Later this month, tens of thousands of restaurant professionals will gather in Chicago for the National Restaurant Association‘s annual show. The foodservice industry’s largest trade show consists of four days filled with education sessions, demonstrations and an expansive show floor packed with exhibitors showing off the latest restaurant trends and technology. This year’s show kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 16 with education sessions including "Recruiting, Hiring and Training in Non-Traditional Settings," and "The Art and Science of Site Selection." Over the course of the show, sessions will cover a range of topics, from nutrition and sustainability to franchising and workforce engagement. The daylong Restaurant Finance Summit will return to the show this year, with a keynote address by Russ Bendel, chief executive of The Habit Burger Grill. The popular beer, wine and spirits portion of the show will operate under a new name starting this year. Formerly known as the International Wine, Spirits and Beer event, attendees can visit the Beverage Alcohol for Restaurants (BAR) area of the show May 17 and 18. Buffalo Wild Wings President and CEO Sally Smith will deliver a keynote address Sunday morning, and the semi-finals for the Star of the Bar competition will take place right on the show floor. Three finalists will move on to the final round at Restaurants Rock at Chicago’s House of Blues. Restaurants Rock will celebrate its fifth year as the NRA Show’s official after party, where attendees can mix and mingle after the show. Chef, restaurateur and host of Food Network’s The Kitchen Geoffrey Zakarian will host the party this year. Show-goers can also catch Zakarian at the World Culinary Showcase, along with other top chefs such as Rick Bayless, Elizabeth Falkner, Jeff Mauro and Maneet Chauhan. New to the show this year, Startup Alley will give restaurant technology startups a chance to display their innovative products and ideas. Attendees should look out for companies including in-store audio platform Storestreams and delivery service Doordash. Some other don’t-miss attractions at the show: the Alternative BiteStyle pavilion focused on special diets, answers to your sustainability questions at the Conserve Solutions Center and the 3D Printing Zone, where attendees can see 3D printers in action and get a taste of geometric sweets. Are you attending the show this year? What sessions, booths and bites are you most looking forward to? Tell us about it in the comments. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing.   Related Posts: Q&A: Championship BBQ in Chicago celebrates 18 years of fighting child hunger Accurate nutrition info, training are essential as restaurants prepare for menu labeling 3 fast casual execs share their secrets to success NRA to dish up 4 days of tastes, trends and hot foodie topics Q-and-A: Health care law update with NRA’s Randy Spicer NRA Show 2015 to serve up 4 days of food and beverage education originally published by SmartBlogs

Welcome to SmartBrief Education’s original content series about the unique stories of teacherpreneurs. These are the innovative individuals confronting challenges, creating solutions and bringing them to market.  "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."- Lao Tzu I’ve always had an innate sense for helping others, a desire to assist and spring into action when an opportunity arises. Starting my career as a kindergarten teacher, there was no shortage of opportunities for helping. There was helping to build routines, helping to facilitate friendships, helping to thwart off homesickness, helping to tie shoes and zip coats and certainly helping to build foundational academic skills. The joy I found in teaching and learning was the ability to help these little minds develop, process and understand the world around them. What I had not anticipated was the amount of helping that would take place with my colleagues as my career continued as a classroom teacher. While asking for help as a child is seemingly natural, it is much more difficult as an adult. Perhaps this stems from a fear of being embarrassed by preconceived notions of what we "should" already know as adults. Whatever the case, I began to notice patterns of my colleagues asking questions in private, rather than in large groups or team meetings, particularly when it came to technology, the topic that seemed to have the ability to paralyze even master teachers. As a technology enthusiast who always dabbled with gadgets and software, especially in my classroom, my desire for helping others was magnified in this space of confusion, embarrassment and concern surrounding teachers’ use of technology. I became a resource for these colleagues looking for answers, assistance or just assurance in their journey with technology. I discovered that adults need to know, just as our students do, that wherever they are on their learning journey is OK; everyone needs a place to start from in order to move forward. My passion for teaching was amplified through these experiences, pushing me forward to roles that allowed me to take a more formal approach to working with my colleagues. After three years in the classroom, I transitioned into a media specialist role where I was able to specifically focus on helping teachers integrate technology into their classrooms. This focus was especially beneficial as I was able to continually see how assisting teachers at this level impacted students in the classroom. I was able to see growth in student engagement and interaction, better communication between teachers, students and parents, and a new level of differentiation in the classroom through the use of technology tools. The common thread that continued through these experiences was the need to reassure and approach these "teachable moments" with my colleagues as, customized conversations personal to their individual journey. There was no black and white approach to technology integration, recognizing the unique needs of learners (both students and teachers) and making it relevant to their own situation. Even with the myriad of technology tools (software and hardware) available for use, the approach to understanding and integrating these into the classroom was a very grey area. My interest in how these resources could be used to inform instruction and enhance the student learning experience propelled me further in my professional journey as I transitioned out of a direct instructional role to an administrative role where I served as the district’s executive director for technology. From this new vantage point, I observed magnified levels of my previous discoveries and became more aware of the grey that existed within education technology products. From the design and development to the selling and