Mike Walker Creative

I recently finally sat down with a book I had been wanting to read for a long time called “It’s Your Ship” by former commander of the USS Benfold of the US Navy, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. The book chronicles the leadership techniques he used to connect with the crew of his ship, which at the time he took it over ranked lowest in the Navy, and turn it in to one of the highest rated ships.

As I was reading last night I was struck by the introduction:

“A recent gallup study found that when people leave their companies, 65% of them are actually leaving their managers.”

I also came across this…top 5 reasons a person leaves a company:
#1 - Not being treated with respect or dignity
#2 - Being prevented from making an impact on the company
#3 - Not being listened to
#4 - Not being rewarded with more responsibility
#5 - Monetary reasons

These are great reminders for those of us who are leading teams (especially young teams). While most leaders and managers may not have the ability to hand out large raises or stock options (especially in todays ecomony)items 1-4 can be addressed easily. Get creative about your work environnment. If you are a micromanager…take a step back and see what your team can bring to the table. They will tell you what is important to them, and where you can…give it to them. It’s a funny thing, the more control you give them the more they will likely see you as their leader.

President Elect Barack Obama is planning on introducing an economic stimulus plan this week. I, along with the rest of the country, am very anxious and excited to see what he brings to the table.

Keep in mind, this is the guy who raised an unprecedented amount of campaign capital. Not only did his campaign set records, it eclipsed anything people have imagined. Here’s the really crazy thing…he did it during the middle of an economic recession. They had the right tools with the right strategy.

In a time where churches are seeing on average of 15-25% reduction in giving it’s time to start looking at a new way of doing things.

Monday morning I met with Yuri Star of Church Media Group about a new product they have called Ministry Give. Ministry Give uses the same technology that the Obama campaign used to raise record amounts of capital…..AND…it’s not expensive at all. It allows your donors to give online, at a kiosk, or via their cel phone. It’s a very cutting edge solution for fund raising.

Check out Ministry Give and put together a strategy that will help your organization. If you have questions please feel free to drop me an email.

Even the NFL is feeling the effects of the recession. Crazy times!

I read this on Seth Godins blog. Great article!

I often visit with a client and they want to know what type of speaker they should buy, what console to use, what lights they should be purchasing, etc… The first things you need, no matter what type of organization you are, are passion and architecture. The tools always take care of themselves.

This looms huge during times of a slow economy. I can’t tell you how many people I have seen spend bad money after bad all because they are looking at tools first instead of passion and architecture.

Through out my career while working for other companies, ever time I would walk in for my first week on the job I would be issued my laptop (usually a Dell) which was loaded up with outlook, word, excel, etc… I am unaware of the costs these days, but I know at the time one company was spending on average of $200 per computer for licenses. I believe we had somewhere around 250 computers. You can see how that adds up.

In todays IT environment there are more options. While there are some things that are “must haves” there are also some ways to get creative. Each situation is a bit different so you will have to evaluate the needs of your organization. For example, instead of using Microsoft Outlook maybe look at using Gmail for everyone in your company. It works….and it’s free. Google also offers calendars that can be shared and are free. Do you currently have large server space dedicated to email and calendars? Since Google is web based there is no longer a need for email servers for your company. 

Can you re-think what your tech needs are on a daily basis? I know most companies are pretty anti MAC…sometimes with good reason, but sometimes not. I know IT guys who spend most of their day running around to fix PC problems. I know very few IT guys who have MACs deployed that spend much time having to fix them. If there are areas where MAC’s can be deployed take a look at it. You might find your IT folks have less to do which would allow you to move them or rethink that department.

There are a ton of options in this area. In todays economy it’s good to rethink some things. It could end up saving you a lot of money and time.

Most people think of creativity mainly in the artistic realm, but creativity can lend a hand in so many areas. Especially during times of economic recession creative and innovative solutions can really lend a hand at not only surviving, but also thriving.

I have been reading up on different companies and their solutions through out the economic tough times and I thought I would start sharing some of them on here.

Tip 1:

RETHINK THE WORK WEEK

I read an article recently about a college in Florida that decided to move its summer classes to Monday-Thursday last summer and shut the majority of the campus down on Friday except for basic operations. In the course of 2 1/2 months they saved over $268,000 in energy costs alone. 

They have implemented it this summer as well and are looking to make it a regular process during the main school year. In addition to the savings in energy they have also noticed higher retention rates among their staff and sick leave has reduced by 50%.

Creativity doesn’t have to limit itself to art.

Look around your organization and see what and how you can do things differently and not only are you more likely to survive this economic crunch but you have a better shot at thriving!