Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 23)

Building Commitments
by
Charles Lamson

Keilty, Goldsmith, and Boone have performed extensive research in identifying and defining the qualities that make managers successful in helping their clients apply those qualities that make managers successful, and helping their clients apply those qualities within their own corporation or organization. As frequently happens, some individuals are admired and respected for the way they manage others, but the reasons for their success are not always apparent. Building on the work of McKinsey and Company, the internationally respected management consulting firm, and through their experience with many excellent companies and managers, they have developed valuable insights and a very useful model concerning managerial excellence, the Five Key Commitments model, shown in Figure 1. The essential qualities and relationships necessary for successful management can be explained and understood in terms of commitment, a characteristic common to all individuals recognized for managerial excellence.

Figure 1 The Five Key Commitments Model

Managers carry out their tasks in an interpersonal world. Other people continually view the manager's manner, bearing, and conduct. From their observations, they form impressions of the manager's values, beliefs, and attitudes. Excellent managers make a powerful and positive impression on others because they blend a set of positive beliefs with an equally appropriate set of positive behaviors. These beliefs and actions form "commitments." The most effective managers share a fundamentally similar set of five commitments. These are:

• Commitment to the customer
• Commitment to the organization
• Commitment to self
• Commitment to people
• Commitment to task

Separately, each commitment is extremely important to effective management. Together, these commitments form the essential framework for long-term achievement of managerial excellence. True excellence seems to result from genuine dedication and positive service in all five areas in commitment.

Commitment to the Customer

The first and probably most important management commitment focuses on the customer. Excellent managers strive to provide useful service to customers. A customer is defined as anyone who rightly should benefit from the work of a manager's unit. For some managers, their work directly affects the external customer. For other managers, the essential customer is internal. For example, employees in one unit often serve members of another unit in the same organization. Whether the customer is primarily external or internal, the key to this commitment is service. The two primary ways in which an excellent manager demonstrates strong commitment to the customer are serving the customer and building customer importance.

Serving the customer boils down to consistent, conscientious dedication to customer needs. This requires responsiveness to customers through continually encouraging and listening to input from the people who use the manager's services or products. Clear, current identification of customer needs is necessary to genuinely serve the customer. In addition to knowing the customer and the needs of the customer, the excellent manager acts to solve customer problems in a timely manner. "Research has estimated that four out of five quality improvement efforts initiated by North American companies have either failed or experienced false starts," according to Tom Keiser, former president of the Forum Corporation. He and many others point the finger of responsibility at upper management. "Why do so many companies stumble? . . . Top management is often underinvolved in the effort. When they delegate the effort to lower levels of the organization, it inevitably fails."

Building customer importance means presenting the customer in a positive manner to those who actually provide service to the customer. The customer is not always appreciated by others within an organization. In fact, some employees view the customer as a necessary evil. To these employees, the customer is the source of most problems and often is viewed as someone to be tolerated. Excellent managers build customer importance by (1) clearly communicating the importance of the customer to employees, (2) treating the customer as a top priority, and (3) prohibiting destructive comments about the people who use their work group's products or services.

Robert Wayland and Paul Cole offer the following examples of principles an organization should adopt to acquire and retain loyal customers.

• Customers are assets. Understand, nurture, and protect their lifetime value.
• Products come and go; customers are forever (you hope!).
• Know what you are really selling. Focus on the total customer experience, not just the sale.
• Customers relate to people, not companies. Empowered employees excite customers.
• Expectations are more important than explanations. Point your customer information system forward, not backward.
• Customers are known by the company they keep. Build a strong brand.

Commitment to the Organization

The second management commitment focuses on the organization. Effective managers personally project pride in their organizations. They also instill the same pride in others. A manager positively demonstrates this commitment in three ways: building the organization, supporting higher management, and operating by the basic organizational values.

