newsclips
SEPTEMBER 2014
Recognize Young Stars in YOUR Community Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Award It’s that time of year! Community Newspapers across Ontario have launched a search for Ontario’s top youth. Nominations for the Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Awards will be accepted until November 30, 2014. Every community has young stars, and while they may not quite have celebrity status, they deserve to be in the spotlight for all they have accomplished. Who are they? They are our future leaders – Ontario’s youth. These individuals are working hard to make their community a better place by volunteering for various organizations, making donations, saving lives and maintaining top grade averages. They are everywhere - in your homes, at school, on the field and at church. If you know someone who deserves a large pat on the back, nominate them today for the Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Awards. This Awards program has been designed as a Public Service Program for OCNA members. It gives YOU the opportunity to show readers and advertisers that YOU are a leader in your own community - by recognizing extraordinary individuals. This program is possible because of the financial support of our sponsors: TD Bank Group and Insurance Bureau of Canada. Who is eligible? Any Ontario resident aged six to 17 (must be at least six years but no older than 17 years by November 30, 2014) is eligible to be chosen a final recipient of this Award. Please help us by nominating an individual in one of five areas: ▄▄ ▄▄
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Excellence in achievement, such as the arts or athletics
Good kids who show a commitment to make life better for others and do more than is normally expected of someone their age Nominations may come from anyone in the community who wishes to recognize a deserving young person for all they do. Newspapers may also initiate a nomination. Nominations should document activities of the nominee with letters, newspaper clippings, recommendations, photographs, etc. Nominees from previous years who continue their noteworthy endeavours are eligible to be nominated again. Up to 12 nominees will be chosen as the final recipients of the provincial Award and will be invited to a special ceremony held in the spring of 2015 in Toronto. Nomination deadline for the 2014 Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Awards is November 30. Nomination forms are available at www.ocna.org/juniorcitizen or by calling OCNA at 905-639-8720 ext 221.
A person involved in worthwhile community service
A special young person contributing to their community while living with a physical or psychological limitation ▄▄
An individual who has performed an act of heroism in the past year
WHAT’S INSIDE:
INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS’ RETREAT Come network with your peers and sit in on informational sessions!
See Page 6
STRIKING LESSONS FOR BUSINESS FAMILIES
7 USEFUL APPS FOR MOBILE JOURNALIM
The challenges and lessons of a family enterprise.
With nearly 300 photo and video apps, which do you choose?
See Page 12
See Page 18
MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE ONTARIO1 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION September 2014 www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Advertising Agency Research Project By Anne Lannan OCNA Executive Director
OCNA has commissioned a marketing specialist to conduct a research project with advertising agencies and direct advertisers. One of the goals of your association is to help community newspapers to thrive in a competitive and changing advertising environment. In order to accomplish this we need to understand the advertising planning and buying process to ensure community newspapers remain strong in the mix. Our board also wishes to understand advertising professional’s perceptions and knowledge of our industry so we can strategize how to better educate, inform and demythify decision makers, and to ensure they have the tools/resources needed to buy community newspapers. Response to the association’s request to participate has been strong from the media planners we have talked with already. They are pleased to share their thoughts about our industry. In appreciation for their time, OCNA will be making a donation to NABS, their industry’s benevolent society. We will keep you posted on the insights learned.
NEWSCLIPS VOLUME 04, ISSUE 01 3228 South Service Rd. Suite 116 Burlington, ON L7N 3H8 p.905.639.8720 f.905-639.6962 e. info@ocna.org w. www.ocna.org
OCNA BOARD PRESIDENT
Gordon Cameron
FIRST VP
Dave Adsett
SECOND VP
Andrea DeMeer
SECRETARY/ TREASURER
Dave Harvey
PAST PRESIDENT
Mike Mount
DIRECTORS
Anne Marie Creskey Abbas Homayed Mike Power Rick Shaver Ray Stanton John Willems
Commitment to Newspapers Across North America I had to the opportunity to attend a Newspaper Association Managers (NAM) conference this summer in which my counterparts from 44 provincial and state newspaper associations across North America were represented. It was impressive to see such a connected group of newspaper association executive directors share their passion for the success of their member newspapers. In the U.S. most state associations represent both daily and community newspapers but our missions and objectives remain the same. Like Ontario, their newspapers understand the importance of having a strong industry association to be their collective voice to government, advertisers and readers. Advertising services, government advocacy, awards, public service programming, networking and training are also the main functions that we all try to excel at. Lots of insight and ideas shared whether the topic was legislation, operations, fundraising, governance, member services or promotions.
IN THIS ISSUE...
Continued on Page 5 >>>
05 ...............................LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 10 ...................COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE 12 ......................................STRIKING LESSONS FOR BUSINESS FAMILIES
OCNA STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Anne Lannan
CONTROLLER
Todd Frees
MEMBER SERVICES
Karen Shardlow Kelly Gorven
ACCOUNTING
Lucia Shepherd
AD*REACH
Ted Brewer Carolyn Press Erica Leyzac
15 ...................................................................SELL BEYOND THE OVERLAP 16 ......................................NEGOTIATION TIPS FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS 17 ..................................................................................................AT THE TOP 18 ...............THE SEVEN MOST USEFUL APPS FOR MOBILE JOURNALISM
September 2014
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
Insurance Industry Renews Commitment to Community Newspapers
OCNA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) will once again sponsor the Ontario Community Newspaper Foundation’s Community Award in Memory of Mary Knowles. The award was created in memory of Mary Knowles, a dedicated newspaper employee and active community member who died from breast cancer in 1996. This award recognizes the contributions of individual newspaper employees and the intimate connection community newspapers have with their communities. “Local newspapers are the lifeblood of a community,” said Ralph Palumbo, Vice-President, Ontario, IBC. “IBC and its members are proud to support those who go above and beyond to make their communities even better.” Last year’s winner was Linda Plumridge, Comptroller of the Fort Frances Times. “We are pleased to welcome back IBC and appreciate its ongoing commitment to recognizing local heroes with this important community service award,” said Anne Lannan, OCNA’s Executive Director. “Community newspapers create strong communities across this province because of their intimate connection with local groups, businesses and governments. Dedicated newspaper employees make it happen.” The recipient of the 2014 Insurance Bureau of Canada Community Award in Memory of Mary Knowles will be announced in February and recognized at the awards gala in April 2015.
