Act. Analyze. Adjust.

I have often heard this term Act, Analyze, Adjust associated with sales training; however I see such a strong connection and applicability for this in courageous dialogue and conflict management as well.
When faced with a difficult conversation, we must first determine the best course of action, then analyze how that action worked, and make adjustments as needed.
This process does require self reflection and, of course, being present, or in the moment, enough to pick up on how you and the other person are being impacted so that you can analyze and adjust in the discussion.
One of the best examples of this was a conversation I facilitated between a supervisor and a team member.  The friction between the two was quite intense and longstanding.  They had made other attempts to address and resolve the issues but had not been successful.  At one point, as we progressed through their conversation, the employee became very offended and defensive at something the supervisor had said.  Interestingly enough, it was the most supportive and attentive comment the supervisor had made in the whole conversation.  The supervisor was so taken back by the employee's comments that he simply sat there.  However, that silence seemed to be just what the employee needed to reflect on her reaction.  She was not really listening to what her supervisor had said, but had made an assumption and reacted.  The supervisor and I allowed the silence to continue for a short while.  It didn't take long for the employee to realize her error.  When she did she paused, reworded her comments calmly and the two discussed how the breakdown in their communication started and how they could move beyond these challenges in the future.  They assessed their actions, adjusted, acted and repeated this process with great success.

Leading Change When It Goes off the Tracks

Small businesses, entrepreneurs and authors can learn a lot about why some changes just don’t work for them. Author John P. Kotter is a change management expert, and his book Leading Change offers some great insights that can help any business move through change with more ease. First we need to understand what gets in the way of an effective change process:


Kotter says that businesses fail with their change processes because:

- They allow too much complacency

- They fail to create a powerful and effective change guiding coalition

- They underestimate the power of vision

- They under communicate the vision- communication is actions and words

- Permitting obstacles to block the new vision

- Failing to create short term wins


For businesses, authors and entrepreneurs, it is important we don’t become complacent in our work, always endeavor to be innovative, and passionate. It is the passion and innovation that helps you solve business challenges, and that people remember you for.  When you are excited about your business, others want to be a part of it. No one wants to do business with an owner that doesn't care anymore.
The results will serve you well.

Ensure that you have a vision, know how powerful a vision is and communicate it, and communicate it some more. We are learning that it takes about 14 “touches” which means someone seeing your message, before they buy, sign up or commit. This is a lot of communication in different formats but it works!

Don’t let obstacles or shiny objects get in the way or your plans and vision. Always find the short term "win wins", they fuel the next step in the journey. Also, bring people along with you!  These indivduals become champions for you, your business and your vision. 

To find out more about John P. Kotter, or his incredible books, visit: 

Decisions, Decisions!

What would you do?  How would you handle this?  Would you say yes?  Do you think this will move us to success faster?
These are questions I get a lot from my clients.  Of course, the answers vary depending on each company's situation, circumstances, and staffing.  Personalities and corporate culture also play a role in this process.  So, to try and make the decision making process a bit easier, here are five questions to help you in your business decision making process:

1. Does this serve me well/does it further my goal?   If the action you are considering is not related to your goals or does not serve you well, reflect on why you are even considering it.  What is driving you to consider this action?  What are the potential results of saying yes? No?  Usually if it doesn't serve you well and is not in alignment with your goals, it is not a course of action to choose.
2. Does this generate revenue?  Keeping the business plan and profit in mind is essential to business and team success.  Finances and profit must be part of the business decision equation.  Sometimes your choices and actions will produce revenue directly, and sometimes it will be more indirectly.  However, prioritize with those decisions that put money in the bank first.
3. Is it in line with our vision, values and strategic plan?  Double check your decisions, options and actions against your company and team vision, values, and strategic plan.  Is the decision and actions congruent to the vision and values?  Will your decision support the strategic plan or further it along?
4. Who else do I need to include/ASK or engage?  Who else needs to be engaged for input, advise or decision making?  What questions do you need to ask and what research must be completed?  Who do you need to bring along with you?
5. Is there another way to accomplish this (and if yes, what is it?)?  There are often many routes to the end goal.  Some more complicated than others.  When you are evaluating your choices, consider if there is a more direct, faster, smarter or cost effective way to accomplish your end goals.

