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May 27, 2011 - by Joel Lazer, CA, CIRP
In October 2010 I wrote about Israel and Start-Up Nation, Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s book about the personality of Israel and why Israelis are so successful entrepreneurially. It is a highly recommended read.
You have the opportunity to meet one of the authors in October 2011 when the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s mission to Israel has on its itinerary a meeting with Mr. Singer. If you have already read Start-Up Nation, you will appreciate the value of this opportunity.
The Federation trip will leave Winnipeg on October 28th and return November 12th. The trip will include various historical, religious and cultural sites which make the trip awesome from the get-go. This particular trip will include a commercial component to make it even more valuable to business people. In addition to Mr. Singer, we will be addressed by Abe Finkelstein of Vintage Venture Partners. We will visit the Intel Chip making Hi-Tech Fab. We will also visit Better Place and see their electric vehicle demonstration, and meet Dalia Rabin, its founder. (I understand Better Place has recently signed a contract with the Province of Ontario.)
The commercial portion of the general itinerary is rounded out with a couple of additional speakers. And if this isn’t enough business for you, Federation, in conjunction with Lazer Grant, is also arranging specific business connections for entrepreneurs wishing to make specific contacts and meetings.
The religious and cultural portions will include visits to the Old City of Jerusalem where, all within a few hundred meters of each other, are the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We will visit Yad Vashem which is the Israeli Holocaust museum, the Knesset which is the Israeli parliament, and Yad Lakashish which is a facility which makes elder persons’ lives meaningful. We will go to Masada and then to the Dead Sea for a float. The itinerary is packed and no doubt I have missed some things. The trip ends with a couple of days’ relaxation in Eilat, a seaside resort in the south of Israel.
I sincerely hope you are able to join us. Space is limited so please do not wait too long to register. For your convenience we have posted the latest itinerary and a registration form on our website, www.lazergrant.ca. Let me know if you have any questions. We would love to have you on board.
May 19, 2011 - by Joel Lazer, CA, CIRP
Bonus plans are a subject we have talked about and written about many times. I am passionate about them. They must be effective. If not, they are a waste of money.
The most common is a discretionary bonus plan. You know the type. It is where the owner looks at the operating results, sees they are good and decides to give out bonuses. However, the recipients have no idea why they have received the bonus. After a couple of years of “free” bonuses, an expectation arises. The employees come to believe they are entitled to the bonus. When a year yields poor results, to conserve resources the owner reduces or eliminates the bonus. The result: a negative work environment. Employees wonder, when they have performed or expended the same effort as in the past and believe the poor results are not their fault, why they should suffer. If you have a discretionary bonus plan, it is of no benefit to you and you may as well give the money away.
For a bonus plan to be effective it has to have certain components.
- Employees must be able to impact their bonus. The impact must be an improvement of company performance, an increase in profits. If employees are going to impact the bottom line they must understand how the company makes money.
- The employees must be able to see the results of their behavior throughout the year. If their activity is producing results, they are encouraged to continue. If their activity is not, they will understand the need to make adjustments.
- A shared bonus is key. All contribute, and all share in the success of the business. The team’s actions are interdependent and so should the reward be for excellent results. A salesman cannot be great without a delivered product. A manufacturer needs great production along the entire line. Inventory must be on the shelf at the right time. Ensuring your team understands interdependence will also improve performance.
With these components, design your bonus plan to include the financial measurable, the amount of bonus, the thresholds that must be achieved, the method of distribution to employees, the timing and frequency of the distributions, and how the results will be published.
Designing an effective bonus plan involves more than just looking at last year’s results. We know, from personal experience. That’s why we are offering to assist any business in the development of one. We will, without charge, design and facilitate the implementation of a plan for any company. We want to do this for our clients since our role in the relationship is to help you to succeed. This offer is also for non-clients; we would consider it a privilege to contribute to your success as well.
To take us up on this no-charge offer, call, write or email us prior to June 1, 2011.
We know an effective bonus plan leads to better results. Let us prove it to you.
November 4, 2010 - by Joel Lazer, CA, CIRP
Originally published on April 13, 2006
Negotiating is something we all do. We start negotiating as children. All children negotiate bed times, what’s for dinner and whether they will eat it, and so on. As an adult we have a much broader range of negotiation partners. They can include relatives, friends, co-workers, employers or employees and strangers. Sometimes we get the assistance of professionals and sometimes we do our own negotiating.
Herb Cohen, author of You Can Negotiate Anything, has a piece of advice worth repeating here. Herb says, “Never negotiate with your children.” His belief is, you cannot win a negotiation with your own children and so don’t start.