Building the organization is achieved by constantly presenting the organization in a positive way. Most people lose their motivation if they are ashamed of where they work or are embarrassed by what they do. They want to be part of something positive. The excellent manager builds support for what the organization does and effectively prevents destructive comments.

Supporting higher management is essential to the loyalty any organization needs in order to function. Excellent managers add value to the organization by showing and inspiring this necessary loyalty. These managers view their position in the organization as involving  a dual responsibility. The first responsibility is to actively challenge and lead "up" in the organization. The excellent manager takes decisions from above in the organization, makes them work, and expects others to do likewise. This manager does not blame higher management or pass the buck. The excellent manager's behavior strengthens the organization's ability to implement decisions and achieve objectives.

Operating by the basic organizational values clearly communicates the importance of what the organization stands for. A difficult aspect of managerial excellence is living the values of the organization, especially when those values are challenged during trying times. If an organization has a clearly defined and communicated set of basic beliefs, it is the manager's responsibility to function in a manner consistent with those fundamental beliefs. Managers are the clearest models of what the organization stands for. The excellent manager lives up to this challenge and this commitment.


Commitment to Self

The third management commitment focuses on the manager personally. Excellent managers present a strong, positive image of others. They act as a positive force in all situations. This attitude is not to be mistaken as self-serving or selfish. Excellent managers are seen as individuals who combine strength with a sense of humility. Commitment to self is evidenced in three specific activities: demonstrating autonomy, building self as a manager, and accepting constructive criticism.

Demonstrating autonomy is an important dimension for an effective manager. Within their own organizational units, excellent managers act as though they're running their own business. They take responsibility and ownership for decisions. They stand up for personal beliefs. When taking risks, they are reasonable and more concerned with achieving excellence than with "playing it safe."



Building self as a manager deals with the self-image a manager projects to others. Excellent managers appear confident and self-assured. They act on the basis of total integrity. They do not belittle or overplay their own accomplishments. It becomes obvious to others that these managers belong in their jobs. Excellent managers live up to the faith others place in them. They act on the basis of honesty and expressly behave with exceptional integrity.

Accepting constructive criticism forms a balance with the first two aspects of a positive commitment to self. Many people act autonomously and worthy of their positions. It is the truly excellent manager who remains receptive to criticism or comment in order to become even better. Excellent managers demonstrate long-term ability to admit mistakes, encourage and accept constructive criticism, and, avoid recrimination and adverse reaction. In other words, after receiving personal feedback, excellent managers do not "shoot the messenger" or discount the message. It is not easy to graciously accept criticism. However, the ability to listen and to act positively to improve oneself is essential to sustain personal excellence over time.


Commitment to People

The fourth management commitment focuses on the work team and individual group members. Excellent managers display a dedication to the people who work for them. This commitment denotes the manager's use of the proper style of leadership to help individuals succeed in their tasks. Figure 2 reinforces the developmental process of matching leadership style to the ability and motivation of individuals. Positive commitment to people is demonstrated daily by a manager's willingness to spend the necessary time and energy working with people. Specifically, three vital activities constitute this commitment: showing positive concern and recognition, giving developmental feedback, and encouraging innovative ideas.

Figure 2 Using the Leadership Style That Fits

Showing positive concern and recognition focuses on the positive aspects of making people feel and act like winners by rewarding and reinforcing their performance. It also involves the creation of an environment in which people treat each other with courtesy and respect. For example, destructive comments concerning other people are not acceptable.

Giving developmental feedback is a realistic method of dealing with individual performance failure or setback. People sometimes fail to live up to positive expectations. The excellent manager is willing to intervene when performance does not meet established standards. Using honest feedback, the excellent manager works with the individual to reestablish realistic performance goals. Also, the manager is willing to take the time to guide and coach the individual to improve performance.

Encouraging innovative ideas demonstrates interest in others and stimulates individual and group progress. This positive action is often the difference between successful work teams and those that stagnate or disintegrate. The excellent manager taps into the full capacity of people through such common sense actions as listening to others' ideas, providing opportunities to test ideas, and directing the credit for a successful idea to its originator. These actions tend to create a desirable atmosphere of confidence, accomplishment, and trust.


