The last 24 hours were difficult for American workers.  Yesterday, Midwest Express announced they were laying off 40% of their workforce, and today General Motors –who has been struggling for some time thanks to gas prices, environmental concerns, and better competition – announced a 20% reduction in their workers.  The combined 10,000 employees from both companies – while a drop in the proverbial bucket for our overall economy – represent a growing number of American workers being displaced by our difficult market conditions.  The news got me thinking: there is a good and a bad way to lay your people off (and of course, the best way is not to have to do so at all)…

Economic times are tough these days.  Inflation – fueled by gas, commodities, and other price increases – is rising; real estate is depressed; credit is tight (and apparently fragile given the news of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac); consumer confidence is low; and other social-political issues (our two wars, an election year, emerging tension in Iran and other areas) are probably only making the economy more delicate.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress just today that the “…fragile economy is facing ‘numerous difficulties’ despite the Fed's aggressive interest rate reductions and other fortifying steps.”  Bottom line: it’s tough owning or managing a business these days (even if it’s a non-profit business).

So tough, in fact, that we are seeing a predictable increase in corporate layoffs.  It seems to be starting first with companies directly hit by increasing costs of doing business (like airlines and auto manufacturers), but we are also beginning to see downsizing in financial services, entertainment, retail (remember the Starbucks announcement two weeks ago?), and other industries.  Layoffs are never a pleasant experience – they’re potentially devastating to those individuals (and their families) who lose their jobs, but are also terribly stressful on the managers who deliver the bad news as well as those “survivors” who are left to clean up after their colleagues are shown the door.

The best solution is to avoid layoffs in the first place.  In fact, I wrote several years ago in this column that layoffs represent management’s ultimate failure – that basically leaders are saying “we’ve tried everything and there’s nothing else we can do to stop the bleeding other than to show many of you hard workers the door.”  Indeed, I think layoffs represent a failure of leadership – and a failure of organization’s systems – to adjust capacity given changing market or environmental conditions so that operations can absorb peaks and valleys in demand.

I know it’s not that easy in reality, but it does come down to effective planning processes (with razor-sharp environmental scanning capability – so that leaders see these issues as early as possible), flexible operations (through inventory control, JIT methods, creating market-facing processes to redirect processes and products to areas the market needs and away from others that demand is falling), and adaptable workforce processes and work systems (so that capacity can be added and subtracted – potentially through supply chain and partners rather than always through a company’s own workforce).  In short, I think there is a way to avoid – or drastically reduce the potential of having to resort to – layoffs.

However, if you’re a business owner, executive, or manager in an organization that has tried everything else and are faced with the reality that you need to furlough some of your key asset (that’s your people, presumably), there’s a right and a wrong way to do it.  My tips:

• Communicate.  Communicate early, communicate often, and communicate fully.  I know that the subject is sensitive, and I also appreciate the wisdom in trying to be delicate with your people.  Do be sensitive to the timing, delivery, and content of messages.  But don’t sugarcoat the situation and don’t treat your employees as if they were children.  They’ll see through mixed messages, and they also take note of what is NOT said.  So be open, be honest, be as transparent as possible.  Take questions; be sensitive.  But – above all else – communicate.  (I know the attorneys out there will cringe, so do consider employment law and the exposure to your organization.  But don’t sacrifice transparency and honesty for the risk of future litigation.)
• Be Professional and Manage the Pain.  Those losing their jobs will feel tremendous stress (although some will feel relief) in this activity, and they all will be faced with the reality of having to move on.  Help them through the process by offering severance to ease the financial stress (as much as possible), offering career counseling and outplacement services, extending benefits (as much as possible), providing references (if appropriate), and considering other activities that could make the transition as painless as possible. 
• Manage Your Survivors.  It’s a harsh label to call these folks “survivors,” but in a way they are.  They are asked to say goodbye to their friends and colleagues, and they are requested to pick up the pieces and move forward – oftentimes with increased workloads (someone’s gotta do the work) and rising fear that they might be next.  Communicate openly and honestly with these folks before layoffs occur (see above), but be fully sensitive to their needs, issues, and fears after the downsizing occurs.  Have team meetings (and one-on-ones) after the layoffs to create (new) goals, clarify (revised) roles, discuss fears, and listen to concerns.  You can’t make promises that downsizing won’t ever happen again (I’m sure the first round of layoffs weren’t part of the grand vision in the first place), but you can go far in rebuilding relationships and trying to move forward with the precious human assets with which you’re left.
• Improve Processes.  Of course, you should be doing this all of the time (and probably should have BEFORE layoffs to potentially produce a different outcome), but to my point above: you now have a similar amount of work to accomplish with fewer human resources.  That either requires an improvement in capability and productivity (process, technology, equipment, etc.) or inevitable burnout of your survivors.  So spend some time working with your survivors to improve the way business gets done – streamline your processes, eliminate waste and low value-added tasks, suspend projects with marginal returns (and/or delay those that will drain resources), work with partners/suppliers to potentially off-load some non-core activities.  Also, consider taking the opportunity to improve some management-related processes that might have prevented your having to downsize in the first place (processes such as strategic planning, sales and marketing, and so forth).

