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An interesting take on productivity and a way to get thinking on how to achieve goals by tactics on staying focused

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How to Get Your Brain to Focus | Chris Bailey | TEDxManchester

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A image depicting the PDCA wheel and its use in management

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An in depth article that contains insight on types of leadership

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nTask - All-in-One Project Management Software - nTask

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Project management software for SMB that enables your teams to collaborate, plan, analyze and deliver projects with success. Get started for free – plans start at $3 per month.

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Intrinsic V.S Extrinsic motivation displayed evaluates the reasoning between the two and how this can apply into the work place

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An article posted in LinkedIn that evaluates the different methods of communication in business

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Effective communication is one of the most important factors in creating an efficient work environment. Being able to communicate effectively across an organization, from the highest levels to the lowest levels, creates an environment that promotes productivity and efficiency. Employees are better able to understand each other, which provides an increase to office morale and unity. There are many ways that the communication within an organization can have an affect on the work being done, and by creating a better understanding of communication organizations can use that affect to their advantage. Below are the key points of understanding communication and it's affects on the workplace.

1. Workplace Communication Statistics

2. Types of Communication

3. Flow of Communication

4. Improving Communication
1. Workplace Communication Statistics
Effective communication is one of the most important factors in an organization being successful. Communication extends beyond just employees, as effective communication with customers leads to increased customer satisfaction. Beyond customer satisfaction, organizations that utilize effective communication practices are over 50% more likely to have below-average employee turnover rates. Being able to communicate effectively will have a positive influence on an organization; however, ineffective communication can have much more impactful side effects.

HR Magazine surveyed 4,000 professionals about communications in the workplace. When looking at the results they found that 46% of the participants regularly receive directions that are vague or confusing, 36% of participants said that this happens up to 3 times a day. It was estimated that, on average, 40 minutes of productivity are wasted per day due to unclear directions. Basex Inc. found that 28% of the average employee's day is spent dealing with interruptions, which winds up costing U.S. businesses upwards of $900 billion on an annual basis. In another study, conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association, out of 1,000 professionals, 28% indicated that poor communication was the cause of projects not being completed in their original time frame. An inter-company study reported that differences in communication between managers and employees were directly responsible for an 18% variance in absentee rates of employees.

After seeing some of the impact that communication has on an organization, learning to understand, and effectively utilize, communication in the workplace will help to avoid those issues.
2. Types of Communication
Among coworkers, face-to-face communication is generally the most effective type of communication, as it allows for the clear exchange of messages and ideas. However, the problem is that face-to-face communication is not always possible, so other methods must be used. It is common to also communicate with written notes, phone calls, emails, and text messages, but more and more organizations are starting to utilize social media and blogs to communicate with employees and customers. By effectively utilizing multiple means of communication it allows for organizations to operate more efficiently and effectively.

One thing that many people do not realize is that effective nonverbal communication is just as important as effective verbal communication. Body language is one of the best indicators of nonverbal communication, and can show the real thoughts and attitudes of coworkers, despite what they might be saying. Nonverbal communication can affect the morale amongst coworkers, for instance: someone might be giving a presentation over a project and they look around and notice that everyone is slumped in their chair and not making eye contact, which might make them feel that their work is inadequate. However, you can take the reverse, and during the presentation everyone is paying attention and maintaining eye contact, which would make the employee feel accomplished.

Outside of the office it is also important to communicate with customers and receive their feedback. Many organizations will utilize social media, comment cards, and satisfaction surveys for customer feedback. By receiving customer feedback, it is easier to understand and meet their wants and needs.
3. Flow of Communication
There are 5 main types of communication flow within an organization: downward, upward, lateral, diagonal, and external.

Downward communication is communication that flows down from the higher levels of an organization to the lower levels, or down the chain of command. This type of communication transmits work-related information to lower level employees, which helps them to meet the expectations that have been set by their superiors. Managers use this communication to:

· Give feedback on an employee's performance

· Relay instructions

· Provide understanding for an employee's job, and the role it plays in the organization

· Communicating the mission and vision of the organization.

· Etc.

This flow of communication is carried out through things such as - organizational publications, circulars, letters to employees, and group meetings. In order to be effective it is essential to:

· Have a clear objective

· Ensure the message is unambiguous, specific, and accurate

· Make sure that the technique being used is the one that is best fit to relay the message.

When practiced effectively employees can maintain a clear direction for what they are doing, and have a complete understanding of the role that they play, which will increase productivity and limit frustrations.

Upward communication flows from the lower levels of an organization to the higher levels, which helps to relay the effectiveness of downward communication and allows employees to convey their opinions and ideas. Upward communications give employees a voice within the organization, to share their grievances, opinions, and ideas for the organization. This allows for managers to work out any issues and keep the workplace a pleasant place to be. This communication is facilitated through the Grievance Redressal System, Complaint/Suggestion Box, face-to-face conversations, etc. When effectively utilized this creates more loyal and committed employees because they feel like they can take some ownership and have a voice within the organization.

