The Scanlon Leadership Network Annual Conference “Culture and Leadership Summit” has more than 130 registered attendees and promises to be a fast-paced day focused on the latest developments and best practices around organizational culture. This first-ever partnership with Southwest Michigan First will be an exciting merging of ideas and practices, and is drawing representatives from nearly a dozen organizations that are outside Scanlon Leadership Network Membership. It will be a fantastic experience to meet and network with these additional thought leaders.

In This Issue

• Culture and Leadership…Summit: People, Power and Progress…Luncheon Keynote Address Added to Lineup
• Scanlon Best Practices 2010 Award Winners Revealed!
• Scanlon Stewardship and Frost Beacon Award Recipients to be Honored at Conference
• Majel Maes Moves to New Organization

Culture and Leadership Summit: People, Power and Progress
Luncheon Keynote Address Added to Lineup

Lynn Kelly-Albertson

On May 25, Scanlon Leadership Network and Southwest Michigan First are teaming up to offer the first event of its kind, the “Culture and Leadership Summit: People, Power and Progress”. We are excited to announce that Lynn Kelly-Alberston has come on board for a Luncheon Keynote, “Engaging Future Leaders: New College Graduates in the Workplace”.

For the next decade, college graduates will be entering the workforce en mass, and are slated to be the future leaders of our organizations. How do we create work cultures that will engage and challenge them?

Lynn currently serves as the Executive Director of professional and career development in the Division of Student Affairs at WMU. In this capacity she leads the office of Career and Student Employment Services and coordinates the WMU Career Network. With her 25 years of experience on various programs and committees, Lynn is uniquely qualified to speak on the demands of the emerging workforce.

Scanlon Best Practices 2010 Award Winners Revealed!

6 Member companies have earned 15 medals in this year’s ScanlonIvy Logo Leadership Network-Sponsored Best Practice Program. Ranging from employee engagement to supplier development and everything in between, these practices represent the best in Scanlon leadership and implementation of the Scanlon Principles of Identity, Participation, Equity and Competence.

Scanlon Best Practices Award

GOLD:

* Daily Standup Meeting: Wescast Industries
* White Space Presentation: SGS Tool Company
* New Employee START Manual: Thomson-Shore
* Team Boards: Landscape Forms

SILVER

* Line on Design: Landscape Forms
* Supervisory Training Program: Fraser
* Bill of Rights: Thomson-Shore
* Meet the President: Thomson-Shore
* Work Team Leader Program: Thomson-Shore
* COSO Lite: Demmer

BRONZE

* ASLA Conference Attendance: Landscape Forms
* Water Cooler Meeting: SGS Tool Company
* LFI Anniversary Presentations: Landscape Forms
* Supplier Development/Review Team: Demmer Corp.
* START Bucks: Thomson-Shore

Congratulations to all our winners! It is this spirit of sharing that helps each Member grow stronger, faster.

Scanlon Steward and Frost Beacon Award Recipients to be Honored at Conference

Tom Haag

Wrapping up the 2010 Scanlon Annual Conference on a note of celebration, the Scanlon Leadership Network will hold the Scanlon Stewardship and Frost Beacon Awards ceremonies just before the close of the event.

Tom Haag, President and COO of SGS Tool Company, is the recipient of the prestigious Scanlon Stewardship Award. This annual recognition is earned by those who have significantly contributed to the Scanlon Leadership Network as well as furthering the Scanlon Principles in their workplaces and communities.

SGS is a manufacturer of solid carbide rotary cutting tools located in Munroe Falls, Ohio. The company is part of a second generation family-owned business that also includes Action SuperAbrasives (Brimfield, OH) and Hardcoating Technologies (Munroe Falls, OH).

Tom has been active in the company full-time since 1985 after numerous jobs in the company while a student at Kent State University. Tom has spent time working in maintenance, shipping, as a machine operator, and on the inside sales desk, outside sales and in management of Sales & Administration.

As SGS expanded internationally, Tom traveled throughout the world in his capacity as Vice President of Sales. In addition, he resided in England and Germany for 1-1/2 years while working for SGS Carbide Tool Limited in the United Kingdom and SGS Tool GmbH in Langenfeld, Germany.

Tom has served on the Scanlon Leadership Network Board of Directors since 2004, filling the Chair seat for the past 2 years. Tom has helped keep the spirit of Scanlon going by sending a yearly delegation to the Scanlon Conference. He is also very active in his community, both personally in by encouraging SGS Tool Company to participate in local fundraisers and other events.