Part of this commitment to people includes recognizing diversity within your workforce and addressing its issues openly and with compassion. James Houghton of Corning, Inc., predicts:

Unless [corporate America] wants to have a very limited pool of talent available we must learn to value and encourage a truly diverse workforce. Companies who do allow women, minorities, and foreign nationals to grow and contribute their potential (i.e., smashing the glass ceiling) will have a distinct competitive advantage. Our diversity as a nation can really work for us if we let it.

Commitment to the Task

The fifth management commitment concentrates on the tasks that need to be done. Successful managers give meaning and relevance to the tasks people perform. They provide focus and direction, assuring successful completion of tasks. The durability of a manager's excellence is demonstrated through the sustained high performance of the organizational unit managed. This commitment is achieved by keeping the right focus, keeping it simple, being action-oriented, and building task importance.

Keeping the right focus refers to maintaining the proper perspective on tasks. The excellent manager concentrates everyone's attention on what is most important. That is determined through knowledge and support of the organization's overall mission. The excellent manager consistently ties individual objectives into larger organizational goals.

Keeping it simple entails breaking work down into achievable components while avoiding unnecessary complications and procedures. The excellent manager fully considers objectives, tasks, and human capabilities, thus restraining the natural tendency to try to accomplish too much. Focus is clearly centered on major objectives within organizational priorities.



Being action-oriented is simply described as accomplishing. Excellent managers get things done. They execute. They maintain positive momentum. Realistic deadlines are set and met. People are encouraged to take action, and a sense of positive direction and accomplishment results.

Building task performance is the element that completes the fabric of managerial excellence. The excellent manager plays up the importance of the work. Excellence in task achievement is an expected result. Continuous excellence becomes the hallmark of the manager and the group.


Managerial Excellence

Consistently applied, the five commitments are the keys to effective management. The manager is the critical link among the commitments. The excellent manager takes a personal perspective with regard to the commitments (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 The Central Perspective of the Manager

The excellent manager is central to the process of developing and containing commitments. By taking personal responsibility and acting as a positive force, the manager can strongly influence the organization and its people, tasks, and customers. The active involvement and personal integrity of excellent managers flow to others. Excellent companies have long realized that "they are their people." What separates the excellent companies from the rest appears to be that they simply are made up of a greater number of individual managers acting as models of excellence.

These excellent managers recognize that their own task is to build specific commitments to the customer, organization, key tasks, people, and themselves. For each commitment, they build proper attitudes and demonstrate positive caring and concern. Building commitments becomes the responsibility of every employee, not just the manager. The excellent manager lives by the five commitments and works in concert with others to build commitments. Sustaining and replicating excellence is a reinforcing cyclical process based on the five key commitments (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 The Commitments As a Reinforcing Cycle

Fundamentally, these commitments are built through dedication and service. When the excellent manager demonstrates genuine dedication and service to employees, they demonstrate a dedication and commitment to their tasks. This dedication to task excellence forms the basis for a strong dedication and service to the customer. The net result is that the customer benefits. As the customer profits, so does the organization. Customers maintain the organization's health and vitality through the same kind of dedication and loyalty to the organization. An organization experiencing continued customer loyalty is then in a position to build loyalty and dedication to its management by providing the tools for management's continued success. Long-term excellence is not a mystery. It is the result of building commitments.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 363-374*

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Economic Management: Maximizing Organizational Effectiveness (part 1 - The Podcast)

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Planning Pays: Economics and Personal Finance (part 12 - the conclusion (podcast))

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How to Start a Home Care Business: The Proposal (part 8)

Hey Everybody!

