Due to the popular demand we received from our clients last month, we are extending our New Year’s offer for FREE 360-Degree Leadership Excellence Surveys for anyone who starts a new Executive Coaching program. Plus Delta’s coaching programs range from 6 months of rigorous support to help you and your senior leaders develop the skills you need to ensure the success of your organization to our much more targeted “Quickstart” program. Either way, Plus Delta’s talented executive coaches will help you leverage the tools and insights you need to bridge the gap between more traditional managerial roles and your new responsibilities as business leaders in this post-recession economy. And to make sure these programs deliver long-term sustainable results, we’ll include not only a FREE 360-Degree Leadership Excellence Survey but also a one-year subscription to ThinkBox – one of the most powerful online, on-demand learning and development resources around today – with every program.

Interested in learning more? Ready to invest in yourself and invest in your leaders? With Plus Delta’s Executive Coaching programs, you can improve the performance of an individual leader or an entire executive team. Give us a call at 866.PLS.DLTA (757-3582) or send an email to info@plusdelta.net and get started today. Believe it or not, our Quickstart programs begin at just $1950 per leader, so you don’t want to miss this amazing opportunity!

Thank you,

Plus Delta Consulting Team

In today’s turbulent times, employees are discouraged by the continuing global economic crisis and broader world news, organizations are becoming completely consumed by draconian cost-cutting measures simply to stay afloat, and customers are still finding it difficult to make purchasing decisions. During this period of furious business change, now is the time for business leaders to take the offensive and renew their organizations.

STRATEGIC ORGANIZATION RENEWAL unlocks value in your business by optimizing organizational performance and protecting customer loyalty.  By engaging this process, business leaders align near-term business strategies necessitated by today’s unprecedented economic challenges with not only the desire but also the ability to prosper in the recovery.

Join us for an engaging session on January 28, 2010 at ASTD – Special Division (Organization Development)– where we explore the concepts and share practical tips for renewing your organization!  Learn how to change the game by using this opportunity to renew your business and create a ready platform for growth and innovation in the future.

In this session, we will:

•    Discuss today’s unprecedented economic challenges and our current context for change as the recovery sets in

•    Review the concepts of Strategic Organization Renewal – a proven approach for optimizing organizational performance and protecting customer loyalty

•    Develop specific strategies you can use to put this powerful approach into action and produce better business results before it’s too late.

For more information, click here.

Dr. Steven H. Cady is a Graduate Faculty member in the Organization Development Program at Bowling Green State University. He also researches, writes about, and consults to individuals and organizations about passion. Beyond that, Steve is an inspiration to me because he lives a life of passion and in doing so brings out the best in me whenever we are together – and more often than not, when we are thousands of miles apart!

Steve’s passion is helping others live their “first best alternatives in life.” We all make choices in life – everything from taking the job that simply pays the bills to finding the courage to tell that special someone in our lives that we love him/her. I recently participated in one of Steve’s passion workshops, and afterwards I asked him to explain his model with me. Please click on the link above to watch this exclusive interview with Steve and find out how you too can live your life of passion.

Listed below are the Six Ways to a Passionate Soul:

1. Know your Calling
2. Claim your Calling
3. See the Possibilities
4. Seize the Moment
5. Suffer (or really Don’t Suffer because you see your trials and tribulations as gifts)
6. Find your Center

According to Steve, passionate souls know their calling and claim it by committing to live their first best alternative in life. They also see the possibilities for supporting themselves in living their calling and seize the moment by staying focused and doing something about it. Then, passionate souls embrace their suffering because it helps shape who they are, and they are able to find the center of being too obsessed or depressed over it.

Passionate souls never compromise in their pursuit of living their calling because they recognize that they are a gift for those around them. Life is a journey, and as I learned from a childhood coach many years ago “What I had, I gave. What I kept was lost forever!” You only live this life once, so are you going to live your first best alternative or not?

We’ve all heard of the “Hawthorne Effect”, right? Studies done between 1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (a Western Electric facility located outside of Chicago) attempted to study the effects of lowering or raising the levels of light in the building on employee productivity. As students of OD, we learned that workers responded with higher productivity levels NOT because of higher or lower levels of light, but primarily because they were being shown some interest by management. In fact, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles, and even relocating workstations resulted in increased productivity for short periods of time.

A quick Google search on the impact of environment on productivity brought up several studies on the impact of such things as temperature, visual comfort and view, and office layouts. Once such article cited two cases of note:

A Rocky Mountains Institute report relating “green” or sustainable buildings to human productivity reviewed eight case studies, two of them with remarkable results. The first concerned a new Wal-Mart, in Lawrence, Kan., designed to harvest optimal daylight through skylights installed on half of the roof. According to Wal-Mart, the sales per square foot located within the departments with access to natural light are significantly higher compared with sales in departments located under the conventional roof. Sales were also higher than in identical departments in other stores without access to skylights. In fact, Wal-Mart employees prefer to work in the departments with daylight.