Lateral communication takes place at the same level of hierarchy within an organization, and is used to:

· Save time

· Facilitate co-ordination of tasks

· Facilitate co-operation among employees

· Solve problems within the organization

· Share information

· Resolve conflicts

When lateral communication is being used effectively it creates camaraderie, and builds rapport with coworkers. Many times this flow of communication brings coworkers closer because it provides them with emotional and social assistance in the office.

Diagonal communication is when a manager works with employees from another department or work group. This is utilized in instances like when a manager is creating a training module and works with employees from various departments to ensure that the training is accurate, or when a project spans across multiple departments. Effective diagonal communication leads to uniformity across an organization, and helps prevent any misunderstanding that may occur through the communication chain.

External communication is between a manager and an external group such as - vendors, suppliers, banks, etc. This communication helps to ensure that the organization has all that it needs to be able to function properly.
4. Improving Communication
For an organization to be successful, it is paramount that it's members, both high level and low level, develop their communication skills. When an organization doesn't have effective communications practices it can cause problems on many levels. Vague communication leads to a misunderstanding of expectations, while excessive communication can cause confusion and loss of concentration.

One of the first and most important steps in improving communication happens before you even need to convey a message, and that is listening. Communication is more than just relaying messages and ideas; it is also being able to listen to others so that you may understand them better. By listening first, you will gain a better understanding of your target audience, and thus, be able to identify the most effective way to communicate. Listening also allows for you to find answers to things you may be unsure about, and allows you to ask questions before it is too late.

It is important that the message, whether being sent electronically or in person, is both accurate and coherent. Leaving out details can, and most likely will, have an impact on the quality of the work that is being done. It can leave employees unable to complete their work, and lead them to be frustrated. By making sure the message is fit to reach your target audience it makes it easier to understand and will increase both productivity and efficiency.

Communication is essential to any organization that wants to succeed; the proof is in the pudding. The more effectively an organization communicates the more efficient and productive they are, and the happier their employees tend to be. When looking for ways to improve your business practices, insuring streamlined communication should be at the top of the list. Effective communication practices tend to foster organizations that are better equipped for success by being more efficient, having satisfied employees and, just as importantly, satisfied customers.

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How Communication Affects the Flow of Work in an Organization

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Effective communication is one of the most important factors in creating an efficient work environment. Being able to communicate effectively across an organization, from the highest levels to the lowest levels, creates an environment that promotes productivity and efficiency.

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An insightful video on the ways of communication as an individual which can be applied to this section of the course in ways to communicate and how to take on a management role

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An article explaining the customer-based structure based on product journey

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Since the customer is what drives the value in the organization, we must also organize accordingly. Narrow minded, sub-optimized-silos-days are finally over - future proof organizations with teams that have customer focus and can use their brain power to deliver value - here we come! Poster downloads (PDF): English version of the poster > Brazilian Portuguese version of the poster > French version of the poster > Spanish version of the poster >
To organize around the customer journey has proven to be extremely effective in order to deliver as much value as possible, as fast as possible - and to make the customer as well as the employees feel awesome! In most organization the organization structure itself is what´s causing the most pain - maybe no wonder when you reflect on that the silos based hierarchical organization is over 100 years old! You can download the Agile Leadership poster for more on that topic.

We are starting to see great results from organizations that have embraced this that makes for a strong business case for any organization. We love to be able to finally be able to share this concept with you. Enjoy!

The Over all Structure of the Customer Journey Product Organization

We have captured the over all visualization of how the organization can work hoping to give you a goal picture and a common understanding.
Here you can Download the poster in high resolution (PDF) >
At Dandy People we support teams and organizations to become Agile to be able to focus on the business strategies and to mobilize the brain power in the teams to deliver value continuously. We call these value driven Agile teams for " Lean Teams" since they own the process end 2 end to deliver value, and that they also own the part of the service or product end 2 end. These teams work hypothesis based and have clear missions for 6-12 months with clear KPIs that gives them mandate to decide what to do when and enables them to have a ongoing learning process - all which is needed in a fast paced world if you desire to be the leading product or service within your niche. Crucial for these teams are of course the T-shape of the team members. The T-shape is something that enables the team to work as a team and it creates a really strong teams without dependencies to people within the team - and it also prevents the team to not do mini-waterfall in the team (just doing their part and handing over to the next). You can read more about T-shape here and how to grow it as a leader.

In this post you can download the poster for free and learn more about:

Lean Teams Connected to the Customer Journey with Missions

User research, Planning and Delivery across the Organization - connects as never before

Slicing for Value with User Story Mapping to create Alignment

The different type of teams

Cross-functional competences is needed in the Lean Team

Modern Agile and Continuous improvement of the System

Choosing what type of Organization you want to have Together

Avanza Leads the way with Lean Teams and Customer Journey Organization

Presentation on the Customer Journey Product Organization

Lean Teams Connected to the Customer Journey with Missions

The Lean Teams (as in Lean UX and Lean Startup) are connected to the most important business strategies via the customer journey - or they take ownership of specific products. These teams will need support from other teams, such as a platform team and support teams who's mission is to support the needs from the Lean Teams and when needed enable self service so the Lean Teams can work as independently as possible delivering fast with high quality. This makes the organization and the teams fast at delivering whats needed, when it´s needed without having to have someone to tell them what to do when. "Lean" in Lean Team also refers to Lean UX and Lean Startup, the team works with both discovery AND delivery end to end to always learn what solutions are needed, with a long term mission, they can stop delivering on one idea when they see a change on connecting KPI´s and move on to the next thing that now is the most important opportunity. This approach creates truly high performing team with all skills needed, that can work really well together in all different parts of the process as well as great product ownership (as in the process).
Many organizations will have to start to transform from a silos based organization to cross functional Lean Teams - and that journey must start both top down and bottom up. If the leadership (management) don't enable this and start changing the system surrounding the teams, the people in the teams will not be able to do the changes needed.