purchasing, I often felt myself tilting my head inquisitively wondering if these products "to help learners" were designed in isolation or with the input and clarity of teacher thought. After we developed an enormously successful and well-respected 1:1 program in our district, we became sought-after as thought leaders in this space. Appealing to my desire to help others, I was enchanted with consulting and coaching others in their journeys even when I was frustrated by other districts because they were trying to apply the "black and white" template, rather than individualizing the grey of their own situation. Through these experiences the idea of our company, GreyED Solutions, was born as an effort to address the need for personalized assistance in helping districts to create a blueprint for their planned success in reaching and visioning their instructional technology goals. My experiences as an educator have been invaluable on the entrepreneurial journey, grounding my work and serving as a guide along the way. For those who share the entrepreneurial spirit and wish to embark on this type of journey, stay connected to your educator roots and draw from your teacher toolbox: Monitor and adjust. Just as you do with instruction in your classroom every day, monitor and adjust your business according to market demands, customer feedback and upcoming opportunities. Personalize and differentiate. Adapt your offerings and services based on the individual needs of clients meeting them where they are at, just as you would address the variety of needs of students in your classroom Build relationships. Get to know your customers and colleagues to build a network that is focused around working together to achieve common goals. Don’t operate in isolation; it takes a village to build a company. Communicate. Tell your story, share your work and spread the news of exciting projects and success. Your classroom newsletter is a fabulous reference for providing a framework to highlight 1) what is new and upcoming to watch for, and 2) what is worth reporting on to highlight the success of hard work. Never give up. Just as you would never give-up on a student struggling to make their way, never give up on your journey. Try a new approach, ask for help, bring others into the conversation, do what you have to do to steer the ship to calmer waters. Don’t give up or be discouraged when challenges arise, work hard and the rewards will be great. Julie Carter is co-founder and CEO of GreyED Solutions. Carter began her career in education as a classroom teacher and media specialist and then moved on to become the executive director of technology for Minnetonka Public Schools in Minnesota. There she supervised a one-to-one computing effort and was recognized by the Apple Distinguished Educator Program and the National School Board Association. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more.   Related Posts: The beginning of the new school year starts now Transforming the narrative about teaching Be the change you want to see Starting the conversation on teacherpreneurship Leading with our own hearts and minds "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" originally published by SmartBlogs

Culture is a real field of study and real, if nothing else, in the sense that people believe in it and can perceive good, bad and nonexistent cultures. But "culture" used off-hand is vague. It implies stasis when individual humans are not static. An organization is merely a collection of individual humans, and so culture is always fluctuating, affected by internal and external forces, and fragmenting. This difficulty in moving from the concept to the murkier reality is possibly why John Traphagan recently warned against the term "company culture": "The problem here is that while we use the term "culture" constantly, most of us give very little thought to what that term means and how its use influences behavior and thought within organizations." But that leaves us at square one. Perhaps we’d be better to spell out what exactly we mean by culture itself, as well as a "connection culture." What are the terms, the shared values and the conditions necessary? What is the science and research behind these claims? What are the proper caveats for the complexity of defining a company culture, building one and maintaining it at scale and over the long term? How do we build culture at scale, especially when "culture" is ultimately about many local, social cultures within an organization? How do we get started, even if we aren’t the boss? Michael Lee Stallard, with Jason Pankau and Katharine P. Stallard, makes this effort in the concise yet richly dense "Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work," released last week by the Association for Talent Development. I recently spoke with him about the book (disclosure: I have a blurb up front praising the book), what a "connection culture" means and what inspired him to write this, his second book. There’s much, much more in the book, but for now, here are some highlights of our discussion that hopefully sketch the journey to the book and what it stands for. The discovery: What happens when people feel heard "Connection Culture" was over a decade in the making, even though Stallard wrote "Fired Up Or Burned Out" in the meantime. The first seeds of what such a culture might look like came firsthand, many years ago, after Stallard had shifted from investment banking to becoming chief marketing officer at Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management division. Stallard, new to this business, didn’t assume he had the answers. He looked to learn indirectly through research and directly by traveling to various global offices. He showed people at these offices his thoughts and asked for feedback. Some were suspicious, but others welcomed the opportunity. "You just have those truth-tellers who will tell you what they think," Stallard said. "And I learned a lot from them. And I also found that, a number of them who were very enthusiastic. I heard some people say, ‘Wow, it’s about time someone from New York started asking questions instead of telling them the answers.'" Stallard took back that information, with due credit given, and what happened next? Feedback started coming from those offices: "Hey Mike, you know, Goldman Sachs is doing this, I thought you ought to know about it. Or, we’re seeing this in clients, and we thought this might be something that’s of interest to you. And it really just created this global network of intelligence, where these people who were on the front lines were picking up the phone and just calling me when they had something they thought I should know about. Two key insights Stallard learned: These teams wanted access to information and were finally getting it. This lack of