always be time to take corrective action, perhaps next semester or next year. We’re like the lobster in the pot of tepid water. We wait to fix the problem until it’s too late to fix the problem.

Why do we choose to defer many of these decisions? Because there are no simple answers. The solutions are complicated and varied. But confronting the challenges head on reduces their complexity. Facing the difficulties and choosing a plan of action that can always be modified later makes the issues less difficult.

So here’s the takeaway: making no decision and kicking the can down the road is a decision. And more often than not, it is the least desirable option. That’s true for Congress, and it’s true for each one of us.

Nov. 23 marks the first anniversary of a car accident that left me hospitalized for the better part of a month. Recovery was slow, but I’m glad to report that I am now almost completely healed.

Upon returning home from the hospital last December, our daughter informed me that paying bills and accomplishing other mundane tasks I normally take care of was made easier by the fact that my files were organized and clearly labeled.  But while walking this morning, I got to thinking about what else I could have done to enable my family to perform those many perfunctory tasks in my absence.

If you’re responsible for your organization’s marketing and communications, I’m guessing you have prepared an operational plan that’s aligned with institutional goals. You also may have an up-to-date crisis communication plan. But what about a current succession plan? How successfully would your team be able to carry on in your absence?

Here are five suggestions to get you started:

• ·         Create a detailed plan that lists what tasks need to be completed, how often, and by whom. Make sure the list includes contact information for individuals outside your organization who may possess information and/or be helpful in completing each task
• ·         Make sure each key member of your organization has access to the plan, not only your subordinates who will be responsible for accomplishing the tasks, but also your superiors so they will know who to contact should they have questions or need assistance with follow-up tasks
• ·         Review the plan with your supervisors to ensure they agree with and are comfortable with the choices you propose.  Seek their input and suggestions on any other tasks that need to be included
• ·         Review your succession plan on a regular basis to ensure that it’s up to date. Both people and responsibilities change frequently and your plan needs to reflect that. If possible, you might want to consider posting the plan in a secure, online shared file which will not only make updating it easier, but also will provide other members of your team with instant, easy access to it
• ·         Make sure your succession plan is specific enough to enable your team to operate in your absence for at least six months. By so doing, it will provide your colleagues enough time to conduct more long-range planning and will keep operations flowing without fear of interruption

Most of us don’t consider the need for succession plans because we believe there will be plenty of time to create one should the need ever arise. But take it from someone who never saw “it” coming: chances are, you’ll never see it coming. Do yourself a favor and create one today.

Last Tuesday, Nov. 15, was National Teach-In Day and, as I have for the past several years, I spent the day talking with 7^th graders at a nearby middle school. I picked author trivia as a theme for our discussion. I selected about nine celebrated authors for us to talk about, writers like Dickens, Austen, and Poe, and a few Florida writers like Zora Neale Hurston (pictured here) and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. As always, I enjoyed the time I spent with these young people. They were, for the most part, polite and eager to learn. But I left the school this time realizing that something is happening in our schools and it’s not good.

When I pointed to the picture of Hurston, who grew up about 10 miles from where they were sitting, they said they thought it was Queen Latifah. When I pointed to a picture of Maya Angelou, they thought it was Oprah’s mother. When I asked them who were some of their favorite authors, of the hundred or so students I talked with that day, only one name surfaced: Dr. Seuss. One boy, sitting on the first row, said with a big smile: “You know, I really don’t like to read.” It was obvious he’s not alone.

The English teacher I was paired with for the day has been in the classroom for 29 years. He is devoted to his calling and genuinely cares about the young men and women he’s been tasked with educating. But make no mistake, his objective is clear: to prepare students for Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). If it’s not on the test, there’s no point in covering it. Fundamentals like spelling, for example, are not taught. Teachers are compensated and schools are funded on how well their students score on the test. As for the students, if it’s not on television, why bother to learn it?