Ok – this column was painful (I nearly blew it off and went to a more pleasant summertime subject until I heard the GM news yesterday).  Layoffs are a real and unfortunate occurrence in today’s challenging economy.  My first advice is to do everything – and I mean everything – to avoid layoffs in the first place.  The intrinsic cost on your organization’s culture (including the cost of lost knowledge, lost goodwill, increased fear, etc.) will result in a negative impact far beyond the layoffs themselves.  But if you need to pull the trigger, fully consider the implications of the action and try hard to conduct the act in the most professional, civilized way possible.  Those receiving the news will appreciate it, and those left behind to pick up the pieces need all the re-assuring they can get.

I promise a more uplifting message in August.

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

Best-selling author and top rated speaker, Robin Lawton, is looking forward to meeting you in your office on Friday, July 18.  I hope you'll accept this invitation to join a limited number of other leaders for the last of three 2-hour webinars July 18, designed to simultaneously enlighten, entertain and equip you to take your pursuit of excellence and innovation to the next level.

The July 18 session is entitled "Innovation Versus Stuff That Stinks: Principles and Practices" and will focus on how successful innovation meets the “WOW” test, for both customers and producers. You will leave this session knowing at least five things:

Principles that cause customer bliss

Common (and apparently unknown) reasons customers mutter, “That sucks!”

The roadmap to innovate for customer love and competitor envy

The main enabler of divergent thinking & innovation

The #1 attribute required for a successful innovation (either product or service)

This interactive webinar focuses on identifying customers, clarifying how they truly define value, and delivering what they really want.  This content-rich, thought provoking session will give you the essence of what would be covered in a full-day face-to-face workshop -- but in a fraction of the time and cost.

Sign up with a team of three or more for up to 60% discount and optimize your ability to apply what you learn.  But space is limited, so please go TODAY to http://www.imtc3.com/events/eventDetails.cfm?datID=131 for details and registration on line. The list price per event is $225/person (before member, early bird, and group discounts).

Use promotional code MCQ for discounts.  The session is 11AM-1PM CT.  As part of the program, you will receive a downloadable file, with visuals, notes, tools, and references -- all that helps make the content more actionable.

The co-sponsors of this program include Minnesota Council for Quality, American Society for Quality (ASQ) Minnesota Section, American Society for Quality (ASQ) LaCrosse-Winona Section, Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) Minnesota Section, California Council for Excellence, the Washington State Quality Award, the Wisconsin Forward Award, and several other organizations across the U.S.  We have come together for the first time to bring you the #1 of 88 speakers ranked by an international organization.

Are you interested in learning more about what makes organizations successful?  Are you interested in helping other organizations -- such as schools, hospitals, non-profits, and businesses -- around the state improve their performance?  Would you be interested in networking, learning, and sharing with others who feel the same way?

The Minnesota Council for Quality is seeking candidates for the 2008 Minnesota Quality Award Board of Evaluators.  The third and final training session in 2008 is September 30-October in Roseville.