In the new Lockheed Building 157 in Sunnyvale, Calif., several daylight strategies were used to enhance visual comfort–and they reduced Lockheed’s artificial lighting cost by 75%. With daylight generating less heat than artificial lighting, space cooling loads have also been reduced. Lockheed has not directly published its data related to productivity gain, but the project architect reported that Lockheed officials have indicated an increase in productivity by 15% on the first major project undertaken in the new facility compared with previous experience in their old facility.

These are indeed encouraging.

I recently visited a former client – a major player in the life sciences and biomedical laboratory instrument arena – and they had just completed a move into a completely redesigned, green facility (LEED Certified). My client beamed with excitement and pride as she gave Jeremy and me a tour of the facility. It’s too soon to tell if there are any productivity gains out of these changes.

So here’s my question for discussion? What are employers doing to make work places more productive from the standpoint of interior design, landscaping, natural lighting, open work spaces, etc.? Are you considering switching to LED lighting? Do you have a business case for these efforts or measurable improvements in productivity? What are your thoughts?

When the recession set in late last year, I said to myself, “Oh, we’ll be fine. We have several major client engagements under way, and our clients aren’t pulling the plug on us yet.” Then in January, we signed a contract for another significant organizational change management effort, so I asked myself, “What’s everyone else doing wrong? We’re fine!” That’s when our largest clients reduced our level of support and in some cases didn’t even renew our contracts demonstrating to me exactly what this recession was all about. And that’s when I realized just why this was being called the worst global economic crisis since the invention of the telephone almost 140 years ago.

So what does this mean as we quickly approach year-end? NOTHING! It just means I spent a lot of time (and still do) listening to CNBC business updates and that we learned to run our business more efficiently this year getting more done with less. Those can always be beneficial exercises though. What would hurt us would be continuing to believe that we are stuck in a recession and can’t do anything about it. Well guess what… THE RECESSION IS OVER!

After conducting some informal market research the past few months, we developed the following Top 10 List of reasons why the recession is really over:

10. In May, Forbes states that indicators point to a fast-approaching end to the recession (May ’09)

9. Newsweek announces the “Great Recession” is over after home sales rise for 3 straight months – a 1^st since 2004 (Aug ’09)

8. Leading economist Alan Beaulieu of Institute for Trend Research says that we are at the beginning of an economic up-cycle (Sept ’09)

7. Partner at a leading advertising agency reports that his client – a major discount retailer – hasn’t spent this much money on Advertising in years (Sept ’09)

6. Associated Press captures senior economist saying the recession is over even though there will be no tangible evidence of the recovery until the middle of next year (Sept ’09)

5. Washington Post reports that the economy actually grew by 3.5% this summer (Oct ’09)

4. Corporate attorney at one of the world’s largest law firms says, “We’ve never been busier.” And that’s not just the bankruptcy guys! (Oct ’09)

3. CEO of a national consulting firm also says he’s seeing signs that clients are buying consulting services again – and consulting is typically the 1^st to go and last to come back from a down economy… (Oct ’09)

2. CNBC reports that, while unemployment has risen over 10%, companies are hiring a greater number of temporary workers (Nov ’09)

And the #1 reason why the recession is really over…

1. Because I said so! Do you need a better reason than that?

If you believe in self-fulfilling prophecies like I do, you better pull your head out of the recession NOW or you will undoubtedly experience many more bleak and dreary days on the horizon… It’s time to realize that the recession will be over just as soon as you say it’s over, so do something decisive and step into the recovery. For specific suggestions on what to do, check out this article we wrote earlier in the year to help business leaders renew their organizations and produce better business results – Strategic Organization Renewal^sm: Producing Better Business Results TODAY While Renewing Your Organization for Tomorrow

Top Dog – Marley Lurey:

Marley was the first of the office pets. He’s an Australian Sheppard and is about 1½ years old. Known as “Mr. Personality” he plays hard-to-get with the ladies, juggles a handful of girlfriends, and is the instigator in any game (or mischief).

Second in Command – Bailey Lurey:

Bailey is also an Australian Sheppard and is about a year old. Bailey is the toy stealer of the group and has to have whatever any of the other dogs are currently playing with. Her favorite toy is the squeaky tennis ball. She holds it in her mouth and squeaks it for HOURS. It is very cute but a bit hard to block out when you’re trying to write a proposal! But she melts your heart with her friendly personality.