PETROLIA LAMBTON INDEPENDENT KEEPS COMMUNITY INFORMED DURING BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR It is the newspaper editors worst case scenario - the biggest news of the year breaks on the day the paper hits the streets. But the staff at the Independent of Petrolia and Central Lambton kept the community informed through social media and a special eEdition when a bank robbery took place on a Wednesday afternoon. Publisher/Editor Heather Wright was out snapping pictures of police, armed with rifles, leading police dogs on a chase for the subject. There was a role for everyone to play; graphic artist Connie McFadden was Wright’s eyes and ears at a park police were gathering in and later ran back and forth to get new supplies. Sales Associate and former reporter Kathy Ehman manned the office and posted what was happening on the paper’s Web site, Facebook and Twitter. Interest in the bank robbery in the town of 5,600 was high with people out on the street watching and scanning their smartphones for information. People learned about the lockdown at the local community centre from the Independent’s posts and were among the first to see the suspect’s picture. The interest in the robbery was so high, the Independent’s server crashed as officials estimated about 13,000 people tried to access the site in half an hour. It was the first time in seven years the Internet provider has had its server shutdown. The staff continued to update the community on Facebook until police called off the search for the suspect. Knowing there was high interest in the robbery, and the fact there wouldn’t be another newspaper for seven days, the Independent put out a special eEdition Thursday morning (you can take a look at http://online.pageflippdf.com/awdw/evxy/). Many local residents commented on the timeliness of the coverage, adding they received more information from the Independent than anywhere else.
For more information about OCNA and the Mary Knowles Award, visit:http://www.ocna.org/communityserviceaward For more information about IBC’s community outreach initiatives, visit: http://www.ibc.ca/en/In_the_Community/ About Insurance Bureau of Canada Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is pleased to celebrate 50 years as a valuable resource for insurance information. Since 1964, IBC has been working with governments across Canada to make our communities safer, championing issues that directly affect Canadians and the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry. IBC is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, car and business insurers. Its member companies represent 90% of the private P&C insurance market in Canada. The P&C insurance industry employs over 118,600 Canadians, pays more than $7 billion in taxes and levies to the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and has a total premium base of $48 billion.
September 2014
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
And the Winner is...
OCNA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT MANITOULIN EXPOSITOR EDITOR WINS BRIAN MAZZA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Alicia McCutcheon, editor of the Manitoulin Expositor, shows off her Brian Mazza Memorial Scholarship, gifted yearly to one weekly editor from Canada. She is shown with fellow scholarship winner Roisin McGroarty, editor of the Irvine Times in Ardrossan, Scotland, who received the Greenslade Bursary, awarded each year to a weekly editor from the United Kingdom. The pair, along with over 100 other editors, publishers and their family members, attended the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference in Durango, Colorado this summer.
The Manitoulin Expositor editor Alicia McCutcheon, right, poses with fellow conference attendee, and winner of one of the Golden Dozen awards for excellence in editorial writing, Cary Hines, editor of the West Valley View, Litchfield Park, Arizona, at the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in Durango, Colorado. September 2014
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Congratulations to Uxbridge Cosmos Publisher Lisha Van Nieuwenhove who is the winner of a complimentary registration to OCNA’s Better Newspapers Competition Gala, being held in May 2015 at the Toronto Sheraton Centre. Lisha was one of 73 OCNA members who completed the annual member satisfaction survey by September 4 and was included in the random draw for either a $100 LCBO gift card or the registration to the Awards Gala. Although we value the open communications with our members throughout the year and your willingness to share your thoughts and opinions, the feedback provided by all participants in this specific survey will assist OCNA in reviewing our current programs and providing programs and services that are relevant to your needs and wants. Much appreciated!
Crowd Funding for Journalists, a New Model A CBC interview with Adrian Sanders, the Co-founder and CEO of www.BeaconReader.com, lead me to look into a new concept which distributes articles to readers, who in turn financially support journalists through crowd-funding. This online service currently features 150 journalists who upload articles to the subscription site. Interested readers subscribe to a specific journalist for a minimum of $5/month and have access to all articles on the site. The selected journalists receive 70 per cent of the subscription. The remaining 30 per cent is retained for overhead and incentive bonuses to other journalists whose articles also get read. Although the www.beaconreader.com site accepts advertising, this business model is not based on advertising to support the creation of quality editorial. From the journalist’s perspective, beaconreader.com is by invitation only. Journalist apply online by telling them the subject matter you will be focusing on. We noticed a few Canadians on the site. The writer maintains all rights to their work. Writers are able to communicate with their subscribers, and are paid monthly. From a reader’s perspective, you can subscribe to niche reporting, be it organic farming, reporting directly from war-torn countries, astronomy or a host of other subject matters. The site is transparent in that it shows how many subscribers and how much funding has been generated for that writer. We’ll have to follow along to see how they do. www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Letters to the Editor in Light of Upcoming Municipal Elections Editors love to have a healthy Letters to the Editor section as it can be a good measure of how involved your community is in the local democratic process and how your readers react to the news your report. In lieu of the upcoming Municipal elections, OCNA is asking members to revisit their policies concerning Letters to the Editor. In addition to the general rules already in place, newspapers should consider incorporating the following guidelines for letter submissions during election time. Here are some examples used by other newspapers. Please consider your individual market needs when determining your policies. ▄▄
Set a deadline of two weeks prior to elections for letters in support of candidates or addressing election issues. In order to prevent factual inaccuracies without a fair chance for correction, letters attacking candidates should not be published in the last issue before an election. ▄▄
Some newspapers do not accept letters from candidates seeking office or thank you letters from the candidate’s immediate family or campaign staff. (Consider treating letters of that nature as press releases instead). ▄▄
Reserve the right to limit the amount of letters in support of any candidate or criticisms of their opponents in a single issue.