User research, Planning and Delivery across the Organization - connects as never before

The Customer Journey Product Organization with Lean Teams is a way to scale an organization to support customer focus, agile mindset and principles - increasing speed AND value to the max. This type of organization done well, is always on it´s toes to understand and learn about the users needs, experimenting and learning about new behaviors, as well as taking car of existing customers. The Customer Journey organization format is by default well connected with user research methods such as Service Design, Customer Journey Mapping and Design Thinking enabling the teams to align as well keeping the teams autonomous. To plan the work needed to solve customer pain points found in the user research (in the customer journey) the organization can easily use User Story Mapping to plan all the work needed across the organization in a visual and adaptive way to enable agile sliced deliveries based on customer scenarios. This is the wet dream for any control freak - so yes, you too should get super exited. No more worries about if the organization is working on the right things. This way of working will save the organization so much work not having to do any project management, not doing any reports on progress (because that is visual to everyone in the organization on storysonboard.com) or doing any estimates with story points (if the teams don´t want too). Visualization like this gives focus and enables collaboration to solve tricky customer problems in complex technical and restricted domains. If you once have worked like this, I can promise you never wan´t to go back to any other way of working. Here you can download the Agile User Experience poster for free for more on this topic.

Slicing for Value with User Story Mapping to create Alignment

The User Scenario is the core in the Customer Journey - we tell the story of the user. The Scenarios are the base for the planning. All scenarios belong to a role or a persona. This helps to understand the context, as well as to slice for value. The same scenarios are also used as a base for testing.

The Backbone of the User Story Map goes across the timeline. Its the high level process, usually it stays the same year after year, the only thing that changes is the solution in how we serve our customers.

User Story Mapping is a method created by Jeff Patton. It can be digitzed in storiesonboard.com and imported slice by slice to Trello or Jira if needed still keeping the big picture intact.

When working like this it´s easy for the team to get an overview of what they are delivering on as a team, but also across teams. Make sure to involve the teams in creating the user story map too so that you can use their brain power in actually solving the user problems and finding the best solutions doing so, then everyone knows why they are doing what and for who, and they can all help out to make smart tactical and operational decisions.

The different type of teams

Customer Journey Teams - Delivers on Strategies connected to the customer journey, such as Increasing New Customers, LTV or Increased Usage.

Product Teams - Delivers on Strategies connected to specific products & maintain the platform for long term high quality & speed.

Platform Teams - Platform Teams delivers functionality in the platform to support needs from the Customer Journey - & Product Teams.

Support Teams - Support Teams acts to deliver self service for all other teams. Could also coach, train, mentor and support in alignment and strategic input.

Cross-functional competences is needed in the Lean Team

The competences needed in a Lean Team is based on what Mission the team has. It will differ from team to team, and from organization to organization. Compared with a traditional silos organization, this organization is a matrix organization. It might not even be needed to do a "re-organization" to shift to this organization. Of course you have to change who you sit and work with, but you might could keep the same manager. Managers who take care of the people are preferably put within a "skill".

Since the team in "on a Mission" they need to be really great at team work. Therefore roles and titles are usually removed from the team. What´s is important is to solve the mission together, not who is doing what. This creates the environment for really high performance teams. The roles in a Lean Team (just as in a normal Scrum Team) is the Product Owner, The Scrum Master (yes, you probably still will work in Scrum) and then, all the rest is simply - the team. The Scrum Master Role might though be a rotating "hat", meaning the team might have several team members that can act as Scrum Master and rotate as they like. Perhaps these teams also might come up with new "hats" or in the future. Since Lean UX and Design Thinking together with facilitation skills will be highly important for these teams, that might also be a "hat" in the team to be able to coach and facilitate these activities in the team.

The Managers job is first of all to take care of the needs of the people and supporting the skill to learn from each other between the teams, gain new knowledge and to remove obstacles for the teams to enable mastery and high performance. The manager in a skill does not need to be expert herself within that area of expertise but rather have a growth mindset, helping people to grow and support them when they need support outside the team. The manager does not have anything to do with WHY, WHAT or HOW the teams do their product development work. Having managers horizontally across teams makes it easier for team members to join new teams, otherwise the employees need to change manager to move between teams, and that usually makes the organization less flexible over time. Also it makes the transformation from a traditional organization more smooth.