It's me again, Charles Lamson, Editor and Chief Writer of The Rant. So it's been awhile since my last installment of How to Start a Home Care Business. I got a little side-trekked. I got about as far as I could go on the home care business plan for seniors and disabled adults, who wish to remain in a community setting. I really needed help and instruction and didn't know how to proceed. I didn't know what to put in my proposal. I saw that there was a training and orientation class I could go to in September in Jefferson City about 90 minutes from here, but being poor and disabled, I really didn't know how I could make it down there. So I decided to back off that plan for a bit and let the universe work its magic and somehow help me out with this situation.

It was at this time that I met my new business partner, Tonya. We thought maybe it would be a good idea to lay off the home care business for a bit and focus more on starting a non-emergency medical transportation service for seniors and adults with disabilities. We thought it might actually be easier and take less time to get the transportation business up and running, because with the home care business we have to create this rather lengthy proposal which is basically the business plan showing how we will structure, run, and grow our new business. And then, even before we submit our finished proposal, due to the large influx of providers submitting proposals, and many instances of payroll taxes and unemployment contributions not being paid for Medicaid consumers; MMAC (Missouri Medicaid Audit & Compliance) is requiring that all potential CDS (consumer directed services) providers (which is what Tonya and I are)  attend CDS orientation training prior to submitting a proposal. Documentation of attendance will be required for all proposals received by MMAC after March 1, 2019. And then after we submit the proposal, again due to the large influx of CDS providers submitting proposals, it will take about six months to get our proposal approved by the state, barring no corrections or clarifications need to be made on our part.

So bearing all this in mind, Tonya and I thought it might be faster and easier to start a business as Medicaid providers of non-emergency medical transportation services to seniors and adults with disabilities to help them get to doctors' appointments and medical procedures.

Well, after a lot of in-depth research and investigating, we came to the conclusion that we were mistaken. There is no softer, easier way to get started in either business and to get any kind of loan for start up money, we were going to have to buckle down and write out a good clear, concise business plan, and we figured it would probably be easier for us to go back and focus on getting the home care business up and running first, especially considering that we would need to worry about getting enough start up money for a small fleet of handicapped accessible transport vehicles, and getting them all insured, and all that.

 In starting any kind of legitimate business, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and go through a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, before you are up and running, but when you are trying to start a business that takes money from state Medicaid, it is even more bureaucracy to deal with.

You can go to all the Missouri Department of Social Services Medicaid Provider web sites and get some education from there, but it is total information overload. It is like trying to take a drink of water from a fire-hose. So I contacted this lady from the state and she put things in a simple step-by-step way. First thing I have to do to enroll as a Medicaid provider with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services was to write my proposal, which is basically a business plan for the home care business I want to create.

So, I got an okay start on the business plan by going to the Small Business Administration's website, sba.gov, and following a template they have for a business plan. I just really got to a point where I had no idea how to proceed. I needed help so I went back to some earlier parts of this proposal that were posted on this blog to figure out what I'm supposed to put into this proposal. I remembered the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had links for Medicaid provider instructional training and orientation classes.

So I went to my blog to check out some of the earlier parts of this series of articles on how to start a home care business. I found this link IHS (In Home Services) and CDS (Consumer Directed Services) Proposal Information, and at this site I found this link, Provider Certification Training. Clicking on that brought me to a site entitled IHS Designated Manager Training & CDS Orientation.

So, at this point, we had to decide whether we wanted IHS Designated Manager Training or CDS Orientation. For brevity's sake, I won't go into all the reasons why, but we figured things might be a bit simpler if we made our business a consumer directed services company.

So at this site here is what I learned about CDS Orientation Training.

CDS Orientation Training

Due to the large influx of CDS providers submitting proposals and many instances of payroll taxes and unemployment contributions not being paid for Medicaid consumers; MMAC is requiring that all potential CDS providers attend CDS Orientation training prior to submitting a proposal. Documentation of attendance will be required for all proposals received by MMAC after March 1, 2019.

Current CDS providers are also encouraged to attend the CDS presentations, pending availability of seats. Priority will be given to providers that have not yet submitted a proposal.