OCNA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT CAYUGA HALDIMAND PRESS PUBLISHER, BOB HALL RETIRES Congratulations to Cayuga Haldimand Press Publisher who is retiring after selling his newspaper. Bob is a third generation publisher as his family purchased the newspaper in 1931. His grandfather owned the Clinton paper from the teens to 1940s. Neil Dring, former publisher of the Caledonia Sachem will serve as Publisher and General Manager.
LONDON PUBLISHING EMPLOYEE RETIRES AFTER 28 YEARS Office administrator Sylvia Deshane has retired after 28 years at the Times of New Tecumseth & Adjala–Tosorontio newspaper office in Beeton. Sylvia was known as the ‘red-headed ruler’ of the front office – with her pulse on everything (from inter-office dynamics to community happenings). Sylvia was a loyal, friendly and caring employee and her contributions to the Times, and London Publishing Corp. of Newspapers as a whole, will be missed. Congratulations on your retirement Sylvia!
These guidelines should encourage fair representation of both sides while still allowing the public to provide comment on the candidates and their election agendas. Newspapers should also have clear policies set out at the beginning of the campaign about coverage of election issues and candidates as well as the use of columns from candidates. Some newspapers publish regular columns from current elected officials and will have to determine if they will continue to publish them through the campaign period or set clear guidelines about what can be covered in the columns.
More on Drones >>> Continued from Page 2
Editor & Publisher published a comprehensive article about the journalist’s use of drones in the United States and how they are a few years away from being legally able to make use of them. It seems that FAA regulations, safety and privacy rights remain the three big stumbling blocks. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Features/Article/ Eyes-in-the-Sky--Drones-Delivering-News September 2014
Photo by Wendy Gabrek
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
OCNA’s Annual Independent Publishers’ Retreat
Keeping the Passion Alive Friday Evening Nov. 7 - Saturday Nov. 8 Conference Centre @ Fern Resort, Orillia Come network with your peers! Sessions Include: What’s next in Municipal Government? The future of our towns and cities is one of the most important issues facing our nation. OCNA is delighted to present a man uniquely qualified to talk about that--Gord Hume. He is a four-term city councillor, a former community newspaper publisher, and has recently released his 5th book on local government. Gord will deliver a provocative and challenging message about our towns and cities, how we finance them, how we design and build our communities, and the critical role community newspapers must play in developing prosperous, sustainable communities that offer a high quality of life. Also not to miss: How to Coach, Motivate & Inspire Your Staff; Healthy Rural Communities; Technology Options for Small Markets; Update on Canada Post and the Canadian Periodical Fund; and a review of what OCNA has to offer you. Greetings from local MPP and Opposition Leader Jim Wilson (to be confirmed) Registraton fees include Friday overnight accommodations, Friday Dinner, Saturday Breakfast & Lunch and all sessions and socializing! For more information, contact Karen Shardlow at 905-639-8720 x 232 or k.shardlow@ocna.org.
Likes vs Customers Facebook earned $788 million between April and June. Hope that got some of their advertisers ‘Likes’. Wonder how many actual customers it delivered to those businesses though? September 2014
Best Practices: E-mail Protocol
Newspapers are in the communication business and want their local businesses and readers to be able to reach out to them conveniently. One of the best practices adopted by our industry is to have generic e-mail addresses that remain constant, regardless of staff turnover. For example, editor@(yourdomain), advertising@(yourdomain), production@(yourdomain), \publisher@yourdomain), etc. Electronic communications, whenever possible, should be seamless with staff changes, just like phone calls. That way you won’t miss advertising bookings and breaking news tips. 6
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
CONNECT WITH US!
OCNA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
@OCNAAdreach Follow us for frequent association updates, industry news, upcoming events and more. Or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ pages/Ontario-CommunityNewspapers-Association-
NIAGARA THIS WEEK EMPLOYEE RECOGNIZED FOR 31 YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY Congratulations to Will Rowe, Account Executive, Niagara This Week for receiving a Silver Quill Award, presented by Anne Lannan, Executive Director, OCNA. Will began his career with the industry in 1983 as a sales representative with the Heritgae Community Newspaper in Kingston.
OCNA/171125688577?ref=tn_ tnmn
Better Newspaper Competition Coming Soon!
OCNA is currently preparing for its most popular member program - the Better Newspapers Competition. The call for entries will begin on October 1st and continue until October 31st. Entries can be from any member newspaper published between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014.
PRESIDENT’S QUILL PRESENTED CCNA President Abbas Homayed recognized Cornwall Seaway News Publisher Rick Shaver with a President’s Quill. Shaver has just completed his term on the CCNA Board of Directors as well as a number of committees after dedicating eight years to the organization. Shaver began on the OCNA board in 2001 and will complete his most recent term in the spring. The board will miss his valuable insights and the experiences he has created from his lengthy career. He was also congratulated on the 29th anniversary of the Seaway News.
Watch the OCNA Web site and your inbox for all 2014 BNC entry rules and criteria. For more information, contact Karen Shardlow 905-639-8720 ext 232 or k.shardlow@ocna.org. September 2014
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
Finger on the Pulse OCNA and CCNA were pleased to host the Ontario Summit meeting on September 17. This event provides the associations with the opportunity to sit down and discuss industry matters that are important to our larger members, as well as obtaining feedback and direction about the programs and services provided to them. Shown here, front row left to right, OCNA President Gordon Cameron, OCNA Executive Director Anne Lannan. Back row, left to right, Rick Shaver, TC Media; John Hinds, CEO Newspapers Canada; Mike Power, Sun Media VP Sales; Neil Oliver, Metroland West, VP and Regional Publisher; and Ray Stanton, President London Publishing.
