Dear !*FIRST_NAME*!

Here is your copy of HRD Alert! to which you subscribed.
I never send this to people who haven't subscribed and as I
realise your time is valuable, have an unsubscribe link
at the end.

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C O N T E N T S
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1. FROM THE EDITOR – SPECIAL INVITATION
2. THE DOCTRINE OF COMPLETED STAFF WORK
3. WORKING WITH HEARING IMPAIRED
4. WORTH A LOOK
5. TELL A FRIEND OR UNSUBSCRIBE

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1. F R O M T H E E D I T O R
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G’day to all of you and a special welcome to those who
have subscribed during the last month. I trust that
everyone who received a free ebook has read it and that
you are now on your way to making your fortune. Much of
what we achieve in life results from our state of mind
– good or bad. I don’t know how it works, or why,
but the more experienced I become, the more I know it
to be so.

This month I have changed the word ‘Publishing’ from my
business name to ‘Enterprises’ because it better describes
what I do. Unfortunately, it is a vaguer term than the
former, but the former was too narrow. In this business
age, one has to have multiple strands of income not
focus on one or two key money earners. I’ll still be
publishing … two of my titles are still selling quite
well … but I’m also involved in reselling of software,
training programs, consulting, and desktop publishing.

It’s more fun having a range of things to do rather than
just hanging onto one. I’m still far from being a big
money spinner, but there are dozens of stories about those
who have made big money online. For example, just yesterday
I read about a fellow who does nothing else but work as an
affiliate. He is affiliated with five or so large firms which
pay a high level commission. He advertises and sells their
products and makes an astonishing $12,000 per month! And
that’s in real US dollars. I’m not greedy … I’d be happy
with half that, especially given that most of the sales are
generated automatically. The key word for the new millenium –
*automatic*.

On a less intense note, the two articles in this issue
should be of interest to you. The article on Completed Staff
Work details an idea which we should all subscribe to –
doing work completely and, if we are supervisors, telling
our staffs to, ‘… bring me solutions, not problems.’

I hope you are enjoying a successful year and that you
are happy. If you have some spare time and want to share
some of your thoughts with us, why not accept a SPECIAL
OFFER to place an article in one of the future editions
of HRD Alert!?

If you have a topic to share, keep it to say 300 words,
keep it suitable and relevant and send it to me. If I
think it’s suitable, I’ll publish it for you and give you
full credit. I reserve the right to accept or reject items
and to edit where necessary since my head is on the block
when I publish this ezine.

Get those articles coming in!

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2. D O C T R I N E OF C O M P L E T E D STAFF WORK
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When I first commenced studies in management theory I was
fortunate enough to have an excellent lecturer called Robin
Roots who worked for Queensland Railways Department. He
had an excellent sense of humour, knew his topic well, and
it was always a delight to attend his classes.

Many of the theories and applications I learnt during my
management studies I ‘tested’ when I became a manager. And
when I began teaching management, I used many of the analogies
I had learnt from Robin. One of my favourites was the
Doctrine of Completed Staff Work which I used often when
teaching leadership and delegation.

The doctrine is said to have originated in a US naval dockyard,
possibly during the 20s or 30s and it is still very relevant
today. Author’s details are unknown, so I can’t attribute.

Completed staff work is the study of a problem, and
presentation of a solution, by a staff member, in such form
that all that remains to be done on the part of the boss is
to indicate approval or disapproval of the completed action.

The words "completed action" are emphasized because the more
difficult the problem is, the more the tendency is to present
the problem to the boss in a piecemeal fashion.

It is your duty as a staff member to work out the details.
You should not consult your boss in the determination of those
details, no matter how perplexing they may be. You may and
should consult other staff members. The product, whether it
involves the pronouncement of a new policy or affects an
established one, when presented to the boss for approval or
disapproval, must be worked out in a finished form.

The impulse which often comes to the inexperienced
staff member, to ask the boss what to do, recurs more
often when the problem is difficult. It is accompanied
by a feeling of mental frustration. It is easy to ask
the boss what to do, and it appears too easy for the
boss to answer. Resist the impulse. You will succumb
to it only if you do not know your job. It is your job
to advise your boss what she or he ought to do, not to
ask your boss what you ought to do. The boss needs
answers, not questions. Your job is to study, write,
restudy, and rewrite until you have evolved a single
proposed action - the best one of all you have considered.
Your boss merely approves or disapproves.

Do not worry your boss with long explanations and memos.
Writing a memo to your boss does not constitute completed
staff work.  But writing a memo for your boss to send
to someone else does. Your views should be placed before
the boss in finished form so that the boss can make them
his or her views simply by signing the document.  In most
instances, completed staff work results in a single
document prepared for the signature of the boss without
accompanying comment.  If the proper result is reached,
the boss will usually recognize it at once.  If the boss
wants comment or explanation, she or he will ask for it.

The theory of completed staff work does not preclude a
rough draft, but the rough draft must not be a half-baked
idea.  It must be complete in every respect except that
it lacks the requisite number of copies and need not be
neat. But a rough draft must not be an excuse for shifting
to the boss the burden of formulating the action.