TFrost Beacon logohe Frost Beacon Award is sponsored by Scanlon Leadership Network, but awarded within Member organizations. Inspired by the philosophy of Dr. Carl Frost that the average worker has as big an impact on the company as the top leader, Member companies are encouraged to recognize an employee who has shown great leadership and furthering of the Scanlon Principles.

Two Members have nominated individual to receive the Frost Beacon Award:

Landscape Forms: Paul Thuma, IT Team Member
SGS Tool Company: Marina Fridman, Russian Territory Manager

Congratulations to all the honorees!

Majel Maes

Majel Maes Moves to New Organization

Scanlon Conference 2009Dear Scanlon Members and Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation for all those whom I have met, worked with and called friends in my decade-plus with the Scanlon Leadership Network.

With the Network becoming more of a virtual organization, I will become the new Membership Development Specialist with the National Association of College and University Food Services. My tenure service to teh Scabnlon Leadership Network has been an amazing time, and the chances to improve my personal and professional competencies have been absolutely unparalleled. But is is all of you whose memories I will cherish.

Warmest regards, Majel

Sincerely,

Your Scanlon Integrated Leadership Team:

Wayne Lindholm, Larry Spears, and Majel Maes (writer and editor)
Scanlon Leadership Network

Creating and maintaining a culture of excellence is now understood as being the key to organizational longevity and prosperity. This is how you keep your employees engaged, and all pulling in the same direction – the direction that your company has targeted.

The Scanlon Leadership Network and Scanlon Foundation, in partnership with Southwest Michigan First, have come together with Winning Workplaces to bring you an experience like none other, one that will teach you to leverage other’s experiences into winning practices.

You will hear and see the very real results of having an outstanding corporate culture in the keynote and a series of relevant panel discussions, and learn from real world examples.

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Featuring Keynote Speaker
Gaye van den Hombergh, President, Winning Workplaces

Winning Workplaces is a not-for-profit organization founded by one of the families who owned auto parts manufacturer Fel-Pro, Inc., which was nationally recognized for its innovative people practices and outstanding financial performance. Fel-Pro was on Fortune’s 1998 “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” list.The founding family firmly believes that Fel-Pro’s longstanding commitment to positive people practices contributed significantly to its consistent success in outperforming industry financial benchmarks and in winning its major customers’ highest service awards.

Keynote Gaye van den Hombergh, President of Winning Workplaces, will lay out the strategy and techniques for creating and maintaining an excellent organizational culture, based on data compiled and published in the Wall Street Journal’s “Top Small Places to Work”. This is a perfect opportunity for you to learn from the best.

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Agenda

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Conference Site and Lodging

Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites Kalamazoo MI — www.radissonkz.com
100 West Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49007 (Corner of Michigan Ave. and Rose St.) Phone 269.343.3333

Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites has earned 12 AAA Four-Diamond Awards establishing it as one of the premiere hotels and conference centers in the Midwest. Containing 4 exceptional dining options and 5 specialty retail shops, this urban resort is ideally located in the heart of Kalamazoo’s thriving arts, entertainment and dining district.

Reservations Deadline: April 25 Room Block Price: $120 + tax

All participants are responsible for making and paying for their own lodging. Rooms are available on a first come first served basis. After April 25 all rooms will be released to the general public. When calling in reservations, be sure to indicate that you are with the Scanlon Leadership Network group. You may also register online by visiting www.radissonkz.com and clicking on the “Make a Reservation” link. You MUST enter the Promotional Code “SCAN” to receive the special rate and credit our block.

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Thank you to our sponsors and supporting organizations

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Panel Sessions

Controlling Costs Through Engagement

HUMANeX

Do you ever wonder how—or if—you will achieve your potential in your workplace? At the core of this question and
powerful lifelong pursuit is:

• A commitment to the discovery and development of your individual talents, combined with:
• An organizational culture guided by a core value to impact others in a positive and sustainable way, one that is driven by a focus on relationships, growth, high standards, and continuous learning. President and CEO Brad Black will guide you through the process of achieving these goals.

The Studio
Corporate wellness programs have been found to cut costs and increase productivity. Find out why healthier employees save a company money and how to find a wellness program that will make the greatest impact. Presented by Stacie Kryszak of The Studio: A Personal Health Path. The Studio provides corporate wellness consulting, personal training, and wellness seminars. We believe in empowering people with knowledge to help them create better health in their lives.