CANADA’S
Affordable media insurance for Canadian Community Newspapers
Service includes: Libel, Invasion of Privacy, Plagiarism, Piracy, Infringement of Copyright, Pre-Publication Hotline Contact us for a quote: Todd Frees, General Manager 905-639-8720 ext. 234 t.frees@ocna.org September 2014
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
TRAINING ONLINE MEDIA CAMPUS WEBINARS: OCNA has teamed with the Online Media Campus to help the association fulfill its mission of providing affordable and relevant training to members. ▄▄
October 16 - The Art of the Interview: How Talking to the Right People can Improve your Storytelling
You will be amazed at how your writing will improve if you have strong newsgathering skills. One of those fundamental skills includes great interviewing techniques. So much of what journalists do is talking to the right people to provide information, perspective and insight into the subject. Finding the right sources can be the hardest part of telling the story. You also need to become an expert of sorts before you start interviewing people. This webinar will cover: How to prepare for an interview, how to find the right sources, how to ask the right questions at the right time, how to conduct yourself during the interview and how to keep the door open for further questions. ▄▄
November 7 - 10 Ways to Build Reader Engagement: Easily Integrate New Technologies Into Your Workflow
Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Yo, SoundCloud - there are so many ways to connect and engage with readers today that it’s confusing for journalists who are always on deadline and needing to file the next story.
CLASSIFIED AD
This webinar will show you how you can quickly adopt these new technologies and easily integrate them into your workflow. You’ll better engage your audiences and encourage them to participate in the conversations of the communities you cover.
For more information and to register, visit: www.onlinemediacampus.com
September 2014
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
ocna member ALS Ice Bucket Challenge The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a social media awareness and fundraising campaign for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), was an international success. Many OCNA members participated in the icy dare. This is proof that community newspapers are constantly participating in local events, giving back to charities and supporting various causes.
Manitoulin Expositor Alicia McCutcheon was challenged on Saturday, August 23 by Craig Hughson and Rick McCutcheon was challenged on Monday, August 25 by Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands Mayor Al MacNevin. The Expositor donated $200 to ALS.
Alexandria Glengarry News Peterborough This Week/ myKawartha.com These photos could give you shivers! Editor Paul Rellinger and Editor in Chief, Lois Tuffin did the chilly challenge.
Alexandria Glengarry News Sports Editor, Sean Bray participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. He had some help from a couple of co-workers who didn’t seem too upset to splash freezing cold water over his head.
Cornwall Seaway News TC Media’s Todd Lihou planned an icy event in which print media employees in Cornwall took the challenge. Each participant made a personal donation. (From left: Mai-Liis Renaud and Julia Lucio from the Local Seeker, Hugo Rodrigues of the Standard-Freeholder and Adam Brazeau and Todd Lihou of the Cornwall Seaway New)
Chatham Voice Bruce Corcoran and Jim Blake, co-owners of the Chatham Voice, took the ALS challenge, donated and challenged high-profile citizens in their community to do the same and spread the word. September 2014
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GET YOUR PRESS IDENTIFICATION CARDS OCNA can provide you with laminated, business card-sized Press Cards. Cost is $10 each for the first three, and $5 for each one thereafter.
Group Managing Editor
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GORDON CAMERON Hamilton Community News 905-523-5800 333 Arvin Avenue Stoney Creek, ON L8E 2M6
Feb. 25, 2014 Date
Contact Kelly Gorven at k.gorven@ocna.org or call 906-639-8720 x239 x 221 for a Publisher’s Authorization Form and instructions on how to send photos.
September 2014
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ADVERTISING
Sell Beyond the Overlap By John Foust Raleigh, NC
Meredith has been selling advertising for many years. “Watch out for the overlap,” she told me. “It’s a big challenge in the sales profession. Just like all companies who compete with each other, my paper and my competitors offer a lot of the same things. I’ve heard that - depending on the industry - feature overlap can be more than 50 percent.” According to Meredith, when a sales person focuses on things that the competition can do just as well, there’s little chance for differentiation. The prospect thinks, ‘Why buy advertising in Choice A, when Choice B offers the same thing?’ Here are some common areas of overlap:
1. Audience: “To sell beyond the overlap, this is a good place to start,” Meredith said. “The number one media question that advertisers have is: ‘How many prospective buyers will my ads reach?’ All sales people talk about audience, but not many of them acknowledge the fact that other media choices reach some of the same people.”
Selling beyond the overlap forces you to analyze how many of your advertiser’s prospects you - and your competitors - can reach. With facts on your side, your selling approach becomes: “Of course, we cover x-audience, like so-and-so does. But let me show you where we reach more people (better quality buyers, etc.)” “Even when you’re selling against TMC (Total Market Coverage) products, there can be gaps in coverage,” Meredith said. “You’ve just got to look for them.” That leads us to another possible source of overlap
2. Market Research: More and more media companies are offering research services to their advertisers. This can be a good
point of differentiation.
“It’s important to promote your research department as an objective source of information,” Meredith said. “If advertisers start to think it’s just to stack the deck in your favour, they’ll turn away.”
3. Ad Production: “Although most media companies are capable of producing ads, this is where you can put some distance between you and your competition,” Meredith explained. “Unless your prospect uses an ad agency, your creative team will have a big influence on the content and style of the advertising. In fact, you might close the deal, if you have some good examples of ads your paper has created - both print and online.” 4. Flexibility: “Advertisers are concerned about adaptability,” Meredith explained. “How quickly can they adjust to shifting market conditions? Obviously, dailies can outmaneuver weeklies, and weeklies can outmaneuver monthlies. On the other hand, it looks like online marketing levels the playing field. But there are bound to be gaps.” 5. Customer Service: “Actions speak - and sell - louder than words,” Meredith said. “Everybody talks about their great customer service, but how many actually walk the talk? If your competitors are slack in this area, you can position yourself as extraordinary. “It’s better to talk less - and do more - about customer service. Demonstrate your customer-centred philosophy by returning phone calls and e-mails right away, by keeping your accounts informed about their ads, and by sending hand-written thank you notes.”