The Manager too belong to a team, the Leadership Team, having stand-ups and working to always improve the system in the organization. In the long run though, the role of the Leadership Team can perhaps grow in to a Agile coaching unit that coaches in between teams and supports in removing impediments outside the team. But then there need to be support teams to supporting the full needs of the teams, or the teams take on those tasks as well. You should always view it as an emerging process, start where you are at and work together to create a safe environment, mobilize the brain power in the organization and improve as you go along.

Support Teams

If the teams are in need of more support within a specific skill a support team should be created. Such a support teams Mission is to enable self service to the teams, to support in competence development across all teams and to improve what´s going on "in-between-teams". An example on such a team could be Design Ops.

Example of a mission for a Design Ops Team
"We make it easy for all Teams to see the "big picture" for the customer, to quickly create usable design on all platforms and to support an aligned user experience across teams".

Create and update design framework to align the user experience and make it easier for the teams

Visualize data and insights from all teams

Coach and train all teams and leaders in design activities and skill set if needed

Input and support for Strategic Company Bets or to teams when needed

Modern Agile and Continuous improvement of the System

The values of Modern Agile works really well with this type of customer focused organization and with the way of working in the Lean Teams. Lean teams will not work without the 4 values in place.

Modern Agile together with the Lean Team concept also gives a freshness to the view on Agile that can be needed in many organizations today who might have been struggling with making the Scrum Teams on IT work smoothly with the customer.

At Dandy People we created a visualization around Modern Agile to make it easier for Leaders to see how they can apply this in their daily work to enable the values of Modern Agile. We call it the Modern Agile Flower. It aims to show the big picture from a leadership perspective.

What the organization need to focus on to enable Modern Agile is:
- Leadership
- Way of Working
- Organization
- Competence Development
- Improvement of Everything

Choosing what type of Organization you want to have Together

About a year and half ago we had a couple of workshops together with Avanza where we supported them in creating an understanding about the different type of organizations you can have, how they work and how the different ways to organize would affect their own deliveries. We had about 35-40 people signing up and joining in doing experienced based learnings and theory to enable them to make the decision together. They visualized their customer journey and all their products together as a basis for shared knowledge. One of the things we also did was to facilitate a session where they came up with 7 guiding principles on how they wanted their perfect organization to work. The day after we used these guiding principles to evaluate how well their current organization would perform in delivering 3 different type of common deliveries. The different type of organizations evaluated was value stream based, customer journey based and component team based organization - as well as their current silos based. All work was done in small cross functional groups: We could see that all groups thought that their current organization performed really bad on all principles as well on all deliveries, and that customer journey based organization with Lean Teams would be the best 🙂 Here you can rad about the specific workshop where they compared the different organizations >

Avanza Leads the way with Lean Teams and Customer Journey Organization

Now we have also seen the results at one of our lovely and brave clients, Avanza (FinTech product company), who has managed to do this. They have reached their vision with the change, that the team feels like they are a startup! Avanza recently shared their story on how they managed to do the transformation at a meet-up in their office here in Stockholm. They have also shared the video from the presentation which you can watch here too (thank you every one at Avanza, we love you!). They have gone from having a normal organization with Marketing, IT, Product, Operations in separate silos giving them too long lead times and inability to deliver value as they wanted, having and average of 5.8 teams involved in a normal release - to now after the transformation only 1.2 teams! This is truly amazing since it means these teams can truly deliver customer value end to end without dependencies. The organization now has Lean Teams that are truly cross-functional, that work with Lean UX having as short feedback loops as possible and the mandate to deliver what they find valuable to the customer based on the teams mission. Employee happiness index too has gone up and people feel much more engaged.

Presentation on the Customer Journey Product Organization

The presentation that I have had around this topic "Customer focus with an Agile mindset" is describing why old organizations with silos cant deliver value any more, why that is, and what you can do about it. I talk about how to go from being a snail to becoming a shark. The seminar has been very popular with fully booked monthly breakfast seminars at our HQ in Stockholm for over a year as well as talks at conferences such as Agile Days Istanbul, Agila Örebro, Sundsvall 42 and Agile Islands. I´ve also been invited to speak internally at organizations across Sweden to inspire and give new perspectives of what Agility means for the entire organization, on a organizational as well as strategic level, and what leadership is needed to support this. This is clear signals on how important this is for many organizations right now. Here you can watch the presentation live from Agila Örebro (Swedish) >

This post is capturing ideas and experiences that I have had from Agile Coaching, Product Development, User Experience and Organizational design work that I have done during the past 7-8 years in combination with "proof" from an actual case. I hope it brings value to you and your teams. As always ideas evolves, so don't hesitate to give me a shout if you have tricky questions, ideas that build on this or if you are curious how you too can get started. Lets build the future of organizations together!

Here you find all the other posters in the series that are now translated to 14 languages and downloaded over 70.000 times world wide.

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The Customer Journey Product Organization - with Lean Teams on a Mission - In a Nutshell Poster | Dandy People

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Since the customer is what drives the value in the organization, we must also organize accordingly. Narrow minded, sub-optimized-silos-days are finally over - future proof organizations with teams that have customer focus and can use their brain power to deliver value - here we come!