Leadership from the Ground Up

Front Line Leadership at Kalamazoo Community College
The Mtec Center in Kalamazoo, affiliated with KVCC, serves area businesses by developing and providing skills training that target specific needs and industries. Bill Willging worked with several area companies to develop a Frontline Leadership program that brings participants from different companies together, along with their managers, to learn and share about leading from the frontline. Bill has lead many groups through this program and will share his thoughts on the importance of developing leadership skills at all levels of the company.

Consumer’s Credit Union Leadership Program
Consumers Credit Union finds it difficult to bring Managers in from the outside. Understanding their unique culture is a key to becoming a successful leader, so CCU believes that selecting and developing new managers from within their ranks creates stronger leadership. Kris Lewis, Office Development Manager at CCU will share specifics about their internal leadership development program.

Thomson-Shore, Inc. Work Team Leader Program
As both a Scanlon company and a company that embraces Lean theories and tools Thomson-Shore needed to provide their employee owners with information, tools and skills that would empower them to make improvements and decisions within their own work areas. To move decision making to the front lines, closest to where the value is created for our customers, the Work Team Leader Program was developed. See how this innovative practice helps Thomson-Shore thrive.

The Impact of Social Media on your Future

Chances are good most of you are involved in Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media service on a personal level. But how do these powerful communication tools translate to the business environment? It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies are going to need to get on the social media bus or risk being left behind. Natasha Tong, Founder of Mindful Innovation, will show you how to get the most out of this new technology using real-world success stories as examples.

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Luncheon Group Activity: Compelling Issues in Workplace Culture

To get conversations flowing and ideas generated, you will be able to participate in a focused small group exercise during lunch. The end result will be that each of you will leave the discussion with a ‘statement of intent’, i.e. a goal you will work towards achieving. These will be collected and combined into a master document, which will be shared with the entire group.

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REGISTRATION DEADLINE — APRIL 30, 2010

Form can be sent to Scanlon Leadership Network
2875 Northwind Drive, Suite 121
East Lansing, MI 48823 Fax: 517.332.9381
Email: majel@scanlonleader.org
Registration can also be emailed without the form

Click here to download the Culture and Leadership Summit PDF and registration form >

The Scanlon Leadership Network is a member-led nonprofit corporation. Therefore, we are able to quickly and economically provide the tools you need to become world-class. By drawing upon the expertise of our network, you will avoid the expense of developing programs and the cost of mistakes and false starts. Our approved consultants are the best in their field. Together we can save you thousands of dollars in consulting and training fees. When you join the Scanlon Leadership Network you become part of a tradition of excellence that has given Scanlon organizations a distinct advantage for more than half a century.

When your organization becomes a member of the Scanlon Leadership Network, you�ll be joining forces with many of the most progressive, successful companies — each of which is dedicated to the Scanlon Principles. Our members are frequently listed among the best companies to work for in North America. A recent book on the 36 best business leaders featured four with Scanlon experience. The opportunity to network with this kind of talent is priceless. While the sharing of ideas and experiences with world-class companies is at the heart of the Scanlon Leadership Network, you’ll also be able to take advantage of many other benefits designed to help you become a leader in your industry.

Networking: We learn from each other and from other world-class organizations. We provide numerous structured networking opportunities where members freely share their leading edge practices with each other.

Best Practices: Each year we collect, evaluate, and distribute a book featuring the best ideas of our members. Included in the book are names and contact information of members willing to help you learn more about their practices and help you adapt them to your organization. We recognize great ideas at an awards banquet each year.

Satisfaction Surveys: A customized employee satisfaction survey is included with your membership. This survey allows you to assess your employees’ satisfaction and benchmark with other members.

Training Materials: As a member, you’ll receive free materials to help you apply Scanlon Principles. Among them are: Team Building, Listening Skills, Lean Manufacturing, Costing Suggestions, Business Literacy and Leadership Programs.

Conference: Our Conference is one of the oldest continuing gatherings of business people in North America. You’ll hear world-class speakers and share thoughts and ideas with other members. As an organizational development tool, the conference provides an opportunity for employees at all levels of a company to learn together and to transfer that learning back to the workplace.

Newsletters: You’ll receive a regularly published newsletter featuring information and ideas on how to make Scanlon Principles work even better for you.

