IMG February 2016 Newsletter

NEWS ISSUE 16/ FEBRUARY 2016

Standard the Standard Setting the Setting

TCS

FEATURE IMG COMPANY

Random Drug Testing Rate

Gaining Influence in a Crisis No Business Too Small

to Be Hacked

ELD connectivity requirements

FMCSA STUDY SAYS PSP PROGRAM LOWERING CRASH AND DRIVER OOS NUMBERS/

A recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report shows that motor carriers...

CLARIFICATION ON ELD CONNECTIVITY REQUIREMENTS: WHAT’S NEEDED TO COMPLY WITH MANDATE/

XRS-in-vehicle-EOBRmodulethat in its final version of its electronic logging...

2016: THE YEAR OF RECRUITMENT MARKETING/

Some may say that 2016 is the year of the monkey, for business owners looking...

TERRIFIED OF COLD CALLING? HERE’S HOW TO SUCCEED AT SALES AS AN INTROVERT/

At a time when being loud and overly confident can seem like the key character traits of a...

GAINING INFLUENCE IN A CRISIS/

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS DURING MANICURES: HOW MILLENNIAL STAFFERS ARE CHANGING AGENCY PRACTICES/

Unlimited vacation days and executive retreats just don’t cut it anymore...

SQUARE DEFANGS DIFFICULT DECISIONS WITH THIS SYSTEM — HERE’S HOW/

Complex crises need less “managed” communication approaches....

A decade ago, Gokul Rajaram fundamentally changed the way he makes decisions...

DOT LOWERS RANDOM DRUG TESTING RATE TO 25 PERCENT FOR 2016/

NO BUSINESS TOO SMALL TO BE HACKED/

Last month, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...

GOMOTORCOACH STARTS A NEW ERA/

Phoenix, Arizona November 2nd – At its semiannual meeting in Phoenix on...

Just as the holiday shopping season neared, a toy company, Rokenbok Education, was...

OIL’S SLIDE BELOW $30 SENDS SHOCKWAVES FAR AND WIDE/

U.S. oil stumbled below $30 for the first time in 12 years to levels that threaten the...

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President ’s Message The first month of 2016 has swept by so quickly, with a lot of association meetings and opportunities to meet with so many of our partner members and customers.

We wound up a very successful Maintenance and Safety Forum, in Louisville, Kentucky. With just over 250 people, there were many great round-table discussions; panel sessions; presentations and opportunities to meet with our suppliers. All capped off with the announcement of two very important awards: IMG Spirit Award and IMG Safety Award.

The IMG Spirit Award, was won by Southeastern Stages, Atlanta, and received by Mike Dickson, President.

The IMG Spirit Award recognizes the IMG Company for their contribution not only to IMG but also the wider motorcoach industry. In accepting the award from IMG’s Chairman, Dennis Streif, Mike said: “We value our participation in IMG and being about to co-mingle with IMG operators is so great, I am very proud to accept this award on behalf of our entire team”.

The IMG Safety Award was won by Anderson Coach & Travel, Greenville, for their commitment to safety, not only of their customers but also of their staff. In accepting this award, Doug Anderson, President, said: “What an honor, as this is such an exemplary group of companies and we are so proud to accept this. Safety – you live it, you work it, and are focused on it every day and this commitment is not possible without the outstanding staff at Anderson.”

We would again thank our sponsors who really showed the Maintenace and Safety attendees a great time – have look at some of the photos in this edition a few pages further on.

Remember that when you have transportation needs look no further than IMG and the 55 companies across North America who are the IMG network!

Bronwyn Wilson President, IMG 4

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IMG Feature Company

Transportation Charter Services Transportation Charter Services (TCS) operates one of the largest fleets of motor coaches and school buses Southern California. Unlike other operators in the region, TCS measures their success by focusing squarely on quality service and satisfied clients and not by the number of vehicles in their fleet. That customer service focus has earned TCS a loyal customer base that has helped build the company from humble beginnings in 1984.

Past–From 1984 to 2011, TCS’s founding owners

focused primarily on providing transportation solutions to Educational and Religious client groups.

In January 2012, TCS was acquired by charter industry veteran, Terry Fischer, with the intent of growing the company into a regional player. Since taking over, Terry and his team have built upon the solid existing foundation and have expanded service offerings to a more diverse range of clients.

Terry’s operations and management approach has been developed over nearly 30 years in the bus

business. After playing an instrumental role in the growth of his family’s small school bus company into one of the largest motor coach operators in Western Canada, he was enthusiastic on the idea of building another quality charter bus company, but this time in the United States. “I truly love this business. I’ve had an opportunity to work in all aspects of the business and strive to not only motivate but inspire our staff to function at the same level of commitment I set for myself ” With a mission of delivering exceptional travel experiences through safe, comfortable, dependable group transportation and helpful, friendly service, from reservation to trip completion, Terry and his team set to work and have more than doubled in size in the first 4 years of ownership.

Present–At the core of TCS’s belief system is that they

are in the business of providing great experiences and not commoditized services. With so many providers in the marketplace, TCS knows that by taking an extra step and trying to predict client needs and desires, instead of simply reacting to client requests, passengers and trip organizers will be left wearing a smile and TCS will continue to earn more long term business relationships.“We Love nothing more than receiving unsolicited positive feedback from groups about their TCS experience. All of our staff takes great pride and it is that recognition that drives them to not only meet but exceed our client’s expectations every trip.”

However, providing great experiences comes at a cost.

Hard work, a strong team mentality, and a passion for

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the business are all required in order to provide great experiences. “There are many great companies out there with new motor coaches and uniformed drivers, but it’s more than just that. It is how we differentiate ourselves with our booking process, first class service, professionalism and brand recognition that produces customer satisfaction and contributes to the ultimate success of the company.”

they see the opportunity or think it will make the difference to one of our clients or passengers. From drivers, to maintenance technicians, to sales people and administrative staff, we try to build a culture to put our people in a position to develop to their fullest potential, excel in their duties, and achieve their professional goals.”

Fischer is also a firm believer that TCS’s employees are its most valuable asset.“We ask a lot of our employees. We encourage every TCS team member to go above and beyond the call of duty whenever

motor coach industry by exceeding every passenger’s expectations, continually improving the quality and efficiency of operations, and helping to develop innovative solutions to age old industry challenges.

Future –TCS’s goal is to operate as a leader in the

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Welk Resorts

(Branson, Missouri) – Welk Resorts Theatre is proud to present Million Dollar Quartet, based on the Tony® Award winning musical, inspired by the electrifying true story of the famed recording session where Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll” brought together icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for one unforgettable night.

On December 4, 1956, Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records in Memphis and the man who discovered and started their careers, brought together the four legends-to-be for the only time in their lives, for what has come to be known as one of the greatest rock jam sessions of all time.

Featuring the greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll, gospel, R&B and country hits from these music legends, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Walk The Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Hound Dog,” and “Whole Lotta’ Shakin’ Goin’ On,” Million Dollar Quartet tells the story and captures the high energy spirit and rockin’ sounds of a unique moment when four of music’s most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, came together for one of the most memorable nights in music history.

Million Dollar Quartet opened in 2006, having lengthy runs in Washington, Florida and Chicago, before opening on Broadway in 2010, where it was

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nominated for multiple Tony® Awards, including Best Musical.

“We are very excited to produce and provide a home for this incredible musical experience”, says Dathan Atchison, General Manager of Welk Resorts Branson.

“The show presents a unique glimpse into the relationships, camaraderie and talent of these iconic, musical geniuses. The music and stories that are featured in this show represent the best of American entertainment. We believe Million Dollar Quartet is perfect for the Branson market and will provide a unique musical experience for our guests.”

Million Dollar Quartet will open March 17 and run through December 31, 2016. Tickets are $35 plus tax and are available by phone at 800-505-9355 or on-line at MDQbranson.com.

About Welk Resorts Welk Resorts is comprised of five gorgeous destination resorts for vacations, retreats and family gatherings in Cabo San Lucas, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Palm Springs and Branson with developments in Breckenridge (opening in 2017) and Kauai (construction is expected to commence once the Breckenridge property is opened). For more information visit: www.welkresorts.com.

