Whittaker Associates: Giving Information Meaning">Whittaker

By Mario O’Connell

Ring, ring. “Good morning, _____________ Incorporated,” he says hurriedly.

“Good morning,” I respond in a cheerful tone. “I was wondering if you would be willing to verify the contact information that I have for your company?” I continue after a millisecond pause. I don’t want to give him time to say no, but I leave just enough time for the receptionist to utter a short, “okay.” I continue: “I have that your fax number is…”

The conversation carries on just like the 34 that I had before it today. It’s called verification. Here at Whittaker Associates, we face a small problem: the most up-to-date databases that we have cannot keep up with how fast companies are changing. Therefore, when we are working on a list for a client, after we complete the initial research, we always call the company directly to verify that the fax number, address, and key people we have listed are indeed correct.

Already a month on the job, I have begun to develop certain calling techniques that have led me to success. Though some people will always be too skeptical to give out any information, I have developed some strategic methods for extracting information:

1. First and foremost it is important to have a positive attitude when making calls. Be friendly. If you sound like you are in a good mood, the person on the other end is more likely to give you the information that you seek.
2. Confidence is critical. When you face questions like, “What are you going to use this information for,” you must first answer honestly. Do not avoid the question, but respond in a way that conveys to the interrogator that you have a right to the information that you seek. So you say, “Oh, of course – my name is Maria O’Connell and I am calling from Whittaker Associates.” If you say that line with enough conviction, making your company sound very important, then usually there will be no further questions.
3. Remember that the worst case scenario is really not that scary; the worst that can happen is that the receptionist refuses to give you any information. Whether they verbally decline, or rudely hang up on you, maintain your composure and polite attitude.
4. Encouraging words are a must. When the company representative gives you a correct address or signifies that the information is correct, respond with a “great” or “wonderful.” Always remember to say thank you.
5. Speak quickly, but clearly. Use those pronunciation skills that you learned in elementary school choir. And, speak somewhat quickly; the receptionist is a very busy person. If he/she sounds extremely busy and/or skeptical of your purpose, reassure him/her by stating: “it will only take about 30 seconds.”

Well – there you have it. Those are the tricks that I have learned in the past few weeks. You may be wondering how this applies to you? Well, we all have to make cold calls every so often – maybe it is to the customer service agent of overstock.com, or possibly to your child’s teacher, whom you’ve never met, to discuss grades, or perhaps to the president of a specific company that you met at a networking event last week. Regardless of the prospect, I hope that you find these few tips to be helpful in your telephone-calling endeavors.

By Jim Edmonson

Have you ever watched someone move around their kitchen effortlessly, making meal preparation seem easy? Have you ever tried to complete a simple operation in another kitchen where every move seemed frustrating and inefficient? I have worked in some amazingly organized offices in which it was incredibly easy to get a job done and in others where it was incredibly difficult. Organization, or lack thereof, can impact our offices and kitchens in much the same way. Fortunately, manufacturing’s Five S Program will reduce the effort required to get things done in both office and kitchen. In the kitchen, you might have one place for mixing bowls while the pantry stores food supplies in an organized way. You can do the office equivalent by paying attention to the second S in Five S!

A fundamental, systematic approach for productivity, quality and safety improvement, Five S is an effective program for all types of business. The Five S program focuses on maintaining visual order, organization, cleanliness and standardization. The results you can expect from a Five S program are improved profitability, efficiency, service and safety.

The principles underlying a Five S program at first appear to be simple, obvious, common sense. And they are. We put its principals in place every day in our kitchens. But until the advent of Five S programs, many businesses failed to benefit as they ignored these basic principles.

Manufacturing and industrial plants are among the businesses that can realize the greatest benefits. However, any type of business, from a retail store, power plant or hospital to a television station, and all areas within a business, will realize benefits from implementing a Five S program.

Step 1: Sort (Clean Up)
“Sorting” means to sort through everything in each work area. Keep only what is necessary. Materials, tools, equipment and supplies that are not frequently used should be moved to a separate, common storage area. Items that are not used should be discarded.

Don’t keep things around just because they might be used someday.

Sorting is the first step in making a work area tidy. It makes it easier to find the things you need and frees up additional space.

As a result of the sorting process you will eliminate (or repair) broken equipment and tools. Obsolete maps, reports, video tapes, printers, computers and displays, just like the broken blender in the kitchen, must go.
Step 2: Set In Order (Organize)
Step two is to organize, arrange and identify everything in a work area for the most efficient and effective retrieval and return it to its proper place. Have you ever wondered where that stapler keeps disappearing to? In our kitchen, the spoons are always in the same place, so why not bring that predictability to the office?