Carefully considering important decisions can positively impact your end results.

Why Having an Skilled Emcee Creates Lasting Memories..and Success!

This week I launched my new radio show, Conversations with Charmaine, a very exciting day, as I had stepped into something new and accomplished a goal that had been brewing for the past year. My guest Seanna Collins offered incredible tips for business owners, communications staff and event planners about working with the media and hiring a skilled emcee for your next event!



SEANNA is a multi-faceted experienced broadcasting personality offering a variety of media talent services. She has a sterling reputation of being a person who “walks her talk” and can always be counted on to pull it all together. SEANNA’s television career includes hosting her own lifestyle programs, prime-time entertainment specials, live on-location broadcasts and numerous client commercials. She has also made cameo appearances playing the role of a TV reporter in Canadian movies and the primetime TV show “Fear Itself” for NBC and Lions Gate Entertainment out of Los Angeles. www.seannacollins.com


Seanna and I spoke about the valuable role that a professional emcee plays in any corporate event including: setting the tone for the event, managing challenges (e.g. room temperature, instructions for silent auctions, a late speaker, etc.) with ease and grace, keeping the event flowing on time, to name a few. Seanna pointed out that it is often the emcee that guests at corporate events, weddings, assembly's ect. remember, so make sure the emcee is leaving a great impression.


We also spoke about the role of media and how many times small businesses and organizations fear publicity, however Seanna reminded listeners that the media can be an extremely effective tool to dispel rumours, shed light on an important community issue or event, to showcase the good news stories in the community, and to recognize those that are making a difference.

You can listen to Seannna's interview at Conversations with Charmaine:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/02/15/guests-david-irvine-and-seanna-collins

Change: Can it be as easy as 1, 2, 8

John Kotter, is the author of Leading Change, a great book about the challenges of change and the 8 step process to implement change more effectively and thus avoiding the consequences of lower morale, and business interruptions.  Kotter's 8 step process may not always be easy as 1, 2, 3 but, these steps provide a road map to follow. 


1. Establish sense of urgency

2. Create the guiding coalition

3. Develop vision and a strategy

4. Communicate the change vision

5. Empower employees for broad based action

6. Generate short win wins

7. Consolidate gains and produce more change

8. Anchor new approaches in the culture

From my experience, the steps that are frequently missed, downplayed or challenged are: 2, 3, 4, and 5. Often the urgency is present however, I see leaders jump into implementing the change without pulling together the team, so, the leader becomes the change agent, communicator, lead, etc. When a change team is created, there are more champions to communicate the vision, and empower others.  The communication of change is very important, right from the WHAT is being communicated to the WHEN and in WHAT ways.  I am a strong believer of having a communication plan to guide the communication, this minimizes opportunity for miscommunication, rumours and inaccurate assumptions.
When I facilitated change management processes, these aspects form part of the change charter that is developed by the team leading the change.

To find out more about Kotter's book, visit:

Make the Decision to Trust

David Irvine, is known as the Leader’s Navigator™. I had the opportunity to interview David on the launch of my new radio program Conversations with Charmaine. What a fabulous conversation, full of rich content for the listeners. David offered incredible insights about trust, authentic leadership and building a culture where communication, quality and authenticity prevail.


It became clear to me that not only is David a powerful connector and a communicator, he is an expert at building productive, engaging and vital cultures through authentic leadership.

Something that really struck me was David's comment that authentic leadership begins with a decision.

In discussing the concept of accountability, which is certainly a challenge I see lots of leaders struggle with, he described accountability as the "ability to be counted on" and reminded listeners of the importance of one's actions in demonstrating that you can be counted on.