access had not been because of malicious intent by senior management, but rather a failure to recognize that such teams "were curious. They wanted to know." Showing interest in people’s insights reaps rewards. Stallard recognized he didn’t know this business, and by asking for advice and giving due credit, he rewarded and encouraged further help. "It gave them a voice to share what they knew. I could see they were enthusiastic about that. … And then the cynics started converting, saying, ‘You know, Mike, he’s one of us. He’s on our side.'" Simply put, as Stallard phrases it in the book, we’re talking about "shared identity, empathy, and understanding." Stallard eventually left Morgan Stanley, armed with that knowledge plus plus years at other multinational companies and experience seeing how difficult corporate mergers were in terms of culture. Burnout does not a good culture (or healthful person) make Why did Stallard leave Wall Street? Frankly, he was burned out. As he recently wrote: As my job became more demanding I grew increasingly disconnected from my family. I didn’t feel well. My health began to suffer. I needed a lot of coffee to get me going in the morning and alcohol to slow me down at night. Eventually I left Wall Street to recover and figure out how I drifted so far from who I aspired to become. On a personal level, Stallard could also sense how culture affected his actions. "At some stages of my careers I was eager to get up in the morning, and the hours flew by, and I didn’t want to stop working," Stallard said. "And other days I could hardly get out of bed. … I hadn’t changed. It was the culture I was in that was having a positive or negative effect." The research-backed health dangers of disconnection His initial research then helped him develop this seed of an idea through the insights of others. "When people told me [about] when they felt engaged," Stallard said, "I just periodically heard the word ‘connection’ or ‘clicked.’ … it was all about this clicking or feeling connected to — ‘this work feels like I was made to do this.'" From there, he and his research partners started to drill down into this focus over years. Over time, he realized, having a sense of connection means people are less stressed. Connection "makes people feel safe. It improves their decision-making ability and their creativity because they do feel safe," Stallard said. "And when they’re in a culture that’s fast-changing, it can be threatening. And then people go into a stress response, where their bodies physiologically start to allocate blood glucose and oxygen to the ‘flight or fight’ systems. … And if they’re stuck in that state all the time because their culture is not safe, it’s a culture of control or a culture of indifference to people, then they’re very vulnerable" in their health. This is also a long-term problem. Overall health, digestive and immune systems, and ultimately productivity (the workplace problem) and serious health problems (the personal problem). Scott Eblin, among others, has written on the mind and body aspect of work. Notably, Stallard entered his research fearing a culture of control, but his research taught him that a culture of indifference was actually worse than (most) cultures of control — no human connections, just toxicity and loneliness. What are the values of a connected culture? So, we know some of the problems. But what is the fix? Most broadly, Stallard says: "How do we create a culture where we will be our best, individually and collectively, so that we’re more creative, we’re better decision makers, we’re healthier, we’re happier …" His book chooses six universal needs of humans: respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth, and meaning. I asked him specifically about belonging, partly out of my own interest and because it feels to me like a personal step beyond respect and recognition and autonomy — the latter three are much more common phrasings in HR departments. Belonging can be as simple as managers caring about employees "not just as means to an end, but they care about them because they’re people, because they’re breathing," Stallard says. "And they hold people in high esteem because they’re human beings." When Paul Spiegelman was at Beryl Cos., he enacted an online system for employees to alert executives whenever an employee had some sort of need. As Stallard relates: "[One employee] broke his glasses in an accident, and so Beryl had his glasses replaced. And I think Paul actually went and visited him when he was in the hospital. You know, little things like that … these may not be hugely expensive things, but they are very heartfelt, genuine beliefs on the part of the leadership at that company. And the people who work there know it, and they perform. They feel like a family company." Success stories, big, medium and small Another example meets several of these needs, yet is incredibly simple: A one-word change in labeling by Pfizer. After a merger, when the company saw how the other firm called workers "colleagues" rather than "employees," Pfizer adopted this practice for the whole company. "Language is important. And it just sends a message to the colleagues they work with at Pfizer … that you’re one of us," Stallard says. Beyond that, Stallard says, Pfizer looks to its managers to develop talent and push that talent outward. People who have not just autonomy but also real opportunity for personal growth are getting a leg up, in most cases, on the search for the other universal needs. Fortunately, you needn’t be a huge corporation to create a great, connected culture. You needn’t even be at headquarters. Stallard has recounted the story of Bryan Crawford, who refused to lay off people at his New Zealand subsidiary in 2008. His alternative plan brought all employees together, with transparency about the problems and teamwide involvement in the solutions. It worked so well that his unit nearly quadrupled in size and their culture lessons are being adopted by the broader organization. It takes brave action, planning and followup, but it can be done even if you’re not the boss. For even smaller companies, it can be more difficult, Stallard admits. One step is to offer new and different projects to help blocked employees grow. Another is the famous "20% time" or some variant. A third option that almost by definition requires a "connected" culture, Stallard shared, is active mentoring: "[One CEO] said, ‘Everyone needs a mentor,’ so they identified what everyone wanted to grow in, and they would pair them with someone who was good at it. And it created these mentoring relationships where, if I wanted to be a better speaker … that person would share with me what they do, some things they’ve learned from their experience. And every year it would change: ‘What do you want to