(c) Copyright 2013 by John Foust. All rights reserved. JOHN FOUST has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for information: jfoust@mindspring.com September 2014
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HUMOUR
Fright of the Stage By William Thomas
Having spent a substantial amount of my career standing on a stage, I can attest to the fact that a lot of scary things happen when the audience is expecting one thing and the other shows up instead. Last year, the wonderful English actress Helen Mirren stomped off a stage in London dressed as Queen Elizabeth II to confront a noisy group on the street in front of the theatre. It was reported that she used language not befitting a royal queen. Years ago in the middle of a stage play in Sydney, Australia, Kevin Spacey became unhinged by a cell phone that just kept ringing. Suddenly he stopped, turned to the woman rifling through her purse and said, “tell them we’re busy”. In the same situation, Billy Crystal was not nearly as nice saying, “put that phone on vibrate and shove it up your ***! I once found myself nervously standing next to a New York mob informant undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone (a.k.a. Donnie Brasco) after he had refused an offer of armed security. Suddenly a very large man left his seat and walked quickly toward the stage...and then right on by it. He had to take a leak. I was standing on stage next to the late Mordecai Richler when the following exchange took place.
needed to wrap things up and get her to her room, I told the audience to keep the book line moving fast because some of us wanted to go up to Margaret’s room and smoke a little dope. Margaret Trudeau was not amused. I was standing next to writer David Gilmour who was talking about all of his ex-wives, when the new one who had told him never to do that, got up and stomped out of the theatre and out of the building. “What the hell happened? Was that my wife?” he asked while we were still in the midst of a question and answer session. “I believe she prefers to be called Ex Number Four,” I whispered. David Gilmour was not amused. I stood on a stage at Hockley Valley Resort looking out at 150 people in the call centre business and as I passed the guy who had just introduced me as the after dinner speaker, he stopped and said, “all of these people were made redundant earlier today, they really need a good laugh.” (Like going stand-up in a morgue). Yes strange things happen on stage. At the National Victims of Crime Awareness Week Conference in Ottawa. police officer Kim Gramlich was about the unveil Caber, her secrent weapon. This doe-eyed golden lab officer is a K9 trauma specialist. As far as trauma dogs, Caber is one of the country’s very best at calming down victims of crime and making them feel secure and grounded again. Caber’s talent for low-key, low-energy companionship is the key to his success with victims. As his handler, Kim was about to introduce him to the large audience in a packed hall, Caber - who happened to be sound asleep during his introduction - fell off the stage when his name was mentioned. Maybe the dog is smarter than they give him credit for. Maybe he was mocking his own boring introduction or maybe he was making his move into slapstick humour. My favourite stage story still is the one about American beauty Pia Zadora who has the same talent for acting as John Belushi had for ballet. On this night Pia was butchering The Diary of Anne Frank and during that scene where the Nazis with bayonets on the rifles were banging on the front door looking for Anne Frank, people in the audience stood up and yelled, “she’s hiding in the attic!” All the world really is a stage, a place of sudden surprises which are not always good ones.
Woman in audience: “Mr. Richler, I have purchased every book you have ever written and given them to my husband as gifts.” Richler: “Why, that’s very kind. Thank you very much.” Woman: “And he hated every one of them.” It took two or three minutes for the laughter to die down. And when it did... Richler: “I’ll dedicate my next book to your husband and make sure there ares a lot of pictures in it.” I once stood on stage at the Thunder Bay library giving a reading from one of my books to an audience of one. Walter I remember standing on the stage of a yacht cruising the coast of Croatia delivering a travel/humour dissertation and the guy wearing a kilt and sitting in the front row tried to beat me to the punch line of every story I told. (He disappeared overboard late one night and they couldn’t prove a thing!) I shared a hotel stage with Margaret Trudeau who talked about her unstable behaviour when she was self-medicating her bipolarism with alcohol and marijuana. Given the signal by her publicist that we September 2014
William is an author, a scriptwriter and a nationally syndicated humour columnist. In addition to the 50 newspapers that carry his weekly column, William is the senior writer for Forever Young. For more information visit www.williamthomas.ca 13
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DESIGN
The View from 35,000 Feet
SUCCESSFUL CATALOGUE FORMULA CAN WORK FOR NEWSPAPERS TOO By Russel Viers
As Brent Niemuth, direct marketing and branding expert, talked about his Three Ds of a successful direct-mail catalog, it immediately popped into my brain - ‘Newspapers could use this!’ Brent and I were in a meeting with a large direct retail company that needed help with its catalog. I was there to talk about how to save money on production by creating documents faster. Brent was there to talk about how to increase sales with better design and product positioning. Brent’s Three Ds of successful catalog are:
for the zoning. I would guess all of those stories combined would be of interest to a small percentage of total readers. I saw a small weekly a while back that actually had two front-page stories about the city council meeting...the same meeting. So we have to keep asking ourselves, is our content important or interesting enough to drive all potential readers to tuck it under their arms and take it to the cash register and eventually become subscribers? The Three Ds apply to reaching subscribers, too. With so many distractions in our busy lives, we can’t assume that subscribers read every issue. It’s possible it is pulled into the house and sits, or perhaps is glanced at, and then sent to the recycling bin. It’s important that every issue reaffirms their decision to renew their subscription. The Three Ds apply to every ad too. As your readers are looking through the paper, it’s important that the ads grab their eye away from stories, or disrupts. Each ad needs to have something that delights the reader into finding out more and must have a benefit that drives the potential consumer to act on the ad. If you can give advertisers the Three Ds, they will enjoy a higher return on the investment they make in your paper, which, in turn...well, you know how it works. So the next time a catalog comes in the mail, ask yourself, ‘Does this have Brent’s Three Ds?’ And as you look at newspapers, not just yours, but those around you, and as you travel, pick up papers, ask yourself the same question. ‘Did something on this front page grab my attention, disrupting what I was going? Am I interested or delighted enough to walk over and pick it up, and is the content compelling enough to drive me to lay down a dollar for it?’ Perhaps someday this will become a category in the Newspapers Associations’ Better Newspaper Contests...’And this year’s winner, in best meeting the Three Ds of Newspapers, is (insert paper here).’