I certainly don’t mean to pick on Florida. This is a national phenomenon. And I don’t disagree with the intention of creating some accountability in our schools. But learning involves much more than how well we score on a test. It also is determined by what value we place on formal learning (teachers in Florida, for example, have not received a pay raise in five years and I can’t recall seeing any politicians in our schools lately, extolling the virtues of those who work for low wages in order to prepare our children, the next generation, for leadership). And let us not forget the responsibility of parents to set the example by turning off the television sets and engaging in a little learning of their own.

This isn’t a conservative issue or a liberal problem. It’s a fundamental threat to the future of our nation. We can’t put America back to work if our citizens don’t possess the skills necessary to do the work. How do we go about correcting this problem and getting American education back on the right course? By first focusing attention on it. Secondly, committing resources to it. And thirdly, devising a proven system that adequately measures the teaching and learning process.

Perhaps Dr. Seuss said it best: “Sometimes, the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

Growing up in Ohio, we lived in a former apple orchard. As a result, our home was ringed by beautiful old apple trees. The blossoms in spring were beautiful, but the fallen apples in fall my brother and I had to pick up, not so much.

One memory I especially savor is the family of chipmunks that lived in and around one of those trees in our back yard. I fed the furry little fellas every day. At first, I would leave them food nearby and then disappear. I gradually started throwing the food in their direction, and over time, the distance between us grew shorter. Eventually, they would take the grain right out of my hand. By being patient, I came to win their trust. But by observing them up close, I also began to notice the differences in both their appearance and their behavior. I was able to give each one of them a special name that seemed to fit their personalities.

Human beings are no different. It’s unrealistic to think we’re going to win their trust in a single sales call or a marketing letter. In order to win their trust, we need to be willing to invest the time to reach out to them on a regular basis. We need to be patient in letting them decide when to increase that level of trust. And we need to be ever mindful of the fact that trust will not exist without mutual respect for one another and the fact that neither will gain if both parties do not win. Selling, as I’ve said before, is largely an emotional decision. And emotions, to a great extent, are based on intuition.

Those chipmunks taught me a good lesson about building trusting relationships. Good luck in building yours.

I love Seth Godin’s analogy about his dog, Woodie. When they first acquired the pooch, they installed one of those invisible fences to keep him from wandering away. Woodie probably got a shock once or twice from the collar when he attempted to leave the yard. The electronic barrier eventually broke, however, and Woodie was free to come and go as he pleased. And yet, he has never left the yard. The boundary is in Woodie’s head.

Can you relate? In our daily lives, we’re reminded of all the boundaries we dare not cross. “That is not the way we do it here,” we are told. “We tried that before and it didn’t work,” is the common refrain.

In his biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson writes about how the inventor was famous for pushing his employees well beyond their boundaries. He was notorious for setting deadlines that were, by most accounts, unrealistic. And yet, Jobs had the ability to convince those employees they were capable of achieving and surpassing those goals.

What boundaries are in your head? And when was the last time you attempted to push beyond them? Achieve the unachievable? Reach beyond what you think is unattainable? How about now?

While walking this morning, listening to some of my favorite music on my iPod, I got to thinking about the impact Steve Jobs has had on my life. He changed the way I buy and enjoy music. He enhanced the way I communicate with others. And he made easier the manner in which I interact with my computer and other electronics. We are all aware of his many contributions to our culture. Just consider the praises that have been streaming since his death yesterday.

One of my favorite stories about Steve was how, when his fledging company was building the McIntosh, he flew the Jolly Roger from the flagpole atop their office building. His purpose in displaying the skull and crossbones was to remind employees when they arrived for work each morning that Apple’s intent was not just to create a marketable product, but to sink the competition and transform our culture through disruptive technology.

Yes, he had a flair for technology, although he hired others to implement his ideas. To me, Steve’s true genius was in his ability to envision a better world that we could not grasp. He was able to look at things around us, things that we all took for granted every day, and ask “what if …?”

When Bill Gates was shown an iPod for the first time, his response reportedly was: “So what’s the big deal? It’s just a mini hard drive.” True. But what Bill failed to see in that mini hard drive was a device that would revolutionize the music industry and put record stores out of business.

