By Larry Klimek
President
JKL Associates

I’m sure we have all heard the statement – If you truly love what you do then you will never work a day in your life!

This is more easily said than accomplished by most people in the workplace. If you look around at the people in your company and serving you in the marketplace you will see a mixed bag of enjoyment in what people are doing.  In some cases their work is a “JOB” – that activity which they give time and some energy and in return an employer gives them some money/paycheck.

In other cases, you will find people, even in less than professional ranks, enjoying their work activities and treating it like a career.

I happened to run into one such person the other day when visiting a mall.  The particular store I went into was primarily designed to cater to children.  The young lady who assisted me could tell I was out of my element. Her instincts must have then taken over as she turned on her pleasant charm and engaged me as if I was the only person in the building. (I should note that many others were in the store at the same time) She could have treated me just as another common person wanting something from her so they could go on their way.  She did not.  She really enjoys what she does and it showed.  The level of energy (almost 9:00pm at night) and commitment to help me was just remarkable.

With it being almost closing time she very well could have rushed my purchase and pushed me out the door and I most likely would have understood with it being quitting time but she did not do that to me. She went over and above to make me aware of options and sales and accessories.  Yes it crossed my mind that maybe she was paid on commission which triggered her behavior. The more I reflected on the event I quickly ruled that out as the key ingredient in her energy. She just simply loved what she was doing.

This week I would encourage you to look at yourself and find out if you are loving your career?  As the leader in the business we all go through ups and downs but look deeper into yourself. Are you realizing your dreams?  Is the reason you went into your career still causing you to get out of bed every morning with restless energy?

If you are arriving at the office under the burden of not loving your career, IT SHOWS!  Your people are very perceptive when it comes to things like that.  If you are not high on your company, team, product etc. then they won’t be either.

Reevaluate how you are showing up and what energy you are passing along.  Are you generating a love of the business or just going through the motions?

Larry Klimek is president of JKL Associates in Grosse Pointe Farms. JKL Associates strategically builds lean, profitable business and the talent to make them great. Visit www.jklassociates.com or call (313) 527-7945 to learn more.

The Best of MichBusiness awards program is dedicated to one thing – recognizing those companies and individuals that make Michigan a top-notch place to do business.

The Best of MichBusiness event celebrates success in grand style, as the most exciting and connected business awards and networking opportunity in the State of Michigan. We expect approximately 100 honorees in various categories and over 300 attendees from all walks of life, representing all types of businesses in Michigan.

The MichBusiness Awards is the place to be this November to connect with the best in the state. Mark your calendar for November 18th, 2014. We will see you at the International Banquet Center at 5:30!

Nomination Categories Include: Designing Stars, Education Excellence, Health Care Visionaries, HR Wizards & Partners, Manufacturing Inspirations, Marketing Savants, Media Marvels, Non-Profit Beacons, One Person Wonder, Sales Monsters, Stellar Start Ups, Technology Gurus, The Best of Hatched™, The CEO of CEOs, MichBusiness Champion of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Awards

CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE

By Mike Semanco
President & COO, Hitachi Business Finance

“Failure is not an option!” Really???

How many successful companies have used this line as a way to motivate its employees, to increase sales, become more efficient, improve client service and develop a culture they are proud of? Not one!

As a parent of three teenage children, I would never tell my kids that failure is not an option. I always want them to try new things. That is how kids learn. Mistakes are made, they learn, adjust and go on. How much fun is it spending all your time perfecting your baseball swing and never getting a chance to bat? Kids have a natural tendency to try anything. They don’t have a fear of failing. They scrape their knee and hop back on the skateboard to try the trick again until they get it right. As a parent, you are always concerned but it usually works out in the end.

Most entrepreneurs think the same way. They come up with an idea, do some initial market testing with friends and family, and are ready to launch. They have no fear of failing because if that idea doesn’t get the results they want, they try something else. If that doesn’t work, they pivot, and try again and again until they get it right. That is what makes creating a business or product so enjoyable.

Why is it that some companies create a culture where failure is not an option? Did they start out this way or did they evolve into a stodgy organization? Some companies have success in spite of themselves, but I am sure there was a point in the company’s lifecycle when failure was an option. My guess is that those risk takers left to start other ventures.

In today’s ever changing business world, you have to take risks, albeit as calculated as possible. Failure is an option. That is how companies evolve, employees learn and develop, and great cultures get created. Many of us spend the majority of our waking hours working – why should we do it in fear of making a mistake? Managers and executives should reward employees for trying new ideas and taking calculated risks. At some point in that manager or executive’s career, they took risks and can tell stories of failures they had along the way. Most can then tell you what they did different the second time around. It’s called experience. Why not give your employees the same opportunity and create an environment where failure is an option. It is much more rewarding.

Posted on July 9th, 2014

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 broadened the definition of disability that was previously established by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). By broadening the definition, the group of people who would be qualified as disabled has expanded. This amendment puts more pressure on employers to provide reasonable accommodations and created more potential liability for companies that are unsure of changes in the law. CoStaff Services is here to help employers by providing guidance to follow, as well as common mistakes to avoid.