TrainingThe training sessions will be available every other month throughout 2019.

Pre-registration is required but there is no cost to attend.  The training will consist of a three hour presentation of the CDS program, proposal submission, applicable rules and regulations, responsibility of the vendor agency (payroll, taxes, employment contributions and security background screenings), and general guidance regarding the CDS program.  The training will start at 9:00 and end at noon.  A MMAC representative will be available after the training to answer questions.

RegistrationPre-registration is required because space is limited. The online registration form must be filled out completely.  Once the training date has reached capacity, the date will no longer be available for selection.  The next session will not be made available until after the current training has taken place.

Registration link: CDS Orientation Trainin

So I clicked on that registration link and registered for the September 24, 2019 training session. That is a little over two months away. Hopefully I can get some good useful information there and make some contacts with people who are more knowledgeable in this area, than Tonya and I. In the meantime, I'm going to keep doing research at the Missouri Department of Social Services website for more information for Medicaid providers of consumer directed home care services for seniors and disabled adults who wish to stay in a community setting, and doing what work I can on my own in creating this business plan, until I can hopefully get some assistance at this upcoming orientation.

*SOURCE: https://mmac.mo.gov/providers/hcbs-provider-certification-training/*

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Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 22)

Semantic Noise
by
Charles Lamson

In the context of communication, the perceptual process creates semantic noise, also known as word noise. Ogden and Richards (1949), in their classic text The Meaning of Meaning, created a triangle (see Figure 1) that shows:

When we speak, the symbolism we employ is caused partly by the reference we are making and partly by social and psychological factors---the purpose for which we are making the reference, the proposed effect of our symbols on other persons, and our own attitude.

When we hear what is said, the symbols both cause us to perform an act of reference and to assume an attitude which will, according to the circumstances, be more or less similar to the act and the attitude of the speaker.

Figure 1 Triangle of Meaning

Source: C.K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, The Meaning of Meaning (1949), p. 10.

We see or hear an object and then think about how to categorize or define the symbol or object, and we name that symbol or object. All of this occurs while we study the context of the situation, including who or what transmitted the symbol or object, deciding our relationship with the person or thing involved, checking our past experiences with the symbol or object, and many other things that go into the brain in a split second.

The bottom of the triangle has a dotted line showing that for most symbols or objects, there is no direct referent. Corporations would like to think that this is not true as evidenced by the amount of money spent to create logos or ideas so that customers  would immediately identify the name for a symbol or object. However, a yellow shaped "M" can still represent something other than McDonald's, a peace sign is not a rabbit head, and a ram's head can be a referent for the Rocky Mountains instead of Dodge. Very effective symbols, frequently repeated, can be quickly identified. An octogonal red sign with a white stripe around the border with large white letters that spell S-T-O-P does the job most of the time.

Problems occur when one of two conditions is present. If there are multiple referents for a symbol or object, a follower may use one that the speaker did not intend to be used. An executive may urge the organization to become more efficient. What does efficient mean? Faster? Better output? Less time off? More cost-effective? Followers may interpret the executive's remarks as a signal for future layoffs, although the executive was urging watching the expenses to avoid future layoffs---one simple word, two opposite interpretations.

A classic example of too many referents was experienced by Chevrolet when it marketed the Nova in Spanish-speaking countries. Nova in Spanish means, "No go," which not only shows semantic noise, but also shows a direct relationship to sales.

The second way that semantic noise may occur is when there is no referent for a symbol or object. The music associated with "Intel Inside" is widely known. However, if a person is not computer literate, the music has no referent. A person joins a new company. The slang, terms, and abbreviations used in the company must be taught to the new employee or semantic noise will occur.

Jay A. Conger, of Mcgill University, reinforces the need for careful word selection, use of paralanguage (see Figure 2), and nonverbal behavior to inspire others. Leadership is more than having technical and conceptual skills; leadership involves capturing the hearts and minds of followers.