Web Site & Resource Library: As a member, you’ll receive a password to our award-winning web site. Twenty-four hours a day, you’ll be able to download training materials, plan examples, research reports and best practices. Our office contains extensive files, books, training materials and videos related to the Scanlon Principles.

Public Relations: We coordinate speaking engagements for members. We also serve as a clearinghouse for news media interested in gainsharing, employee involvement and open-book management. Articles on members have appeared in many of America’s most respected newspapers and journals.

Certified Consultants: We have taken the risk out of finding good consulting help. We work with a small group of the best independent consultants. All have successfully installed Scanlon Plans or are proven in their field.

“I see the Scanlon Principles as allowing us to unleash the tremendous energy within the company through participation… to direct the beam toward the desired target through Principles of identity, to constantly keep the powerful beam in tune through equity, and to continually strengthen the beam through competence.”

Dwane Baumgardner, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Donnelly Corporation

Scanlon is Based on Four Fundamental Principles and Processes

The First Principle is Identity

The Principle of Identity is based on three assumptions:

1. Change is a universal given and is our only hope.
2. A person’s performance/behavior is a consequence of how they have been treated.
3. Every person and organization is in the process of becoming better or worse.

Scanlon leaders create Identity through a process of education. Their curriculum includes the organization’s mandate, customers, competitive challenges, etc.

Practices that support Identity: Wide sharing of information including financial data “open-book management”, accessible leadership, open forums, visits to customers, suppliers, and investors.

Questions about Identity:

• Is there a need to change?
• What is the right job for me to be doing?
• How do I know when I am doing the job right?

Participation is the Second Principle.

Participation is defined as the opportunity, which only management can give, and the responsibility, which only employees can accept, to influence decisions in their areas of competence.

Practices that support Participation: employee involvement, participative management, teams, flat organizations, suggestion systems.

Questions about Participation:

• Do I encourage others to make decisions?
• Do I take the responsibility for my decisions?

Equity is the Third Principle

Equity is defined as a genuine commitment to account for the needs of all constituents including customers, investors, and employees.

The process of Equity is accountability. Scanlon leaders regularly report the organization’s performance relative to customers, investors, and employees needs.

Practices that support Equity: gainsharing, goalsharing, profit-sharing, balanced scorecards,tracking and reporting of performance results.

Questions about Equity:

• Are the Equity needs of all constituents in balance?
• How do we know what organizational performances, practices, relationships, will fulfill the Equity needs of all constituents?
• How do we use Equity to hold ourselves and our organization accountable?

Competence is the Fourth Principle

Competence is defined as the ability to respond to the constant demand for improvement and change. It requires a commitment to be in a state of becoming something that you never were before.

Practices that support Competence: training, development, job enlargement, Learning Organizations.

Questions about Competence:

• Am I willing to help others become more competent?
• Am I willing to commit to make myself better every day?

A company is rightly judged by its products and services, but it must also face scrutiny as to its humanity. − D .J. DePree

We are a new foundation (formed in 2003) but we are heirs to a tradition of innovation that goes back to the 1940′s. We are part of the group of organizations that quietly led the way in labor-management cooperation, open-book management, employee involvement, gainsharing, goalsharing, profit sharing, lean, and servant leadership.

The 20th Century has been a hothouse of management fads…In the meantime one truly big idea has bubbled along since the 1940′s, never receiving the accolades we regularly bestow on more modest insights. And it’s surprising considering this one has all the elements of a blockbuster. Its watchwords read like an abstract of 50 years’ worth of business hot buttons: Employee Participation, management-labor cooperation, collaborative problem-solving, teamwork, trust, gainsharing, open-book management and servant leadership. But you probably won’t recognize one of the best-kept secrets in the management world: The Scanlon Plan.”

Training Magazine
December 1999

Consistent with our mission, we publish books and articles related to Scanlon and sponsor Scanlon related research. We are a nonprofit 501 c (3) supporting foundation that supports and carries out the charitable work of our parent association, the Scanlon Leadership Network.

We consult and provide training in the following areas:

Organizational Excellence and creating “Best Places to Work.”
Five companies in the top 25 “best places to work” have had Scanlon plans. Scanlon companies continue to be leaders in their industries, “best places to work”, and “most admired.” We have a proven track record in corporate culture change.

Group Reward Systems
We pioneered gainsharing, goalsharing, and profit sharing systems. We have more experience than any other group. We can show you how to do gainplanning and gainmaking, as well as gainsharing.