What Employers Can Do
Employers can protect themselves from liability and prepare their company in case of a lawsuit in the future by following these steps:

•Keep job descriptions detailed and accurate. It is important to keep job descriptions up-to-date and always include essential functions of a job. Essential functions in a job description can be one factor in legally proving that a task is indeed essential to a job. These functions can include physical and stamina requirements.
•Develop an accommodation policy. Employers should create and distribute a reasonable accommodation policy. The policy should refer all reasonable accommodation requests to HR in order to deal with nuances and legal risks effectively.
•Train supervisors. Even though you direct employees to HR, supervisors still need to know how to handle a situation if a reasonable accommodation request arises. Additionally, supervisors must be trained to handle potential ADA situations that may arise either during a job interview or in an on-the-job situation.

Common Mistakes That Employers Make
In navigating ADA, HR professionals should be careful to avoid these common mistakes:

1.Ending accommodation dialogue with an employee if no reasonable accommodation can be found to help the employee perform an essential job function.
2.Taking a manager’s word that a function is, in fact, essential.
3.Using the “undue hardship” provision too liberally.
4.Discussing details of a disability with the employee’s manager.
5.Failing to consider other laws applicable to an employee’s disability.
6.Rejecting an employee’s request because it seems unreasonable or impractical.
7.Eliminating essential functions as an accommodation, even for a limited period.
8.Failing to properly document a denied accommodation request.
9.Taking performance into account when deciding if an accommodation is reasonable.
10.Not considering reasonable accommodations just because the employee doesn’t offer any specific ideas.

Now more than ever, the burden of keeping up with ADA has shifted to employers to provide reasonable accommodations whenever possible. Employers must also show care in handling disability-related issues in the workplace.

Download and read the full HR Insights: 10 Common ADA Mistakes for a further explanation of the common mistakes employers make and what they can do to protect themselves.

Keep your company ADA compliant and avoid costly lawsuits and penalties by partnering with CoStaff today. Learn more about partnering with us or our complete outsourced Human Resources services by contacting a CoStaff representative today.

Promotional products are a communications tool that can engage all five senses. They are a creative way of not only informing but for interacting with an audience providing a sensory experience. Promotional products can be any tangible item usually imprinted with an organization’s message, branding or promise.
    
Unlike other advertising media which interrupt the recipient, promotional products engage an audience. They are often the beginning of a relationship. They are the one communication tactic for which people say “thank you” when they receive it.  Practitioners like to point out that promotional products are the original medium of engagement and the very beginnings of the industry indicate that it was born to engage people.

While promotional products in America can be traced back to commemorative buttons for President George Washington and there were some advertising calendars, rulers and wooden items prior to the forming of the industry, it was a printer in Coshocton, Ohio by the name of Jasper Meeks who is considered the father of the industry.  Meeks was able to convince the local shoe store to buy book bags imprinted with the store’s message and to give them out for free to the local school.  Soon, a competitor picked up on that idea and soon they were selling all kinds of items imprinted with the messages of local businesses.  

Each item imprinted with an organization’s message stimulates some basic human gratification factors. The act of giving and receiving is the basis of a relationship and engenders goodwill, trust and loyalty. The law of reciprocity comes into play, as the recipient desires to return the positive feelings to the giver. The high perceived value creates a high pass-along rate as well. The PPAI Promotional Products Awareness and Usage Study found that 88% of recipients recall the advertiser and 62% recalled the message on promotional products received in the past twelve months! * A recall level that would suggest strong affinity and appreciation for the giver.

Organizations wishing to build stronger bonds of engagement with their stakeholders often choose promotional products such as apparel, writing instruments, drinkware, bags, lifestyle products, awards; desk and business accessories, electronic devices, computer products; health, safety and wellness items, and food products.

This is an engaging tactic for:
• APPRECIATION for extra efforts, loyalty, patronage or donor support.
• RECOGNITION of outstanding achievement and for reinforcement of positive behaviors.
• MARKETING in a way that informs, influences and enables. Turning strangers into friends, friends into customers and customers into advocates.
• BRANDING to create long-term awareness, engagement and action.
• PRESENCE — extending the organization’s presence beyond a specific location, event or program on items that are carried with an implied endorsement by their recipient and that start conversations and create word-of-mouth continuity of message.
• INCENTIVE — offering lifestyle enhancing products or products that serve as a reward for acting now. The huge variety of items that excite, engage and motivate people to pay attention and perform with enthusiasm.
• TRAINING — teaching new skills, reinforcing key messages and communicating culture and values require repetition and multiple exposures to a message. Placing key learning messages on items that are kept, are used multiple times will do just that. Plus, because they engage all five of the senses, promotional products are a tool that can appeal to a variety of learning styles and audiences.