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Managing Risk- A “Road Map” To P The current economic climate is creating new and additional challenges for passenger transportation companies, and staying on top of changing employment and business trends, regulations, and societal issues is critical to maintaining an effective risk management strategy and remaining profitable.

1-Changing employment environment - During the economic downturn, many companies attempted to limit their number of full time employees. Now, as business appears to be picking up, demand for drivers is increasing. However, many of the drivers returning to work had been driving part time in recent years and, while remaining on the company roster, they have not received additional or updated driver training. Additionally, their driving skills may be “rusty” and they may not be as familiar with the routes, passengers, destinations, etc. The readjustment to an almost full-time schedule creates additional risks for the company and the drivers.

There may also be economic pressures to not hire any new drivers and utilize the existing staff to the max instead. This can increase fatigue, put pressure on the driver to accept all trips, and potentially cause hoursof-service issues. Adjusting to increased business and/ or trip requests requires careful management input as well as possibly increasing fixed and variable costs in order to safely complete the requests and increase profits.

2-New Travel corridors/business opportunities Companies are under increased pressure to take nontraditional trips, add routes, and/or simply say yes to trips they may have turned down in the past. But the need for revenue from these trips creates higher risk when the operation is not prepared to manage the additional work. Some recent trends include an increase in casino trips by companies that normally do not provide them, more frequent use of buses as a “party bus,” and longer or shorter trips in order to “keep the wheels moving.”

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The new routes, trips, destinations, and passenger base all create increased risks, even for the average operator. The increase in mileage, especially to new or uncommon destination, is certainly a risk that must be evaluated and managed prior to expanding your operation.

Additionally, while tight competition between operators may push down the price of trips, even as the pressure to accept orders increases, maintaining adequate pricing is one solution to the risk associated with these new business opportunities.

3- Change in regulatory/enforcement environment - The last five years have seen the addition of CSA,

Profitability legal pressures, and due to technology’s ever-evolving nature, it is likely there will be new requirements every year even though there may be little real change in risk, driving skill, or equipment as a result.

5-Equipment pressure - Few companies are buying new full-size buses due to initial cost, maintenance costs, driving complexity, and the perceived need for smaller vehicles (seating 24-36 rather than 4550). There appears to be a growing perception that new buses require more complex maintenance. In addition, the cost of a full-size bus must be evaluated in relation to the basic economic theory of investment and return.

The changing dynamics in size of equipment — with limo companies buying larger equipment and bus companies buying smaller equipment — increase risks in relation to driver training, experience with equipment, and use of the equipment (distance traveled in a given type of vehicle).

6-Ownership issues - Whether selling a familyowned business to investors or another company, or handing it down to the next generation, any change in ownership brings with it increased risk for the day-today operation. an increase in roadside/destination enforcement, and expansion of (and a major shift in focus for) the FMCSA. While many frame these changes as an attack on the “bad operators,” it actually has been focused on all operators, and will continue to be a major factor in how a company is perceived by the public, media, and court system. What worked in the past may no longer be relevant today, but few operators are retooling to address this new regulatory environment.

Investor groups are interested in ROI and may not fully embrace the historical way of running a transportation company. Younger generation family members may not have the experience and skill of the older family members, or may be willing to operate without additional technical support. Assets are often real-estate based and the business itself may not support a traditional investment return due to the historical management.

4-Change in technology - Technology has had both positive and negative impacts on every item mentioned above. Massive technology changes have added to economic, regulatory, customer, employment, and

Any of these changes can increase pressure for additional revenue, change of vehicles, and/or reduction in expenses — especially maintenance — if there is a desire to sell the company or assets.

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7-Macro economic issues - National and international economic issues are creating additional and sometimes new pressures on transportation companies. Everything from the exchange rate on the dollar (foreign product purchases) to price pressure from stressed customers (seniors, corporations, churches, government agencies, etc.) can create increased risk when decisions are made to cut prices, or increase prices but cut expenses elsewhere. Rising healthcare costs — related to both claims and the new healthcare law — have added additional uncertainty to the industry.

8- Societal issues - An aging workforce, customer base, and a geographic shift of the population (which includes drivers, customers, etc.) offer both opportunities and risks. “Business as usual” will no longer work for most bus companies, and necessary retooling, planning, and risk analysis must reflect changing societal issues. Older drivers with older passengers, or older drivers with middle-aged or

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younger passengers, create a different environment for trips, routes, and destinations, and also create potential claims situations.

9- Crisis Management - Today, in the age of social media and instant information, your regional company may be pushed into the national spotlight if you have a crash. Maintaining a crisis plan, reviewing it regularly, and testing the plan using simulation exercises are all ways to get ahead of the risks of managing your reputation before a crisis occurs.

Good risk assessment and risk management are necessary for every bus operator. Building this into all aspects of your business will provide you with good, well thought out, and potentially profitable opportunities.

This article was written by Bob Crescenzo, Vice President, Lancer Insurance Company.

For additional information see their website at www.lancerinsurance.com

In regards to the Motorcoach Marketing program, we love it. So far, we have made the 1000 postcards, and we did some full page handouts. We just got a stand up banner.

When I get some time, I’ll be making new rack cards for both offices. We made 500 church theme postcards and 500 in the safety theme.

We sent out the church cards through a local mailing company to every church within 50 miles. So far, we have had a great response and 4-5 people booked trips from it. I plan on using the safety ones soon by sending them to our new customers. All of our staff and drivers love the modern design and the finished products. Only one of my staff has watched the videos so far, but we will be working on that next month. So far I’m very happy with the service. It works well and looks great!

Chris Knittel

Owner/General Manager New Mexico Texas Coaches, LLC

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IMG Maintenance and Safety Forum, Louisville, 2016.

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PSP Program

FMCSA Study Says PSP Pr Crash and Driver OOS Nu 16 www.greenazine.com

A recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report shows that motor carriers using the agency’s Pre-Employment Screening Program are seeing a greater decline in crash rates than those who are not using it.

“The overall adjusted improvement in the crash rates for the PSP group, across all size classes, was statistically significant,” said the report.

It also found those using PSP experienced a drop in driver outof-service violations.

Overall it found crash rates declined 8% for carriers while driver OOS violations fell 17.2% for fleets using PSP, as opposed to those who haven’t Declines in crash rates were even bigger for carriers who have between 6 and 20 drivers, falling 20.6%, and those with between 21-100 drivers, declining 21.1%.

FMCSA says the 12.4% decline in the crash rates with trucking operations that have 1 and 5 drivers, and a drop of 3.4%, for those with more than 100, are not statistically significant.

Declines in the driver OOS rates for carriers using PSP as opposed to those not using it, ranged between 10.1% for those with 21 to 100 drivers, to as much as 18.3% for those with between 1 and 5 drivers.

rogram Lowering umbers www.greenazine.com

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FMCSA also compiled some industry information including tracking the extent of PSP use throughout the trucking business with it showing the number of PSP users has steadily increased monthly since PSP began distributing information in May 2010.

The total number of requests to the PSP system is also increasing, most notably the monthly request totals continue to climb.

“All of these metrics indicate that PSP use is increasing throughout the motor carrier industry,” said the FMCSA study. “Currently, there are about 35,000 PSP users making about 70,000 requests per month. These requests come from both drivers and motor carriers, but almost all of these users are motor carrier companies with only a small fraction of requests coming from drivers.”

FMCSA said also gathered non-scientific information from a handful of motor carriers of various sizes utilizing PSP to provide some evidence, even if anecdotal, of how these companies view the PSP. All represented carriers responded favorably when asked about the system, and they reported using it for new hires.

“Most carriers use the PSP report to ensure that drivers accurately report information on their applications and do not omit places of employment or crashes,” said FMCSA “Violations in the PSP report for pretrip inspections, logbooks, and speeding were high on the list of concerns and were generally believed to be a better indication of a driver’s safety performance rather than violations that the driver had little direct influence to avoid.

FMCSA established the Pre-Employment Screening Program to comply with a law requiring the agency to provide information on driver safety performance to persons conducting pre-employment screening for the motor carrier industry. The system has around 3.5 million driver records, which varies slightly from month-to-month as the record data is refreshed.

PSP was launched in May, 2010, and is a voluntary program. Motor carriers may use the information provided through the PSP, comprised of 5 years of crash data and 3 years of inspection data on the driver, to assist in determining if a driver applicant should be hired.