There are many benefits to becoming an Evaluator, such as:

• strengthening your understanding of what drives organizational excellence (the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence represent a validated set of best practices for organizational excellence, and can be useful for improving any organization’s performance),
• networking with influential leaders and professionals (this year’s Board of Evaluators will include about 150 leaders from around the state – executives, middle managers, surgeons and physicians, superintendents and school teachers, non-profit and public sector leaders, quality professionals, and consultants),
• seeing “best practices” deployed within another organization – knowledge that you could use back at your organization and/or in your career, helping organizations throughout the state – many of them schools, health care providers, non-profits, public sector agencies, and certainly businesses – improve their performance…simply get better at what they do, and
• developing a set of other professional skills that may help you advance your career – skills such as consensus- and team-building, written communication, verbal communication and interpersonal skills, interviewing, analysis, and systems thinking.

Most Evaluators consider the experience to be among the most valuable of their careers.  In fact, many have claimed that the experience and knowledge gained from this process rivals getting an MBA or advanced business degree.

Furthermore, Evaluators can earn college (undergrad and post-grad) credit for participating in training.  For interested Evaluators, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Stout both offer three (3) hours of credit in partnership with the Minnesota Council for Quality.

If you are interested in joining the 2008 Board of Evaluators, training will be September 30-October 2 in the Twin Cities.  In addition to the full three-day training session, new Evaluators are also required to attend a one-day orientation (either September 11, 16, or 17 – all in the Twin Cities).

Applications for new Evaluators are due 9/5.  Applications for returning Evaluators (which only require updates from your most recent application) are due 9/19 (returning Evaluators: significant changes to the process will reduce the time required for pre-work/training and evaluation in 2008).

The Minnesota Council for Quality and Minnesota Healthcare Quality Professionals are pleased to announce a two-day conference this fall that focuses on organizational innovation in business and healthcare.  The conference, entitled “The Innovation Imperative: Best Practices in Innovating Business and Healthcare,” will be Wednesday, October 8 at the Embassy Suites hotel downtown St. Paul.  One-day pre-conference workshops are Tuesday, October 7.

Save the dates!

The conference will focus on one of the hottest – and most important – concepts in business today: innovation.  Specifically, we are inviting leaders and practitioners from organizations that are known for systematically innovating some aspect of their enterprise – either product/service design and features, programs, processes, operations, workforce-related processes, and/or overall business model – to create new value for their customers and stakeholders.

Innovation is no longer strictly the purview of R&D departments, but is important for all aspects of an organization’s operations – all works systems, and all work processes.  High performing organizations are led and managed so that innovation is not the random identification of good, creative ideas; rather, innovation should become part of the learning culture of an organization, integrated into daily work and supported by an organization’s performance improvement system.

This conference will feature several organizations and explore their best practices related to innovation in some part(s) of their enterprise, such as:

• Product, service, program innovation: to create new value for customers/stakeholders
• Process and operational innovation: how work gets done (process, technology, systems,  infrastructure, and so forth)
• Business model innovation: how your workforce and work systems are structured/managed to enhance workforce capability and engagement, to build organizational capacity, to manage supply chain and/or partners to maximize core competencies and organizational agility, and/or to better leverage workforce and organizational knowledge assets for driving change and introducing new value to the market.

Save the dates!

We don’t get others to follow us because of our credentials. And it’s usually not our experience that inspires them to listen to us and move forward.  Rather, it’s our presence -- our leadership presence -- that people can feel, which generates confidence, motivates, and wins them over.

The MN Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Bill True, partner with SagePresence, a firm that uses method inspired by the same tools and principles leveraged by Hollywood directors and screenwriters, to our August 7 Minneapolis PIN meeting.  SagePresence’s method has helped people elevate their professional “stage presence” to inspire a team, make a connection, win more sales, wow an audience, and get a job.