The completed staff work theory may result in more
work for the staff member but it results in more
freedom for the boss.  This is as it should be. 
Further, it accomplishes two things:

1. The boss is protected from half-baked ideas,
voluminous memos, and immature oral presentations.
2. The staff member who has a real idea to sell
is enabled more readily to find a market.

When you have finished your completed staff work the
final test is this: If you were the boss would you
be willing to sign the paper you have prepared, and
stake your professional reputation on its being right?

If the answer is no, take it back and work it over,
because it is not yet completed staff work.
 
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INSPIRATION:

‘I tell you … as officers, that you will neither eat, nor
drink, nor smoke, nor sit down, nor lean against a tree
until you have personally seen that your men have first
had a chance to do these things. If you will do this for
them, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. And
if you do not, I will bust you in front of your regiments

--- Field Marshall Sir William Slim, British Army

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3. W O R K I N G WITH H E A R I N G I M P A I R E D
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Hearing impaired people often encounter difficulty at work
because their disability isn’t visible. I’d like to relate
to you, briefly, the sorry saga of a young man who has
recently been dragged through a performance management
process, essentially brought about by misunderstanding,
frustration on his behalf, and failure by an employer to
make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ in relation to this person’s
employment.

The man involved has been hearing impaired from birth
having a severe/profound loss of a bilateral nature. That is,
he hears high pitch sounds with one ear and low pitch with
the other. With hearing aids in a sound proof room, he has
around 20 percent hearing. But hearing aids pick up all noise,
not just speech.

When in a one-to-one conversation with no background interference,
he can conduct a normal conversation. To do that, he has to
listen intently (unlike people with normal hearing) and read
the lips of people with whom he is conversing. His main
challenge in life is that people who talk with him one-to-one
think that with hearing aids he can hear like anyone else. That
is far wide of reality.

In one work unit, staff with whom this man worked were
told that he was hearing impaired … nothing else. When people
talked to him at a distance while he had his back towards them,
he did not respond. Frequently, people became annoyed with him
because they thought they were being ignored. They would then
shout. He’d hear the shouting and turn around to see a fellow
worker with an angry look – it’s hard to shout without looking
angry – try it. He’d then get angry because he would be confused
about why the person shouting at him was angry.

Sometimes people would talk to him as they walked along a long
corridor, or when there was background equipment working, or
noise from other voices etc. Eventually, he was moved to another
work group. This one had several foreign staff who spoke English
as a second language. It was also a work area where there was
background noise from air-conditioning and industrial machinery.
No effort was made to advise the staff how much this fellow could
hear, or how to deal with him. Within weeks, there was more
conflict and the hearing impaired man was suspended on pay and
eventually transferred yet again.

The moral of the story is that if you would ask a one-armed
what they needed to be able to work safely, effectively and
efficiently, why not do the same for a hearing impaired person?
The simple answer is that people who are not hearing impaired
have no idea what it is like and because it’s an invisible
ailment, we don’t take it so seriously.

The principle of reasonable adjustment requires that we make
reasonable adjustment for people with a disability. All the
employer reasonably needed to do was to conduct a meeting with
people from the young man’s work group and explain his level
of hearing impairment, what it meant and how to cope with it.
For example, if he had his back to you and you wanted to talk
with him, touch him on the shoulder to get his attention; if the
area was noisy, indicate with him to move somewhere quiet, and
then talk face-to-face. It could have been that easy.

If you are dealing with hearing impaired people, be considerate
enough to ask them how you can make the environment better
for them to hear. They’ll tell you what they need and what
makes it difficult for them.

In these days of anti-discrimination legislation, organisations
cannot afford not to manage these issues competently.

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INSPIRATION:

Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.
-- Alvin Toffler

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4. W O R T H A L O O K
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** NEW BALANCE – NOTHING TO DO WITH HR, BUT! **

Two of my areas of interest are walking to keep fit and
Internet design and development. If you are interested in
either, or both, you MUST visit the New Balance Internet
site. Not only does it provide an absolute cornucopia of
information about feet, shoes, tying laces, running, bones
and so on, the site design is incredible. It’s without doubt
one of the best information-based sites I have seen. You can
visit either the Australian site or the International site
in the US (both are linked).

Click now to have a look: http://www.newbalance.com you won’t
be disappointed.

** THE WONDERFUL WRITING SKILLS UNHANDBOOK **

This is a site about learning to write by writing – somewhat
corny, but there is some interesting content and some
processes which would intrigue say, high school students
wanting to improve their writing processes.

http://www.wonderfulwritingskillsunhandbook.com/index.html

** AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS LIMITED **

ABL is a member-based organisation that busineses use to connect
them with the information, people and advice they need to make
sound business decisions and stay competitive.

There is some good information here, but like many member-based
sites, you need to become a member to access everything. Have a
look and decide whether you'd like to join.

http://www.abol.net

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5. T E L L A F R I E N D OR U N S U B S C R I B E
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Until next time, stay well.