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“The overall adjusted improvement in the crash rates for the PSP group, across all size classes, was statistically significant,” said the report.

The PSP safety impact analysis studied carriers at a snapshot in time, 12 months before PSP launched and 12 months after, so the study covers carriers from 2009 through 2011.

97% of the companies using PSP are trucking companies and 2% are bus companies. The remaining 1% represents 3rd party industry service providers, who provide driver screening services for bus and truck companies, according to FMCSA.

Article by Evan Lockridge seen on www. truckinginfo.com READ THE ORIGINAL

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ELD Connectivity Requirements

Clarification on ELD connec needed to comply with ma 20 www.greenazine.com

Image courtesy: www.ccjdigital.com

ctivity requirements: What’s andate www.greenazine.com

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XRS-in-vehicle-EOBR-modulethat in its final version of its electronic logging device mandate, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration nixed the requirement that the devices have data or web connectivity, as part of an effort by FMCSA to allow cheaper compliance options.

Compliant devices, per the rule, now must at minimum be equipped only with Bluetooth and a USB 2.0 port, meaning operators won’t be strapped with paying for monthly subscription charges if they so choose.

But, says Tom Cuthbertson of ELD provider Omnitracs, if operators opt for a device that uses solely local connections like USB and Bluetooth, the device must be equipped with both Bluetooth connectivity and a USB 2.0 port, not one or the other.

The same applies to carriers/drivers who choose a telematics-equipped device: They must be able to transfer data via both a wireless web service and via email.

The reason is, as Cuthbertson told Overdrive and as the rule denotes, drivers must be able to show during roadside inspections both their current 24-hour records and records from the previous 7 days, but it’s up to each state to determine how its enforcers will receive that information from truck operators.

XRS-in-vehicle-EOBRmodulethat in its final version of its electronic logging device mandate, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration nixed the requirement that the devices have data or web connectivity, as part of an effort by FMCSA to allow cheaper compliance options.

States will be required to receive data transfers via one local connection option and one telematics option, but they won’t be required to have the full suite of connectivity options, Cuthbertson said.

So, to the example above, if an owner-operator running a device that utilizes local connections hits State A and must transfer his records of duty status to an officer, he or she will make the transfer via USB 2.0.

For instance, State A may decide its enforcers can receive data transfers via email and USB 2.0, meaning they won’t be able to receive data via wireless web service or Bluetooth connection.

When the same owner-operator hits State B, he’ll connect at roadside via a Bluetooth connection.

State B, however, could outfit its enforcers with means for receiving transfers via email and Bluetooth. Or via wireless web service and USB 2.0.

In any instance, operators with compliant devices would be able to transfer their duty status records to an inspector, as compliant devices must offer both connectivity options in the category they choose — local or remote.

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In both instances, however, safety officers dictate the transfer method, and compliant devices will allow for the transfer method they choose.

Article by James Jaillet seen on www.ccjdigital. com READ THE ORIGINAL

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The Year of Recruitment Marketing

2016: The Year of Recruitm Some may say that 2016 is the year of the monkey, for business owners looking to hire additional or better employees, this is the year of recruitment marketing!

Finding good talent is a big challenge across the board for companies big and small these days. Although we can often feel alone as we look for new drivers or staff, the reality is that finding new, qualified, interested, hardworking, consistent, long-term employees is difficult for all companies.

“Recruitment marketing” is a term that you will hear a lot in the news over the next year. Companies are shifting away from traditional methods of finding new hires and looking for better ways to attract the talent they want.

Recruitment Marketing is defined on smashfly.com as “…every tactic—content marketing, email nurturing, social recruiting, mobile recruiting, career site, SEO, employee referrals, talent networks, job marketing, employer branding, recruiting events, recruiting analytics, CRM—that a talent acquisition team uses to find, attract, engage and nurture leads in order to convert them into more qualified applicants to fill jobs now and in the future.”

While that may seem like a mouthful, it also sheds some light on what it is that people are doing to find talent in the competitive job marketplace. The days of putting an ad on Craigslist or posting to a local job board are over and they’re quickly being replaced by companies who understand that recruits are looking for more than a job; they are looking for a place to land.

These potential employees are looking to your social media, websites, blogs, videos and more to try to decide if your company is really the place where they want to spend their time and effort. This new frontier is transforming the recruitment job and becoming the new normal.

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If you are, like most companies, immediately feeling overwhelmed, here are a few simple things you can do to move toward a better recruitment marketing strategy: • Share your existing employees’ stories. A short 30-second video with a loyal employee who loves working for your company and is a true company player is a powerful recruitment tool. Never underestimate the power of a few employees talking about how much they love to work for your company.

This starts to paint a picture of a company who not only talks a good game, but has employees that are happy to be there as well.

• Talk to your applicants. Again, use video and talk to your potential applicants. Have owners or managers tell those applying for a job just how much they care about the company and its employees. Tell them why your company is the best to work for, why they should care, and extend a personal invitation to them to join your team.

• Create web pages specific to the job that you are looking to fill. Regardless of whether you’re hiring drivers, dispatchers, or bus washers, build a page that talks about that particular position. 79% of those looking for a new job head online to do so. On these pages, tell them how much that job means to your organization, why you care about the people who work in those positions, and what they need to do (or be) to apply. Use text and video to engage the potential applicant before they even submit an application.

• Make sure that your career pages are mobile friendly. Mobile site usage is up dramatically and will continue to be more and more a part of the job market moving forward. Make sure that you use website elements that work on both Apple and Android, and that you only choose ways to deliver content that will work universally. Those companies who do this have been proven to receive twice as many quality applicants as compared to those who don’t.

ment Marketing

• Have an online pre-application. One of the most frequently made mistakes by companies doing online recruiting is putting someone in a situation where applying is hard. Make your primary application just a few short questions that can be answered in less than one minute. Use this data to pass them on to the next step of the process to a full application. This ensures that you capture their contact information and can continue to recruit them moving forward.

• Use images and videos in job ads. Even if you are posting on Craigslist or Monster, remember to put images and videos to further engage your potential recruits. Your mission here is to show them why you are different. Don’t just put up photos of the inside of your buses or your shop. Put images of smiling happy employees, driver meetings, videos of your employee parties, or anything else that will convince them why choosing your company will be a better choice than going with your competitors.

Recruiting is big business and we, as an industry, have a long way to go to become better at it. Not only do we need to show these recruits that we are a great company that focuses on customer service, has good equipment, competitive prices, and makes safety a top priority, though these are all good things. We need them to know that their life will be better if they choose us.

As you think about your recruiting strategy this year, think about how your company culture and philosophies will impact your employees. Think about your goals as an organization and what growth opportunities may exist for top performing employees.

Think about what you can do to breathe life into your online ads, and what strategies you’ll implement to turn 2016 into the year of better Recruitment Marketing!

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How To Succeed As An Introvert

Terrified of cold calling?

Here’s how to succeed at sales as an introvert At a time when being loud and overly confident can seem like the key character traits of a successful entrepreneur, it might be reassuring to know that some of the most successful business people of our time – Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page – are all introverts.

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Being an introvert does not necessarily mean you are shy or reclusive – rather introverts are people who tend to focus on an inner world of ideas and experiences, according to the Myers & Briggs Foundation. Characteristics include a preference for written communication, being private and contained

and feeling comfortable being alone.

While aggressive sales techniques may be used by car dealers and the more brash entrepreneurs, introverts need to make the most of their own skill set to really nail sales, says Beth Buelow, author of The Introvert www.greenazine.com

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Entrepreneur. She says: “Introverts are really good listeners and have a strong ability to problem solve and connect to people on an emotional level.”

Pitching When it comes to pitching or meeting new customers, introverts need to know their product inside and out, Buelow adds. “The key point is to go in and ask really good questions. Don’t worry about how you’re going to pitch, you need to focus on what your customer needs and how your product can best solve their problem.”

Mike Southon, entrepreneur and author of The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn Your Good Idea into a Great Business, is a firm believer in letting customers do the selling for you. “If someone is saying I’m a brilliant this or that, then they’re selling too much,” he says. “Get your customer to sell for you, actively or passively. Extroverts would want to shout about it but your customers should be doing it too.” In practice, he says, this would work by business owners writing a case study of a customer based on their use of the product or service, which could then be published on the company’s website.

