Take Advantage of our Newsletter

September 2003 Volume II
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In this issue:
1. Who We Are
2. NEW: Success Planning: A 'how-to' guide for strategic planning
3. Actually heard at the Office
4. REVISED: Project Management Course
5. Catch us in public

          WHO WE ARE:
Advantage Leadership, Inc. serves two communities:
o Organizational leaders who want to improve their results and
o   IT managers and quality professionals who want to improve software quality and IT results.
Visit our website, www.advantageleadership.com, to see our products and services.

    NEW: Success Planning: a 'how-to' guide for strategic planning    http://www.advantageleadership.com/book.html.
A step by step process to:
     o   Create a plan for success
     o   Review progress against plan
     o   Evaluate and sustain success
     o   Continuously improve results
After more than 20 years of practice, we think we've got it right! This step by step guide leads you through all aspects of Strategic Planning and provides the information you need to implement your new plan.  Success Planning is easily adaptable for small businesses, large companies, non-profits, government bodies or IT or other departments. It contains templates, work sheets, and detailed instructions for each activity in the process. Take Advantage! of this opportunity. Order today for $26.97 (almost 12% off the bookstore price.)
To order or see more details, click http://www.advantageleadership.com/book.html.

Actually heard at work: "What have you done for ME this week?"
That's how a store manager starts his weekly meeting with staff at a national retail chain! Can you believe it? Some managers are still clueless about the basics of human motivation and communication. The store's top salesperson recently beat his own record and had an incredibly great month. Did he receive ANY recognition? Not one word! When we asked, the manager told us, "Look, he got his commission. What else does he want? That's motivation enough."

Wrong! Beginning with the famous study at the Hawthorn Works over 70 years ago, research shows that everyone wants a sincere acknowledgement of a job well done. It doesn't cost anything, need approval or require fancy incentives. Tell the person SPECIFICALLY what was good about the performance and what expectations were met or exceeded. Tell it straight and simple from both the heart and head.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming asked, "Why are we here?...We are here to have joy in our work." What would your employees say? Do you provide them with a chance for joy in their work, fully using their talents? Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, (creator of the Cause and Effect diagram) said it even more bluntly, "The first concern of a company is the happiness of the people connected to it. If the people do not feel happy...that company does not deserve to exist."

So whether you are CEO of a global company or supervise one person, seek out good performance in each person and say "thanks." You'll benefit from more consistently good results and the person will benefit from both self-satisfaction and your acknowledgement. What have you done for THEM lately?

Have an outrageous story of people doing it right or wrong? Send it to us: rebecca@advantageleadership.com

REVISED: Project Management Course
Our popular Project Management courses, have been revised and include more material from PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge and other standards. We can also include use of MS Project.

Basic Project Management: new Project Managers or those with little formal training. Focus: basic tools and techniques of managing projects and people.

IT Project Management: new IT (or technical) Project Managers or those with little formal training. Focus: tools and techniques of managing IT projects and people, whether developing, maintaining or purchasing software.

For more info visit our website: www.advantageleadership.com or contact us to help you design the ideal Project Manager for your situation. rebecca@advantageleadership.com

CATCH us in public
Want to attend our public seminars? Call for the latest topics, dates and sign up info. 305-652-3466

Our Mission is Your Success! Have joy in YOUR work.

  Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, President
  Advantage Leadership, Inc.
  633 NE 167th Street, Suite 1015
  North Miami Beach, FL 33162
  Phone: 305-652-3466     Fax: 305-652-3866
  rebecca@advantageleadership.com
  www.advantageleadership.com

Success Planning: a 'how-to' guide for strategic planning

Order your copy today. Visit our website and save.

www.advantageleadership.com/book.html

What people are saying about Success Planning:

“When our old business paradigm failed as our industry was changing, Rebecca’s system of analysis and action, Success Planning, helped our management team turn things around. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in establishing a better business focus.” -- Timothy M. Winger, President,

Novelty Manufacturing

“Success Planning is a remarkably detailed and concise expression of what we needed to learn and implement in order to succeed at the next level of corporate growth.” -- Dennis E. Willman, Chairman,

York Container Company

"Dr. Staton-Reinstein's approach to strategic planning creates a forum for effective, profitable ideas from everyone and helps us make informed decisions, whether big or small. Her system, Success Planning, eliminates confusion about where we are going as a company and gives us a way to measure, so we know we're on track. Strategic planning provides us a mechanism to enhance entrepreneurship." --

Steve Hayworth, CEO, Gibraltar Bank.

Amazon Reader: 5 STARS This Really Works!, September 17, 2003

Finally, a simple, concise, effective set of tools to create strategic plans that really work. My past planning efforts created bloated tomes that were either too high level to execute, or too picky to provide guidance. The Success Planning approach makes more sense. It keeps you focused on the high-level goals while ensuring that you link tactics and activities to them, so you evaluate the results of the tactics, not just their completion. It takes the guesswork out of decision making. This book is filled with practical tips on how to create plans, establish priorities, and evaluate results, over the long haul. It really made a difference in my business.

You can also purchase Success Planning: a 'how-to' guide for strategic planning on www.amazon.com. Just be sure to type in the full name!