Involvement and Cooperation
Scanlon created some of the very first joint Labor-Management systems. We believe in cooperation. We also are leaders in Employee Involvement having created some of the first team based systems. Scanlon has over sixty years experience developing high involvement cultures.

Financial Literacy and Open-Book Management
Scanlon has developed extensive support for helping individuals understand the financial systems that keep score in business.

Lean and Continuous Improvement
Scanlon developed one of the most successful suggestion or continuous improvement systems. Today, Scanlon companies are also highly accomplished in lean and six-sigma. We can teach you the tools, and we can help you create a lean culture of continuous improvement.

Leadership Development & Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership is part of everything we do. We have assessment, mentoring and development programs to help servant leaders succeed.

Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Surveys
We provide a wide variety of on-line and paper assessments. We can customize, administer, and report results at a fraction of the cost of other organizations.

The Scanlon Leadership Network Annual Conference has been transformed to the Scanlon Leadership Network/Southwest Michigan First “Culture and Leadership Summit”. Our two organizations share similar goals – using people power to achieve organizational excellence. It was a logical step to pool our resources to bring you the best in educational services.

As always, we thank the Scanlon Community for sharing ideas and articles of interest for publication, and we encourage everyone to keep bringing these new ideas to light. This continuous exchange of best practices keeps us vibrant and helps us learn faster, together.

In This Issue

• Scanlon Leadership Network Partners with Southwest Michigan First for Culture and Leadership Summit
• Preparing for the Economic Recovery
• The Reality of Social Media

Scanlon Network Partners with Southwest Michigan First for Culture and Leadership Summit: People, Power and Progress

Southwest Michigan FirstOn May 25, Scanlon Leadership Network and Southwest Michigan First are teaming up to offer the first event of its kind, the “Culture and Leadership Summit: People, Power and Progress”.

A culture of excellence is recognized as being a major factor in business longevity and prosperity. Offering an exciting lineup of panel discussions and presentations, the conference will dive deep into the pool of tools and techniques to you can use to engage your employees and keep everybody pulling in the same direction.

In her opening keynote, Gaye van den Hombergh, President of Winning Workplaces, will lay out the strategy and methods for creating and maintaining an excellent organizational culture. Based Gaye-Winning Workplaces on data compiled and published in the Wall Street Journal’s “Top Small Places to Work”, this is a perfect opportunity for you to learn from the best.

Panel sessions will include:

• Controlling Costs Through Engagement
• Leadership from the Ground Up
• The Impact of Social Media on Your Future

In addition, all participants will have a chance to brainstorm ideas for improving their company’s culture during a luncheon focused group activity.

The conference will be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo, MI. Please visit the Scanlon Leadership Network for full conference details and the registration brochure.

Preparing for the Economic Recovery

According to The Business Asset publication, small businesses will likely have an advantage when the world begins to pull out of the economic doldrums. Being more nimble will help many small companies use the current market to help themselves on the road to recovery.

The strategies that are identified include:

• Taking advantage of the large pool of qualified and skilled talent
• Retaining your best employees by keeping them engaged – be aware that it will be more difficult to do this when the economy starts growing again
• Getting new customers through positive referrals from existing customers

All 3 of these strategies are closely tied with the quality of a company’s culture. These are the very same issues that will be explored at the Scanlon Leadership Network/Southwest Michigan First “Culture and Leadership Summit.”

The Reality of Social Media

Everywhere you turn, it seems that social media services – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. – are right there in your face. Nowhere is this more clearly shown than in the revelation that the 2009 Word of the Year as designated by the Oxford English Dictionary is “unfriend”.

The reality is that social media is not just your kid’s business anymore. Companies are successfully using these platforms to drive business in ever-increasing numbers. Neglecting to follow this trend engenders the risk of being left behind.

Kari Havir, Founder of Marketing Eco, will lay out strategies and methods for taking full advantage of the many social media platforms at the May 25 “Culture and Leadership Summit”. Drawing on years of experience, Kari uses real world examples to demonstrate how you can successfully use this new technology.

The Great Lansing Business Monthly takes an in-depth look at the social media revolution and how it can be used to take your business to the next level. It begins with the article New Media: Changing the Face of Business (and why you should care). Additional articles continue on to explain some of the more prevalent social media platforms.