▄▄ Disrupt ▄▄ Delight ▄▄
Drive To break it down further... ▄▄
Disrupt - A catalog can be successful if it disrupts, or grabs the attention of the potential customer. Direct mail helps as the potential customer is forced to hold it. They look at it before tossing it in the recycling bin or putting it on a table for later. When on a rack, it’s harder to fight for attention, especially in this age of smart phones, digital signage and more. ▄▄
Delight - Once your catalog has grabbed a potential customer’s attention, it needs to delight them, giving them a reason not to throw it away. The cover, through photos, offerings or teasers, should delight them to open it and look through the pages. That’s the goal. Put a lot of effort into a cover which delights so well they WANT to thumb through it. ▄▄
Drive - At some point, the potential customer is going to make a decision. A successful catalog has enough offerings of interest to drive them to the phone, Web site, app or mail order form to place an order. An unsuccessful one ends up by the curb. Now look at the front page of your newspaper, more specifically, above the fold. If it were sitting on a rack in the local convenience store, would it disrupt? Are there enough ‘hooks’ to catch the eye of someone passing by, or to pick it up if it’s sitting on a table at the local library or restaurant? Now go look at USA Today’s front, above the fold. I recently counted 10 headlines (plus kickers and subheads in many cases) as well as six pictures. USA Today is just one example of papers around the world doing this. Once we’ve disrupted potential readers from their smart phones or the many other things going on in their lives, are we delighting them? Are our stories interesting, or photos exciting enough for them to pick it up, open it to the full front, take a look, and maybe even look inside? I recently picked up a newspaper of which the entire front page was devoted to a school board meeting, city council meeting, something taxrelated and a zoning issue. There was one photo of the area in question September 2014
RUSSEL VIERS has spoken at publishing events in 22 countries since 1997, including the HOW Conference, The InDesign Conference, IFRA, and PePcon, on technology topics, such as Adobe and Quark software. He also shares ideas on transitioning to multi-channel publishing, marketing and design. He has worked onsite with many publications and designers to work faster and improve quality, including Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, New York Times Regional Papers, Sabah, American Greetings, Crayola, and many others. Viers has been actively involved with digital publishing since the early days, having started with CompuGraphic typesetting machines in the early 80s, and PageMaker 1.0 in 1987. He has also authored several videos from lynda.com, Peachpit Press, and Total Training. 14
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DESIGN
At the Top
By Ed Henninger Henninger Consulting Thanks to Tia Rae Stone for suggesting this column. She recently wrote: “I attended a seminar one time where you told us your rules for topof-the-page advertising. When you can, would you share them with us on your blog?” I asked Tia if it was OK to handle her question in a hint or column instead. She agreed...and here we are. For ads that appear at the top of a section front or anywhere on page 1, I have four simple rules:
better. Twenty-five words or fewer.
3. ONE IMAGE: Take a look at the ads in the illustration accompanying this column. The ad on the left is clean and does the job of illustrating the message: work boots 30% off. No need to show more boots, as in the ad on the right. Readers will assume that Big Bend Outfitters carries more than only one type of brand of work boots. The single image allows for some negative breathing space in the ad and gives it focus. No need for more. One image. One. 4. CHARGE A HEFTY PREMIUM: Stop giving away some of your best space. Charge a good premium for the ad. Some publishers will double the price of an ad at the top of the page. Make it clear to the advertiser that this is space you’re not just willing to sell to anyone, that his ad will get more looks and generate more traffic. Charge a hefty premium.
1. WE DESIGN IT: Sorry, we’re not going to accept an ad designed by the advertiser’s daughter’s boyfriend, who took a quick course in Illustrator at the community college. These ads are at the top of the page and will draw considerable reader attention - we need to be sure they speak to the reader of the kind of quality work we can do. An over-designed ad will cheapen the look of your newspaper, and you don’t want that. Top-of-page ads should get the best work from your best designer. We design it.
So there you have it: Ed’s arbitrary and capricious four rules for page 1 and top-of-page ads. I’m convinced they work. Try them...I think you’ll be convinced, too!
2. TWENTY-FIVE WORDS OF FEWER: We’re not going to clutter the ad with excess verbiage. How do I define ‘excess verbiage’? When it comes to top-of-page ads, I define it as anything more than 25 words. It’s that simple. Within that limit, you can do a good job of creating a memorable message for your advertiser. The briefer, the
September 2014
ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting, offering comprehensive newspaper design services at: www.henningerconsulting.com.
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BUSINESS
Negotiation Tips for Women in Business! By Patrick Tinney Managing Partner Centroid Training & Marketing
3. Speaking their Language - As a business person who specialized in selling to and negotiating with large multimarket retail accounts I cannot tell you how important it was to be able to speak their ‘retail language’. I studied under two truly dedicated senior managers in the newspaper business. Both of these managers in their previous business lives were executive managers in the retail business. Their lessons were simple if you want to succeed at the negotiation table with top flight retailers you had better be able to think like them, talk like them and add value to their world. Otherwise, you are just another ‘suit’ selling stuff.
I’ve been blessed with two heroes in my life. Both are women. Jean, my mom had to finish high school and start a new life at age 39 when my dad suddenly died. Mom cried many a night coping with being forced back to high school to learn how to be a stenographer. With grit she dove into the foreign world of corporate business. Barbara, my sister sustained life changing injuries in a car accident that left her life hanging by a thread. She survived. In her early 30s she also had to start all over again. Barb too went back to high school and then on to college where she completed a Diploma in Journalism. These proud women showed courage and tenacity beyond belief. They taught me that anything is possible if you just keep moving forward! Business negotiation really does not have any set rules owing to the constant change in market conditions, civility and broadening cultural norms. This makes negotiation a platform of shifting sands on the best of days for professionals of all stripes and gender. For women who were brough up in a business environment it is a little easier to see. For women who have not had the benefit of growing up in a business environment it is just another layer of challenge. The tips I offer women in business are to help you see more clearly and stand firmly on the shifting sands of negotiation. They are designed to let you know that you are not alone as you piece together the puzzle that business negotiation offers all who engage this unique business skill. Please take special note of the following:
4. Creative Solutions - There is no better way to level a playing field when you say “I have studied your business. I have great ideas to help you.” Large customers do not have the time they used to...to be more creative. They need suppliers who know their business and think ahead to anticipate their needs. This also means arriving at the bargaining table with a variety of ideas and BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiation Agreement) options. Suppliers that master this advanced thinking will move up the client food chain and gain more opportunities on a first call basis. 5. Increasing Negotiation Strategies - If you only have one or two ‘go-to’ business negotiation strategies you are vulnerable at the bargaining table. Professional buyers and sellers alike will identify your negotiation strategies and will work to neutralize them. Read about business negotiation. Seek out webinars. Take courses in business negotiation. Educate yourself. The more negotiation strategies you have at your disposal the more often you will ‘make and save money’ at the bargaining table.