grow in this year?'" What can you do? Plenty. All the above examples sound top-down, but HQ cannot enforce culture. "Recognize that the most important culture is the local subculture, the people you interact with day in and day out," Stallard said. After all, Pfizer could issue a directive and create conditions to ease its implementation, but it was ultimately up to many people in many places. Stallard could be open to feedback and communicate with Morgan Stanley employees as group CMO, but the people at each location also had to buy in. So, how can we begin? Chapter 5 of "Connection Culture" offers more than a dozen steps to help people get started on making "a connection culture actionable and operational." These steps require reflection, investigation and trial and error. They are not simple, but they are not unnecessarily complex or impossible missions. This, of course, is easier when you’re in charge — either the CEO or a department head or some other kind of manager. But, as Stallard said in our conversation and in the book, each person can build connections without becoming distracted by what’s not in their control. As he writes: "Be intentional about developing the habits of attitude, language, and behavior that connect, and work to develop a connection culture in your organization. Start local and see how it grows from there." James daSilva is a senior editor at SmartBrief and manages SmartBlog on Leadership. He edits SmartBrief’s newsletters on leadership and entrepreneurship, among others. Before joining SmartBrief, he was copy desk chief at a daily newspaper in upstate New York. You can find him on Twitter discussing leadership and management issues @SBLeaders. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Will your company change or die? The secret of U2’s success 3 ways Pixar gains a competitive advantage from its culture Cultivating a culture of creativity To maximize engagement, get them started right What’s a connection culture, and how do we get there? originally published by SmartBlogs

Members of the education technology community turned out Tuesday night for the 2015 CODiE Awards ceremony, presented by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and honoring the most innovative products and services in the education technology market. The annual ceremony and dinner reception, which was held at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, are a highlight of SIIA’s Education Information Summit. Twenty-three companies received honors in 28 categories. uCertify was the big winner of the night, taking home seven awards, including overall "Best Education Solution" for uCertify Course. McGraw-Hill received three awards, including overall "Best Post Secondary Solution" for McGraw-Hill Connect. Schoology nabbed two awards, including overall "Best PK-12 Solution" for its learning management system. Here is the complete list of this year’s winners, listed by category, solution and company: Best Arts and Creativity Solution: Middle School Art, Pearson Education Best Career and Workforce Readiness Solution: uCertify LEARN, uCertify Best Classroom Management Solution: Metria Master Teacher Edition, Metria Teaching and Learning Technologies, Inc. Best Collaborative Social Media Solution for Educators: edweb.net, edWeb.net, Best Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution: (tie) Storyline 2, Articulate and uCertify LEARN, uCertify Best Cross-Curricular Solution: K-12 Website and Mobile Solution, SharpSchool Best Education Cloud-Based Solution: The SpringBoard Digital, College Board (SpringBoard) Best Educational App for a Mobile Device: Istation ISIP Advanced Reading, Istation Best ELL/World Language Acquisition Instructional Solution: ReadingA-Z.com, Learning A-Z Best Game-Based Curriculum Solution: ST Math:Middle School Supplement, MIND Research Institute Best Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas: uCertify COURSE, uCertify Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution: Schoology, Schoology Inc. Best K-12 Enterprise Solution: The MyLearningPlan Enterprise Solution, My Learning Plan Inc. Best Learning Capacity-Building Solution: SmartBook, McGraw Hill Education Best Mathematics Instructional Solution: TenMarks Math, TenMarks Education, Inc. Best PK-12 Personalized Learning Solution: DreamBox , DreamBox Learning Best Postsecondary Enterprise Solution: CrisisManager, SchoolDude Best Postsecondary Learning Management Solution: Edvance360 LMS-SN, Edvance360 Best Postsecondary Learning Solution: uCertify COURSE, uCertify Best Postsecondary Personalized Learning Solution: McGraw-Hill Connect, McGraw Hill Education Best Professional Learning Solution for Education: Professional Learning Platform (PLP), Knowledge Delivery Systems, Inc. Best Reading/English/Language Arts Instructional Solution: Edgenuity English Language Arts, Edgenuity Inc. Best Science Instructional Solution: Science Bits, Science Bits Best Social Sciences or Social Studies Instructional Solution: The Discovery Education Social Studies Techbook series, Discovery Education Best Solution for Special Needs Students: Unique Learning System, n2y Best Source for Reference or Education Resources: PBS LearningMedia, PBS Best Student Assessment Solution: uCertify TEST, uCertify Best Virtual Learning Solution: uCertify LAB, uCertify This year marks the 29th anniversary for the CODiE Awards. All nominated products and services go through two rounds of review, first by a committee of tech-savvy educators then members of SIIA. "SIIA’s 2015 Education CODiE Award winners are some of the most innovative, high-impact education products out there," said Karen Billings, vice president and managing director of the ETIN-SIIA, in a prepared statement. "We congratulate all of this year’s CODiE Award winners, and thank them for the contributions they have made to the education industry."   