“Case studies are everything, everyone likes a story.

Tell people the story, how your business solved their problem and what the result was.”

Pitching your product to a room full of people can be anxiety-inducing for most people – especially introverts – but it can be necessary, believes David Samuel, the managing director and founder of telecoms business and mobile virtual network operator 24 Seven.

“Unfortunately, it’s how a lot of businesses operate.

But I think if you know and define your audience well and understand their needs, then sales pitches become easier. Being an introvert, of course, doesn’t mean you know your product any less well. In fact, I think the opposite is true. When in a sales situation or meeting a new client, rather than giving the 30-minute [sales pitch] into why they ought to work with us, I’m able to offer them the facts and the details about why they should want to work with us and how this will help achieve their objectives.”

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Buelow says that while many introverts prefer to socialise one-to-one, in a professional context, a steady stream of one-to-one networking meetings or promotional conversations can chip away at their energy as interactions can be more intense and the stakes generally higher than in casual social situations.

She encourages introverts to get comfortable with public speaking as it enables business owners to target more people at once. “If you are public speaking you are in control and are positioned as an expert. You’re also able to prepare.”

Networking While the thought of networking may fill many introverts with dread, making new connections can be valuable for growing the business. Instead of avoiding it completely, experts recommend introverts are selective in the events they attend.

“They need to learn what type of networking event they’re most comfortable at,” says Buelow. “If there’s a speaker on, it gives people something to talk about after. Conferences are great for networking too, as typically a shy person isn’t going to enjoy entering a big room of 100 people with no structure.”

Self-confessed introvert Lyndsey Haskell, founder of online garden gift shop What You Sow, recommends going to talks or presentations that are followed by networking sessions.

“It means you have something to talk about following the presentation and your first interaction will often be to ask if a seat is free,” she says. “This can then lead on to the next conversation – such as ‘Have you been to one of these events before?’ or other similar questions that invite a dialogue. If I stay for two hours and have really good memorable conversations with two other people, I see it as a success.”

Cold calling Buelow suggests that before making unsolicited sales calls, entrepreneurs should first consider whether it is necessary. If cold calling can’t be avoided, prepare by sending a warm-up email or by engaging with

a potential customer through social media, by commenting on a post or sharing a tweet. “It puts you on their radar and acquaints you more; so you could start the call by saying you liked that Facebook post they wrote – it shows it’s not such a cold call on your end.”

As for the call itself, Buelow suggests entrepreneurs write a script of what they want to say and rehearse the first and final sentence. “How you open and close your talk is important, you can trust the middle to take care of itself as that will be about listening.” During the call itself, she suggests standing up and smiling to help inject a dose of confidence and friendliness.

“The best way I have succeeded in overcoming my fears of meeting new people and business meetings has been to rehearse and know my lines,” says Sandra Lewis, the founder and director of virtual assistant company Worldwide101. “When I very first started in business, I would have my notes and I would overprepare my pitches until I knew them by heart. This helped me relax, and over time I have been able to overcome my shyness in most situations. It’s a great way to gain confidence.”

Introverts can also find solace in making meaningful connections through social media. Buelow, who describes herself an introvert, says she uses online and social media to connect with others. “That’s what’s comfortable to me. I reach out via podcasting and that’s proven to be an efficient way for me.”

As she says: “You have to figure out what is the most energy efficient way to reach people who need to hear your message.” It may be daunting, but stepping outside of your comfort zone can lead to big rewards.

Article by Suzanne Bearne seen on www. theguardian.com.

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“The best way I have succeeded in overcoming my fears of meeting new people and business meetings has been to rehearse and know my lines,” says Sandra Lewis, the founder and director of virtual assistant company Worldwide101.

“When I very first started in business, I would have my notes and I would over-prepare my pitches until I knew them by heart.

This helped me relax, and over time I have been able to overcome my shyness in most situations.

It’s a great way to gain confidence.” www.greenazine.com

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Gaining Influence In A Crisis

Gaining Influence in a Crisis

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Complex crises need less “managed” communication approaches.

In March 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight 370 disappeared on its way to Beijing. To this day, the fate of the plane has not been established. The tragedy of the aircraft’s disappearance was exacerbated by the images of distressed relatives, herded into hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, being drip fed information, initially via text message. The cold approach was ill-suited to the situation.

The media also mixed with the relatives and some of them stormed a press conference desperate for information.

The scenes made for top news around the world and the effect on the company’s image was disastrous.

Malaysian Airlines had followed a “managed communication” approach. It was designed as a “one-to-many” strategy. The company was supposed to be an indisputable source of information and to be fully in control. Its traditional press conference approach proved to be challenging in an environment that was extremely fluid, involving a complex web of stakeholders from families to various national governments and search agencies.

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of stakeholders from families to various national governments and search agencies.

An alternative to a managed communication approach is an “influence” one. The organisation that uses it does not claim to have all the answers. It realises that it is only one of many voices and exerts a more fuzzy control over its environment. For example, in the aftermath of the 2001 events, American Airlines’ website quickly expressed sympathy for the victims, assured stakeholders that the company was collaborating with everyone and provided contact information for relevant third parties such as the FBI. In some cases, the company dispatched employees who took up residence at the families’ homes.

This approach is naturally pertinent in the midst of complex crises. For example, eighty percent of Americans expect that emergency responders will monitor social networks, and a third assumes that posting or Tweeting a request for help during a disaster will get them help within an hour. However, it has become more routine with the decentralisation of news reporting. Although most people still receive their news from conventional media, close to two thirds of Facebook and Twitter users now receive it from these platforms.

Building influence So, how do you structure an “influence” crisis communication strategy? The general idea is to leverage assets that have been developed during quiet periods by using a few tools that will allow the identification of emerging crises and the rapid implementation of a coherent response.

Monitor: Be aware of current developments.

Ensure online media oversight, in all languages, especially when your business is global. For example, Dell is able to monitor conversations in 11 languages 24/7.

Mark: Identify communities and networks Identify communities of interest that have emerged.

After-sales support, for example, is usually a topic that generates a lot of social media activity. Being routinely involved in this discussion will help to build a relationship with your customers, which will be

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particularly valuable in times of crisis.

Identify opinion leaders, then treat them like the most important journalists in your business: provide them with relevant information, invite them to visit your plants or to attend product launch events. Understand that directly engaging individuals will raise their status and visibility.

Measure: Understand critical relationships and know your ROI. Prioritise incidents. For example, Cisco identifies five to seven thousands mentions a day but only about 3% are directly actionable.

Measure results of your campaigns. Metrics such as the number of viewers, followers or posts (classified as positive, negative or neutral) can now be easily tracked.

Manage: Build credibility and stay humble.

Ensure that your team is constituted of both web technologies managers (i.e., geeks who can make things happen) and content managers (i.e., sector specialists who know what should happen).

Prefer indirect channels then direct talk online. For example, over 10,000 Dell employees have completed their Social Media & Communities University program to be brand advocates online.

Adapt the tone of your messages: stay positive, not too formal, but courteous, honest and sincere. If a crisis arises, stick to facts. Try to go viral and emotional. Use images and music to address all dimensions of your communication. Do not use an assertive tone while investigations are still in progress.

Setting up Establish an integrated center. Naturally, this involves a digital media component. News, bad news in particular, can easily go viral. The picture of BP’s CEO on a sailing trip just a few days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hurt the already damaged company.

To do this, more and more organisations have set up a “Social Media Command Center”. On a normal day, a small crew of community managers with dedicated internet bandwidth, a few workstations,

and flat screens, monitors evolving trends. Electronic platforms such as Netvibes or Radian6 provide dashboards that conveniently summarise the social media landscape and complement traditional media analysis. Centers are best located in highly visible spots to ensure that everyone in the organisation feels connected to them. They have the capability to quickly expand and to implement crisis management plans if needed.

For example, Cisco center is staffed by only 5 core team members. However, a large network of employees, identified as subject matter experts willing to engage interested parties and to report on their experience, provides a significant presence on social media. The center also has representatives embedded within each business unit, support and technical services to react in case of emergency.

The financial cost to implement an influence strategy is often modest. Salesforce Customer Company Command Center, staffed by a relatively small team of community managers and social customer support reps, manages over 50,000 brand mentions a month.