So thank you, Steve. For the iPod, iPad, iPhone, for Pixar, and for all of your many other inventions. But thank you also for reminding us to constantly look at our world and ask: “What if?”

I accompanied my daughter recently on her quest to purchase a replacement car. She and her mother had visited a Chrysler dealership the day before and had picked out a 2010 Jeep Compass as a possible contender. Upon our return, and after several hours of discussion and haggling, the dealership offered her the car at a competitive price, and she accepted. That should have been the happy ending to the story, but unfortunately, it was not.

After all the paperwork had been signed, the salesman handed her just one ignition key to the car. When I asked about a second key, his response was: “We were only given one key to the car, so we only have one to give you.” He added that she could purchase a second key for $200.

When she proceeded to leave the lot, she discovered there was barely enough gas in the tank to make it home. The car lacked floor mats, even the paper kind they give you at the auto repair shop. And she soon discovered that the car’s oil needed to be replaced as well as the air filter and cabin air filter. So much for the “meticulous inspection” the car was supposedly given before it was ever placed on the lot.

Instead of leaving the dealership feeling she had been given a fair deal, which she had, our daughter instead left feeling she had been taken for a ride, and not in a good way. What turned out to be a negative experience could have been avoided for just a little money and much more of a focus on customer service. Seeing the whole buying experience through the eyes of the customer would have provided an entirely different outcome.

Years ago, when I worked at the University of Florida, I asked the director of facilities how they determined where to place sidewalks. Quite simple, he responded. They just waited until students wore a path and then they covered it with concrete.

Your institution may be doing all the right things to help your students succeed. But are you evaluating the quality of those services through their eyes? And how do they perceive the experience?

A few years ago, Ron Lang was appointed chief executive officer of SunGard Higher Education, a company I have served for more than a decade. In my opinion, Ron possesses many positive characteristics of an effective leader. One thing in particular I found impressive was how, shortly after he assumed his new role, he established and publicized three key values to help guide the company. Those values have become familiar, not only to SunGard’s employees around the world, but also to many of its customers (I love it when they tell me what the values are). Here are five reasons I think his leadership in this instance has been particularly effective:

1)      Ron introduced three key values that were simple and easy to understand: the fact that SunGard Higher Education is one company (comprised of several solutions and services but speaking with one voice); an outside-in approach (primary focus on the needs of the customer); and speed (to market). A fourth value, operational excellence, was added later. Because these four values are simple and easy to comprehend, they can be readily communicated by anyone from corporate executives to maintenance workers.

2)      Ron is a good communicator. He holds town hall meetings, blogs and vlogs, visits the company’s many offices and engages in dialogue with employees, and of course, spends time visiting with customers. He uses every opportunity to talk about the four values and cites examples of how they are being implemented. Those examples might take the form of a comment from a customer or an employee who has made an exemplary contribution. The stories help reinforce the values’ importance and help employees understand how and why they are critical to the company’s success.

3)      By regularly providing examples of how these values are implemented, Ron helps employees understand how they can “adopt” and align them with their own individual roles and responsibilities. By connecting with the “why,” employees take ownership in the values and discover ways to contribute to their implementation.

4)      Every one of the company’s strategic objectives aligns with the key values. Most companies and institutions do some sort of strategic planning, but oftentimes those plans end up on a shelf. Continually drawing the connection between strategic objectives and a company’s values gives the plan “legs” and helps it remain focused on achieving results.

5)      And finally, under Ron’s leadership, the company uses its values as a benchmark for determining its progress in meeting the objectives. It serves as a vehicle for reminding people how far along the company is in meeting its goals, and the values remind them why the goals are critical to the company’s success. Continually reviewing the values adds up to increased accountability.

Has your institution documented its values? Does every person in your organization readily understand those values? Do they understand how to apply those values to their own roles and responsibilities in order to help ensure the organization achieves its goals? And does your institution regularly discuss and celebrate its values?

