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Skills For Success

May/June 2003

Lunch'n'Learn

Rosemary L. Azzaro
Consultant; HBA Bulletin Creative Contributor

The 2003 "Woman of the Year" (WOTY) event provided the inspiration for this short compendium of "Skills for Success."

The sun was dazzling and Sixth Avenue never looked better. As I left The New York Hilton after this year's energizing "Woman of the Year" program, the words of our outgoing "Woman of the Year," Sarah S. Harrison, Vice President, Customer Strategy Integration, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP (Wilmington, DE), rang in my ears: "Celebrate the Present!" Stopping for an ice cream cone, I walked south to the bus terminal, thinking how lucky I was to be a part of such an awesome association, to have met and listened to the words of such inspirational men and women and to have attended such a well-organized event. Maybe it was the sugar, but I knew that I had been witness to something powerful.
AHA!
By "celebrating the present," I knew that this year's WOTY was a great learning opportunity. That's how this feature was born. Let me share the skills I learned from the womenand men who lunch.

Practice Total Quality Management:

One of my first thoughts, "How do they do it?" Of course, I was thinking of the HBA's Executive Director, Carol Davis-Grossman and her management company The Charles Group.

As the WOTY event grows larger each year and each venue presents new sets of challenges, the WOTY Committee members and Carol's team seek practical ways to improve the experience for honorees and attendees. And, when you think the WOTY luncheon can't get much better, it does. This year, the WOTY Committee achieved a major goal set for this event: on-time performance. (What did you do with your extra ten minutes?)

Does your organization practice some form of "Total Quality Management"? It may be as simple as "debriefing" to assess the pros and cons of completing a recent assignment. Depending on your organization, you may also recognize this is as striving for continuous quality improvement or be familiar with supply chain management, cell manufacturing management or Six Sigma. For further information on these formal methodologies to manage quality, visit the website of the American Society for Quality, www.asq.org. You might also check out the book What Is Six Sigma? by Peter S. Pande, Pete Pande and Lawrence Holpp.

Harness The Diversity Within Your Organization:

HBA's "Honorable Mentor," Guidant Corporation's CEO Ronald Dollens, emphasized that intellectual capital is a major business assetand its value increases in organizations promoting diversity. In introducing this year's "Woman of the Year," Jack Ziegler, President, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (Philadelphia, PA), called promoting diversity "common sense." He noted that when an organization taps into the diversity of its workforce, it also becomes able to tap into the diversity of its customers.

A recent feature on the website of the Society of Human Resource Management supports the business case for diversity noting several "key factors that make diversity initiatives important to business beyond social or moral responsibility." Aside from those key factors noted by Dollens and Ziegler, other important lessons on diversity's positive impact on organizational creativity, flexibility and talent attraction can be learned by visiting www.shrm.org/diversity/businesscase.asp. In addition, information on how to expand and maintain your commitment to harnessing diversity can be found at www.diversityinc.com and through The Workplace Diversity Network, a joint project of The National Conference for Community Justice and the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, accessed at www.ilr.cornell.edu/extension/wdn/.

Recognize and Support Good Ideas That Come to Your Attention:

Dollens noted that he did not generate the idea for the "GROW" Program ("Guidant Reaching Out to Women"). But, he encourages all business leaders to recognize and support good ideas that come to their attention.

You may be able to instantly think of a colleague known for good ideas. Did you know these "idea practitioners" have common traits and that there are ways to harness their intellectual energy?

Of interest is a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, "Who's Bringing You Hot Ideas (and How Are You Responding?)" (February, 2003). The authors (Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak and H. James Wilson) formally studied people who bring management ideas into organizationsexamining and identifying the skills of these idea practitioners, including how they "scout" for new ideas, "package them" to be sold up and down the organization, advocate for these ideas and implement them. Additionally, idea practitioners share personality traits such as optimism, a passion for ideas themselves, self-confidence and an ability to "span boundaries"networking and working across disciplines.

Take Responsibility:

The responsibility for diversity within an organization does not rest solely with executives. Everyone in an organization must be engaged in fostering their own talents and skills and those of their colleagues, according to Dollens. We each must take responsibility for making our workplaces the best places they can be.

Not only does this mean harnessing diversity, it means being engaged. The Gallup Organization champions employee engagement in its management work. In the book Follow This Path, Gallup consultant authors Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina write, "When engaged employees utilize their natural talents, they provide an instant, and constant, competitive edge. They build a new value: emotionally driven connections between employees and customers."

Gallup has systematically studied engagement. Organizations, utilizing their techniques for identifying and maintaining an engaged workforce, employ Gallup's Q12 Survey to "measure dimensions that leaders, managers and employees can influence."

Visit the "Performance Management" section of the Gallup website www.gallup.com to review the 12 questions, a provocative tool for you and your organization.

Acknowledge The Contributions of Others:

Ziegler observed that honoring Dr. Catherine Angell-Sohn as the HBA's 2003 "Woman of the Year" was a fitting tribute since "Cathy is the most eager to celebrate the success of others."

You know that good feeling you get when a manager or client compliments your work with a "Looks good!" scribbled in response to a memo supporting a new idea? How 'bout the time you were stopped in the hall by a colleague who liked your solution for the file-sharing problem? Did a client send you chocolates in appreciation of your hard work in meeting a deadline? The point is: We all like to have our contributions noticed. Do you regularly acknowledge the work and commitment of your colleagues and staff? (For that matter, have you acknowledged your friends and family on their successes and special moments?)

E-mail has its uses; sometimes it is better to put pen to paper and drop a note in acknowledgement. Many management consultants advise that businessmen and women write two notes a day to nurture their networks!

Be An Advocate:

Sohn encouraged us all to "Make a Difference." One way we can each be effective advocates for the positive value of our industry is to exercise our right to vote and to make our opinions heard. Take some time to contact your legislators at both the state and national levels.

To find your national leaders go to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. For state government information type "www.state" and follow that with your state's initials plus ".us". For example, information on New Jersey legislators can be found at www.state.nj.us.

Lead from the heart. Harrison exemplified positive leadershipthe leader as both business person and humanitarianas she "passed the torch" to Sohn. In urging us to "celebrate the present," Harrison asked us to particularly celebrate the accomplishments of all 2003 honorees. She paid tribute to the HBA and its supportive leadership, "The HBA helps us to be better people, build our lives and helps us to grow."

And, turning her attention to the world at large, Harrison reminded us that now, more than ever, we have to "lead from the heart."

We were all brought back to another May afternoon, when this same woman challenged us to "leave the world a better place than you found it, whether by an improved environment, business growth or a rescued soul. We can all make a difference. . . . Each One, Reach One."

And that is what I learned at lunch.

Rosemary L. Azzaro has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years and holds an MBA. In the spirit of full disclosure, the ice cream was Ben & Jerry's Vanilla on a sugar cone with chocolate sprinkles. Yes, she also tasted the mango mousse cake at the luncheon. Reach Rosemary at razzaro@comcast.net when you need an idea practitioner.