Figure 2 What Is Paralanguage?

Conger cites the well-known story of two stonemasons to support his view of the motivational aspect of leadership. When one of the stonemasons was asked what he was doing, the reply was: "I am cutting stone." When the other mason was asked, his reply was: "I am building a great cathedral." Leaders must build "great cathedrals" with their communications. Conger's guidelines for more expressive, inspirational leadership include:

1. Craft your organization's mission statement around the basic deeply held values, beliefs, and societal purposes of the organization.
2. Use  key elements of the organization's culture, e.g., stories, analogies, metaphors, when you are communicating the mission into action.
3. Use rhetorical techniques such as paralanguage and nonverbal behavior.
4. Show your emotions to reflect your personal feelings and concern.

Conger summarizes his views of the leader as a communicator: "It is important that . . . leaders see their role as 'meaning makers.' They must pick from the rough materials of reality to construct great pictures of great possibilities. . . .  If you, as a leader can make an appealing dream seem like tomorrow's reality, your [employees] will freely choose to follow you."

The last couple parts of this analysis has looked at external and internal noise. Effective leaders need to understand that they cannot influence others if the message they are sending is interrupted or disregarded due to these common factors. Leaders must create the appropriate environment to diminish external noise and clarify terminology to decrease internal noise. Once this is accomplished leaders will be able to meet two key goals in the communication process: influence and effectiveness. The leader can measure the influence of the communication through the amount of action or change in the receiver caused by the message. The fit between the message received and the readiness of the receiver to accept it will determine whether the leader exerts positive or negative influence. Effectiveness can be evaluated by how closely the influence of the message reflects the intentions of the sender: In other words, is the receiver influenced in the manner intended by the leader? Effectiveness, therefore, is a measure of reception coupled with understanding.

Communication is much more difficult when there is a difference of opinion between employee and supervisor than there is when they agree. Laura Carrol has developed a program for employees to use when they wish to communicate a problem to an employer or coworker to get a negative situation resolved. The series of steps she has outlined concern effective communication. Foremost is the idea of creating a thought process that fosters an understanding of what the problem is and how best it can be resolved. She suggests that the employee see the problem from the other person's point of view and make certain that the "facts" of the situation are true from both viewpoints. If this can be done, then there exists a level, nonjudgmental, playing field from which solutions can arise without hurt feelings and misgivings. This is what the communication process is all about: respect for yourself, your ideas, and those of the other person. The key for an effective leader to accomplish these goals is to be aware of their own internal noise and the role it can play with their own listening abilities.

Leaders spend more time communicating than doing any other single activity, yet studies show that many have not had a great deal of training in developing their ability to communicate effectively. Research also shows that people spend about 45 percent of their communication time listening. Even so, the average listener understands and retains only about half of what is said immediately after a presentation. And within 48 hours, this level drops off to 22 percent.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, PGS. 302-305*

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Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 21)

External and Internal Noise

by

Charles Lamson

External noise is noise that occurs outside the brain of the decoder. Examples include your stomach growling during a meeting, a tree growing and blocking your company's sign, watching a newsbreak on television, or being interrupted by a phone call and not paying attention to the caller. All of these things are external noise because they can distract from the communication. An effective leader must be aware of possible external factors that could interfere with the communication and act accordingly to minimize those factors. For example, instead of talking next to a punch press, an effective leader would find a quieter place to communicate with the followers.

Internal noise can be created in at least four different ways. First, internal noise occurs because we each have a brain. If a person is talking at 125 words per minute and you have the ability to listen effectively at 200 words per minute and the ability to think at a much higher word per minute rate, your brain decides to use the "free" word per minute spaces to do other things.