Cisco has reported a 280% return on investment on their center. However, an influence strategy requires an adjustment to the mindset of many organisations.

People have to relinquish direct control, which is not easy.

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Random Drug Testing Rate

DOT Lowers Random Drug 25 percent for 2016 34 www.greenazine.com

g Testing Rate to

the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it is reducing the minimum percentage of annual random drug tests for commercial motor vehicle drivers from 50 percent to 25 percent.

This change results from a provision in the DOT drug testing rules that gives FMCSA the discretion to lower the testing numbers if the percentage of positive tests reported by motor carriers remains less than one percent for two consecutive years.

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Last month, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it is reducing the minimum percentage of annual random drug tests for commercial motor vehicle drivers from 50 percent to 25 percent. This change results from a provision in the DOT drug testing rules that gives FMCSA the discretion to lower the testing numbers if the percentage of positive tests reported by motor carriers remains less than one percent for two consecutive years.

While the percentage of positive random tests fell below one percent in 2011, DOT declined to reduce the required testing rate. However, the most recent 2013 data continued this trend, prompting FMCSA to agree to halve the required testing minimum to 25 percent for 2016. DOT stated that if the reported positive percentages again exceed one percent, the random testing requirement will revert to 50 percent.

These figures track those of other reports demonstrating that the general numbers of employees 36 www.greenazine.com

and applicants reporting positive drug testing results continues to decline in the U.S. These statistics have caused some employers to question the cost effectiveness of their current controlled substance testing programs, and some have reduced or entirely eliminated their use of non-DOT random tests.

The new DOT 25 percent testing requirement is a minimum, and employers may continue to randomly test drivers at higher percentages if they so choose.

The DOT announcement does not affect the current requirement for random testing 10 percent of drivers annually for alcohol use.

Article by Jonathan Crotty seen on www. jdsupra.com

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37

GoMotorcoach Starts a New Era

Starts a Ne Phoenix, Arizona November 2nd – At its semiannual meeting in Phoenix on October 29th, the Motorcoach Marketing Council announced a new Executive Director to help the council move its objectives into the future. Chinook Holdings and its principal, Christian Riddell, have been named to fill the position. Christian has been the spokesman for the council during the previous 2 years and has been instrumental in the development of the council’s products, services, and trainings.

“We are excited at this new chapter in the history of the council,” said Peter Shelbo, the council’s chairman. “This is a very exciting new direction for us. We are thrilled at the opportunities this presents to us and to the industry we serve.”

Riddell has a long history in the motorcoach industry, starting his career as a driver and sales manager for a small operation in Portland, Oregon. After a decade away from the industry, where he spent the interim time working to hone his marketing skills (including the opportunity to serve as the Creative Director for a large west coast company), he came back to bring his expertise to the business he is so passionate about.

In the last 5 years he has created several companies that all serve the motorcoach industry, including the development of websites, marketing materials, industry newsletters and more.

“I love this industry. It is something that I am very passionate about. It is an industry filled with good people, working day in and day out to deliver a service that makes North America a better place to be. I am thrilled that my company can continue to help operators sell more charters to more people for more money. This new position allows us to help take the council to the next level. The future of this great organization is very exciting.”

The Motorcoach Council’s GoMotorcoach program... has recently been receiving international attention and has helped hundreds of operators around North America create powerful inexpensive marketing

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materials, train their sales staff, create powerful social media campaigns, recruit new drivers and market more effectively.

About The Motorcoach Marketing Council The Motorcoach Marketing Council is a non profit organization whose VOLUNTEER board members are motorcoach operators and motorcoach associations from around North America. Its mission is to help operators sell more charters to more people for more money. Their products and services are helping operators more effectively market their services and recruit drivers quickly, easily, and inexpensively.

ew Era

For more information about the council, visit their website www.motorcoachmarketing.org.

Press Contacts Christian Riddell Executive Director (360) 468-3699 chris@gomotorcoach.org Peter Shelbo Chairman (602) 538-2205 twest@tourwestamerica.com www.greenazine.com

39

Employee Reviews

Employee reviews during manicures: How millennial staffers are changing agency practices 40 www.greenazine.com

Unlimited vacation days and executive retreats just don’t cut it anymore. Millennials — who now make up the largest share in the American workforce — have a drastically different outlook on what makes for a satisfying work experience.

“There is a big difference between the way employers managed employees 20 years ago versus millennials today,” said Ryan Fey, co-founder and chief brand officer at Omelet. “It goes way beyond competitive compensation, good insurance plans and unlimited vacation to actually listening to what’s going to make

them happy and creating programs that meet those desires.”

Agencies are beginning to take note, designing programs with millennials in mind. While these initiatives are available to all employees, agencies hope www.greenazine.com

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that they’ll particularly help with retention, which has been especially challenging with job-jumping millennials.

Recognizing that millennials like to work across departments, some agencies also are making it easier for millennial staffers to switch from one to another.

Take Chicago-based Upshot, which overhauled its organizational structure last February. The agency realized that with the advent of digital, having traditional departmental divisions like creative, account and strategy hindered communication and productivity.

Mullen Lowe in Boston encourages that practice, which has led to a planner moving to creative and people moving from media to PR or events planning.

It even has a creative director who also dabbles in account management.

So it organized its employees into hybrid teams that brought together specialists from different departments. It also hosted a session where millennial and Gen X employees could discuss the generational differences to foster understanding.

“It’s a different mindset and way of working that plays on the strengths of millennials,” said Ellen Slauson, evp of account management at Upshot. “Instead of telling them how we like to work, we’re giving them the freedom to work how they like to work.”

Others, like Wunderman, are rethinking HR practices. The agency created “YouTime,” a system that encourages managers and employees to discuss goals and accomplishments in informal settings like a manicure or even a dance class, supplementing more structured check-ins and reviews.

“The older structures almost made people feel bad if they wanted to discuss raises and promotion,” said Seth Solomons, CEO of North America at Wunderman.

“We are unlearning a lot of those bad habits. YouTime is an open space for them to go ahead and advocate for themselves.”

MXM created a formal recognition program that lets its employees recognize each other for exemplifying MXM values and rewarding them with points that can be redeemed for rewards. So far, nearly 1.2 million points have been sent and 900,000 redeemed. Grey, Ogilvy and Y&R have also incorporated similar programs. MXM said its recognition program boosted its retention rate to 85 percent — an increase of 4 percentage points.

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“Given their jungle-gym career trajectories, I believe such a system is definitely a draw for millennials,” said Mullen Lowe’s Kristen Cavallo. “We call these multitaskers our ‘misfit toys’ — not everyone is one, but these people are very often the glue between the different departments.”

Cognizant of millennials’ interest in working globally, Mullen Lowe set up “Mullen Globetrotters,” a program that sends three to four employees to one of the nine global offices of its client, Indeed.

Agencies are also tapping into Gen Y’s interest in social causes. Wunderman has designated “Service Days,” where each office closes for a day to work with a local organization that aligns with its values.

Omelet has its “60/60” program that gives employees 60 minutes twice a week and resources to work on passion projects. It led Omelet to create Save The Drop, a non-profit water conservation campaign with the City of Los Angeles.

Agency executives acknowledged that these initiatives can be hard business decisions, but are important for recruiting and retention.

“It is very important given their size and scale, but also the volume of their voice in the workplace,” said Wunderman’s Solomons.

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43

Decisions With System

Square Defangs Difficult System — Here’s How

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Decisions with this A decade ago, Gokul Rajaram fundamentally changed the way he makes decisions. Then a product management director for Google AdSense, he was presenting to Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt. A gnarly challenge related to Google’s display ads business surfaced, and the discussion got heated.

Schmidt’s voice boomed, “Stop. Who’s responsible for this decision?” Three people — including Rajaram — simultaneously raised their hands.

“I’m ending this meeting,” Schmidt said. “I don’t want you to return to this room until you figure out who the owner is. Three owners means no owner.” With that, the meeting was adjourned and the team dismissed.

Ten years and three companies later, Rajaram still recalls and references that moment. Now at Square, he oversees Caviar, the company’s rapidly growing restaurant delivery service. Before that, Rajaram led the strategy and execution for Facebook’s advertising products after it acquired semantic technology startup Chai Labs, which he led as co-founder and CEO. At Google, he played a leadership role in building Google AdSense into a multi-billion dollar product line.