A few years ago, the now-defunct Motto Magazine created what it considered the nation’s Top 10 college taglines. Number one on the list was Cornell University with this gem: “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” a quote from namesake Ezra Cornell. Close behind were Stanford University (The wind of freedom blows), Dartmouth College (A voice of one crying out in the wilderness), and Brown University’s “In God we hope,” which is probably recited by students around test time.

Really? The best mottos higher education has to offer? Which begs the question: are mottos or taglines really beneficial to colleges and universities?

According to Eric Swartz, principal of Tagline Guru and the man behind dozens of mottos you know by heart, the answer is a qualified yes. Eric and I had a conversation recently about the role of mottos in helping to brand institutions.

‘I like to think of mottos as the exclamation point at the end of a 30-second elevator pitch or the conversation starter if you’re getting into an elevator. It needs to have legs. It has got to tell a story. And that story is who you are, what you do, and why the world should care. It’s your brand story. If you can’t link to that or a central marketing message or some sort of strategic plan, it exists in a vacuum. It’s meaningless.”

Eric says a competent tagline that defines an institution’s mission and embodies a set of values can be more successful than a clever, disembodied phrase that stands alone. “It may be a fine tagline in and of itself, but you want to be able to use it strategically to connect with your audience. That’s where cities and companies have done well by leveraging the brand and the brand value that goes with it (think what happens in Vegas!).”

It is often easier for younger institutions to define their brand because they don’t have to take into consideration a lot of history and tradition. And one of the problems with an umbrella motto for a large school is it has to be able to satisfy all of its different schools and colleges which may have their own brand expressions. “The higher up you go,” he says, “the more generic the message becomes. You don’t want to go too far in that direction because it then loses its specificity. It needs to feel unique to that institution and not like anybody else’s.”

Eric says college administrators often make the mistake of creating mottos that appeal more to themselves than to their students, alumni, and prospective applicants. “They are not wearing their marketing hat, they’re wearing their mortar board. To be successful, they need to think beyond the ivy walls.”

If you’re interested in creating or refining your institution’s motto, I suggest you check out Eric’s website at: www.taglineguru.com before you pick up your pen. You’ll find a wealth of information there that will save you time and effort.

Would you be willing to contribute $20 to save the life of a child? What if someone gave you a really great read by more than 60 of your favorite authors in return for your generosity?

 Seth Godin and his team have declared today End Malaria Day:

 http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/that-buzzing-in-my-ear-didnt-mean-i-was-about-to-die.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

Purchase a copy of End Malaria on Amazon and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to purchase Malaria bednets in South Africa and save children from this dreadful disease that causes more deaths among youth than from HIV/AIDS. It’s a worthwhile program and think how great you’ll feel after saving lives.

Still not sure what impact social media is having on our global society? You might want to take a couple minutes and view this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0EnhXn5boM&feature=share

Any questions?

In the late 17^th century, the finest violins in the world were made in the small Italian village of Cremona by three families whose workshops were a stone’s throw from each other. So the story goes, on the front door of the Amati family hung a sign that proclaimed: “The best violins in all Italy.” Nearby, on the front door of the Guarneri family, hung a sign that proclaimed: “The best violins in all the world!”  At the end of the street was the workshop of Antonius Stradivarius, and on his door, he simply stated: “The best violins on the block.”

Once, while working for a college, I had a conversation with my boss about marketing the institution. When I asked her who she thought was our target audience, she replied: “Everybody.” And when I asked what information she thought we should share with them, she replied: “Everything!”

With few exceptions, the days of mass marketing no longer make sense. The strategy now is to research and selectively target your audience. Trying to sell your college or your product to everyone not only wastes valuable resources, but it also dilutes your message to the lowest common denominator. In order to speak to everyone, it resonates with no one.

Want to rise above the competition? What specifically is your message? And who is most likely to be attracted to your offering?

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was known for walking the streets of his city and asking passerby: “How am I doing?” I’m sure he was interested in how the governor and others in high positions perceived his leadership. But he also wanted to know how his organization was responding to the needs of all its citizens. And who best to provide that feedback than Joe and Minnie Sixpack?

