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Dear Holly,

 

Did you know that less than ½ of 1% of patents turn into products?  George Davison, founder of Inventionland, made that point recently at an event sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, and it started me thinking: What does it take to move an idea into reality? 

At a writing workshop in Iowa recently, I realized that the hard work of editing is sometimes more challenging than coming up with an idea for a piece.  

Our staff has been "editing" our service menu, too, having recognized that we need to change the way in which we provide our services, given the uncertain economy and feedback we've received from some of our most valued clients.  They've requested a fixed price for recruiting so that they are able to budget more effectively, and our smaller clients need a more predictable way of managing costs.  In response, we have designed "Finders Keepers," providing unlimited email and phone access to our library of information and consulting expertise at an affordable price. We've also re-configured our recruiting services so that expenses are more predictable, allowing our clients to select only the services they need.   

 

This September will mark our fifteen-year anniversary, and as part of the celebration, we are releasing these two new products and updating our website.  Keep an eye out for more details or call us now if you are curious.  We'll be happy to tell you about it or even make your organization one of our "beta sites". 

Superior Home Care is a Medicare-certified home health agency offering a full suite of home care services from homemaking to skilled nursing and rehabilitation.  Passionate about building relationships and providing exceptional care, Superior needed help finding a human resource director for their rapidly growing firm.  Here's what Superior's founder, Kim Pirilla-Scalise, had to say about our recent work for them:
 
"As a small business, spending our money as judiciously as possible is critical to our success.  Finding the right people to join our team as we grow is even more critical to that success.  We work in a tough industry, and our staff are what set us apart from the rest.  Finding that right person can be an expensive endeavor, both in time and money.  Knowing that, we turned to HMK for help.  Not only was HMK able to quickly respond to our special circumstances, they surpassed even our expectations by finding us an amazing fit in under two weeks.  We could never have done as well on our own.  Nine months later, and it's still one of the best decisions we ever made." 

The Buddhist concept of mindful speech tells us "To be mindful, speech must be true, timely, useful and said gently and with compassion.  If what you plan to say doesn't meet these criteria, don't say it".
 
These words apply equally to a discussion with friends and family or the provision of performance feedback to your employees.  Managers often request a form with a checklist which speeds up the process, but feedback is often misunderstood because of poor timing and the history of the relationship between the individual and his/her manager.  One great manager I know puts it nicely.  "If there are surprises for my employees in the performance appraisal process, I know I haven't been doing my job."  Make sure there are no surprises, and that feedback is provided when it is most useful - before the behavior, rather than after the fact.  
 

 

"Responsenility" - forgetfulness about your duties at home (from Brocabulary, a new book by Daniel Maurer, to be published by Harper Collins in October 2008)