No one knows stage presence better than filmmakers who help actors shape their presence to authentically connect with audiences and move them in a meaningful way.  Bill is an award-winning screenwriter with over 12 years experience in crafting compelling corporate messages. A former Director of Communications for Fortune 200 Express Scripts, Bill has also worked as a freelance writer and business consultant for top companies including UnitedHealth Group, LifeTouch Studios, Deluxe Checks, and Land O' Lakes. In 2005, Bill’s debut feature film Runaway premiered to universal accolades at the Tribeca and Toronto Film Festivals, and took the top prize at the prestigious Austin Film Festival and Screenwriters Conference in recognition of Bill’s work.  Runaway is slated for release in 2008.

Join us on August 7 to learn how the filmmakers and training professionals of SagePresence bring leadership presence to professionals at any level, helping them influence others on every rung of the ladder, both inside and outside of their organizations.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on August 7 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), 1501 Hennepin (15th and Hennepin), downtown Minneapolis, Room L3000 (Wheelock-Whitney Library). 

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $10 for partner organizations; $20 for the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.councilforquality.org/performance.cfm. 

Teams, departments, organizations, and even personal relationships often come down how effective people are at managing conflict, resolving disagreements, and finding common ground.  Individuals’ ability to resolve conflict usually outweighs technical competencies, methods, and tools – in business and personal lives.

The MN Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Anna Maravelas, founder of Thera Rising, to an encore presentation at our August 13 St. Paul Performance Improvement Network (PIN) session (Anna’s Minneapolis PIN was so well received that Council members requested a second session).  So invite your leaders, bring your team, or just come again to learn more about a process to resolve conflicts.

Anna tackles a commonly overlooked but costly phenomenon in her popular presentation, “Self-Defeating Habits of Otherwise Brilliant People®.”  An expert in workplace conflict resolution and a devotee of Deming, Maravelas contends that frustrated leaders and employees can avoid behaviors that fuel destructive disagreements rather than wasting profits and time resolving them—continuously.  You will learn how to create emotionally resilient teams, avoid risk factors for heart disease, and depression, eliminate five root causes of simmering hostilities and maintain your integrity by sidestepping invitations to blame.  Rather than undermining relationships by "searching for stupidity," Maravelas introduces techniques for avoiding blame and self-righteous indignation and focusing on the true causes of workplace inefficiency and waste.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on August 13 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at 3M, 3M Center Building 236 in Maplewood.  Parking is free.

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $10 for partner organizations; $20 for the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.councilforquality.org/performance.cfm. 

Are you interested in engaging your employees in an ongoing conversation about your organizational culture, values, and mission?  Would you benefit from improved communication, better alignment of decision making with your values, and better engagement of your people?

The Rochester Area Quality Council, an affiliate of the Minnesota Council for Quality, is pleased to announce its July program: “Using Core Values as a Tool for Organizational Excellence.”  The discussion will be led by Jack Priggen, president/founder, and Michael Garner, director of training and development, both of Cardinal of Minnesota.

Jack and Michael will share personal stores of how they developed core value statements, their perspectives on the importance of articulating core values, and practical information on organization-wide implementation of core values.  Anyone interested in learning about how core values can create a positive work environment should attend.

Those attending will be able to:

• Understand a process for developing core values
• Learn helpful hints for implementing core values
  in daily operations
• Learn how to use core values as a tool to manage,
  communicate, and engage workers.

Mercy Health System, Janesville WI, was awarded the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest Presidential award for Performance Excellence in the US.

The Rochester Area Quality Council, an affiliate of the Minnesota Council for Quality, is pleased to announce that Kathy Harris, Vice President of HR and Organization Development and Mercy Health System, will speak at its August 5 program on how Mercy transformed its culture and improved results using Baldrige and other methods.

Kathy will share the transformation story of Mercy Health, which was a struggling healthcare system that reinvented itself over a 20 year period.  Kathy will outline practical examples and organizational best practices in the areas of leadership, planning, customer (patient) focus, measurement and information, workforce focus, and process management.  Kathy will also share key learnings that were helpful in driving change.  Mercy Health is a 4000-employee system in southern Wisconsin, operating through 64 facilities and serving 24 communities.  Kathy's information will provide insight for both healthcare organizations as well as any organizations interested in performance excellence.

