Leading Edge Associates presents Edgeline

Tools and tips for managers
October 14, 2008 Volume 2 Issue 11

Leverage diversity to fuel business growth

By Jacqui Love Marshall

“Best-in-diversity” companies are advancing beyond diversity goals, affinity groups, and supplier diversity programs. They are embracing diversity as a business strategy and generating innovative customer strategies via their diversity. Those companies have become high-performing employers of choice, sought by the most talented workers. Read more

WHAT'S NEW: LEA WEBINAR

Customers In View: Leading for Results in the Marketplace
October 14, 2008
11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET

Tuition: $75

Knowing the audience and anticipating its needs is great - but that body of knowledge is not enough to guarantee success for tomorrow. Intimate interaction and dialogue with customers is seen by many business experts as the pathway to new opportunities. Indeed, best-practice companies have moved aggressively into online social media, meeting customers in a place where mass dialogue occurs. This webinar explores the new customer/business dynamic and offers tips for leading your staff in a way that focuses discussion and activities on serving the customer and the marketplace.
LEA Facilitator: Larry Olmstead

Dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace

By Dinah Eng

Managers are urged to take pro-active steps to address the potential for sexual harassment in the workplace – and the threats it poses for the organization, including legal exposure. Sexual harassment is defined as any behavior in the workplace of a sexual nature that is unwelcome, severe or pervasive. Read more

Ask The Expert

Q: How can employee surveys improve organizational effectiveness? What does a good survey look like?

Salvatore Falletta, Ed.D., President and CEO of Leadersphere, a human resources intelligence consulting firm that specializes in employee and organizational surveys and 360-degree feedback systems, among other things, shares his knowledge on this topic. Read more

We want to hear your questions on management, finance and workplace issues! Click here to contact us.

Top Picks: Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success

By Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Harvard Business School Press, 2007

Using original data she gathered as a research economist, Hewlett describes the professional life-cycle of women (and men), reporting on the world of work and women’s attitudes as they exist. She unflinchingly shows readers why 37 percent of “highly qualified” professional women take the off-ramp from today’s demanding professional career track. And she provides evidence on how costly it is for companies to lose experienced and highly trained professionals each year.

After narrating a stark reality, Hewlett then describes the professional world as work-life researchers think it should be: with programs geared toward keeping female talent in the professional pipeline. She expounds effective existing models: Citigroup’s Elder Care Management Services program, Cisco’s Leadership Fellowship Program, Ernst & Young’s Career Watch mentoring program, Lehman Brothers’ Encore program for helping “off-ramped” women get back into the workforce. Rich in detail and data, the author depicts a workforce problem as it really is and then provides working solutions.

- Analisa Nazareno

Helpful Links

Financial Crisis Survival Kit – bMighty.com, an online information technology and business resource for small and mid-size businesses, has compiled a list of stories they’ve written, which are geared toward staying competitive and surviving through the current economic crisis. The stories range from cash-flow tips to recession-proofing your Web site.
Avoiding Sexual Harassment Litigation –The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission offers this toolkit for business owners seeking specific, legal answers to their questions about sexual harassment in the workplace. Though many of us may feel we are knowledgeable on the topic, this primer gives employers the bottom-line answers they need to prevent sexual harassment litigation or to understand what actions can be considered a liability.
Center for Work-Life Policy – This month’s featured author, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, is the founding president and current chairman for this New York-based think tank, which works with employers to research and implement workplace policies that “increase productivity and enhance personal/family well-being.” The center offers research for employers on maintaining top performance from workers, who are juggling work and family obligations. Though much of the research comes at a price – $40 for a 64-page report on high-achieving women, for example – some research and the group's newsletters come at no-cost.

UPCOMING LEA EVENTS

Webinar

Customers in View: Leading for Results in the Marketplace
Oct. 14, 2008
11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET
$75

Seminars

Digital Leadership
Maynard Institute three-day program on innovation and leadership during transformational change. Lead instructor: Larry Olmstead.
Atlanta, Ga.
Oct. 29 - 31, 2008
Tuition: $1,500

Speaking Engagements

Stay tuned

Edgeline is published the second Tuesday of each month by Leading Edge Associates, a consulting firm engaged in management training, organizational change, succession planning, executive coaching, diversity and media. Analisa Nazareno, editor of Edgeline, can be reached at analisan@leadingedgeassociates.net.