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Throughout his career, Rajaram has noticed how a lot of forward-thinking companies still gravitate to consensus as the way to make decisions. It turns out that for important, difficult choices, that approach is often ineffective and impractical. At First Round’s last CEO Summit, Rajaram shared a framework that he uses at Square and Caviar to make the most difficult decisions, all while assigning ownership, being inclusive and coordinating execution among all stakeholders.

Consensus means no ownership.What’simportant is not that everyone agrees, but that everyone is heard and then the right person makes a decision.

Why Difficult Framework

Decisions

Deserve

A

The decision-making framework that Rajaram uses assumes a tough choice must be made. For Rajaram and his colleagues, that means first recognizing when a decision is hard. “This may be a familiar chart for some. It sorts decisions into four quadrants along the axes of importance and urgency,” says Rajaram. “As a team or organization, substitute your own description for each quadrant so that it resonates with your people.

My favorite’s the Kombucha quadrant: the non-urgent and non-important decision. We jokingly reference the Kombucha scale at Square when prompting colleagues to consider how important or urgent a decision is.”

This basic chart can help establish shared definitions of priority and ideally relegate scenarios to ballpark categories that’ll help determine how you’ll invest resources to make the decision. “The difficult choices that you want to run through the following framework are the important ones — whether urgent or non-pressing. “The right decisions for this system

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are those that are so critical that they could affect your company, even make or break your business. That could be at the company, group or business unit level.”

For most leaders, this exercise is instinctual, but this quick quadrant sorting can help communicate that categorization and bring others up to speed on the decision at hand. “Once you do a quick assessment of the importance of your choice and start using the decision-making framework over and over, something happens. You realize that making decisions doesn’t take days. It can be done in an hour or two. In that time, you can quickly make a high-quality choice with this framework. A fast decision means you can conserve energy for the important work that comes after making the choice,” says Rajaram.

The decision-making framework is called SPADE, an acronym that stands for Setting, People, Alternatives, Decide and Explain, which was created by Rajaram and Square colleague Jeff Kolovson. Here’s how each step is important and how it’s been applied in the companies where Rajaram has had to make important calls.

Setting Every choice needs a context, so the “S” in SPADE stands for setting. “The ‘setting’ texturizes your decision and establishes the tone. It helps to figure out what the decision actually is,” says Rajaram. “It breaks it down into elements and sets the participants in the decision into motion.” The setting has three parts: what, when and why. Here’s how Rajaram describes each element: Precisely define the decision to capture the “what.”

“You’d be amazed at how many people can’t articulate what the decision is in a precise way. For example, I’ve seen decisions articulated in the following manner: ‘The ‘what’ is figuring out the next country to launch in.’ If you have exactly one product, that’s okay. But if you’ve got multiple products, the decision is not just what country to launch in, but what product to launch and in what country to launch it. It’s two axes not just one — and if you dig deeper, there’s probably more dimensions to the decision. Be very precise about the choice you’re making.”

Calendar the exact timeline for the decision to realize the “when.” It must reflect not only the duration it’ll take to make the choice, but also the reason why it’ll

take that amount of time. “Be sure to think critically about the ‘why.’ If someone says a decision must be made by October 15th, 2015, why must that be? Does it matter? Here’s an example: The product needs to launch on November 15th, 2015 and therefore I need the name determined by October 15th, so this name can flow through in the collateral, into the website and into the app. I need four weeks for that. That logic helps people understand the when, and the ‘why’ of the ‘when.’”

Parse the objective from the plan to isolate the “why.”

Articulating the “why” is the key to establishing the setting. “The why defines the value of the choice. It explains what you’re optimizing for and reveals why the decision matters. I’m an advisor to a startup at which the head of product management and the head of product marketing had a massive blowup. They disagreed about how to price a product.

Working through it, we realized the conflict stemmed from a fundamental misalignment around the goals of pricing. The product manager saw it as a way to optimize market share, while the product marketer viewed it as a way to maximize revenues. Neither of them had articulated that, nor had the company’s founder. As soon as we figured out this was the root of the conflict, it became easier to get to the decision.”

How can you make a decision without knowing why it matters? It’s a simple, basic question, but I’m astonished by how the answer so often eludes people.

People The horsepower behind executing a decision is the people, representing the “P” in the framework.

“The reality is that I lied. Setting is not the first thing you need to make a decision; it’s People. But it’s also less fun to name a framework PSADE,” says Rajaram. “The truth is that — as with everything in an organization — people come first. This includes

those who are consulted and give input towards the decision, the person who approves the decision, and most importantly the person who’s responsible for ultimately making the call.”

There are three primary roles for people involved in the decision: Responsible, Approver and Consultant.

Synonymize accountability and responsibility. Some decision-making frameworks separate the responsible from the accountable person, but the decision maker (aka the responsible person) should be both. “At Square, the person who’s responsible for making the decision is the person who’s accountable for its execution and success. We believe accountability and responsibility are the same thing,” says Rajaram.

“Here’s why: think of the last time you were handed a decision that someone else made but for which you had to execute and usher to success. How did that feel? I’d guess it made you feel frustrated, powerless or disengaged. We want to avoid that. That’s why the decision maker is both accountable and responsible.

It’s more fulfilling and empowering.“ Empowering people means pushing decision making authority to the person who is accountable and can own the decision.

Veto decisions mainly for their quality, not necessarily their result. A key participant in the decision-making framework is the approver. “The approver is the person who can veto the decision. Typically, the approver does not vote down the decision itself, rather they veto the quality of the decision,” says Rajaram. “It is a checks-and-balances function on the responsible person to make sure she is not abusing her privilege and making a low quality decision. Vetoing a decision a superpower that needs to be used very sparingly, but also not forgotten to be flexed when needed.”

Formally recognize the roles of all active participants.

The third key role is the decision-making process is that of the consultant, who plays a very important function that many forget to acknowledge - giving input and feedback. “People don’t realize that a lot more people need to be listened to across the organization. Consultants are people who are active participants in the decision,” says Rajaram. “These are people who’ll give input, feedback, analysis and support to the responsible person so she can make a high quality decision.”

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At Square, consultants are known and named, given their influence and insights during the decisionmaking process. “I remember one instance that had to do with the change in policy for how engineers wrote unit tests for software. The decision maker, an engineering lead, had consulted with several of his fellow engineering leads and felt comfortable with his decision. Then he sent an email with the policy update decision to all of Square’s engineers,” say Rajaram.

“Within 30 minutes, a dozen people replied, many of them disagreeing vehemently with the decision.

To his credit, the lead took ownership. He froze the decision and invited every engineer at Square who agreed or disagreed with the decision to meet with him over the next week. I think a dozen people took him up on it and went to his office hours. A week later, he sent his new decision out by email. Guess what? It was exactly the same decision as the last time. But this time, nobody complained. Why? Because they all had been listened to.”

Listening matters. Much, much more than you think.

People want the option to chime or chip in, even if their stance is counter to the end decision. They just want to be listened to.

Alternatives Once you define the setting and assemble the participants, your next step is to outline the alternatives. “Simply put, an alternative is a view of the world. It’s the job of the responsible person — the decision maker — to come up with a set of alternatives to consider, without any bias. Alternatives should be feasible — they should be realistic; diverse — they should not all be micro-variants of the same

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situation; and comprehensive — they should cover the problem space,” says Rajaram. “In other words, the decision maker needs to list out the pros and cons of each alternative as it relates to the value function.

In many situations, one can also quantitatively model out the impact of each alternative and evaluate it against the decision’s setting — specifically the why, the optimization function.”

For many complex decisions, it’s best to generate alternatives in a group setting with all of the Consulted people. “Get in a room, get on a whiteboard, and brainstorm,” says Rajaram. “For each alternative, list out the pros and cons, as well as the parameters behind the quantitative model. There are no shortcuts. Get into the numbers as much as possible. It can be very hard with ambiguous decisions to get down into the numbers, but it’s very valuable to do so.”

