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Gearing Up
After The Slow Down
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Get Ready...It's Coming...
...The Economic Recovery!
Think you're ready? Is your team? Your salespeople? Your customer service reps? What about your organization? Your processes?
SMART organizations have been preparing for the recovery long before the recession took its firm grip on the revenue throttle and threw it into reverse. Of course, these organizations cut costs like everyone else did. What they did differently was expand their thinking and take action to grow their business at the same time.
What we will see at the end of this Great Recession and the beginning of the economic recovery will be the results of these actions, showcasing the new winners and losers of this New Economy. The losers are those who focused strictly on cutting costs - massive layoffs, salary reductions for remaining staff, pricing increases while simultaneously sacrificing quantity/quality, elimination of marketing and employee training programs, reduction of research and development initiatives, the list goes on and on... The winners, who also cut costs, did so prudently - eliminating waste through mindful analysis of process efficiencies and evaluation of performance. These winners also turned to process and performance innovation, focusing on ways to grow the business, developing new products and reinventing existing ones.
What will happen to the losers? Those organizations who have been stripped to a bare bones staff, overworked, underpaid, and way overstressed, will be rocked to their core by a mass exodus of talent, mostly between the ages of 25-43 years old...the energy and life blood of the company that they've been training to take on leadership roles. What remains? A lot of old cooks in the kitchen with no one to serve the customers or willing (or able) to stay late to do it!
What will happen to the winners? These organizations have been using their recessionary time to build teams through cross-training, build leadership bench strength with strong training programs and executive coaching, identify inefficiencies and improve processes and performance. These organizations have harnessed the power of social media to stay in front of their customers effectively, efficiently and inexpensively. They've positioned themselves as the leaders, reinventing themselves, their products, their services, and their brands. They've found new ways to innovate, collaborate and excel. These are the winners, the leaders of the new economy.
Prepare yourself now - get your teams and your leaders trained and ready. Identify the processes and performances most in need of improvement - or elimination. Ensure that your organization is the new winner: Contact Jill today for a complimentary consultation to get your leaders thinking strategically and trained for the new economy ahead.
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Great Events |
Jill Hickman Companies Proudly Supports
Dress for Success Houston
All public programs offered by Jill Hickman Companies benefit Dress for Success Houston, a non-profit organization that provides interview appropriate suits and career development to disadvantaged women seeking employment. If a woman, doesn't have a job, she can't afford a suit. But, without a suit, she can't get a job! By contributing your donation, you will be helping someone less fortunate get on the road to success.
Attend the any public event offered by Jill Hickman Companies and benefit the Dress for Success Houston Foundation by donating a new or nearly new piece of clothing. Suits, pant suits, closed toe shoes, handbags, scarves - all donations must be career appropriate, clean, pressed and on hangers. Your tax-deductible donations will help provide low-income women with interview-appropriate suits. By providing professional attire, you help women have the opportunity to thrive in work and in life. Support women in the pursuit of their dreams!
SAVE THE DATES
Possibilities for Women Workshop: give yourself or someone you know and care about, the gift of time to examine personal successes, determine sources of joy and focus on the future. Two public program dates are offered in Houston in collaboration with Katie Seifert, Star Furniture General Manager, a proud supporter of Dress for Success Houston.
Date: April 24, 2010 Time: 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Price: $79
Register: Online or call 281-358-8580
Date: May 14, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
SPECIAL PRICING: $55
Register: Online or call 281-358-8580
Date: June 26, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Price: $79
Register: Online or call 281-358-8580
Women's Retreat "Connecting With Power" Overnight retreat to reconnect with nature, invigorate your soul and recharge your batteries. With the opportunity to experience and share new adventures with incredible women in meaningful discussions, purposeful activities, a little wine and a lot of great food, you'll relax and discover new ways to innovate your business, career and life. Join me as we learn new skills, discover fresh insights and meet great friends to last a lifetime. Through purposeful play, we'll forge powerful business connections, create incredible support networks, and identify valuable resources to make our life journeys easier, joyful, and fulfilling.