Paul Cameron, a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, conducted a study with 85 college sophomores. An associate made a loud noise 21 times during professor Cameron's lectures over the length of the course. The students had been told that they needed to encode their thoughts at that time. The results reported to the American Psychological Association showed that 20 percent of the students were reminiscing about something, 20 percent were thinking about romance, 20 percent were actually paying attention, 12 percent were actively listening, and the rest were worrying, daydreaming, thinking about lunch, or thinking about religion. In other words, 88 percent of this population were not actively involved in the lecture due to internal noise. Imagine what occurs during a committee meeting.

Second, external noises can also cause internal noise. Your stomach or another person's stomach growling may produce thoughts in the brain that cry out for lunch instead of paying attention to the discussion. The overwhelming smell of perfume or cologne may cause multiple reactions in your brain, from romance to revulsion. If you are focused on a breaking news story, you may not remember a phone conversation. And, there may be so much noise on, for example, the factory floor that the follower would not even bother to listen.



The third way internal noise can be created is through the perception process of individuals involved in the communication. Every person has a distinct method for selecting, organizing, and interpreting verbal or nonverbal cues (Coon, 1992). For example, a person hears the term "leader" during a presentation. This term may evoke different thoughts in different people. A person who disliked a previous leader would interpret the term in a negative way; a person who admired a previous leader would think of the term positively. Internal noise can then be created as the former person would begin to think of the disliked leader; the other person would begin to think of the admired leader with neither paying any attention to the communicative acts occurring around them.

The fourth way internal noise can be created is through the perceptual process. People do not behave on the basis of truth and reality. Their behavior is evoked from their perception and interpretation of truth and reality. These perceptions and interpretations are the product of information taken in through the senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. So much information comes in that people cannot attend to it all. Through selective awareness, psychological maps are formed from only part of the information. Behavior is based on these maps. And the maps affect what people perceive. Communication effectiveness is enhanced if you understand the way people map their psychological worlds.

People use their psychological maps to make decisions, to get around in life. However, the map is not the territory. It is based upon perceptions of that territory. And these perceptions differ from person to person.



Here is an example of how perception affects behavior. Some friends made a reservation at a seaside restaurant that has a world famous view of the ocean and the crashing surf. Their reservations were for 7:00 P.M., but they arrived a little early. To their dismay, they watched as other groups entered the restaurant and were seated. Time passed, and it was now 7:10 P.M. Convinced that they had been snubbed or ignored by the management of the restaurant, they were about to make an angry complaint to the maitre d' when he approached. "May I seat you now?" he said, as he led them to one of the best tables, where they had a spectacular view. "I am sorry for the delay, but the previous party just wouldn't leave!" The friends' perception was opposite of what was really happening. Instead of snubbing them, the restaurant management was doing its best to seat them at a table with an excellent view. Had the situation been explained earlier, they would not have been so impatient, and they would have perceived the situation entirely differently.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 300-302*

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REVERE RADIO NETWORK: RISE OF THE PHOENIX??? WTF (An Analysis of the New Revere Radio Network - part 4)

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How Cleveland played a vital role in the Apollo 11 mission to the ...

... initiating all space missions and it was he who came up with the name "Apollo" after reading a book of Greek mythology one night at home.

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With over 3 billion searches every month and 5 billion videos being watched every day around the world, Youtube has become the second largest search engine. Around 100 videos are uploaded every minute. It has become so popular that everyone wants to earn money from Youtube.

Thousands of people are currently making videos about their life, career, travel, experience, and they even vlog about their life. Becoming a successful Youtuber looks easy, but it requires a lot of hard work and consistency. However, if you are already a video creator, you may be looking for ways to earn money from Youtube.


3 Ways to Make Money from Youtube

1. Youtube Partnership Program (Adsense)

Adsense is the easiest and the most common way to earn money on Youtube. Adsense shows the ad on your videos. When a viewer clicks on the ad, you earn money. The best way to earn more money is to increase the viewership of your video. Youtube partner program is a provision through which popular channels can earn money from their videos. In addition to that, it allows video creators to monetize their content on Youtube. There are various requirements in order to become a partner.