As we discussed the importance of trust in organizations, and in teams, listeners heard not only why trust is essential...but also how to build trust. Many organizations that I have worked with have a long history building, restoring and rebuilding trust. In fact, with many, the old stories of trust (or lack there of) continue to plague the team because it has become part of their culture. David and I discussed a number of ways to restore trust, and like he said... it begins with the decision.

Listen to David's conversation on trust, leadership and authenticity at work at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/02/15/guests-david-irvine-and-seanna-collins

To find out more about David's book The Bridges of Trust, or to add it to your corporate library, check out:

No Parking Zone

The reality television show Parking Wars is an interesting way to learn about human reaction in crisis, frustration and about how people accept (or don't accept) responsibility.
One evening I decided to pop into the show briefly and observed a young woman state that she had received seven parking tickets after parking in the same No Parking Zone several times.  These seven tickets totaled $281.00 plus the fee to impound the car, as a result of the seven unpaid tickets.  The fee to park in the underground parking lot across the road would have been $7.50 per day.  What I found most interesting was her dialogue with the Impound Officer and her friend about whose responsibility and problem this actually was. Somehow this young woman had convinced herself that it was the Ticket Officer's problem.  She was full of excuses, blame and even personal put downs about the Ticket Officer.
This same scenario plays out in workplaces all the time.  Someone makes a mistake or a bad choice, and rather than own it and accept responsibility, fingers start pointing and blame and excuses fuel the dialogue.
There are clear benefits of owning your choices, actions and decisions:

• It demonstrates integrity
• Owning up shows you are not perfect
• Relationships are maintained instead of becoming strained
• You can change the behavior for next time or to improve the situation
• Owning your actions reduces chance of the same mistake(s) occurring again
• There is learning and growth

The benefits of owning your choice and actions far outweigh blame, excuses and putting the responsibility onto others.  Workplace environments that faster respect, acceptance, and trust provide the "safety zone" for team members to effectively handle mistakes and own their actions.

Renovate to Sell

While watching a "sell this home" type TV show, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between renovating a home to sell it and developing effective sales skills in teams.
In the television episode, a woman was selling her home to downsize as her children had all left for college.  The feedback from the open house attendees who toured the home made comments like, "It is dated", "It is too dark", "I don't understand what this room is for", "Too busy and cluttered", and the list list went on.  You get the drift.  To address some of these issues, the home stager suggested that a coat of paint to some low cost fake wood furniture would actually improve the aesthetics, modernize the room, and make the room look fresh.  The home owner resisted this suggested strongly.  It was her belief that wood should not be painted, even fake wood!  She was so attached to what she knew and how it has always been that she could not see what it could be like.
This occurs in teams too!  Team members become so attached to the way it has always been (even if it no longer serves them) they emphatically resist how it could be.  You hear comments like, "Why change, we've always done it this way", or "It works just fine".  Sometimes the current way really is THE WAY.  However, in many cases, there is opportunity to change things up a bit instead of doing what has always been done.  Often it is difficult for reams and leaders to acknowledge when a system process, service, or approach is no longer serving them well.
Just as attendees at an open house must clearly understand the purpose of a room (e.g. is it a kitchen, a den, etc.), we must clearly understand the purpose of our business and the vision for the future.  When team members understand these things about the companies they work with they will be able to passionately and clearly share that with others, including our next customers.  When teams understand these aspects of their companies, it is then that they can explore how things COULD be.

Extreme Team and Business Makeover

There are many reality makeover shows on television that relate to fitness, appearance, one's house or yard.  How about a business and team makeover as a way to bring in the New Year and welcome new success?
Years ago, when I had two businesses, I loved the last week of the year.  For me it was a time to clear up old projects and make room for the new.  I used this time to de-clutter and reorganize the office, catch up and clear away outstanding projects, take stock of resources and supplies needed for the coming year, and to revisit values and goals for the team and our company.
Ed Horrell, author of the Kindness Revolution, talks about his idea of an Extreme Corporate Makeover.  He suggests the following steps to your makeover.