Related Posts: No Related Posts Meet the 2015 SIIA CODiE award winners originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education is shining a light on education technology innovations during May, exploring the latest products and tools and the hottest trends in ed-tech. In this blog post, we learn how next generation student assessments are different from past trends or fads. As a social studies educator for the past 27 years, I’ve seen my share of educational fads and trends. Many of the strategies or tools employed in my classroom 10 years ago are not what I use today. One thing that has remained constant in my teaching practice is my need to make the best instructional decisions, based on data, for my students and to make the learning engaging and personalized for them. That is why at this tenure in my teaching career, I am excited to see how next generation student assessment systems are becoming standard practice in the classroom. These assessment platforms or tools allow me to incorporate the formative assessment process throughout my classroom assessment practice. Next generation assessment systems allow me to efficiently create and conduct my assessments, engage my students, inform my instructional decisions and help my students adjust their learning. Next generation student assessment So what do I mean by "next generation student assessment"? What are these assessment platforms? How are they different from the trends or fads from the past? When I talk about next generation student assessment, I talk about more than the digitization of paper-based assessments to computer-based form. I talk about assessment systems that are intuitive, adaptive and flexible, which incorporate formative assessment methods throughout. It is the formative assessment process that enriches both the teaching and learning process. This is what makes these systems different from systems from the past. At Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools (ISD 196) in Minnesota, today we are providing a next generation assessment solution that allows our teachers to generate and share assessments with their colleagues, share results and constructive feedback with their students, gain in-depth actionable, individualized, and immediate data for each student, and provides students with tools to be active and engaged participants in the assessment process. Personalization of student learning Having engaged and motivated students in the assessment process is a key part to personalizing student learning. Since our implementation, we have seen students take ownership of their learning during the assessment process through activities such as predicting their scores, setting goals and expectations, providing confidence ratings, self-assessing, and reflecting on their performance. These activities facilitate student-teacher conversations during the assessment process, thus transforming an assessment activity to a learning activity. More importantly, the self-assessment and self-reflection processes of reconciling their performance with their prediction helps students gain a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, encouraging more ownership of their own work. Data-driven instruction When students participate in these learner-centric assessment activities and take ownership of their learning, they provide our teachers with actionable information that drives their instruction. Next generation student assessment systems facilitate this data-driven instruction process, making it easier for our teachers to identify where students’ learning gaps are and where they have been. Having these data by standards, benchmarks, or learning targets at my fingertips have allowed me to reflect on my teaching practices and better meet my students’ needs. At the district level, teachers across all of our schools are now having the same transformational experience. Not only do individual teachers have this trove of information about each student at their fingertips, teachers can share this information with their colleagues in their professional learning communities or data teams. The ability to work with colleagues to design and create common formative assessments and to share the results with their colleagues is what "drives" the data-driven instruction process. Results from the common assessments now make our PLC discussions more lively, more rich, and most importantly, more actionable. At ISD 196, we made the leap in 2010 and have reaped the rewards since. Our next generation classroom assessment platform has allowed our students to personalize their assessment experience and take ownership of their learning. It has also provided our teachers with standards-based and actionable data to inform their instruction. And that is why next generation student assessment is here to stay in our district and not a passing fad. Todd Beach is the district curriculum lead at Independent School District 196 in Rosemount, Minn. He taught social studies at middle school and high school throughout ISD 196 for 27 years. In 2010, the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies named him the Minnesota Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Beach is also a consultant for the College Board. District 196 has chosen the next generation assessment platform from Naiku. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more.     Related Posts: Twitter connects learning inside, outside the classroom Digital distraction in the modern classroom Editor’s Choice Content Award: July The power of digital student portfolios 7 takeaways from #ISTE2014 Using next generation assessments to personalize learning, drive instruction originally published by SmartBlogs

Catch them doing something right. In today’s busy work environment, we’re all wearing multiple hats and moving at the speed of sound. It’s easy to get caught up in the web of customer demands, staff workload and the drama that occurs when things go wrong. Deadlines missed, customer complaints, quality of work issues… it seems commonplace to follow-up on an issue when something goes wrong with an employee, but how often do we catch our people doing something, right? If you know the three practical secrets of managers who effectively use techniques from "The New One Minute Manager," you will experience real results with a more effective workforce and increased productivity - which spells profitability for your organization. Out this week, "The New One Minute Manager" by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, M.D., has been updated for a new generation, and is an easily read story that reveals three very practical secrets: One-minute goals One-minute praisings One-minute reprimands When effectively managing a team, it’s important to understand what success looks like and that’s why setting up goals is a vital step. But many times those goals aren’t revisited unless an employee does something wrong, or even worse, when feedback is held until an annual review takes place. As a manager, getting into the habit of addressing only problems with people can be a dangerous pitfall - when did we stop celebrating successes? The one-minute praising According to "The New One Minute Manager," one-minute praisings are when you catch an employee doing something right! Managers who regularly give crystal-clear feedback on how a person is doing their job will empower an employee to succeed. Staying in close contact with team members is an important component, and allows a manager to catch their employees doing things the right way. And "doing something right" doesn’t always mean it needs to be perfect. One-minute praisings allow an employee to understand that they are on the right path to doing things an expected way. Growth through positive reinforcement — wow! That’s why one-minute praisings work. Let’s face it. As managers we are viewed as effective leaders when we have employees who are productive and happy. Seeking to stay in close contact with our team, especially with a new employee or during the start of a new project, may take us from our comfort zone. But in the end, catching people doing something right culminates in positive results for all. Susan Mazza works with leaders and their organizations to transform their performance from solid to exceptional as a business consultant, leadership coach and motivational speaker. CEO of Clarus-WORKS, founder/author of Random Acts of Leadership, and co-author of "The Character-Based Leader." She was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders by Trust Across America in 2013. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader.   Related Posts: 5 ways leaders inspire amazing call center performance Leadership accountability — a positive, simple approach When managing to results turns deadly Break unintentional management patterns and earn discretionary effort How to lead when your employees don’t have to follow The new one-minute manager originally published by SmartBlogs

Did you know you could save real money by composting waste at your restaurant? In some cases, businesses can save up to 75% on trash removal services just by reducing the amount of waste that is hauled away. With International Compost Awareness Week beginning May 3, the National Restaurant Association’s Conserve program is encouraging more restaurants and other small businesses to start composting their food waste. Yes, it can be challenging, but also rewarding. While it requires additional effort and planning, once a program is in place, operators will reduce their trash hauling and tipping fees by limiting the amount of food waste they send to landfills. For anyone wondering what compost actually is, it’s the natural process of breaking down organic waste into a nutrient-rich soil mixture to feed plants. Compost is added to gardens, crops and landscaping to help fertilize plants and enrich the soil they’re grown in. Most people can compost at home, but because of the volume of food scraps restaurants produce, their waste generally has to be hauled away to a commercial-grade composting facility. So why should restaurant operators care about composting their food waste? Here are three reasons: It reduces waste disposal costs. Food waste is full of water, making it heavy. Even though heavier items cost more to haul away, composters need food scraps so they’ll often pick it up for a reduced cost (or occasionally for free). Businesses may soon be forced to compost. Some states, such as California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island, are already regulating large volumes of food waste going to landfill. Though most restaurants are exempt from those efforts, cities including Seattle, San Francisco and New York have passed laws that could end up affecting larger restaurants. Food is too good to waste. We love food and don’t want it to go to waste. Compost facilities take plant trimmings, such as broccoli stalks, damaged cabbage leaves and spoiled carrots, and make soil amendments that nourish new plants to make nutritious food. That is a big plus! In addition, when food decomposes in a landfill, it can emit methane, a greenhouse gas. Composting is a win for the environment, the community and businesses. Composting is part of an overall strategy to use food efficiently. Get involved, start your own program today and help make a difference. Are you sold on composting and want to begin? Read more about composting on the Conserve website. Conserve offers environmentally responsible tips, tools and solutions for restaurants interested in sustainability. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Q&A: What can restaurants do to reduce food waste? Q-and-A: NRA Conserve director talks restaurant sustainability 3 easy and inexpensive ways to save water Don’t get boxed in: How restaurants can save big with cardboard recycling Infographics: The Food Waste Reduction Alliance releases analysis of food waste by industry 3 reasons to care about composting originally published by SmartBlogs

Anyone who is seeking to persuade, negotiate, or sell something is wise to learn the art of the sound bite. Good sound bites are brief, pithy statements that sum up what you are trying to say. Short, sweet and to the point. Proficient users of sound bites are attuned to their usage. This comes from being well read. Keep up with the issues but also read for pleasure. The purpose of sound bites is simple — help people remember what you said and why you said it. When concise and colorful they reflect the speaker’s personality and amplify the message. Click here to view the embedded video. John Baldoni is chair of leadership development at N2Growth, is an internationally recognized leadership educator and executive coach. In 2014, Trust Across America named him to its list of top 100 most trustworthy business experts. Also in 2014, Inc.com named Baldoni to its list of top 100 leadership experts, and Global Gurus ranked him No. 11 on its list of global leadership experts. Baldoni is the author of more than a dozen books, including his newest, "MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership." If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader.   Related Posts: Communicating in a crisis A-C-T your way to receiving feedback Confident leaders invite dissent Resilience: Your tool for success Don’t waste your time — focus on your purpose The art of the sound bite originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Salata) Cutting food waste is a team effort that can get much more complicated when the team is growing fast. Houston-based Salata has grown to 42 restaurants, with 11 more in the works this year. Each corporate and franchise store employs between 15 and 20 people, and the fast-casual design-your-own salad chain has developed practices for cutting food waste that are a key part of the company’s training program. Recently, I spoke with David LaBorde, director of product development and vendor relations, about Salata’s waste-reduction strategies. On developing the training program Training has been a huge project, a huge focus for us. We’ve been working on it intensely for about 15 months or so. We hired a consulting firm that’s helping us rewrite the manuals. We invested a lot in our training team, in developing corporate trainers to train managers and directors of training, all to make sure we’re setting stores up for success. We had perfected the construction side and opening stores, and so we were able to crank out new stores before we could actually train a manager to run it properly. We said "Wait a minute, we need leaders to make sure we have the same Salata experience in each store." It became a huge focus for us this past year. On developing best food-waste practices We’re part of the healthy dining trend and we’re all about customization, so it means being environmentally conscious and watching our footprint as much as possible. We teach exactly how to prepare all our fruits and vegetables — here’s how you cut this, here’s how you trim that. Number one it’s to save on costs, but it’s also to make sure we’re utilizing as much of the food that’s been given to us as possible. It’s 100% evolving. We’re constantly reevaluating and changing procedures to try to improve. For example, a year ago, we used to do it all by hand. Then we introduced a slicing and dicing machine, which can increase production and also give us more consistency and less waste. Simple machines, like a manual slicer, can have a big impact. It’s the impact it has on the restaurants — it can save labor hours and cut waste. By putting the carrots in the slicer, we’re using 100% as opposed to slicing it by hand and throwing the ends away, for example. We’re utilizing more and more of the vegetables we have. How food-waste practices affect the supply chain It has a lot to do with the items we use. We use a medium sized carrot because of its uniformity in size, color and taste. It’s why we have certain specs — we’re not going to get a jumbo carrot. We use California garlic and not Chinese garlic, because it’s more potent. Franchisees do their own ordering, but we control what their options are to order from. We work closely with our vendors across the country, so they know our standards. Having those partnerships with our suppliers, learning their strengths and weaknesses is important for upholding our standards. The distribution of moving goods across the country has been a massive part of my job, especially when you handle such short shelf-life products. But also, we make dressings and sauces, so getting a fresh mango sauce from Texas to Illinois in a cost-effective manner is a challenge. Moving product across the country and sourcing — that’s absolutely a challenge. When we have conversations about where we grow, and growing smartly and strategically, we look at growing where our suppliers are. Tips for operators looking to cut food waste First, I would say, work extremely closely with your suppliers and partner with them at all different levels, including distributors, manufacturers and food vendors. We did this with our salmon supplier. We would buy skin-on salmon and we would trim and there would be waste, and we would bake it and use it in our seafood dip. We ended up talking with different suppliers, getting to know them more. There was a sales rep from Orca Bay, we were getting to know them and he said, "we can cut this for you." We said, "we utilize the waste." He came back and said,"I can do that, too." They ordinarily trim the fish and throw away the waste, he was able to produce a product for us with less waste because their skilled pros did it for us. Having that kind of partnership, we can brainstorm together. The other thing would be absolutely listening to your guests. We started out in Dallas, with big bowls, and our guests never finished their meals. They either took it home or they didn’t because it was already dressed. We created a smaller salad. Many people add a cup of soup, but it’s actually the perfect size — it fills you up, but it’s not crazy portions so you’re not throwing out so much. Guests can eat an entire meal without wasting food. We developed a new menu option that was a win-win for everyone. It was a challenge to market. A lot of our franchisees and managers worried about the small salad introduction, they thought they would lose their shirts. They thought people would go through the line, order the small salad but get all the toppings they would get on a regular salad, but pay a smaller price. So we did more training, we put up signage, we did training videos explaining, "this is how you portion, this is how you explain to the guests." It took off, food costs were not impacted and now it’s about 30-35% of total sales. On cutting waste on the kids menu We launched our new kids meal about six months ago. We wanted to give the Salata experience to children. We used to just do a mini-salad or a mini-wrap. But in talking with a bunch of moms, including my sister who has three children, and working with suppliers, we came up with the bento box. It has six compartments, they can pick any five things they want, then the sixth compartment can be a dressing or peanut butter. kids love it, they get to pick what they want, parents love it because they can easily see what their kids are eating, and it’s got a lid on it so they can take it away. In regards to waste, it’s a customizable combo meal, in a way. They’re not throwing anything away because the child can pick exactly what they want. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: 3 reasons to care about composting Creativity: It’s what’s missing from career development No follow up on the follow up? Q&A: What can restaurants do to reduce food waste? Help employees remember your pearls of wisdom How Salata makes cutting waste a team effort originally published by SmartBlogs

This post is sponsored by Vertafore Sircon® Solutions. License and appointment standards and automation initiatives have delivered real benefits to carriers and distributors offering annuities. Despite these benefits, adoption of these standards remains limited to top distributors and carriers who use broker dealers as a key distribution channel. In this post, Tim Owen, vice president of product management at Vertafore, discusses representative management trends in the annuity market. Question: What are some of the existing issues in terms of the authorization to sell annuities? Tim Owen: For carriers and distributors, license and appointment standards and automation initiatives over the last 10 years have delivered real benefits in terms of streamlining the process of getting reps authorized to sell annuities. These improvements allow companies to streamline their time to revenue from weeks to hours/days and reduce operational costs by eliminating manual data entry and reconciliation, all while improving compliance results by eliminating data entry errors. Despite these accommodations, adoption of these standards and their automation remains limited to top distributors and carriers that use broker dealers as a key distribution channel. The reasons for low adoption include: The complexity of licensing and appointing requirements due to the state-based regulatory system in the US. In addition, some products are dually regulated by FINRA which require securities registration as they are considered