Sincerely,

Your Scanlon Integrated Leadership Team:

Wayne Lindholm, Larry Spears, and Majel Maes (writer and editor)
Scanlon Leadership Network

This ezine brings you a new study addressing the positive ROI of business travel, a look at sustaining strategic planning, and updates on Network events and technology upgrades. Please read on!

As always, we thank the Scanlon Community for sharing ideas and articles of interest for publication, and we encourage everyone to keep bringing these new ideas to light. This continuous exchange of best practices keeps us vibrant and helps us learn faster, together.

TECHNCOLOGY UPDATE: Technical issues took our Network email addresses offline for September and most of October. We are happy to report that the problems have been corrected, and you can now reach us through the emails office@scanlonleader,org, majel@scanlonleader.org, and wayne@scanlonleader.org.

In This Issue

• Updated Scanlon Events Schedule
• Business Travel – Good for the Bottom Line!
• Sustainable Strategic Planning
• Scanlon Web Sites Redesign Underway
• Updated Scanlon Events Schedule

To address a more critical need within the Scanlon Leadership Network, the previously announced Executive Leadership Retreat has been postponed to late February or early March.

Instead, on December 14-15, the Network’s top leadership will embark on a planning session that will incorporate President Wayne Lindholm’s study of how Network Membership has been impacting Member organizations. As Wayne puts it, “As many of you are are doing now for your own businesses, this is an ideal time to renew our Network and look at its design with new perspectives. I understand past success elements and have identified gaps and constraints preventing us from delivering even more value to Members. This is the perfect time to come together for 24 hours and apply our own Scanlon Principles to the Scanlon Network.”

Meeting Impact: (What’s there to get excited about?)

• A shared desire to transform and renew the Scanlon Network
• A shared vision where Scanlon Principles are applied to more and diverse organizations
• Increased opportunities for member organizations to work smarter and learn faster

Meeting Outcome: (What will we achieve in our time together?)

• Brief overview of Scanlon Network strengths and opportunities for improvement
• Integrate your personal Behavior Strategy for Accomplishment (BSA) and Leadership Operating Framework (LOFs) to Scanlon network strategies to deliver more value
• Define a renewed Scanlon Operating Belief Framework (OBF) going to market and attracting more members faster

The meeting will be facilitated by Don McMillon, a leadership and enterprise development facilitator with Fortune 500 and small-to-mid sized company experience. We are excited about taking your Network to the next level.

Executive Leadership Retreat – Late February or Early March

Troppo Restaurant and Banquet Center, Lansing MI

This amazing opportunity for Scanlon leaders to get together and share ideas will center on how to develop the organizational culture that enables you to sustain a strong, vital enterprise.

And don’t forget: “Scanlon’s Got Talent!” Annual Conference – May 17-18, 2010, Radisson Plaza Hotel, Kalamazoo MI

As the title implies, this conference will capitalize on the inherent talents contained within our Members and friends. Focusing on Scanlon Member Best Practices, the keynotes and breakout sessions will feature successful programs from within our Membership and from outside industry sources.

Be looking for more information in the coming weeks. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Business Travel – Good for the Bottom Line!

“Business executives estimate a four-to-six time return on every dollar invested in conference and trade show participation.”

When the economy started the downturn, business travel was one of the first expenses to be reduced or eliminated. Now, according to a new study called “The Return on Investment of U.S. Business Travel”, that strategy can actually negatively impact your company’s bottom line.

Completed by Oxford Economics, the study was released in September by the Unites States Travel Association and its Destination and Travel Foundation. Covering 14 economic sectors, the study was verified through a combination of 3 separate surveys of corporate executives and bus iness travelesr and a wide review of related research.

Including the statement at the beginning of this article, other eye-opening findings are:

1. For every dollar invested in business travel, businesses claim an average $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits.
2. Reducing business travel results in forfeiting 15% of its profits in the first year of elimination.

Moreover, business travel is responsible for $246 billing in spending and 2.3 American jobs are linked directly to meetings and events. An increase of 10% in business travel would increase the Gross Domestic Product of the U.S by between 1.5 and 2.8 percent. This leaves no doubt that business travel is critical to economic recovery efforts.

For the purposes of the study, business travel included sales trips, meetings, conventions, trade shows and incentive trips. For the complete version of the study and a tool kit with suggestions for using its findings, please visit the U.S. Travel Association web site and search “Business Travel Study”.