Most importantly, if done right, this brainstorming exercise will also help generate new alternatives you might not have considered earlier. For example, he says, “When we were in partnership discussions with an important potential partner, the process got stuck around a specific clause. The decision we needed to make was how to move forward. We had two initial options — go ahead with the partnership as-is or terminate the discussions. When we got together to brainstorm alternatives, the group was able to generate a third compelling option — establish a contract with a third party which would mitigate our risk around this clause — that we had not previously considered.

“The place where we see timely, quantitative evaluation done best is in M&A deals. Why? Because it’s a very important decision that’s potentially ‘make or break’ for the company,” he says. “Plus, most experienced corporate development professionals do an amazing job of evaluating the sell, buy, and partner scenarios along with the associated economic benefits to the company over five years or ten years. They consider probability of success, resources invested and opportunity costs.”

Employ the level of diligence, metrics and

stakeholder engagement as you would for an M&A deal.

If it’s a big decision, you’re actually merging your past and present.

Decide With the alternatives evaluated by your people and pros and cons anchored to your setting, it’s time to decide. “The way you choose is simple. Now that you’ve figured out all the alternatives, bring all the consultant folks back into the room and present everything. This involves listing out the alternatives, their pros and cons, and the values from the model you ran. Then ask them for their feedback,” says Rajaram.

The most important part part of this process is to ask them to send you their vote privately. “It can be by email, Slack or, my favorite, SMS — as long as it’s delivered privately along with the chosen alternative and why it was selected,” he says. “Casting your vote privately is important because difficult decisions can have controversial solutions. Your goal is to get honest declarations, not answers that bend to organizational hierarchy or peer pressure. It’s really important to solicit impartial feedback and votes that aren’t influenced by others.”

That said, in exceptional circumstances, choices can be articulated openly. Rajaram remembers the decision-making process that Sheryl Sandberg ran was so thorough that she built an unprecedented level of trust within the group. “It started when we elected her the decision maker and owner, one of the smartest moves we made. Then she involved us at each stage, insisting on our involvement. By the time she got us all in the room the third time, she had built such a high level of trust in the room that everyone, including Sheryl’s exec admin, felt completely free to speak their minds.”

Now that the decision maker has all the votes, they should evaluate the information thoughtfully, consider people’s votes, and then make the decision.

This involves choosing one of the alternatives, and writing out in as much detail as possible, why they chose it. “Writing out the decision shouldn’t be too hard because you’ve already listed the pros and cons and the formula,” says Rajaram.

Explain The final step of the framework requires the decision maker to explain the decision. In short, she must articulate why she chose the alternative that she did, and explain the anticipated impact of the decision. This process is much easier if the decision maker records her thoughts as soon as she makes the decision. This stage involves three steps: Run your decision and the process by the Approver.

Again, the default of the Approver should be to monitor the decision process, not result. “Since the decision maker is leading the SPADE framework, it’s likely that the approver has not been as involved, and therefore can evaluate the decision with a fresh perspective. If you’re responsible for the decision, meet with the Approver, explain the decision, and get buy-in. If you created a high quality decision framework, she’s unlikely to veto it.”

Convene a commitment meeting. It takes coordination, but it’s important to pull together all the consultants that have been involved in the decision.

Reserve a conference room or line that will include all participants to date. And then walk them through the decision. “Now is when you explain the decision and really take ownership of the decision. There might be grumbling or disagreements, but this is the moment when you explicitly become the owner of the decision,” says Rajaram.

Call a commitment meeting. After the decision is made, it’s paramount that each person — regardless of being for or against the result — individually pledges support out loud in the meeting. “Go around the room and ask each one of them to support the decision one at a time,” he says. “Commitment meetings are really

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important, because when you pledge to support a decision in the presence of your peers, you’re much more likely to support it. As the decision maker, you’re responsible for executing on that decision, and so you need their support to help to move forward.”

After a decision is made, each participant must commit support out loud. Pledging support aloud binds you to the greater good.

Circulate the annals of the decision for precedent and posterity. Now that the decision is made, the real work begins. “After the commitment meeting, you need to to figure out how next steps will be delegated and executed,” says Rajaram. “The decision maker must summarize the SPADE behind the decision in a one page document. This brief should be emailed out by the decision maker to the rest of the company or to as broad of an audience as possible. Why? Because the company needs to see what and how decisions are being made.”

Square uses an email alias (notes@) to send all kinds of decision and meeting notes to the company. “We started sending SPADE summaries to the company over the last couple of years,” he says. “It’s been really gratifying to see the number of decisions that are increasingly made using this framework and sent out to the company. Employees start to register the high quality decisions that are being made about important topics across the organization. That’s how more people get encouraged to confront difficult decisions and share how they made them.”

Pulling It Together The SPADE decision-making framework can help synchronize and speed up collaboration to make difficult choices. While the system outlines a step-bystep process, Rajaram emphasizes a few key takeaways.

First, don’t use consensus; agreement does not equate

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ownership. Second, clarify the ‘why’; it’s essential to understand the purpose and context for making the decision to optimize for it. Third, ensure that the decision maker is both responsible and accountable for the final choice. Don’t be that company where decisions are handed off to be implemented without previous involvement. Fourth, consult maximally.

Many more people want to be involved than you think do. Finally, get feedback privately, but document and get support publicly.

“I bet you if you survey people at your company today about decision making and their level of happiness, most will say that they don’t understand how decisions are made. This framework allows you to articulate each stage of the process broadly to a company,” he says. “I firmly believe that making high quality decisions can fundamentally transform the way we work. I personally can’t wait to live in a world where people and companies make difficult decisions systematically and in a high quality way.”

Article seen on www.firstround.com

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Luxury

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Business To Be Hacked

No Business Too Small to Be H 54 www.greenazine.com

Hacked

Just as the holiday shopping season neared, a toy company, Rokenbok Education, was navigating a nightmare situation: Its database files had been infected by malware.

Online criminals had encrypted company files, making them unusable, and were demanding a hefty ransom to unlock the data.

Rokenbok, a California-based company that uses building blocks and even robotics to teach children how to think like engineers, lost thousands of dollars in sales in two days.

Rokenbok’s founder and executive director, Paul Eichen, was already struggling to adapt his sevenemployee company to a fastchanging toy world. Even worse, the malware attack was not Rokenbok’s first. The company had been hit earlier with a denial of service attack that shut down the company’s website.

“I sweated that one,” Mr. Eichen said. “Customers’ first impressions are critical.”

Focusing on revenue over protection is far from unusual for small companies like Rokenbok. But it is an increasingly dangerous path, experts say. Limited security budgets, outdated security and lax employees can leave holes that are easily exploited by ever-more-sophisticated digital criminals.

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The threat to small businesses is growing, some experts say. Sixty percent of all online attacks in 2014 targeted small and midsize businesses, according to Timothy C. Francis, enterprise leader of cyberinsurance at Travelers.

“Smaller companies are easier to hack,” said Clay Calvert, director of security at MetroStar Systems, a Virginia-based firm. “They don’t have the resources to set up protective barriers.” Big companies, which have the financial resources to upgrade their security, have become less vulnerable.

These days, businesses like Rokenbok are especially susceptible to a type of malware called ransomware, which holds data hostage in return for money. Data is slowly encrypted by criminals until the entire system is locked up. The process can take up to 42 days, Mr. Calvert said.

Rokenbok’s ransomware attack made its database files unusable. But rather than pay the ransom, the company reconstructed its key systems, a process that took four days.

Although figures are hard to come by, experts say these kinds of attacks can be so damaging to revenue and customer expectations that many small businesses are forced to close after an episode like the one Rokenbok experienced.

And increasingly, as in Rokenbok’s case, criminals are going after cash through attacks using ransomware rather than through attacks on credit card data.

“Credit card numbers are harder to monetize,” said Christopher Young, general manager of the Intel Security Group at Intel Corporation. “You have to get the numbers and sell them to someone else before you make money.” Ransomware, he said, is high volume and requires no middleman. Hackers gain entry when employees click on malicious links in emails or download infected material.

Phishing attacks, which use malicious emails to steal data, are also on the rise, security experts added.

Given the increase in such attacks, being unprepared is like playing security roulette, said Robert Siciliano, chief executive of IdTheftSecurity.com.