It is important to know what your superiors think of your job performance. But how would your subordinates rate you? Does your team feel they have your ear? Do you encourage them to recommend ways your organization can operate more effectively?

In the past, I’ve shared with you the wisdom of a good friend, Rick Bommelje, who is a communications professor at Rollins College and also a noted expert on effective listening.

When soliciting constructive feedback from your colleagues, Rick suggests these Do’s and Don’ts:

DO: 

• Ask clearly and be specific. (“I really would appreciate your thoughts about how I’m doing leading the team meetings?”)
• Ask with confidence.
• Receive feedback as a gift that provides you with honest information about your perceived behavior/performance.
• Be open to what you will hear.
• Really listen and let the person finish what they are saying.
• Paraphrase what you are being told, either back to the person or in your own mind.
• Pose clarifying questions and request specific examples, if not provided.
• Ask the person to give you suggestions and recommendations for alternative behaviors.
• Monitor your nonverbal and emotional responses to ensure they demonstrate you are open to the information.
• Thank your colleague for the feedback. They didn’t have to give it to you.
• Evaluate the information and consider specific actions for improvements.
• Follow up with the person to let them know actions you’ve taken.
• Seek feedback on a regular basis. It’s a constant process, not a single event.

DON’T:

• Take the feedback personally.
• Become defensive, make excuses or try to explain your behavior if you hear something you don’t like or agree with.
• Interrupt the other person.
• Be afraid to allow pauses and periods of silence when you receive feedback. This gives you time to understand what is being said and it gives the other person time to think about what they would like to say.
• Ask the person to defend his or her opinion (there is a big difference between “defending” and “explaining”).

Rick adds that highly effective leaders are genuinely interested in knowing how they can improve and grow. “If you ask ‘How am I doing?’ sincerely, people will respond and open up to you.”

There is a quote from Thomas Edison above my desk that says: “There are no rules here. We’re trying to accomplish something.” That quote reminds me daily how easy it is to burden ourselves with policies and procedures that can get in the way of making progress.

Now, I realize it’s important to have rules. Without them, this world would be even more chaotic than it already is. Unfortunately, rules are also an inhibitor. They can prevent us from thinking outside the box, of taking unnecessary risk. They encourage us to follow the safe, traditional path. They discourage us from attempting radically new initiatives with phrases like: “That’s not the way we do it here,” and “We have standards for that.”

In searching for the perfect filament for his incandescent light bulb, Edison was accused of many failures. “I have not failed,” he responded. “I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

A leader in one of the companies I serve gave permission to a room full of managers to occasionally break the rules. His intent was not to create anarchy, but to let those men and women know that stepping outside the lines of conformity is okay once and a while if their insubordination helps, in the long run, to grow the business. 

One last suggestion: as you contemplate coloring outside the lines of your world, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons and with purpose. Keep in mind former president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s observation that: “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.”

Do you occasionally suffer from writer’s block? Does the idea of a blank screen create in you a sense of panic and hesitation? Trouble getting started is due, in part, to what I like to call “perfectionist’s disease.” We’re reluctant to commit words to paper (or screen) for fear of not getting it right the first time.

Any professional writer will tell you the secret to overcoming this dilemma is to change your paradigm and remind yourself that the first draft is merely a warm-up exercise. Its only purpose is to put the brain in gear so you can begin the real work: the rewrite.

 I learned that lesson early as a cub reporter for The Florida Times-Union. When I had trouble starting an article, I would write four or five different leads to the story. Usually, toward the end of the exercise, I would discover what it was I truly needed to say.

 Perhaps author Robert Cormier said it best: “The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.”