Sustainable Strategic Planning – People, Profit and the Planet

by Gary Langenwalter, CFPIM, CRM

The goal of strategic planning is to define an integrated set of sustainingstrategystrategies that will enable a company to achieve its objectives – e.g. profits, market share, etc. Strategic planning is normally hierarchical – starting at the top, and breaking each major strategy into sub-strategies, then tactics, then detailed departmental objectives.

The strength of a strategic plan depends on 2 things:

• The validity of its ultimate goals, or objectives, and
• The strategic planning process itself.

And in both of these areas, Sustainability can provide dramatic improvement over the current methodologies. In that respect, Sustainability is like Lean – it offers a new way of seeing a business and its processes, a new way which provides superior results. Three different studies of total return to shareholders over a 10-year period confirm this allegation:

1. LAMP 60 vs. conventional companies: The LAMP 60 companies operate quite differently from conventional companies – they mimic life. They:
   • Are highly networked, both internally and externally
   • Manage by means, rather than objectives or results
   • Optimize their use of physical and financial resources
   • Foster exceptionally open corporate cultures, creating a culture of mutual trust between management, workers, and their communities,
   • Recognize that they are a living system, and that they are embedded in living systems, so they intentionally nurture those systems.

   These companies are highlighted in a monograph, “Profit for Life,” by Joseph Bragdon, available at no charge on the Society for Organizational Learning website. It summarizes Bragdon’s book by the same name.

2. “Better than Great” – Servant-led companies. Sipe and Frick, in a book entitled, The Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, studied 11 servant-leadership companies. Over a 10-year period, these 11 companies substantially outperformed the 11 companies featured in Good to Great, by the same margin in which the Good to Great companies outperformed the S&P 500. This book was published in March, 2009.
3. “Firms of Endearment” – These companies, which earned the title by endearing themselves to their external stakeholders, also dramatically outperformed the Good to Great companies over a similar 10-year period. This is documented in Firms of Endearment: How World Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose, by Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth, published by the Wharton Business School.

So what is Sustainability, and how does it produce results like these?

Unfortunately, “Sustainability” has many definitions, instead of one single definition that everyone agrees on. Here are three of the most common:

• An activity is sustainable if it can be continued indefinitely
• The Golden Rule, applied across generations. The Golden Rule, which is a foundation of all major world religions, is that we should do to others what we would have them do to us.
• Meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is the definition by the Brundtland Commission to the UN, 1987.

No matter which of these definitions you choose, Sustainability is a lot more than just recycling, or even “green.” It is a whole-systems view of life on our planet, and how people (both those currently alive and unborn generations) and companies participate in that life. Thus, it is a radically different way of viewing the world, and a company’s role in that world. And it is that radically different viewpoint that frames the strategic planning of a sustainably-oriented company, that enables them to produce the results they produce.

The Toyota Production System is based on two pillars:

• Respect – for the workforce, for suppliers and customers, and for the communities in which Toyota operates, and
• Continuous Improvement

TPS (and its US counterpart, Lean) have been implemented in the US by focusing primarily on Continuous Improvement and waste reduction. From this vantage point, Sustainability is actually a logical extension of the full implementation of TPS/Lean, so that it now includes the planet. Using Toyota’s definition of Lean, Sustainability could be called Lean and Green, or GreenLean.

To see how this interrelates with People, Profit and the Planet, and see a Sustainable Foundation for Strategic Plan, please download the PDF of the article in its entirety.

Copyright Institute of Industrial Engineers. Reprinted with permission.

Scanlon Web Sites Redesign Underway

The transfer of the Scanlon Network, Foundation and Consultancy web sites to an outside hosted server has been completed. Since their inception, the sites have been hosted on in in-house server – which has meant that if the server goes down, so do the sites. The new service will provide a more stable platform, resulting in fewer downs, so it will always be there when you need it.

The main Network site is also in the process of getting a much-needed face lift. Boasting a sleeker design, the site will be easier to navigate, so you can easily find the information you are seeking.

However, the transfer has made it necessary for the sites to be almost entirely rebuilt. This is an ongoing process, so not all of the historical information has been re-entered onto the sites. Until this is completed, please call the Network office at 517.332.8927 or email majel@scanlonleader.org for any information you may be seeking. We still have everything on file, so documents can be sent to you quickly.

Thank you for your patience during this upgrade and redesign, and please don’t hesitate to contact us with any requests!

Sincerely,

Your Scanlon Integrated Leadership Team:

Wayne Lindholm, Larry Spears, Paul Davis and Majel Maes (writer and editor)
Scanlon Leadership Network