Acquisition Binge can Cause Indigestion
Over-eating or bingeing is detrimental to one’s health. Similarly, over-acquisition can cause corporate indigestion such as over-leveraging, integration difficulties, cultural misfits etc. You are what you eat.While fast growth through acquisition is a thrilling experience in running businesses, it also holds much more risks than meets the eye. When the company is in trouble, some CEOs also go on a shopping spree – acquisition. It is more glamorous and exciting than trying to fix mundane turnaround issues back in the office. It takes shareholders’ attention away from the domestic problems and impressed them with expansionary programs. Rapid acquisition done in haste with inadequate homework, wrong timing, egoistic reasons and impatience for success can result in calamity.Harvard don, Michael Porter studied the success rate of 33 highly regarded companies over a 36-year period of acquisition. His data revealed that over half of the ‘unrelated’ acquisitions were later diveste

Persuasive Messages: 7 Mistakes that Kill the Sale
In 30 years of sales and public relations I've observed that communication failures are only rarely caused by some esoteric mistake. Rather, the worst and most frequent failures are caused by breaking one or more core principles. Here are the Seven Mistakes That Kill the Sale. Learn to avoid them and you will find you will get more of the results you desire. 1. FUZZY RESULT. You don't have a clear picture of the result you want the communication to produce. It's hard to persuade if you don't know exactly what you want the listener to do. The more measurable the desired action, the better you will be able to create the right messages.2. WRONG AUDIENCE. You can have a powerfully persuasive message, but if the audience is unable to give you the result you want, you're wasting both your time and the audience's. Convincing the guy who delivers your pizza that he wants to buy your Lamborghini may be easy. The likelihood he'll be able to is slim.With the introduction of the new Employment and Race directives from the European Union in 2001 it is now important that companies examine their attitudes and policies on gender, race, disability, sexuality, age, and religion. Given this context, we believe that an understanding of the legislation and its effect on company policies is important for all employees.

However, here at Impact Factory we tend to do things differently. So when we think about equality and diversity issues we don't offer a standard 'off the peg' equal opportunities training. If that is what you need we are probably the wrong company for you.

Diversity workshops

Certainly in our diversity workshops we cover legislation and each company's own internal policies, but our focus is on examining people's perspectives on difference, diversity, change and the attitudes and feelings that are sometimes difficult for people around equal opportunities programmes.

Our experience is that with this type of work people can attend a fairly mechanistic one-day event covering the legislation and company policy and leave with the feeling that the work was "bolt-on" and irrelevant to them. The organisation feels it has done what is required but little really changes back in the workplace.

If people feel unable to engage with the realities of working within a diverse, multi-cultural organisation the training isn't doing its job properly.

Bigotry happens, whether it's around race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or nationality.

Whether people want to admit or not, we are all prejudiced. We all make assumptions about others that reinforce our stereotypes; indeed we look for evidence to support our biases. We're all guilty of the occasional toss-away line that cuts deep; and we all have intolerant behaviours that are so ingrained we don't even notice we're doing them.

Not only that, each of us is the focus of someone else's prejudices and bigotry, is someone else's stereotype, is the trigger for someone else's intolerance.

Can you eliminate prejudice? No you can't.

Can you get people aware of how their prejudices affect others and help them do something about it? Absolutely.

Acknowledging the real dilemmas

For us it is important to acknowledge that people will face real dilemmas around equal opportunities issues. They need to feel equipped to cope with the human side of problems that arise and to feel able to engage with and challenge their own prejudices and stereotypes around difference. They also need to understand just how that prejudice translates into active discrimination.

What happens to people when they are excluded, harassed, bullied, passed over, ignored, isolated - not because of what they do but because of who they are?

People feel demeaned and disempowered. Their motivation falters and their stress levels increase. Most unfortunate of all, their self-esteem and confidence about who they are diminishes.

What happens to companies when any of that happens to their people?

Productivity goes down while stress-related illnesses go up. Formal complaints and tribunals become commonplace, which is

workshops

Certainly in our diversity workshops we cover legislation and each company's own internal policies, but our focus is on examining people's perspectives on difference, diversity, change and the attitudes and feelings that are sometimes difficult for people around equal opportunities programmes.

Our experience is that with this type of work people can attend a fairly mechanistic one-day event covering the legislation and company policy and leave with the feeling that the work was "bolt-on" and irrelevant to them. The organisation feels it has done what is required but little really changes back in the workplace.

If people feel unable to engage with the realities of working within a diverse, multi-cultural organisation the training isn't doing its job properly.

Bigotry happens, whether it's around race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or nationality.

Whether people want to admit or not, we are all prejudiced. We all make assumptions about others that reinforce our stereotypes; indeed we look for evidence to support our biases. We're all guilty of the occasional toss-away line that cuts deep; and we all have intolerant behaviours that are so ingrained we don't even notice we're doing them.

Not only that, each of us is the focus of someone else's prejudices and bigotry, is someone else's stereotype, is the trigger for someone else's intolerance.

Can you eliminate prejudice? No you can't.

Can you get people aware of how their prejudices affect others and help them do something about it? Absolutely.