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Comical video explaining the importance of organizational culture

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An eye-opening article into the reality of decision making among mangers

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Decision making. It's the bread and butter of managers and executives, who make about three billion decisions each year. Indeed, Bain researches found that decision effectiveness is 95% correlated with financial performance .

Despite this, very few of us keep track of the decisions we make and how they turn out. Think of it: you track sales, you track web clicks, you track your Starbucks receipts. But you don't track the most important thing you do at work - the decisions you make.

As a result, most organizations are not very good at decision making. It's no surprise that our study of 500 managers and executives found 98% fail to apply best practices when making decisions.

If decision making is so important, why are we so in the dark?
The Lie At The Heart Of Business
It's because we're lying to ourselves. As renowned futurist Stowe Boyd writes in his free white paper, "How to Untell the Lie at the Heart of Business ":

There is an enormous lie underlying business, the lie that decisions are made rationally, applying logic and expertise, sifting evidence, and carefully weighing alternatives. However, the science is clear: in general, we don't really make decisions that way - we fake it, instead.

The combination of cognitive biases, limited attention spans, and our tendency to overestimate our abilities in areas we know little about add up to a insidious tendency towards bad judgment. We think we are great decision makers. And since we rarely write our decisions down and check them later, it's easy to keep convincing ourselves that we're right.

We're wrong. But we can change.
Using Best Practices To Defeat Bad Judgements
We can get to better, faster decision making by using best practices and technologies based on behavioral economics.

Consider this: In a three-month study of 100 managers, managers who made decisions using best practices achieved expectations 90% of the time, and 40% of them exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, managers following best practices for setting goals achieved expected results only 30% of the time. Other research showed that decision-making best practices increase the number of good business decisions sixfold and cut failure rates in half.

In the course of this research, w e discovered that the most successful decision-making approach can be summed up in a simple checklist. The result? Research shows that businesses using this checklist make 75% better decisions twice as fast with half as many meetings and 20% better performance.
Seven Steps To Faster, Better Business Decision Making
The methodology is described in detail in our Harvard Business Review checklist for decision making. Spending a few minutes to follow these steps each time you face a business decision will save 10 hours of discussion and drive better decisions 10 days faster. Here's what to do:

1. Write down five business goals that will be impacted by the decision. Avoid the trap of rationalizing your decision after the fact.

2. Write down at least four realistic alternatives. No other practice improves decisions more than expanding your choices.

3. Write down the most important information you are missing. Don't let what you know distract you from what you don't know.

4. Write down what's likely to happen in the future, good and bad. Telling the story of what you expect will help identify similar scenarios.

5. Involve a team of at least two but no more than six stakeholders. More perspectives reduce bias and increase buy-in...up to a point.

6. Write down what was decided, why, and how much the team supports the decision to increase buy-in and set a basis to measure results.

7. Schedule a follow-up in a couple months. We tend to forget decisions after we make them, missing the opportunity make corrections and learn from what happens.
Change The Game By Keeping Score
If you follow this approach, not only will your decision effectiveness improve, but as an added bonus, you will have a clear record to track your results.

When it comes to improving decision execution across your organization, that really changes the game. Once decisions are tracked, they become data to be measured. What gets measured gets managed, because when leaders are measured, their competitive instincts motivate them to improve and win.

Check off these steps, start measuring decision making, and you'll start making it better!

... Read More

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Don't Fail At Decision Making Like 98% Of Managers Do

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Decision making. It's the bread and butter of managers and executives, who make about three billion decisions each year. Indeed, Bain researches found that decision effectiveness is 95% correlated with financial performance . Despite this, very few of us keep track of the decisions we make and how they turn out.

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A comic explaining the gap of consumers in growing e -commerce businesses.

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A look into the past of the beginings of trade, this video is a good foundation for knowledge when learning about global organizations and trade policies.

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The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo

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A quote from Bill Gates that puts corporate culture into light and its impact it could have on business.

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An article found on the Forbes website on benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility.

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Recently, I connected with dozens of corporate executives of large and small companies in an effort to understand the benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the corporation.

The question, I learned, is harder to answer than you might expect, principally because most corporate do-gooders approach their social good efforts with more of an eye toward impact on the community than on the firm.

With some effort, however, I've pulled some meaningful responses from corporate leaders I've reached and learned a great deal in the process.

Garratt Hasenstab, Director of Sustainability at the Verdigris Group, a real estate development and consulting firm, says, "Verdigris Group is focused on being a leader in the area of corporate social responsibility. We have developed and established a comprehensive set of sustainable business initiatives that facilitate our triple bottom-line approach to operating our business." He notes that the firm has operated "as a certified carbon-neutral business since 2007." The firm engages its employees actively in all of its sustainability initiatives.

Hasenstab adds, "Verdigris Group is fortunate to work with some of the most socially and environmentally conscious clients and partners in our industry. Those that we work with, both partner companies and clients alike are actively engaged in our sustainability efforts and take pride in being involved with a company that is focused on the triple bottom-line of people, planet, profit."