• Survey your customers needs - find out their challenges and needs
• Prepare to do what your customers want
• Focus group to plan the changes and set goals
• Develop a customer credo (the Ritz Carlton's is "Ladies and Gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen)
• Talk about customer service every day in the team.  Keep it front and centre, make it important
• Review customer service objectives
• Put your standards out for others to see
• Make our motto and credo a promise and part of your staff's uniform
• Practice kindness in every single conversation and contact

As you move forward in 2012, identify five areas of focus for your extreme team and business makeover.  For example, sales, customer service, team relationships, systems, referral process, etc.  Once you have completed this step, identify five actions for each area.  That will start your year with 25 designated steps toward your corporate makeover.

Wishing you great success!

Who is Leading Your Tribe?

Book Review on the book TRIBES by Seth Godin


Godin describes a tribe as a group of individuals who are connected to one another, an idea, and a leader. According to Godin, you must have a leader otherwise it is not a tribe; the group is imply a group of people. This connection, the tribe, requires two things. The first is a common interest, and the second is communication. Communication can occur in several different ways: leader to tribe, tribe to leader, tribe to outsiders and between tribe members. There have been initiatives and groups to which I have belonged that could be considered a "tribe" in that the members were connected to one another sharing an idea or movement they supported, and where there was a leader. The energy in these groups was very high in that the shared idea was what rooted the members together. The leadership provided the communication and drive to move the initiative forward.


A tribe does require a leader. Leadership and management is different, Godin summarizes the difference as a leader being one that creates change you believe in while managers are more about managing processes and manipulating resources. A tribe leader can increase the effectiveness of the tribe through transformation- transforming the shared interest into a clearly defined goal that the individuals are passionate about. The leader secures the resources and processes to communicate effectively and supports the tribe in growing and evolving.


In the book Tribes, Godin talks about one barrier to bringing good ideas to reality, that is FEAR. He suggests that while many people come up with great, even groundbreaking, ideas however most lack the will to actually make the idea happen because we are hardwired with fear. Fear is also a reason that many leaders avoid leadership...because of the discomfort involved in leadership. There is discomfort when making an unpopular decision, taking a stand, challenging the status quo, change or settling for just "okay". Leaders stretch to move out of the discomfort to be effective in their role, and in doing so, provide the opportunity for change, growth and action towards the goal or mission, or a movement.


There are several "musts" for a movement, according to Godin, those are:

- A Manifesto or what I refer to as a charter- a clearly defined message that is easy to understand and as easy to share with others

- Accessible leaders and connections with others

- Opportunity for members to connect with one another

- Money enables the movement, but money is not the point of the movement

- Progress is tracked.

The principles required, that can also benefit your team are:

- transparency, a movement or goal that is bigger than you, opportunities to grow and thrive, and a high degree of caring.

Who is in your tribe? Whose tribe do you lead? What movements can you get behind to make a difference?

To learn more about Seth Godin or the book Tribes, visit:

What Gets in the Way of Communication?

In the book The Orange Revolution by Gostick and Elton, they identify communication barriers, such as:

- Talking in innuendos (and hoping people get the point or read between the lines)

- Finger pointing and assigning blame

- Pushing a negative agenda and building allies

- Minimizing or down playing serious situations

- Withholding information or ideas


What gets in the way of team communication in your place of work?


Teams that don’t fall into these communication traps are much more likely to collaborate, build trust and effectively manage the challenges that come their way.


Three ways to enhance team communication:


- Speak with Respect, Clarity, and Focus

- Question that which you don’t understand

- Avoid assumptions and especially be aware not to act on assumptions

When communication falls off the track, take a moment to refocus. Don’t let emotions or assumptions take you further away from the issue at hand. The extra time you take to communicate with clarity will save you time dealing with bigger challenges later on.

How great teams transform organizations

The Orange Revolution Book (written byAdrian Gostick and Chester Elton) Review

Communication is absolutely essential for building teams and team success. While communication can be pretty complex, at the simplistic level it is about sending, receiving and understanding messages. It is in the understanding that the water can become pretty muddy.