Our Little Addition – Cali Coolidge:

The last, but certainly not the least of the pack, is Cali. Just under a year old, Cali (a Miniature Schnauzer) is the cuddle bunny of the group. When she wants attention she will come up to your chair and look at you with the sweetest little expression on her face. No matter what critical deadline you are working on, you have to break for a second to give her a pet. But don’t let her small frame and cute eyes fool you – she holds her own in wrestling matches with the other two. Here’s a 25-second clip of exactly that!

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Having pets in the office is not only fun, but reduces stress and blood pressure, and elevates mood. Apparently, the notion is catching on. Check out this article on how one cardiologist brings his dogs to work with him to help keep him refreshed and renewed throughout the day. Or this interesting read on how petting a dog releases ‘good’ hormones for you AND the dog. Now that is what I call a mutually beneficial relationship!

I recently had the honor and privilege of sitting down with Geoff Bellman and Kathleen Ryan, co-authors of the new book Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results. What a treat!  Geoff has been a personal idol of mine ever since I started my doctoral program more than 15 years ago, and Kathleen may now be my newest favorite OD consultant. Whether I’ve known them long or short, both are tremendously caring and generous souls who are ever-so-graciously giving back to the field of OD these days just as they have given to their local Seattle community for many, many years.

So why do you, our blog readers, care about Geoff and Kathleen? Because they are two leading team performance experts who just published an eye-opening book……that clearly demonstrates why some groups just come and go while others produce that “wow” experience that inspires us to achieve exceptional results. According to their Group Needs Model, anyone (yes, I said ANYONE!) can create extraordinary group experiences and produce greater results. Listed below are the 6 common needs people have when they join groups, and as Geoff and Kathleen discussed in our interview, groups can achieve remarkable outcomes even if only 2 of these 6 needs are met.

• Acceptance of Self while moving toward One’s Potential
• A Bond with Others that grows while pursuing a Common Purpose
• Understanding the Reality of the World while collectively Making an Impact

Please read their book! It’s written for everyone – project managers, senior executives, group facilitators, and trainers, and really anyone who leads or participates in professional or social community groups. This short video clip about the Group Needs Model was just a snip-it of our extensive interview together. We’ll be sharing a complete transcript of the entire interview very soon so you too can find out how to create extraordinary group experiences that produce outstanding team results.

I recently conducted a two-part interview with Juliette Powell (author of 33 Million People in the Room) at the OD Network Conference in Seattle, just after she delivered the final keynote speech, titled “The Technology of Relationships: Social Networking and the Future of Human Communities.” This first interview gives you a behind-the-scenes look into Juliette’s take on the field of OD after delivering the keynote and meeting with OD practitioners for several days. You’ll especially want to watch if you were at the keynote or you plan to watch it on YouTube when it gets posted by the OD Network. I highly recommend you watch that keynote address when posted; her points are crucial for OD practitioners to remain relevant in the shifting organizational and media landscape.

You won’t want to miss our upcoming blog post featuring the second interview. There she clears up the misconception from the keynote address around her provocative comment regarding the demise of traditional conferences. She also further elaborates on her upcoming Leadership Engine project – an exciting new development for OD.

Here is a quick glimpse of that comment regarding the future of conferences during the keynote address

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For those interested in the future of organizations with respect to the social-technological systems that enable people to be effective in the organization, and for those interested in the future of how conferences may be organized, be sure to visit this blog for our second interview with Juliette.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Juliette during the conference. She is a fascinating individual who is passionate about her work and is clearly making a significant contribution to the world. Our private discussions about our own personal transparency on the web may ironically become increasingly public, in that we may continue these discussions on various social networks and in public online spaces, as they may be of interest to others (she has already challenged me to change my personal Twitter handle from @rhetor to my full name). Perhaps it is not ironic after all, but rather a small example of the greater discussion around authenticity and community that Juliette challenges us to wrestle with as we strive to be effective and happy in our organizational and personal lives. I see the lines blurring between those we used to call “public figures” and “everyone else,” and maybe that can produce extraordinary results. If you have a strong opinion on this please be sure to comment on this post. Can it be taken too far? For an extreme example of such behavior, see We Live In Public.

During her keynote Juliette tells us that those companies who are at the center of their industries are ones that gather the most information, hence achieve the best results. One of the keys to arriving at the center of one’s industry is having the most connected employees, both online and offline. I would tell those companies who currently block social networking sites at their offices to promptly purchase Juliette’s book and reconsider their policies!

Click here to view more conference photos courtesy of OD Network staff photographer Robin Reid

The topic of the conversation last night was the “Future of OD”. Here is what these two had to say about their professional (and personal) past, and where they see the field going in the future:

part 2
part 3
part 4

This quiet venue was the perfect ending to an action-packed day, and we deeply thank the Seashores for their time!

Where do you think the field of OD is going? Is the future bright or dark? Join the discussion on our Future of OD group on LinkedIn and provide your initial comments below!