He concludes by saying, "Our CSR policy is at the core of our daily operations and guides our future progress. We benefit from these efforts in a number of ways. Our clients want to work with us because we are focused on a healthier and more productive world. Our development clients can rely on us to develop their projects to the highest standards of energy efficiency and occupant health, while creating an architecturally resonant project that reflects our mission and vision. Of course we save money by operating more efficiently which is a direct benefit of our CSR efforts, however the true value we receive from our ongoing initiatives is that of social good will - we believe that setting a good example is the greatest benefit in that we inspire other organizations, companies and individuals to 'up their game' when it comes to social and environmental responsibility, which in turn encourages further inspiration in the community leading to a more enlightened perspective on how to run ones business or lead one's life."

While each company I interviewed had varying responses for the benefits of CSR and cause marketing for the company, 51 of 59 believe that they have happier employees and 45 of the 59 believe they end up with better employees, either as a result of being able to attract better talent or that the CSR programs help to develop better employees.

John G. Taft, great-grandson of President Taft and CEO of RBC Wealth Management-USA, which reports $227 billion of assets under management, describes one of their CSR initiatives, "The RBC Blue Water Project is a 10-year global commitment to help protect the world's most precious natural resource: fresh water. It includes a $50 million philanthropic commitment to organizations that protect watersheds and ensure access to clean drinking water." He notes that "Clients are often invited to participate in RBC sponsored local events with nonprofits."

Taft further explains, "For the sixth year, RBC employees around the globe will participate in Blue Water Day on June 14. On this day, employees will volunteer their time to participate in a Community Makeover with a local nonprofit to help preserve fresh water in urban areas." He adds, "I have personally attended Blue Water Day activities and have seen firsthand the commitment of our employees to the environment. Last year, in Minneapolis, we cleared invasive species from a local riverbank so the natural vegetation can thrive and be a natural filter for runoff that flows into the river. The demonstrated commitment by the company and employees makes me proud to work for RBC." He sums up the benefits to the company this way, "Employees and customers want to work with a company that they respect."

Similarly, Lisa Dewey, Pro Bono Partner at DLA Piper, one of the world's largest law firms, says the firm "is deeply committed to Corporate Responsibility initiatives through pro bono service, community engagement, diversity and environmental sustainability." She further explains, "In the United States, DLA Piper structures its pro bono program around "Signature Projects," which are designed to commit significant resources to tackling major social issues, including education, hunger relief, juvenile justice, access to justice, domestic violence and serving veterans. DLA Piper's signature projects are often developed in partnership with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, foundations and the firm's corporate clients." She adds, "Globally, New Perimeter, a nonprofit organization established by DLA Piper in 2005, provides pro bono legal assistance primarily in developing and post-conflict regions."

When asked about the involvement of employees, she responded, "All DLA Piper attorneys and staff are encouraged to participate in the firm's pro bono and volunteer projects. The wide scope of our pro bono programs allow employees to choose causes that are important to them and provides several options for giving back to their communities and helping those less fortunate. I continue to be astounded by the tireless dedication of our attorneys to pro bono service and to projects that often span multiple years and require substantial time commitment and cross-border travel."

As to the benefit to the firm, she comments, "The success of our pro bono programs and the unwavering commitment of our lawyers has truly made a difference in the lives of others both in the U.S. and globally, and has made us all better lawyers and DLA Piper a better firm." She also noted, "DLA Piper's deep commitment to pro bono and CSR initiatives has had a positive impact on the firm, its attorneys and staff, and clients across numerous areas. We've seen a noticeable impact in terms of strengthening relationships with clients, providing young attorneys practical and hands-on experience, improving employee morale, and deepening the firm's ties to the many communities in which it operates."

Shaun Walker, the Creative Director and Co-Founder of HEROfarm, a marketing agency in New Orleans, explained their approach to CSR, saying, "A cornerstone of HEROfarm is to do at least one pro bono campaign per year (often doing much more) for a non-profit, as well as work with clients who have admirable missions of their own." Walker reports that the firm has supported organizations as varied as the American Cancer Society, Boy Scouts of America and Tulane University's media arts program. He notes, "True success comes when everyone focuses on the bigger picture and here, the bigger picture isn't just about doing your job-it's about trying to change the world for the better." This spirit carries over to client relationships, he adds, "An old saying goes, 'In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself.' We truly believe that. People remember the kindness and smiles you share with them and how you made them feel, not what kind of car you drove or what designer clothing you wore."

HEROfarm, says Walker, has received numerous awards and other accolades which he attributes to the pro bono work the firm does, "We also measure these results by our rising name recognition, as seen by our increasing accolades as we've matured, and by the fact our revenue has risen every year since our founding four years ago."

In another example, Gary Beu, Managing Director of People and Leadership Development at the consulting firm West Monroe Partners, says, "At the end of 2011, West Monroe Partners launched its "1+1+1 Program," a corporate social responsibility initiative through which we would donate 1-percent of our time, 1-percent of our treasure and 1-percent of our talent, each year, back to organizations in our communities." He adds, "Since kicking off our 1+1+1 Program, West Monroe Partners has collectively matched 1,500 employee volunteer hours, completed nearly 4,000 hours for pro bono projects across the United States, and donated over $250,000 to non-profit organizations."