1. Zebra Camouflage - Zebras are strong, fast, intelligent and gifted with a camouflage shading...black and white stripes that help them blend in with grassy surroundings. When they move on mass they look so similar it is hard for those pursuing them to separate them. IF you are heading into a business negotiation environment where business men dress a certain way using certain colours or tones, mimic them. Do not be a giraffe among zebras. It is too easy to single you out. Be conservative to the point that you look the same as them in a business uniform. If you want to accent with colour go with power colours. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump wears red ties regularly. I also like the colour green with a blue suit. It speaks creatively.
6. Believing in Yourself - Practice being your own best friend. If you saw your best girl friend berating herself over something that was just bad timing, random or out of her control...what would you say to comfort her? You’d be inclined to talk to her about her strengths and accomplishments. If you truly believe in yourself you will ‘participate in positive self talk’ as noted author Lucinda Bassett often says. Tell yourself ‘you are smart, bright, dedicated and professional.” I know what my heroes would do. They would just keep moving forward.
2. Detail - One way to neutralize the other side and even doubters on our own negotiation team is to wow them with detail and preparation for a business negotiation. If you can un-script in the middle of a business negotiation because of your professional level of advanced detail and preparation the other side will take notice and give you greater respect. September 2014
PATRICK TINNEY is the founder of Centroid Training and Marketing, a consulting firm helping organizations make and save money through consultative selling, sales prospecting and business negotiation training. www.centroidmarketing.com. 16
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BUSINESS
A Shoe Factory in Northampton: Striking Lessons for Business Families By Stefan Voswinkel President, The Family Business Catalyst ▄▄
An old-fashioned shoe manufacture in Northampton is handed over to the fourth generation. The son is struggling to keep the business afloat and comes close to giving up. A chain of very inspiring humans and events result in the business legacy being continued, with happy family, employees and customers. I came across this true story - it is capturing the essence of family enterprise and the challenges of handing over. It’s about: ▄▄ ▄▄
Being honest with your employees will activate their best good will ▄▄
Tolerance and going the extra mile for each other are hallmarks of a family business ▄▄
Selling the building and putting in lofts for ‘Yuppies’ leaves an empty shell that only satisfies the developers ▄▄
Finding your own way as a manager and owner
Don’t be shy to invest in the best trade show available
How I can help you create the Success Loop for your own Family or Closely-held Business:
Never giving up - instead of saying ‘I don’t know what to do’ ▄▄
Your family plays a vital role in maintaining the success of your business. You may be at the pinnacle of success now, but who will carry the happiness and prosperity of your business and family forward? Continuity Planning becomes essential.
Getting out of your comfort zone developing new products and winning over your employees, customers... and your bribe!
Valuable Lessons: ▄▄
The next generation is often held back in developing their own way to do business - by their own beliefs, the old guard of employees and the ‘father generation’
What does this mean for you?
▄▄
Preparing the next generation for the possibility of the owner’s ‘unexpected’ death helds to avoid the premature death of the business
Visit http://www.familybusinesscatalyst.com/ and sign up for my free monthly Position Papers and Case Studies.
▄▄
Getting out of your comfort zone when hiring talent; you might stumble over someone who can help you take your business to the next level ▄▄
Stefan Voswinkel, President The Family Business Catalyst stefan@voswinkel.ca Direct: 867-456-7506
Next generation: watch out for your champions - those people in your family and amongst your employees who will support you as who you are ▄▄
Does your future spouse carry enough entrepreneurial blood in his or her veins to support you? ▄▄
© All rights reserved, Stefan Voswinkel, President of YLynx Management Consulting, Inc.
Combining top craftmanship with innovative ideas is a recipe for success
September 2014
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TECHNOLOGY
The 7 Most Useful Apps for Mobile Journalism By Judd Slivka
Editing:
There are apps out there. And apps and apps and apps — nearly 300 photo and video apps at last count in the Apple Store’s photo/video category. You could go blind — or bankrupt — trying them all. I’ve tested more than 250 photo/video/audio apps and find myself working with seven of them on a regular basis.
PINNACLE STUDIO ($12.99) — It’s iPad only, but extremely functional. It takes advantage of the touch interface and the iPad’s larger screen to create a pretty intuitive touch-editing sequence. You can build supers in it and it has one video track and three audio tracks. If you’re used to the workflows in other non-linear editing programs, such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere or Avid Console, you’ll get this pretty quickly. There’s still some things you can’t do in it that you can in a desktop system (such as cropping and color correction) but I did this on it (I used FiLMiC Pro for the recording). As a straight editing program, I like it better than Final Cut Pro X. For the iPhone, I’ve had good success with iMovie ($4.99). It’s easy to manipulate the clips, has some audio editing function and allows supers and cuts. RTE’s Glen Mulcahy of Ireland produced this using FiLMiC Pro and iMovie on his phone.
Audio
Recording: VOICE RECORD PRO (FREE) — This one illustrates all that is good and frustrating about mobile-reporting apps. It does one thing — recording — really well. It does nothing else. But it allows you to control the gain during the interview and has several export-to-cloud options. More valuable than anything else, the app allows you to commit the file to Camera Roll as a movie file, which is a workaround for the often-cumbersome way that iOS handles audio files.
Photo
Shooting:
CAMERA+ ($1.99 IPHONE/$4.99 IPAD) — Simple, straightforward and very powerful. Camera+ is similar to FiLMiC Pro (and most other higher-end photo/video apps) in that it allows you to light meter from a point separate from the focus point. It has some corrective modes to add and subtract light from a picture and allows you to choose which shots you want to commit to the Camera Roll. It has a mode for rapid shooting too, but it dramatically reduces the quality of the frames. Like almost every photo app out there, it includes a number of filters and editing tools, though there’s nothing exceptional about them.