There are many principles of negotiating, as well as many styles and tactics. My personal belief is, we are all better off if we can get to win/win solutions and look to increasing the pie as opposed to viewing the world as a zero sum game. Sometimes that is hard to accomplish, yet, like many difficult things, the reward is worth the effort.
Being empathetic is of utmost importance if you are to be a successful negotiator. Empathy is the ability to understand and feel for the other side. The ability to see and understand the other side’s issues, interests and hot buttons will allow you to navigate the unknown with surprising ease. It is relatively easy to see our side; we live it. It’s also important to differentiate your position from your interest. A position is a stance you take on a particular issue believing it will get you what you want or satisfy your interest. Your interest is what you want which may be satisfied by your position or some other position you may not have considered.
There it is. If you can determine the other party’s interest and satisfy it with a position that is not in conflict with your interest, you have the makings of a successfully negotiated deal. In order to determine the other party’s interest you must be able to see where they are coming from, what might be acceptable to them, and what cannot be negotiated.
We all pay attention to the big items. To get their interest, pay attention to the little things. Inquire about what they tell you. Ensure there is no uncertainty. When they say they need a particular position ask them to explain why. Do it so you can understand where they are coming from. You must question without being judgemental and without disagreeing with their position. They believe they have valid reasons and your disagreement on that will only spread your positions farther apart. Even when you think you know their interest, keep enquiring. Do this to ensure you have got it right and to determine of there is a secondary or tertiary interest that might come into play. After you have the interests, test out some solutions that will satisfy your interest as well. Remember your interest, too, may be satisfied with a position you had not previously considered.
My favourite negotiation exercise is the one where both parties need an orange and there is only one. Each side takes the position that they need the orange. It turns out that one needs all the juice and the other needs all of the peel. It is rather easy to resolve once the interest of each is discovered. The exercise is enlightening.
If I can assist with any of your negotiations or you would like to discuss theory I would be glad to hear from you.
October 28, 2010 - by Joel Lazer, CA, CIRP
Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer is a book about Israel and the culture that has led it to be a nation of innovation and commercial success. A sampling of results:
× Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than any other country except the United States;
× it has the highest density of start-ups in the world;
× venture capital investment, on a per capita basis, is the highest in the world, as is its research and development expenditures as a percentage of GDP.
About halfway through the book I realized many businesses, if they applied some of the principles Israel has embraced, would be more stable and successful. If you would like to be inspired to read the book and perhaps to consider applying those principles to your organization, watch the video on the book’s website at http://www.startupnationbook.com.
Senor and Singer discuss persistence. Successful entrepreneurs are not put off by being told they’re wrong, that it can’t be done. If you have a propensity to think outside the box, likely when you share an idea you will be dismissed. If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll probably just press on. If you’re a subordinate you’re likely to keep the idea to yourself and go back to doing your job. Imagine if we could foster out-of-the-box thinking from all the people we work with and grow their ideas. The example discussed in the book is about Intel and its development of chips which made portable computing a reality.
Chutzpah. We’ve all heard that Yiddish word. My dictionary says it means unbelievable gall, audacity. Chutzpah allows you to challenge the people around you. This applies to people who are senior to you, are junior to you or are your peers. It has the effect of opening the organization so that everyone can contribute with no fear of recrimination. With a chutzpah mindset, you don’t fear rejection and your feelings aren’t easily hurt. With no negative intent, you’re therefore not afraid to question processes nor to suggest improvements. Neither are you afraid of failure. If you take the negative emotion out of the dialogue the results can only be positive.
Military service in Israel develops in young people the empowerment to make life and death decisions in live situations on the fly. In Israel the ratio of officers and soldiers is 1 to 9. In the United States it is 1 to 5. Israel is a very small country surrounded by unfriendly and often threatening countries. Decisions need to be made quickly. The young soldiers are trained to make these decisions. Now imagine taking the principles of that training and applying them to your organization. The results would be better business decisions more quickly and efficiently with greater confidence.
There is a can’t-wait impatience in Israel. It can be summed up as a what’s-the-matter-with-today attitude. There is always a sense of urgency. Urgency gets more things done. With deliberate training and empowerment, the decisions are likely to be healthy and profitable.
Educate, train and empower. Embrace persistence and chutzpah. Accept success and failure, and learn from both. Continue to train and reinforce the empowerment. And do it now. In the words of Israeli guide Ezra Eini, “The impossible only takes a little longer.”
If you would like to see and hear more about Israel, come to the Lazer Grant Trade Mission to Israel information evening on Wednesday, November 3 at 6:30 in our offices. We would be delighted to see you.
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