Beu goes on to say, "Our 1+1+1 Program empowers our employees to give back to our communities in a way that complements their personal and professional lives." When pressed for the benefits to the company, Beu responds, "The goals that we set through our volunteer initiatives have given us an even deeper sense of purpose and motivation to do the best work possible in and outside of the office. West Monroe Partners has always been a community of driven, creative and curious people, but our social good efforts especially have brought out the compassion and loyalty in all of us."

Joe Mechlinski, CEO of the Baltimore-based consulting firm entreQuest and author of Grow Regardless with whom I did a live interview recently, sees "giving back to the community" as "an essential key to a successful business because it not only lifts moral and builds capability among the team, but it also clears people's minds allowing them to make better decisions." The eQ team conducts "Give Back Days" where the employees serve meals at Our Daily Bread, a local soup kitchen, work with Habitat for Humanity on local housing, mentor children through b4Students and Big Brothers Big Sisters and more.

For Mechlinski, social good goes beyond his own company. He says, "We encourage all of our clients to find a cause (or causes) meaningful to them and help them coordinate Give Back Days for their entire team. In fact, we believe in the power of these Give Back Days so much so that we typically recommend a Give Back Day as part of a two-day strategy retreat-on the first day the company has a Give Back Day where they focus on serving others and feeding their souls, then on the second day they are more ready to work through tough strategy decisions in order to cultivate an environment of growth, align their team, and positively impact both the employee and client experience."

Mechlinski says the evidence that their community focus pays off is in their recognition two years in a row as one of Baltimore's Best Places to Work. He also noted, "I was honored to be named one of Maryland's Most Admired CEO's by The Daily Record last year. Again, much of what determined this award was the fact that as a leader, I've made it a priority to give back to my community and encourage my team to do the same."

Some businesses are built from the ground up to do social good; these social enterprises are wired differently, says Soapbox CEO and Co-founder, David Simnick, "Soapbox Soaps started with the idea that a simple bar of soap could legitimately save kids' lives. We've now grown into offering a line of health and beauty products that have a mission attached to each one. The grand idea is to empower customers with the ability to change the world through simple, every day purchases. For example, every bottle of our liquid hand soap buys one month of clean water to a child in need through RainCatcher."

Simnick points out that for Soapbox, the mission came first, "We started the company first because we wanted to stop child mortality due to lack of access to hygiene. We only figured out how to sell soap afterwards." He adds, "Without the social mission, our company would not exist."

Shel Horowitz, a CSR consultant who says he practices what he preaches, says, "For the past ten years or so, I've been very publicly touting the benefits of eco/social responsibility-in my books, articles, blog, and speeches. I don't think it's a coincidence that during this period, my business underwent significant growth in average per-client revenue and total revenue."

While some can quickly identify the benefits of their CSR initiatives, others can't see past the benefit to others to measure the benefits for their own firms.

John Paul Engel, President of Knowledge Capital Consulting, which launched Project Be The Change (PBTC) to provide help in a variety of forms. In a remarkable observation, Engel notes that most of their employees started as volunteers in their PBTC. When asked about the benefits to the company, he responded, "Everyone gets excited when we have a successful project. I think it makes everyone feel good that our work is paid forward and that we are positively impacting so many people beyond our clients."

Tara Wilson, the principal attorney at Wilson, LF, a "boutique" law firm with offices in Andover Massachusetts and Washington, DC, has made community service and pro bono work a central part of the firm's strategy. She believes this has led to having "a higher profile in the communities we serve because they recognize our firm from our charitable endeavors."

Examples of CSR program are as varied as the companies that sponsor them.

Karen Ross, CEO of Sharp Decisions, an IT consultancy that supports government clients, describes their V.E.T.S. Program (Vocations, Education and Training for Service members), which helps veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to find jobs. Retention is improved, she says, by sending the candidates out in "squads." Ross sees the benefits of the new program already, reporting, "We have had an outpouring of response and support from our current clients, some who have their own veteran outreach initiatives. Many of the companies we work with have been very receptive to our ideas about training and rightshoring jobs for these heroes. The V.E.T.S. Program adds a different dimension to the Sharp Decisions story, and that resonates with many of our prospective clients as well."

Some companies observe that their employees develop new skills and abilities through their nonprofit service.

Ryan McEvoy, a Principal at California-based Gaia Development, which does sustainable development, helped found Collective Solutions, a nonprofit organization that is confronting poverty and climate change. A percentage of Gaia's revenue is donated to Collective Solutions each year, he says, and notes that "Employees are encouraged to dedicate their time and expertise to something beyond the realm of day-to-day business, and many find that outlet in Collective Solutions." Employees recently participated in a trip to Nicaragua where they helped families learn to build effective solar ovens from scrap materials including cardboard to reduce their dependence on declining supplies of wood.

Of the benefits to Gaia, McEvoy notes, "Collective Solutions offers our employees a chance to think-outside-of-the-box and apply their years of experience and advanced skills in new ways. Our employees, who traveled with us to El Carizal, show remarkable versatility and creativity. They know how to seek out the simplest solutions (ovens out of cardboard?), which are oftentimes the most effective."

Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn, a software company serving recruiters, says, "Bullhorn's corporate mission is to help recruiters put the world to work. Our employees volunteer their time and we make donations to organizations that seek to end working class poverty like Career Collaborative and Youth Villages. And all of the charities we support aim to help the community at large and prepare individuals for a more productive life." He is obviously proud of the extent to which employees are involved, "Each employee receives a day off per quarter to do community service and volunteer. The Bullhorn Cares committee - a team of individuals that organizes, plans and markets these various events to the rest of the company - actively recruits employees from across Bullhorn to volunteer time, money, and effort to help with a variety of community service initiatives."

Among the benefits he observes, "Customers appreciate Bullhorn employees' dedication to service, as it shows through not just in how we help the less fortunate but also in how we respect everyone around us. Bullhorn excels at both customer service and community service." He adds, "These efforts demonstrate to employees that we share their personal values. It changes the employment relationship-it's not just about a pay check, it's about working together to accomplish something."

Likewise, Tyler Collins, CEO of Orange County SEO, of California, says, "Orange County SEO offers charities and philanthropies free search engine optimization and online marketing." He notes, "Every employee is actively engaged in Orange County SEO's social good efforts. We all work together as a team to promote our charitable clients through search engine optimization, public relations, and social media. Employees gain a sense of pride and accomplishment helping these organizations and often engage in additional charitable actions in their personal lives." He concluded by saying, "In addition to the good feelings we gain, our sales have actually increased through our good works. This unexpected benefit came about because people were impressed with our work and wanted to use the same company who had produced such positive gains."

John Meyer, CEO of Arise Virtual Solutions, describes the company's approach to CSR, "Arise Virtual Solutions is in the business of changing the way the world works through its network of 25,000 home-based customer service professionals. The company aligns its social good efforts closely with its business goals, focusing its efforts on organizations whose focus is on the home and family." He explains the employee involvement, saying, "Our employees are extremely engaged and each year we look for a new initiative to support. This last year or so has been very focused on the Military Veterans community."

Meyer goes on to say, "Arise employees also participate in Habitat For Humanity builds throughout the United States several times a year, with plans to support international builds in the near future. Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world. This partnership is a great fit for Arise, in particular, because of its corporate focus on 'home.'" He concluded with this observation, "During the actual Habitat For Humanity builds people get to spend the day with [employees] that perhaps (a) they have never met, (b) have never worked with, (c) have never had lengthy conversations with. We've also found that the teamwork required to build a house together is also carried over into the office."

Christy Consler, SVP of Human Resources and Corporate Sustainability, at Jamba Juice, says, "The Jamba-sponsored Team Up for a Healthy America program was launched in 2011 in an effort to raise awareness of the obesity epidemic in the United States and engage company partners in a broad awareness campaign aimed at encouraging and inspiring the nation's youth to make better dietary choices and providing ways for them to stay fit and keep active."

Consler adds, "From volunteering at local food banks, to running half marathons in support of charities and in support of employee's personal health goals, to participating in WNBA Fit Clinics at schools as part of Team Up, our employees are always active in driving our social responsibility programs."

Consler also notes, "Customers are highly engaged in our company's corporate social responsibility efforts because they recognize that Jamba is passionate about the impact they can have in their local communities. A few examples of how well our customers get involved would be their support of our current American Heart Association campaign in the Bay Area and our annual 'Pink Whirl' program to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In both cases, our customers overwhelmingly exceeded our donation goals."

Consler says, "As an example [of our success], our CEO was recently invited to speak with President Obama in a teleconference with 120 mayors from across the U.S. to describe our job hiring program aimed at creating summer employment opportunities for underserved youth through our nationwide National Hiring Day and our partnership with Job Corps of Treasure Island that offers culinary internships in our corporate headquarters."

With respect to the benefits of their social good efforts to the company, Consler concluded, "With our better-for-you offerings, our social responsibility programs and our ongoing support of the community, consumers continually recognize Jamba as one of the top health and wellness brands in the country, which is notable when you consider that we do not have stores in every state."

Perhaps the most encouraging sign amidst my research for this article was the tremendous number of companies I found that are making these efforts. It was impossible for me to include all the stories I found. As a result, I'll be writing a series of articles on this theme in the coming months. It does appear that the world is experiencing the beginning of what could become an era of more conscious capitalism.

If your company is doing good in the world, please leave a comment below explaining your initiative and the benefits your company receives from your good work.

Please help me continue this conversation by commenting below, on Twitter at @devindthorpe and on Facebook, Google+ and my personal website yourmarkontheworld.com.

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Why CSR? The Benefits Of Corporate Social Responsibility Will Move You To Act

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Recently, I connected with dozens of corporate executives of large and small companies in an effort to understand the benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the corporation. The question, I learned, is harder to answer than you might expect, principally because most corporate do-gooders approach their social good efforts with more of an eye toward impact on the community than on the firm.

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A  diagram that helps break down the levels of management and provides information on management roles.

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A good intro to management video to set an open mind when thinking of types of managers.

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Stop Managing, Start Leading | Hamza Khan | TEDxRyersonU