Editing:
TWISTEDWAVE AUDIO EDITOR ($9.99) — There’s a free record-only version you should avoid, as it consolidates the tasks and lacks certain features. The paid app — TwistedWave Audio Editor — displays waveforms, which makes sighting over- and-under-modulation much easier. It’s easy to cut-and-paste clips to move them around within the audio track and there are lots of granular functions for equalizing, limiting and normalizing tracks. The downside: It’s a single-track editor, so it’s great for perfecting a single audio track, but impossible to mix with.
Editing:
SNAPSEED (FREE) — A beautiful little editing app. It lacks the power of, say, a desktop Photoshop, but it does all the things that you would want to do for photo editing, if you define editing as ‘making the picture technically reflective of the story I’m telling/covering.’ It has your basic crops, tones and filters but it also allows you to selectively adjust parts of a photo, not just the whole thing. It does the best job of dodging and burning of any of the apps out there. The interface is a little harder to master than some other apps because of the way the menus work, but it’s really not all that hard to learn.
Mixing: MULTITRACK DAW ($9.99) — There are several recording
options out there, but not as many options to mix audio. If you’re looking to create a complete piece from the field, with natural sound running under the voice track, you’ll need something that can handle multiple tracks. MultiTrack DAW does a nice job. It’s not fancy, but it can handle up to 24 tracks (eight tracks come with the purchase; the remainder are in-app purchases), allows control of each track’s volume and allows each track to be cut and pasted.
Video
Shooting: FILMIC PRO ($4.99) — This seems to be the most-used
JUDD SLIVKA is an assistant professor of convergence journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism and a MobileVideoDIY instructor at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Slivka and colleagues at the Missouri School of Journalism are offering hands-on, on-location mobile video training. For more information and pricing, contact Judd Slivka at 573-882-1770 or slivkaj@missouri.edu.
video app among people shooting serious video. It allows separate white balancing, light metering and focus points and is easy to learn. It has the closest thing to a non-destructive zoom on a mobile phone that I’ve seen. It also allows in-camera decision-making to shoot in slow motion or accelerated motion, allows you to choose the frame-per-second rate and lets you monitor audio in real time. September 2014
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HUMAN RESOURCES
Shhh...Don’t Say Anything... A TwoGreySuits Article The question many employees in the workplace contemplate is when to speak up about a business practice, process or decision that is not right or on which they disagree. More often than not, the easy route is to go with the flow because this is somewhat expected, has little employment risk, and is less stressful, and the path of least resistance so to speak. Why has our business culture largely evolved to one where you are conditioned to go along with poor business decisions because the other option of speaking up is too risky? I was talking with a PhD colleague of mine recently who was let go as a CEO. He had come to the conclusion that our business culture is evolving to one where we chew people up and then spit them out. In other words people are just the tools of the real business power brokers and that people are tolerable in their contribution as long as they don’t overstep their bounds. The flip side of this is that those who figure out how to successfully challenge the status quo, often rise through the ranks and end up being power brokers themselves who often ironically do not genuinely welcome the thought of having their own thinking challenged. In the course of my HR consulting career, many times I have heard employees confide in me that they cannot raise certain valid business issues because they would end up getting fired for it, or some lesser form of added job stress. This is an issue for sure. But, why is it like this and more importantly, what can be done about it? I suggest that a healthy organizational culture is one where employees are encouraged to speak up at any level without any fear at all of retribution, and furthermore, that this is clearly articulated as a core company value - no fear of retribution for speaking up. Taking this to the extreme, wouldn’t it be interesting to work in a culture where it was a requirement to say at all times what is on your mind about what is going on in the workplace. Of course this would represent a chaotic state. But we don’t need to go to that extreme. Why employees are fearful of speaking up is not that hard to understand. The risk very often far outweighs the benefits of doing so. Another reason is that employees are not trained in how to properly raise issues in a proper business sense without it often looking like a personal vendetta. Interestingly, as an HR Consultant, when I go in to assess an organization, I always glean more information from talking with non-management employees than looking at policies, financials, or even talking with executives. One of the reasons is that I inherently know that management is often more guarded because there is more at stake for them if they choose to open up. September 2014
In a recent client situation, this fear of speaking up was so well ingrained in the culture of the organization, that it was affecting business results in a significant way; it was affecting their ability to bring on desperately needed qualified resources. The culture had evolved to one where if you didn’t agree with all decisions coming from senior management, then you simply did not fit in the organization, and would eventually be terminated. Surprisingly, this goes on every day in many businesses. So, the $64 million question - how do you prevent this? The best answer I know of is that the top person, usually CEO is the one who sees value in employees being encouraged to speak up where they see improvements would help the organization. This is not to say at all, that all employees need to be in agreement about every decision our business process, it says that employees input is valued and respected without fear of retribution. It also does not mean that every decision is first sent to employees before finalization. We should never expect that all employees would be capable of making senior management decisions. Additionally, there should be a stated ideology which says that employees are encouraged and have the opportunity to input, but at the end of the day, after consideration has been given and final decisions explained transparently, the company decision often will hold and that employees are expected to fall in line - but only after the opportunity for input and understanding has been provided. Bottom line; a healthy culture in an organization starts with the behaviour and thinking that goes on at the very top level. The value of an employer encouraging employee input without fear of retribution must be clearly believed, stated and followed.
This article is part of the TwoGreySuits ‘Employee Performance Management’ Series and is offered by our partner, the TwoGreySuits HR Power Centre as a service to our members. At TwoGreySuits.com, we have invested in the technology to professionally source the many talent pools in the market, in addition of course to being experts in interviewing and selection. The HR Power Centre and HR Hot Line is a one-of-a-kind product specifically designed to get you the answers you need fast, in hundreds of different HR situations. Signing up is simple and free for OCNA members. You can call us today at 905-639-8720. Why wait? Don’t let important people management issues go unresolved when you can deal with them today. 19
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