Here are the eligibility criteria of the Youtube Partnership Program:

• Your channel should follow all the policies and guidelines
• You should only have 1 AdSense
• You should have at least 1000 subscribers
• You should have more than 4000 public watch hours
• You should have linked an approved AdSense account

If you are eligible for the YouTube Partnership Program, the next step, monetizing, is pretty easy.

Follow these steps to get your Youtube channel monetized:

• Select your account icon - Creator Studio in the top right corner
• Select Channel - Status and features in the left menu
• Click Enable Under "Monetization"
• To accept the YouTube Partner Program Terms, follow the on-screen steps

Next, set up an Adsense account or sign up for it via YouTube. Adsense allows you to run ads on your Youtube videos and you will earn money based on the number of impressions your video will get. Additionally, you will get paid when someone clicks or watches your ad. However, the amount you will earn from Youtube AdSense will totally depend on several factors such as the popularity of your channel, amount of viewers, watch time/viewer retention, CPM/CPC, and so on. In addition to that, Youtube takes up to 45% of your ad revenue.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Besides using affiliate marketing on your blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc., you can do affiliate marketing on Youtube as well and earn money. To become an affiliate marketer, all you need to do is pick up the right product, make a video on it and add the affiliate links or codes in the description.

With these links or codes, your viewer will get some discount and  you will get paid for referring them the product. One of the  largest affiliate programs is the Amazon Affiliate Program and is the best to start with. However, smaller brands and companies also offer an affiliate program. Remember, each program will take a small percentage of commission as a sale.

Furthermore, your earning will completely depend upon how many views you're getting. There are a few things you can do to increase your videos views, such as create content, share your videos on social media; namely, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., share your content on relevant websites, be consistent with your videos, enter eye-catching thumbnails, and so on.

You can also use your videos to build a list by creating an email marketing campaign with a tool like Kartra that handles everything within building out a complete campaign from landing pages, sequencing the emails, and more.

3. Third Party Sponsorship

Youtube sponsored videos are those where you take money from companies for promoting their products or services. Sponsors will pay you a decent amount of money to promote their products or services and give you a link. When someone will buy from that link, you will earn the extra commission from them. If you have a good number of followers, the brand will pay you to endorse their product or services.

A lot of Youtube creators earn money through sponsorship.

Product sponsorship can be something where a brand sends you product or provides a service free of cost and in return, you do a video for them. When approaching a company for a sponsorship or a brand deal, you need to work out the details in the proposal you're going to present. Make sure you know your audience well, and the brand you're approaching. It may take a long time to make a deal. Meanwhile, keep working on creating great content, increasing viewers and subscribers, and build traffic to your channel; a great way to draw the attention of companies toward your channel.

Once you get the sponsorship opportunities, it is very important for you to figure out how much you want to charge. There are a lot of pricing models, but it is highly recommended that you start with a flat fee system, which is best when you are a newbie.

Some of the platforms where you can connect with brands, and which can help you with some sponsorship videos, are Famebit, Channel Pages, Grapevine, and Izea.

Here are some things to keep in mind before starting sponsorship videos:

• Make sure you know what your niche is and who is your target audience.
• Build high-quality content video. Come up with new ideas to attract your subscribers.
• Identify the right companies. All people can't be your target market. It's a good idea to first identify the industries and companies to reach out to.
• Before going to big companies, reach out to the smaller ones. There are small companies who are looking for collaboration.

Creating quality content is key. You can attract viewers by creating a lot of high-quality creative content. The more viewers you attract, the more money you will earn.

Nowadays, a lot of people are using Youtube to make money, and if you think you can create good content, you can be one of them. All you have to do is come up with a great idea and be consistent with your work. Creating Youtube videos require a lot of time and dedication. Follow these 3 ways to earn money from Youtube.

*SOURCE: http://revereradionetwork.com/3-strategies-for-making-money-from-youtube/*

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