Assuming you agree with this premise, let me suggest a few tips as you begin the rewriting process:

• Conciseness is next to godliness. As you review your draft, try reading passages without conjunctive words like that, which, and however. If the passage sounds okay without the word, remove it. Also look for unnecessary adjectives. As Mark Twain observed: “As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.”
•  Avoid clichés, jargon, acronyms and the like. They make your writing seem hackneyed and generally serve to annoy the reader.
• Assuming you’re writing on a computer (since you’re reading this on one ;-) take advantage of spellchecker and apps that advise you on grammar. But use common sense and don’t get tripped up on homophones like bear and bare.
• Whenever possible, write in the active voice instead of the passive. And make sure your tenses and pronouns are consistent throughout.
• Does the article have a main point? And is that take-away clear?
• Is the material organized so the reader can follow you from one idea to another? Did you underwrite or overwrite on some of the sub-topics?
• And finally, if at all possible, invite someone you trust (and hopefully, with good editing skills) to read your content. After several read-throughs, even the best of us lose our objectivity. 

I like what author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had to say about the writing profession: “Our power is patience. We have discovered that writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time.”

When Christopher Sholes and his partners invented the first practical mechanical typewriter in 1867, they took great pains to introduce what we today call the qwerty keyboard. The layout was so named for the first six letters that appear to the left in the upper row of keys. Because secretaries were able to type so quickly, there was a tendency to jam the key’s levers. By arranging letters according to their frequency of use, the qwerty keyboard discouraged such jamming.

Today, of course, there are no levers. Our electronic keyboards do not jam; we can type as fast as we want. But the keyboard we’ve continued to use for the last century and a half is designed to actually slow us down. And attempts to introduce more efficient arrangements have met with negative results.

Why is that? Because we are creatures of habit. We are change adverse. Any efforts to try new approaches are met with fierce resistance.

 As I write this, our nation is teetering on the edge of economic collapse. And what are our legislators debating in the halls of Congress? An effort to repeal a law calling for the phasing out of the incandescent light bulb. Invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, the bulb is only 10 percent efficient. The remaining 90 percent of its energy is given off in heat. And yet, many Americans are vehemently opposed to replacing it with the much more efficient fluorescent bulb.

 As you introduce new ideas to your colleagues, be prepared for the inevitable opposition. Be patient. And remember Henry Ford’s observation that airplanes always take off into the wind. That’s what gives them lift and the ability to fly.

Can you hear it? The noise from all that traffic? I’m talking about traffic on the Internet. Consider that during the next 60 seconds:

• Google will handle 694,445 search queries
• More than 1,500 messages will be posted to blogs (excluding this one)
• More than 6,600 images will be posted to Flickr
• More than 600 videos will be posted to YouTube
• People will download more than 13,000 applications to their iPhones
• And more than 168 million e-mails will be sent

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center determined that last year, for the first time ever, more people got their news from the Web than from a physical newspaper. Forty-six percent of Americans said they got their news online at least three times per week, compared with 40 percent who indicated they got their news from newspapers and their companion websites.

So what is your Web presence? And what are you waiting for?

Conducting research for his book, “Becoming a Successful Manager,” communications consultant and former Northwestern University Professor Bob Parkinson asked managers the biggest mistake they and their colleagues tend to make. Many of the responses, he said, related directly to communication. More specifically, what they said was: 

• Managers talk too much
• Managers don’t listen
• Managers tell others, “How I would do it.”
• Managers don’t allow or encourage feedback
• Managers correct more frequently than they praise
• Managers don’t care how employees feel

To be fair, managers have a lot of responsibility and are normally faced with multiple projects and deadlines. They need to make sure tasks are completed quickly and correctly. But failing to take the time to encourage teamwork among colleagues and subordinates can be a costly mistake.

Larry King made an observation that I absolutely love. He said: “I never learned a thing when I was talking.” That certainly is true in my case. Early in my career, when faced with a problem that needed a solution, my tendency was to start talking. Make suggestions on what next steps to take. I was open to suggestions from others, but I can’t say as I actively solicited their thoughts.

These days, I like to think my tendency is to first ask the question: “What do you think?” Employees will contribute their ideas if they feel they are wanted and appreciated. If you don’t respect their opinion, however, they likely won’t respect yours. From my experience, it’s a whole lot better to have multiple brains working on a solution rather than just one.