Those attending will be able to:

• Understand the Baldrige framework and how it compares
  to other continuous improvement tools
• Explore how Baldrige might help healthcare organizations,
  businesses, and other organizations reach higher levels
  of excellence
• Learn best practices used by Mercy Health -- helpful for
  organizations using Baldrige and those who are not.

Speaker: Kathy Harris, VP, HR and Org Development, Mercy Health System
Date: Friday, August 8 (note date)
Time: 7:30 Registration, networking, breakfast; 8:00-9:00 Program
Location: University Center, Coffman (CF) 206/208

For more information, visit http://www.councilforquality.org/RAQCProgram.cfm.  Space is limited.
Please register by contacting Jennifer Burmeister before August 1 at jennifer.burmeister@councilforquality.org or 507-213-8132.

The Council would like to recognize 50 organizations and individuals who joined or renewed their membership in the second quarter.  These individuals and organizations became members last quarter (asterisks indicate renewal members):

Alexandria Extrusion Company, Alexandria

Ted Amundson, Hastings

Avicenna Technology Inc., Montevideo

Lois Bollman, Minneapolis

Cargill Health & Food Technologies, Wayzata

Catalyst for Change, Minneapolis

Ceridian Quality and Productivity Department, Minneapolis

Cutwater Consulting, Minnetonka

Designs for Learning, St. Paul

Dunwoody Institute, Minneapolis

William Glaves, Minneapolis

Brad Hanson, Rochester

Hazelden Foundation, Center City

HealthForce (CIHSEP), Rochester

Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie

Hoglund Coaching LLC, Shoreview

Human Strategies LLC, Albuquerque NM

Mark it! Advertising, Rochester

Memorial Blood Centers of Minnesota, St. Paul

Metro State University, St. Paul

Minnesota Consulting Alliance, White Bear Lake

Minnesota State Colleges & Universities (MnSCU) Office of the Chancellor/System Office, St. Paul

Minnesota State University-Mankato, Mankato

New Strategic Directions, Tom Walkington, Lakeville

Novus Via Consulting, St. Paul

D. William O'Brien, Maplewood

Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis

Paul Pelkola and Assoc, LLC, Oakdale

Performance Improvement and Quality Management, Minneapolis

Plunkett's Pest Control, Fridley

Quantum Performance Group, Canandaigua NY

Seagate Normandale RHO Quality Dept, Bloomington

Sedgwick CMS, Eden Prairie

Rick Shomion, St. Paul

Sico America, Minneapolis

Stewartville School District, Stewartville

Kevin Stone, Big Lake

Stratis Health, Bloomington

The Bailey Group, Golden Valley

The Catholic Cemeteries, Mendota Heights

The Solution Exchange, LLC, Minnetonka

The Studer Group, Woodbury

Thera Rising, Arden Hills

Unisys Twin Cities, Roseville

University of Minnesota, Academic Support Resources (ASR), Minneapolis

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities -- Housing & Residential Life, Minneapolis

Jaqueline Vaale, St. Paul

Verum Consulting, Minneapolis

Reed Wahlberg, Wayzata

Workforce Development Division, MN Dept of Employment & Economic Development (DEED), St. Paul

We thank all members for their support.  As of June 30, the Council represents a growing community of nearly 300 members representing over 150,000 employees.  A complete list of members is available at http://www.councilforquality.org/member.cfm.

Why should you or your organization consider membership?  There are many reasons. Your or your organization receives:

* recognition (in this newsletter, in press releases, on the website, and with a certificate/letter);

* discounts to Council services (Evaluator training, organization assessments);

* access to Council services (Clearinghouse, Consultant Referral Network, and free admission to Performance Improvement Network discussions); and

* discounts to our partners’ services (other improvement-related non-profits, universities/colleges, and professional/trade associations).

A current Council member recently called to say that his organization is saving $6000 from a discount to a local university partner of the Council’s.  Their annual membership fee is $250, so that’s not a bad return on membership!

