Putting the puzzle together

We’ve just hired a new Client Service Consultant to fill a vacancy. One of the points that came out in past orientation feedback was that new employees needed more time to understand the context of their role.

With that in mind, I’ve structured an induction that incorporates all aspects of how we work. This gives the new employee a better explanation for where his work fits into the bigger picture.

For example, understanding-

• The role of Sales & Marketing and our competitive environment


• Applicable guidelines relating to the Home Office and Inland Revenue


• The corporate and executive structure of the entire organization
  

will give our new person a broader depth of understanding. It’s time consuming for me, but will be worth it later on, we trust.

Management hell

There is a great article in the London Times business section on Saturday, talking about the trials and tribulations of middle management. Read it here.

Many of the points are valid- some are too common.

My charity fund raising summary

Here is a brief summary of the RBMIND-London Triathlon Fund Raising Plan and the results.

The first step was to create a communications strategy. We outlined the goals and then the steps to reach them. These included a monetary target, but also, professional development and raising the exposure of RBMIND. Sorting the technical side- website, blog and draft emails- was done at this stage also.

We then focused on getting a large commercial sponsor to contribute early. This set the standard going forward and gave us credibility with smaller donors.

Lastly, we went out to community groups, friends and family, communicating the importance of RBMIND and how their contributions can make a difference. The blog was very useful tool for this segment- it created a personal connection with individuals.

The results: We raised over £2000. Intangibly, we raised the profile of RBMIND across the local community and about metal health issues to a wider audience.

I’m now writing personal thank you notes to the donors, including a small picture of my finish.

Customer journeys through our company

In this article, Eric Fraterman discusses Customer Journeys- the path and points of interaction of a customer through your company.

Although this is worth the read, it is very similar to customer life cycle and moments of truth analysis.

We've put something like this to use at our company. We've mapped out an action point timeline, and are trying to anticipate customer contact points. This helps to manage their expectations- and lead to interaction with them before an issue arises.

The end result is a better relationship with the customer.

A promotion

"It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Adam Park to the position of UK General Manager. Adam has been a great member of our team in the UK for many years now and has developed his skills, knowledge and experience of situations and transactions to the point where this offer was thoroughly deserved.

I know Adam will do a superb job of managing the office and overseeing the activities and our people on a day to day basis."

Here is my LinkedIn profile.

The success of fund raising

As I discussed here, I’ve been raising funds for a charity- RBMIND- by completing in the London Triathlon.

I’m happy to say, we’ve exceeded our target of £1500! Updates here.

Why is this relevant to Relationship Contexts? Because I think it shows the power of relationships in something like this. We managed to raise the bulk of the funds from my MBA classmates, friends and family, not corporate donors.

One area that I’d do differently next time is this: Focus more on the local community where the charity operates. We didn’t build on the relationships within community as well as we could have.