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“If you’re not deploying some level of security, you’ll go under,” he added. “You have to make time for quality control. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Mr. Siciliano recommends a security audit as a first step. The audit should take note of potential areas of risk, like customer data or employee access. “How secure — or not — is your system?” he said.

Strengthening security can be inexpensive and simple — something small businesses can do on their own, experts say. It can include updating antivirus software, adding firewalls and strengthening passwords. Or it can mean putting data in the cloud rather than on company servers, which may be more vulnerable. But often, given lean staffing, it makes more sense and can cost less in the long run to hire a firm that specializes in digital security.

Steven Annese, owner of the lighting and home décor company EliteFixtures, knew he needed tighter security as his business soared. So he outsourced security to a web performance and security firm, CloudFlare.

Mr. Annese uses a checklist to make sure security updates are installed. And he logs onto CloudFlare every day to see what threats have been blocked and to review site analytics.

“So far, we’ve never been hacked,” Mr. Annese said.

“Security issues don’t keep me up at night.”

Among the simpler precautions small businesses and consumers alike can take is to create strong passwords.

That has long been the advice of security experts but many say it is stunning how many people and small businesses fail to heed the advice.

Hackers use big-data analytics to help crack passwords, said Mr. Calvert at MetroStar Systems. “They have databases of passwords,” he said, “and they analyze how we come up with them.”

He recommends using passwords that are 20 characters or longer and that contain a mix of characters. The longer the password, the harder it is to crack. Password managers, which use software to encrypt passwords, are another option, he added.

The 5050 Skatepark, an 8,000-square-foot indoor park on Staten Island for skateboards, BMX bikes and scooters, rejiggered its passwords after being hit with a denial of service attack last fall that made its website unavailable. The skatepark, which generated $100,000 in revenue in 2014, attracts skateboarders from all over the world, said one of its founders, Edward Pollio. Having the website closed down was a blow to revenue, he said.

“The attack caused havoc,” said Mr. Pollio, who still has a day job as a carpenter. “People were asking if we were still in business. Not having a website is like being closed.”

Now, 5050 Skatepark is more strict about its passwords; it follows longstanding recommendations to use different ones for different accounts, like on Instagram and Twitter. And Mr. Pollio, who helped start the business with $50,000 of his own savings, monitors the site every day.

Employee training is also inexpensive, but important.

Since most hacking episodes occur when employees click on malicious links or websites, education is the best defense, many security experts said.

Daniel Peebles, information technology manager at Andretti Autosport, the auto racing group based in Indianapolis, tackles education head on. Besides explaining malware and phishing through PowerPoint presentations, he sends emails to employees about the latest threats.

“You must definitely have a will to learn,” said Mr. Peebles, who served in the Army. “Attackers are always finding new methods. So you’ve got to keep up with the pace.”

Tom Gorup, security operations leader at Rook Security in Indianapolis, advised preaching security to employees from the beginning. He advocates offering monetary rewards for identifying security problems.

“Become a guerrilla work force,” added Mr. Gorup, who also served in the Army.

Online security tutorials are helpful and free. They can be found on government sites like that of the Small Business Administration, which also has webinars,

Fighting the good fight against online criminals should now be part of any company growth strategy and the site of the Defense Security Service, part of the Defense Department.

Once security is in place, experts advise hiring ethical hackers, who test a system by hacking into it to spot vulnerabilities. “And they’re less expensive than being hacked,” Mr. Siciliano said.

Fighting the good fight against online criminals should now be part of any company growth strategy, he said.

Mr. Francis at Travelers said, “Once data is compromised, the ball is rolling in terms of cost.”

Banks generally are not obligated to repay money taken from an account. And legal bills aimed at recouping that money can quickly pile up.

Worse, the criminals are hard to track down. They typically operate from office complexes in Eastern Europe or Russia. “It’s their business to hack businesses,” Mr. Calvert said.

Rokenbok reported its malware attack to the local police, who said the F.B.I. was more suited to do the investigation. So far, no one has been arrested in connection with the attack.

Article by Constance Gustke seen on www. nytimes.com

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Oil’s Slide

Oil’s slide below $30 sends U.S. oil stumbled below $30 for the first time in 12 years to levels that threaten the survival of many U.S. shale firms, spur more belt-tightening by oil majors and spell more pain for crude-producing nations and regions.

A seven-day losing streak fueled by concerns about a continued supply glut and fragile demand from China, the world’s No. 2 consumer, wiped out almost a fifth of crude prices CLc1 this year and 70 percent since mid2014.

Traders have all but given up attempting to predict where the new-year rout will end, with momentumdriven dealing and overwhelmingly bearish sentiment engulfing the market. Some analysts warned of $20 a barrel; Standard Chartered said fund selling may not relent until it reaches $10.

And more of the world’s biggest energy companies are conceding that it may be many years before prices recover. On Tuesday, U.S. crude futures traded below $50 through 2021.

British oil and gas giant BP Plc (BP.L) said on Tuesday it would slash 5 percent of its workforce in the face of the continued slump while Brazil’s state oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA) cut its investment plan for the third time in six months.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) meanwhile have seen their stock decline by 11 and 4 percent respectively.

The latest cuts add to the hundreds of thousands of job lost and billions of dollars spending cuts throughout crude’s 18-month slide from levels above $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014, a collapse that has run far longer and deeper than originally expected, reaching crisis point for some.

For Russia, which relies on energy for about half its budget revenues and 40 percent of exports, $30-a-barrel oil could wipe out in just over a year the nation’s rainy day funds amassed during bull energy markets and blow a hole in its budget.

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ds shockwaves far and wide

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Even Saudi Arabia, whose policy of maintaining output to defend its market share even as prices slide has been blamed, together with the resilience of U.S. shale producers, for the persistence of the global supply glut, is feeling the squeeze.

In its 2016 budget unveiled late last month, Riyadh announced a series of spending cuts and reduction in subsidies as oil revenues shrink.

But with major U.S. energy lender Wells Fargo estimating that sustained prices below $40 per barrel, let alone $30, are too low for U.S. shale producers to survive in the longer run, the stakes are exceptionally high for the young industry that turned the United States into a leading oil and gas producer.

The rout has already pushed dozens of small firms into bankruptcy or turned them into “zombies” firms that barely manage to pay their bills and service debts, but do not earn enough to ensure sustained production and revenues ahead.[L1N14R2JA] Stocks of U.S. energy companies lost more than 9 percent in the past nine trading days and the sector is expected to report a 70 percent annual drop in earnings per share for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.

There are few signs suggesting any near-term relief.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted on Tuesday that already heavily swollen global oil stockpiles would continue rising until the second half of next year.

NO BOTTOM The prospect of a protracted slump has fueled expectations of a flurry of asset sales deals that could be possibly financed by private equity or hedge fund investors and law firms and banks have been beefing up their restructuring teams.

The latest slide, however, quashed hopes that the market may have already found its bottom and private equity investors are expected to hold off with buying any assets with action expected to shift to bankruptcy courts.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 benchmark briefly touched a low of $29.93, which was last seen in December 2003.

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“With WTI now trading below $30, people are getting their minds wrapped around the lower-for-longer price scenario and … management teams and sponsors are starting to become resigned to the likelihood of an in-court solution,” said Matthew Hart, who leads the restructuring practice at Intrepid Partners.

The latest plunge has also deepened the gap between U.S. states such as Alaska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Louisiana and New Mexico, which depend on production taxes to fund education and health care and the rest of the country, which has benefited from low gasoline prices.

SAVINGS AND SUVS There are winners of the oil rout too.

Cheap gasoline and low heating costs have produced a windfall for the majority of U.S. consumers, which with a delay begins to show up in discretionary spending and savings.

The U.S. auto industry is also racking up record sales and profits, largely due to the resurgent popularity of trucks and sport utility vehicles fueled by gasoline prices at multiyear lows.

And some investors are still looking at the latest slide as a potential opportunity.

“It’s a wild cycle, but it’s so hard to predict where the bottom is,” said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at the $1.9 billion Hodges Small Cap Fund. He says his firm has been buying small-cap natural gas firms in anticipation that the stocks will rebound soon, particularly if global events cause a quick tightening in oil supply.

“I think we’ll have a heck of a snap-back rally and crude will eventually, my guess, rebound to around $55 a barrel,” he said. “We’re buying stocks thinking they’re awful close to getting washed out.”

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