Commonly used equipment should be readily available. Storage areas, cabinets and shelves should be properly labeled. At home in your garage, you can outline tools on your tool boards, making it easy to quickly see where each tool belongs.

In an office, provide bookshelves for frequently used manuals, books and catalogs. Label the shelves and books so that they are easy to identify and return to their proper place. Do the same for materials, supplies, equipment, easels, and other frequently used materials and equipment.

The objective in this step is the classic saying: a place for everything and everything in its place. But don’t forget the second important part of Systematic Organization—set up a system so it is easy to return each item to its proper place using good labeling and identification practices for all the equipment and materials you use.

Step 3: Sweep (Clean Regularly)
Once you have everything, from each individual work area up to your entire office, kitchen or garage sorted (cleaned up) and organized, you need to keep it that way. This requires regular cleaning, or to go along with our third S, “shining” things up.
Regular, usually daily, cleaning is needed or everything will return to the way it was. You can also think of this as inspecting. While cleaning it’s easy to also inspect the machines, tools, equipment and supplies you work with.
When done on a regular, frequent basis, cleaning and inspecting generally will not take a lot of time, and in the long run will most likely save time. With practice, it should happen naturally. My general rule is the last person to leave the office at night is assigned the inspection job. As they pass through the office turning off lights and equipment, they are to return things to their rightful spot and notice anything broken or unusual and report it.
Step 4: Standardize (Simplify)
To ensure that the first three steps in your Five S program continue to be effective, the fourth step is to simplify and standardize.

The good practices developed in steps 1 through 3 should be standardized and made easy to accomplish. Develop a work structure that will support the new practices and make them into habits. As you learn more, update and modify the standards to make the process simpler and easier.

One of the hardest steps is avoiding old work habits. It’s easy to slip back into what you’ve been doing for years. That’s what everyone is familiar with. It feels comfortable.

Any easy way to make people aware of, and remind them about the standards is to use labels, signs, posters and banners.

Step 5: Sustain
The final step is to continue training to maintain the standards.

Have a formal system for monitoring the results of your Five S program.

Don’t expect that you can clean up, get things organized and labeled, and ask people to clean and inspect their areas one day and then have everything continue to happen without any follow-up.

Think of this step as sustaining the benefits you are getting from your Five S program. The benefits include fewer work interruptions looking for or fixing something and therefore a more efficient work flow. You’ll see faster and more accurate report preparation, better presentations and meetings, and impressive visual impact for visitors.
Speaking of visual impressions, when you make your business retention calls, see if the office and production areas are practicing Five S. It can be an indication of how efficient, and therefore competitive, a company is.
Information for this article is from Industry Week Newsletter at www.industryweek.com.

By Patrick McConahy

Probably one of the biggest challenges a boutique firm faces is the bottom line. Salaries are typically 75 – 90% of the firm’s annual operating cost. Some clever business practices to ensure that a firm of this size stays afloat are a diversified client base, high velocity output, and a crystal clear understanding of the scope of services it offers. However, no matter how hard a boutique firm tries or how well it operates, projects can arise that simply cannot be completed without the firm losing its shirt.

How a small firm deals with these situations, however, is an entirely different story. When a project starts to head south, most people tend to feel an elevation of annoyance and malice towards the project as a whole. Many people take the stance that “this is nothing but a waste of time and money.” Continuing to work professionally and diligently can become harder because of the negative feelings associated with the project.

“Giving Information Meaning” is Whittaker Associates’ motto. While an occasional project may turn out to be financially unprofitable, as long as we have been able to learn, Whittaker Associates still considers the project beneficial. There is always something to be learned from every situation. The trick is remembering this fact when things seem to be going by the wayside. It’s often the meaning we give to a situation that can make it either unbearable or profitable.

One project comes to mind in which a miscommunication arose between us and our client. It wasn’t a giant miscommunication, but it was enough to put both parties on edge for a couple of days. In the end we worked out a solution, but it resulted in us offering a much larger scope of services without receiving added fees. I’ll admit it was a bit frustrating to continue working on the project because it seemed like such a daunting task. However, we continually looked at the project as an opportunity to learn something as opposed to a waste of time and money. By looking at the project in this positive light, we could keep working diligently and professionally until it was completed. Not only did this result in a happy client, but we’ve now added this type of project to the services we offer.

It is never a waste of time or money to take the opportunity to learn. Problems and issues you can’t control will always arise in your everyday life—things go wrong whether you’re at home or at work. What you can control is how you respond to this adversity. What view are you going to take, giving in to hopelessness or seizing the opportunity to learn? Martina Horner said, “What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.” I’m proud to say that I work at Whittaker Associates, an organization that jumps at the opportunity to learn.