Acknowledging the real dilemmas

For us it is important to acknowledge that people will face real dilemmas around equal opportunities issues. They need to feel equipped to cope with the human side of problems that arise and to feel able to engage with and challenge their own prejudices and stereotypes around difference. They also need to understand just how that prejudice translates into active discrimination.

What happens to people when they are excluded, harassed, bullied, passed over, ignored, isolated - not because of what they do but because of who they are?

People feel demeaned and disempowered. Their motivation falters and their stress levels increase. Most unfortunate of all, their self-esteem and confidence about who they are diminishes.

What happens to companies when any of that happens to their people?

Productivity goes down while stress-related illnesses go up. Formal complaints and tribunals become commonplace, which is

>If people feel unable to engage with the realities of working within a diverse, multi-cultural organisation the training isn't doing its job properly.

Bigotry happens, whether it's around race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or nationality.

Whether people want to admit or not, we are all prejudiced. We all make assumptions about others that reinforce our stereotypes; indeed we look for evidence to support our biases. We're all guilty of the occasional toss-away line that cuts deep; and we all have intolerant behaviours that are so ingrained we don't even notice we're doing them.

Not only that, each of us is the focus of someone else's prejudices and bigotry, is someone else's stereotype, is the trigger for someone else's intolerance.

Can you eliminate prejudice? No you can't.

Can you get people aware of how their prejudices affect others and help them do something about it? Absolutely.

Acknowledging the real dilemmas

For us it is important to acknowledge that people will face real dilemmas around equal opportunities issues. They need to feel equipped to cope with the human side of problems that arise and to feel able to engage with and challenge their own prejudices and stereotypes around difference. They also need to understand just how that prejudice translates into active discrimination.

What happens to people when they are excluded, harassed, bullied, passed over, ignored, isolated - not because of what they do but because of who they are?

People feel demeaned and disempowered. Their motivation falters and their stress levels increase. Most unfortunate of all, their self-esteem and confidence about who they are diminishes.

What happens to companies when any of that happens to their people?

Productivity goes down while stress-related illnesses go up. Formal complaints and tribunals become commonplace, which is

ch of us is the focus of someone else's prejudices and bigotry, is someone else's stereotype, is the trigger for someone else's intolerance.

Can you eliminate prejudice? No you can't.

Can you get people aware of how their prejudices affect others and help them do something about it? Absolutely.

Acknowledging the real dilemmas

For us it is important to acknowledge that people will face real dilemmas around equal opportunities issues. They need to feel equipped to cope with the human side of problems that arise and to feel able to engage with and challenge their own prejudices and stereotypes around difference. They also need to understand just how that prejudice translates into active discrimination.

What happens to people when they are excluded, harassed, bullied, passed over, ignored, isolated - not because of what they do but because of who they are?

People feel demeaned and disempowered. Their motivation falters and their stress levels increase. Most unfortunate of all, their self-esteem and confidence about who they are diminishes.

What happens to companies when any of that happens to their people?

Productivity goes down while stress-related illnesses go up. Formal complaints and tribunals become commonplace, which is

also need to understand just how that prejudice translates into active discrimination.

What happens to people when they are excluded, harassed, bullied, passed over, ignored, isolated - not because of what they do but because of who they are?

People feel demeaned and disempowered. Their motivation falters and their stress levels increase. Most unfortunate of all, their self-esteem and confidence about who they are diminishes.

What happens to companies when any of that happens to their people?

Productivity goes down while stress-related illnesses go up. Formal complaints and tribunals become commonplace, which is an awful waste of people's emotional energies and time. And they can cost companies a lot of money to boot.

You'll never stamp out discrimination entirely, but you can make a very effective dent in its power.

The most successful diversity trainings help people to develop reflective thinking, empathy, understanding, raised awareness, sensitivity, an understanding of consequences and a desire to be fair. Skills that will assist them in extending equality of opportunity. Skills that will also help them when they themselves are the victims of discrimination.

Impact Factory's starting point during the design stage of an equal opportunities programme is always to ask, what has prompted your organization to think about this type of work now? Is it simply the concern about meeting legislative requirements, or do you believe there are real attitudes and practices within the company that need to change?

Additionally we look at a company's own values on difference and diversity. Again, if they are there simply to meet requirements, then any number of programmes won't shift things. However, if it's a company that values its values then the possibility for change is enormous.

This is the real difference between commitment and lip service.

Culture Clashes

When people operate from their prejudices, they create culture clashes. Cross-cultural issues exist everywhere; they exist in every aspect of our lives.

Here's our take on it: a culture clash of some sort occurs as soon as two people get together, since no two people, even family members, have the same internal world or the same view of the external world. In the broadest sense, you 'cross' cultures with every person you come into contact with, whether they are the 'same' as you nor not.

In a workplace that celebrates differences, people accommodate, sublimate or ignore these different 'cultures' because of common ground, shared goals and like interests. When people concentrate on similarities, the differences are less noticeable, or at any rate, less important. Once we get a certain amount of common ground, we can 'get along'.

Difficulties usually arise when the differences appear to be all there is, or you experience or imagine the differences as stumbling blocks. Indeed, differences appear like rocks at low tide! Obvious ones are language, ethnic or racial background, religious beliefs, gender, age, education.

In the workplace all these may be the cause of culture clashes, and then you add differences in working practises and com