hybrid insurance and securities product. New and changing regulatory requirements. Interpretation differences between carriers and distributors of the rules and requirements. The different licensing and registration roles and responsibilities between carriers and distributors, since carriers are responsible for the appointment process, while distributors/reps are responsible for state license and registration requirements. Process differences including just-in-time (JIT) appointing from one carrier to another, as well as different requirements to do business with one distributor versus another. Legacy carrier and distributor systems that were not designed to automate licensing and appointing processes, and vendor solutions that have limited automation capabilities. The prioritization differences between carriers and broker dealers for licensing and appointing processes versus other core system and modernization initiatives. So we still have substantial opportunity to improve operational efficiency and compliance if we can drive down the cost, and drive up the adoption, of automation by leveraging and improving standards and best practices. Q: Why is broker dealer and rep experience so important? TO: The competitive environment in the industry continues to intensify. So it has become increasingly necessary for a carrier to deliver an improved broker dealer and rep experience. Here’s an example of how a carrier could utilize an improved rep experience as a competitive advantage: Chris is in charge of onboarding and managing rep compliance for a major life and annuities carrier. His goal is to keep the carrier compliant while getting and keeping reps authorized to sell quickly and efficiently. In order to attract broker dealers, his company has looked for a competitive edge to help them become a carrier of choice. While commissions and product features and pricing are the most common aspects used by carriers to differentiate themselves, Chris has learned that improved broker dealer and rep experience with onboarding and compliance can give them a competitive edge. With the ability to sell annuities within 24 hours, broker dealers would view his organization as an industry leader, especially as competitors rapidly respond to product and commission differences. In implementing a plan to improve rep experience, Chris was able to also improve company processes across the board such as giving those in charge of onboarding more time to focus on other areas of business. These individuals can reallocate their time to focus on other areas of business. Q: How is the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) addressing these issues? TO: To address the current challenges, IRI has created a License & Appointment Automation working group including distributors, carriers, standards organizations like the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD), and solutions provider participants like DTCC and Vertafore. We are also working on a state of the industry brief to describe what we should do to continue to drive further automation, and increase industry adoption of automated solutions. Through more effective and prescriptive standards, adoption of automated solutions can be substantially improved. Chris, from the major carrier, will have the ability to optimize speed and efficiency, with improved compliance using such automated onboarding and compliance processes. If you are interested in participating in the working group, please reach out to your IRI contact or drop me an email at towen@vertafore.com. Q: Why is implementing license, education, training, and appointment automation so difficult? TO: The process to build and implement an automated solution is complicated due to the complex rules, varying interpretations of the rules, and multiple standards that exist for implementing license, education, training and appointment automation. The standards that do exist are more like frameworks or guidelines since they are not prescriptive enough to help drive more efficient implementations. By providing a reference model for how carriers and distributors should put in place a standards-based process, the industry and solution providers can automate processes more efficiently. Once these solutions pass a reference model testing and certification process, they can be instituted almost immediately. When that vision becomes reality more distributors and carriers, directly or via solution providers, will be able to adopt and leverage the standards created by the DTCC and ACORD, and implement more effective processes for annuities. Q: What are some best practices that annuity carriers can implement? TO: First, annuity carriers can adopt existing standards and help create a reference model for how to implement them. Second, they can better understand the needs and challenges of their annuity selling rep, and the broker dealer they work for. Third, if they decide to adopt a just-in-time (JIT) appointment process, carriers need to make it easy for their broker dealer partners to understand what products reps are authorized to sell in each jurisdiction. Lastly, carriers need to work closely with their legal and compliance departments to create simple requirements for onboarding new reps. For example, consider adopting standard background investigation questions like the ones on the new ACORD 821 producer information form, and consider accepting the ACORD 821 form itself in lieu of a custom form. The 821 form can be used even if the carrier is not a member of ACORD as long as they register with ACORD to use the form. Q: How will implementing a Sircon solution benefit annuity carriers? TO: Vertafore’s Sircon solutions team has worked hard over the last 20 years to understand the challenges associated with rep compliance and we have created automated solutions to address them. Our solutions increase staff efficiency as much as 60%, while reducing turnaround times as much as 80%. These solutions also improve compliance and rep experience. We participate in numerous working groups and collaborate with key organizations like IRI to better understand, define and facilitate the adoption of best practices in standards for automation. There is more to do, but we are making progress. Our current focus is to create solutions that connect the key stakeholders in the sales authorization compliance and verification process including regulators, producing reps, broker dealers, carriers and the education providers, to eliminate unnecessary steps and ensure all the stakeholders have access to current and accurate rep information. We help automate the process through integration with DTCC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR). Related Posts: No Related Posts Improving rep experience through automation originally published by SmartBlogs