If a team does not understand the messages that are sent from leaders, management and owners, it will result in failed communication, a lot of missed opportunities, frustration and gapping out on the goals. I have seen this time and time again. Communication goes astray, blaming and fingerpointing surface, and goals sit on the sidelines awaiting the team's attention and focus.

Accountability is also critical in a team. Often leaders and team members don’t acknowledge the success, completions and accomplishments that have transpired. Instead, the recognition occurs when someone drops the ball, misses a deadline or makes a mistake. This recognition is often communicated through blame, finger pointing and excuses. Accountability must also include the discussions about the successes, for people to embrace accountability instead of fearing it. When I work with clients we talk about accountability being accountable to self, and to others. Accountability really is a two way street.

In Orange Revolution, it is stated that great leaders understand that recognition is fundamental to effectively focusing team members on their goals, building collaboration and team work. This brings us to what is called Cultivating the Team. In Orange Revolution, the author shares the six components to achieving world class results, those being:

1. Dream- dreams are larger than a goal and don’t necessarily require a plan like a goal.

2. Believe- team members follow the leaders’ passion and desire to succeed which inspires steps forward.

3. Risk- there has to be some risk to achieve results.

4. Measure- set standards and then measure against these.

5. Persevere- all teams fall off the track and encounter road blocks and experience change. Great teams find ways around these.

6. Tell and share stories

What are the stories that you want the team to share with others?

Sometimes the Way We Look at the Problem, IS The Problem

Another way to think about stress is through the outcomes you
experience in your life. For example, the quality of your relationships, your
satisfaction with a job, your current level of health and stress, and your
financial situation are all a result of how you have responded to situations,
events, and circumstances that have come up in your life.

You might be thinking: “There are lots of things that come up in life that
I have absolutely no control over.” And you are absolutely right! There are
many situations that go on in the workplace that you cannot control or
influence. In fact, there are events that arise in life that are completely out
of your control. It is important is to spend your energy, skills and time
focusing on what is within your ability to control or at least influence.

I discovered many years ago when I was a Correctional Officer that
sometimes the way people view a situation or event is actually the problem.
When you can change how you look at the event or view it through a
different lenses, sometimes the issue doesn’t seem so bad.

“Why is it that people always put their energy into the things that drives
them crazy…stuff that is completely out of their control?” asked a client
during a team building consultation.
“Tell me more about that. What do you mean?” I asked Joe, the team
lead. Joe had been with his company for 15 years, and according to him
he “had seen it all, and done it all.”

“Well, I have noticed that our staff meetings often go off on a different
tangent. It seems innocent at first but then I see the team’s energy
focusing on what they can’t change, such as company policy, the available
budget, and the current economic climate in the world. People get pretty
hot under the collar and it can be tough to bring them back to the rea
l world…our business.”

“Great question Joe, one that would be useful to explore when we meet
with the team. What’s your take on it, though?” I asked. Joe really
seemed to have his finger on the pulse of his team and had a vested
interest in building a resilient and inspired team.

Thinking for a few minutes, Joe responded, “Maybe when people focus
on what they can’t control they can assign blame, or look to who ‘should’
be responsible, instead of what they can actually influence or fix
themselves.”

“Interesting. So I wonder what gets in the way of the team having
THAT discussion.”

These two questions were soon a facilitated discussion that led to an
incredible team building process. The questions were: Why do team
members put energy into what is not within their direct control and?
And what is it that we can actually control or influence, and could we
explore putting our energy there instead? As the team explored looking

through a different set of eyes, they discovered that when they focused
only on the negative or what seemed broken the situation was far worse
than it was in reality. When the team focused on what was in their
control, they looked at that same event very differently, and focused
on solutions!


Excerpt from Charmaine Hammond’s Bounce Forward Book.

To read more about this topic, follow the blog, or you can order a copy of
Bounce Forward (the book or the soon to be released audio book) by
emailing chris.alcock@hammondgroup.biz for your signed copy.