Beginning Time: 3:00 p.m., May 14
Ending Time: 4:30 p.m., May 15
Price: $549
Discounts: $50 off when you register with 5 friends; $110 off as a past participant of the Possibilities for Women workshop
Register: Online or call 281-358-8580 | |
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Building
Corporate Strength
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Watson Wyatt conducted their annual U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey in May 2009 and concluded that "the fallout from the actions employers have taken in response to the recession is now coming to light, and it is significant" contributing to a sharp decline in the morale and commitment of their workers, especially top performers.
Here are FOUR key strategies to take NOW:
1. Assess your organization and determine strategies for success. Jill engages organizational leaders in interactive strategic planning sessions that look forward to the company's vision, scan the current environmental reality, SPOT the strengths, problems, opportunities and threats leading to success, identify five bold steps for moving forward, and create specific team action plans for immediate application.
Using colorful 4 x 8 ft. wall charts as the vehicles for capturing all ideas and plans, the strategy sessions come alive as leaders physically move throughout the room, creating their strategies and resulting action plans.
How much time does it take? Strap on your roller skates, buckle up your seat belts and get ready for a fast-paced 4 hours to put your leaders on the road to success!
2. Train your leaders to engage employees NOW. Number one reason why employees leave their organization: poor relationship with their immediate supervisor. Invest in Jill's leadership training to provide your supervisors with the skills they need to engage the talent you have. Teach them the other side of business - the HUMAN side: learning to communicate more effectively
identifying developmental opportunities for employees, sharing ideas and information, allowing risks and learning from failure. Leaders learn to create an environment that is ripe for creativity and innovation - critical ingredients for moving forward with lightening speed in the new economy.
3. Provide your team with the tools to improve processes and performance. Anyone can learn to be creative. It's not something you're born with - it's providing the right environment that allows creative ideas to flourish and then provides the opportunity to try these ideas out. Once leadership has created this kind of trusting environment, the tools must be in place for employees to learn the mechanics of identifying problem areas and collaborating on methods for improvement. Jill's programs on creativity and innovation, process improvement and problem solving provide the tools, practice and opportunities for teams to think creatively and create action steps leading to innovation, increased efficiencies and improved performance.
4. Retain your talent NOW.
Put stategies in place that address the needs of the WHOLE employee - not just the one that shows up for work each day. Terry Hatcher, VP of Human Resources for Stewart & Stevenson, advises leaders to learn five things outside the work environment about each employee they supervise. For example, did you know that your employee may be part of the estimated 64% of the 34 million employed Americans who are (unpaid) caregivers for someone in their home?
 Implementing strategies to address these difficulties include the options of flex-time scheduling, working from home, and providing legal and financial issues assistance (EAP). Do these strategies work? According to a June 2009 report from the Society for Human Resource Management, one strategy in particular - flex time - has these positive results: 68% polled said the quality of their personal and family life improved; 91% polled said it had a positive impact on employee morale (job satisfaction and engagement); 89% said employee retention was positively affected. AND since the majority of caregivers are full or part-time female employees, organizations are reaching out to these women in providing incentive rewards that nourish their soul, rejuvenate their spirits, and connect them with other supportive networks of women. Law firms have been providing "spa days" to their female staff for years to help combat the effects of stress while providing opportunities to build teams and effective relationships.
Jill offers workshops and retreats designed for busy women with full lives, helping them to regain their power, refocus their energies and find the supportive resources that they need. Treat your employees to a gift of relaxation. The gift you give them to reduce their stress will pay you back with an increase in productivity when they return to work with a lighter step in their walk and a brighter look in their eyes.
What strategies can YOUR organization put in place to engage and retain your talent NOW? Call Jill at 281-358-8580 to schedule a complimentary consultation to determine what she can do to assist your company in identifying the strategies you need to move your organization forward NOW. |
Jill Hickman Companies offers seminars and workshops on leadership, self development, strategic planning, creativity, and innovation. With individual coaching and participation in Mastermind Groups, Jill helps leaders gain clarity, focus, and balance in their lives. She helps her clients find success AND joy.
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