By Patrick McConahy

It’s no secret that the economy could be better. All across the country businesses and firms are experiencing losses and cutbacks, disheartening and disorienting employees, managers, and owners alike. Both long-time employees and new hires are at risk of distraction when changes occur in the workplace, and inefficiency can be the result. When employees get off track and inefficient for whatever reason, something must be done immediately. In harsh economic times, spending extra money for a performance consulting firm to work with your company may seem completely illogical. However, obtaining such services will ensure that individuals in your organization get motivated, back on track, and headed in the right direction.

Recently Whittaker Associates hired Performance Strategies Group, a performance consulting firm out of Holland , Michigan . Whittaker Associates has recently made a couple of new hires, including me. Going through the process of understanding how I intuitively operate was very enlightening; I learned the best ways I as an individual can best help the company. Dozens of different tests are designed to help people understand their morals, values, what they are all about, and how they operate, including the ever-popular Myers-Briggs Test. Performance Strategies Group had me take a test called the Kolbe A Index.

After the test was over they had one of their consultants come and personally explain to me the results. At first I was skeptical that someone who doesn’t know me could read some test results and understand who I was and what made me tick. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with the incredible accuracy and insight with which the consultant was able to describe me. Furthermore, what was really incredible is that he was able to explain to me not only how I operate, but how I can perform my particular job with more efficiency and effectiveness.

It’s pretty amazing how helpful this entire experience has been for me. I didn’t learn anything that I didn’t know before, but the process of hearing someone you don’t know talk about what you are truly like is very enlightening. Since taking this test and having my results interpreted, I’ve felt a lot better about coming into work and about how I contribute to the team. It’s not that I had a hard time coming into work prior to this, but rather I just have a better understanding of how I fit into the collective organization. Bottom line, I’m just more excited to work now. And if that doesn’t make me a more effective employee, I don’t know what will.

by Stephanie Poll

I am in the midst of finishing my senior year of college and one of the final classes my business major requires is a seminar class. One of our big topics of study and discussion has been the idea of corporate social responsibility. This isn’t a new idea; however, companies are coming under more pressure with the increased sensitivity to and awareness of environmental and ethical issues. According to Wikipedia.com, corporate social responsibility means that organizations have a duty to care for all of their stakeholders in all aspects of their business.

But what exactly does ‘caring’ mean in this sense? Some may feel that being socially responsible simply means giving back to the community in the form of charitable contributions. Others argue that this is not enough. Companies are under more pressure these days not only to be aware of what they are doing with their profits, but to be aware of how they are obtaining those profits. Are companies being environmentally friendly? Are they being accountable not only for their shareholders but all of their stakeholders (i.e. employees, suppliers, vendors, community) as well?

Because the topic has gained importance, it is not unusual to find some companies publishing corporate social responsibility reports along with their annual reports. Generally, a report states how the company’s corporate mission blends with its social mission, and how the company plans to become and/or stay socially responsible. You might even find a company stating what they didn’t do so well in the past year with regards to being socially responsible.

A widely quoted definition by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development states that ” Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large .”

To learn more, check out these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corporate_Social_Responsibility

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/

by Joel Burgess

Basketball took up a major part of a previous chapter of my life. I learned a lot from the game, especially about people, and my observations have served me well in the business world.

In particular I was intrigued by combinations of desire and skill in the players I met and how those combinations played out on the court. I like to categorize the players I met into four groups:

High Desire/High Skill : A great combination to have, but let’s face it-not many players get to be the best of the best.

Low Desire /High Skill : This is what I call the upside-down player. They underachieve no matter how great they are.

High Desire/Low Skill : I love these guys. These are the guys who are close to my heart because they truly understand the components of success and self improvement.

Low Desire/Low Skill : Many times these fellas have conditioned themselves to get kicked off the team in a hurry, usually in dramatic fashion.

After my collegiate career, I made an attempt to turn pro in an Australian League. I’ll spare the dirty details, but I never made it Down-Under.

I have no regrets about my motivation and the efforts I put forth throughout my 24-year career. Basketball had always been a love affair for me; however, my performance could never quite match my desire. I had what you might call a skills shortage-I was undersized, too slow, with an average vertical, marginal outside shooting, yada, yada.

So what’s the connection to business?

Whether you’re on a basketball court or in an office, performance matters! Make no bones about it, a positive attitude and motivation may get you a long way, but it alone rarely, if ever, will get you “where you want to be”–you also need a proportional level of skill to the task and the competition at hand.

In a world of driven individuals, what distinguishes you from the competition is performance (track record), skills (tangible assets), and continued potential (the ability to successfully master more skills).

So what’s my point?

If your organization is lucky enough to land the high-desire/high-skill individual, great–but be sure to look for the individual with an eagerness to learn, a willingness to play team ball, and the capacity to continually improve achievements.