The Baldrige National Quality Program, in cooperation with the Alliance for Performance Excellence, is pleased to announce the 2008 Baldrige Regional Conferences.  The first regional conference will be held September 16 in Denver and the second October 3 in New Orleans.

Both days will offer dynamic learning and networking with representatives of the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients as well as previous Award recipients.  Leaders from 15 Award-winning organizations will share their success stories, highlighting their best-in-class practices.  The conference will offer an opportunity to gather valuable tips on applying the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to your organization…to improve your performance and strengthen your results.

Who Should Attend?  CEOs, senior managers, education and health care leaders and professionals, directors of staff functions, heads of operating units, and quality/performance improvement practitioners.

Attendees receive a conference bag containing Award recipient videos, presentation visuals, and other Baldrige materials.  Conference fees range from $445 to $545, depending on date of registration and other discounts (early bird Aug 22).

Enterprise Minnesota, formerly Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI) and a Partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to present five events, all focused on using Lean or other methods to improve organizational performance:

• July 16: Managing Your Supply Chain to Strengthen the OEM/Supplier Relationship, St. Paul
• August 13: Revenue Generating Business Ideas, Twin Cities
• September 10: Manufacturing Networking Event, Twin Cities
• October 15: Revenue Generating Business Ideas, Mankato
• November 19: Creating Profit Through Lean, Twin Cities

For more information on these programs, visit  http://www.enterpriseminnesota.org/Training-Events.aspx. 

The University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce their summer improvement and business day courses.  Council members receive a 10% discount on all CCE courses.

7/17 Working Assertively, $395

7/17 Writing Policies and Procedures, $395

7/18 Project Execution, $395

7/23 The Human Resource Audit, $395

7/23 Leading Through Change, $395

7/24 Unemployment Insurance and Workers' Compensation, $395

7/25 NEW! Project Management and Chaos Theory, $395

7/29 The Recruiter as Talent Advisor, $395

7/31 Negotiating for Agreement, $395

7/31 Performance Management Process, $395

7/31 Project Leadership, $395

8/5 Introduction to Human Resource Practices, $395

8/6 Creativity and Innovation, $395

8/12 Successful Manager's Leadership Program, $2995

8/14 Foundations in Business Writing: Designs & Strategies, $395

8/14 Project Control and Closure, $395

8/20 Facilitating Work Groups, $395

8/22 NEW! Applied Project Management, $395

8/26 Employee Compensation: Strategies and Practices, $750

8/27 Leading Global Projects and Virtual Teams, $395

Inver Hills Community College recently announced its new Professional Writing Certificate program, which includes workshops on the topics listed below to help you master the skills needed in the business world today.  Council members receive a 15% discount on
all listed fees.

You will receive feedback on your writing, learn how to assemble a professional writing portfolio, and develop your ability to evaluate your writing according to clear criteria.  You may bring writing samples for discussion and feedback.   

The course (Eng 9000-01) is on Tuesdays beginning Oct 7 through Nov 18 from 6:00-9:30 PM.  The course is $320 (minus 15% for Council members).  The cost of the program includes an easy-reference grammar handbook and class materials.  Workshops and topics include:

• Effective Business Writing

Learn the techniques you need to write more efficiently and effectively, meet the needs of your audience, edit for clarity and conciseness, and improve the readability and formatting of your letters, e-mails, memos, and reports according to contemporary business writing standards.

• Effective Technical Writing

Learn to write about technical subjects in a way that is clear and concise, tailoring the content, vocabulary, and organization to various audiences, such as managers, experts, and novices.  Learn the standard formats for technical documents and make every document, including tables, graphics and charts, more readable and professional looking.   

• Writing for the Web

Learn the key differences between print and screen readers—and what that means for you as a writer.  Learn solutions to the common problems of usability and navigation, practice revising and reorganizing sample websites to keep the focus on what users want and expect, and learn how to edit your writing according to web-usability standards.  

• Writing for a Global Audience

Learn how to edit and format your writing for an ever-increasing global audience by using Plain English, avoiding stereotypes and local references, recognizing and avoiding idioms, adopting international conventions for data, and revising sentences and paragraphs to make them easier to read.    

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