Because promotional products are tangible, physical, multi-dimensional and customizable, they can be effective for engaging an audience through all five senses.
• Sight – reinforce the colors, branding cues and appeal to the visual sense with selections that have aesthetic appeal.
• Touch – products can be textured and shaped to reinforce attributes of the communication message such as hard, soft, furry, warm, round or unique.
• Taste – food is an extremely popular category and a strong sensory cue. From custom shaped and debossed chocolate treats to custom labeled bottled water and even fruit, candies and gourmet treats — taste can deliver your communications in a way that creates positive associations with your brand.
• Sound – from the cracking of a chocolate bar, to a noise maker at a sporting event, sound chip embedded into the item, promotional products can reinforce and replay message reinforcing notes from a jingle to a president’s speech.
• Smell – the one sense that we cannot turn off but one that evokes memories. Scent is a part of food items and is something that can be added to pens, ink and post-it pads. If a unique scent is a part of the communication delivery, promotional products may have the right way to extend that messaging.
• And finally the sixth sense—ownership, gratitude and community. A sense of community occurs when different people share a common interest, cause or like-mindedness.

Promotional products are an effective communication tool because they do remain to be seen. Most recipients keep items for more than a year and many items are used daily and kept on or with the person.  Great communication should have three factors to be a strong tool of engagement and promotional products excel in all three:

* Relevance:  The message must relate to the lifestyle, needs, values or aspirations of the target audience.  Promotional products are uniquely geared to relate with strong relevance. After all, these products are sold at retail where people spend their own money to buy them. Whether it’s a beautiful writing instrument and journal book for taking notes at a conference, or a fishing lure with your message imprinted on it given to the avid anglers in your company, this communication medium is the most targeted of all. They are creatively limitless. Almost any product you can imagine may be imprinted and customized.
* Repetition:  The audience must be exposed to the message multiple times for the recipient to retain it.  Promotional products have a long life offering continuous repetition and exposure to the message.  An effective means of acquisition, promotional products are often used in public. This exposure stimulates conversations and interaction and generates highly valuable reach, frequency and impressions. Providing even more repetition of the message and the meaning behind it.
* Reward:  The message must promise to create pleasure or reduce pain, save money or increase income or in some way reward the recipient.  By their nature, this communications tactic is an item of useful value that provides a sense of reward to the recipient and in turn creates positive emotions towards the person or the brand delivering it.

For effective use, the engagement professional will be strategic and thoughtful in the selection of promotional products as a communications device.  Selecting the right products means knowing your communication objectives. It is critical to be intentional and to know what message you are going to deliver.  Be specific. Focus on helping, enabling and informing your target audience.

Know your audience. When it comes to selecting effective promotional products reverse the Golden Rule and use the Platinum Rule.  It is not a matter of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you; do unto others as THEY would have you do to them.  In other words, choose items based on their interests, their values, their lifestyles. Don’t select them based on your personal preferences or biases.  

Select items for longevity of message. Remember that it is better to spend more for an item that the recipient will interact with for years rather than an item that will be used once and forgotten.  Remember, it’s not what a product does; it’s what a product means. You are not giving away an item; you are delivering a sensory experience. Choose wisely.

Do not waste money, damage your brand or weaken your communication efforts. Follow these guidelines for maximum results.  1) Know the medium and use it to reinforce and complement your other engagement strategies. Decide on a communication objective and determine ways to reinforce the message and communicate it on a sensory level through promotional products. Use promotional products to increase participation in surveys and assessments. Encourage collaboration by creating a team atmosphere with shared and common apparel offerings, creating common colors and even branding among team members.  2) Know your audience. Make sure the items that you use in your engagement and communication strategies are appealing to them. Select items based on the demographics, lifestyles and affiliations of your audience.  3) Tell a story. Consider your options to script your experience and put an exclamation point on the total communication and relationship efforts that is being created.  4) Have clear objectives and measurements in place. Adding a promotional product to your engagement strategy mix generates positive emotions and attitudes. (ASI Impressions Study)**. 5) Give yourself sufficient lead-time. Plan your sensory experiences including promotional products at the onset. By planning ahead, the communications dollar is maximized, more creative options are available and rush charges are avoided.  6) Work with a promotional professional who understands your objectives and find quality products, will follow sound practices to insure product safety and will protect your brand.

Promotional products are easily delivered at seminars, events, in direct mail and from person to person. It is a communications tool that engages an audience through touch, taste, smell, sight and sound and creates feelings of goodwill toward the organization that delivered it to them.

It doesn’t stop there.

Those feelings recur every time the recipient uses the item. They can be the beginning of a relationship.  They extend memories of a positive organizational experience by being the commemoration of a special event.  The relationship of the promotional product to the recipient and the meaning that it represents create a value that is far and above the price. It moves into the next dimension of emotional connection infused with tangible memories, meaning, passion and an affiliation with a cause.

Research Citations and Sources:
• PPAI:  www.ppai.org/inside-ppai/research
PPAI Promotional Products Awareness and Usage Study 2012
• ASI:  www.asicentral.com/asp/open/Research
ASI Impressions Study