|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
By Carl Wooten
Vice President – Sales and Marketing
UNISON LLC
 James Surowiecki wrote in his book “The Wisdom of Crowds”, that “a group’s collective solutions may well be smarter than even the smartest person’s solutions.” Said another way, it is critical in today’s business environment that we harvest and leverage the collective thinking of our business teams through strategic collaboration in order to achieve the organizational outcomes and objectives required.
Results are typically achieved through the collaboration of multi functional teams that are required to fuse together quickly in order to synthesize a result. The essence of this success resides in strong and open collaboration throughout the execution of their specific tasks.
-more - |
|
|
 |
 |
| Bracing for the Recession |
| Crude oil prices sky rocket. Unsold homes grow. Adjustable rate mortgages reset upwards. The Fed lowers rates. Goldman Sachs, the biggest investment bank on Wall Street predicts that a recession is definitely on the way. |
| |
| Bottom Line: Reduce Expenses |
| Corporations are in the midst of trimming their expenses in anticipation of the upcoming recession. (Some would argue it is already here.) Mandates to reduce staff and travel and minimize off-site internal meetings in service of an expense reduction plan have been issued. |
| |
| Taking the Holistic Approach |
| Yet off-site meetings, it can be argued, are exactly what corporations need during these economically challenging times. The current strategy needs to be re-examined and refreshed from a holistic point of view. For example, questions such as: Is trimming staff in one part of the company a good idea if it harmfully affects the output in another part? How can current customer service be maintained if there is a reduction in staff? Is reallocation of staff to profitable areas, customer service and other customer-facing units a better solution than reducing staff? What about recruiting? How do staff reductions affect an organizations’ ability to attract top talent, overall organizational performance and reputation? Are sales targets to be reduced also? If not, how can the targets be met with less staff? What alternatives are there? |
|
 |
 |
| Getting Social Networking Media on Your Radar Screen |
If social media is not on your company’s radar screen, we suggest that you widen your scope. Certainly you know that your children, nieces, nephews, neighbors’ kids -- the younger generation -- ‘friend’ every day at home. What’s more, many employees are ‘friending’ in the office (yes in the office) every day.
Most of us associate social media with the 25 year- old and younger generation. You might be surprised to learn that people over the age of 35 are becoming frequent users of Facebook and MySpace.
|
 |
 |
In our last newsletter, we wrote about how the UNISON team traveled 226, 822 miles, equal to circumnavigating the globe more than eight times! Our next move was just around the corner – less than a quarter of a mile, to be exact, to the location of our new world headquarters.
We want to thank our clients because it’s due to you and your continued support of UNISON that we’ve had to move to this larger space where the UNISON team will design and develop innovative solutions for your needs -- from promoting buy-in, to networking, to developing or refreshing strategy, to training and certification, to gaining commitment from participants.
If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in to visit us. You’re more than welcome!
|
 |
 The UNISON team grows again with Michael Maturo, Sales Operations. With his B.A. in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and a minor in Business from the University of Southern California, Mike spent time in educational sales with Apple Computer, information consulting with Microsoft, and network engineering in New York City. His core strengths are in melding business needs with IT infrastructure and bringing a fresh perspective to product line growth.
|
 |
In April, UNISON was a principal sponsor of PeaceXPiece, an all day festival of free music, movement and entertainment celebrating Earth Day and promoting the green movement in the United States. Held in New York City’s world famous Central Park, PeaceXPiece was the first fully solar-powered event in the Park. The event featured nationally known musicians, government officials, and speakers from private industry who are practitioners of the principles of environmental sustainability.
|
 |
In our next issue of the UNISON Newsletter we have an exciting interview with three of our clients from various industries. Be sure to tune in to hear more on the universal ways in which UNISON was integrated into various types of meetings and the results provided to our clients.
|
 |
 |
“I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks for a great job at the National Sales Meeting in Las Vegas. UNISON technology added a new level of competition, learning and fun to the training workshops. I was very pleased with the results and wanted to compliment your team for their professional approach to this event. I have heard a lot of very positive feedback from many of the meeting participants.”
Director Sales Training –Pharmaceutical Company |
|
 |
|
“After 40 years in business & executive education, I thought I had seen it all. Then I worked with UNISON! In three successive years they managed to dazzle me, teaching this old dog many new tricks. Quick to grasp exactly what I intended to convey in my sessions, their wizards not only leveraged my work with their easy-to-use technology, but also improved my content, extended the ideas & applications & left me feeling super in the process.”
Joseph J. DiStefano
Professor of International Business & Organizational Behavior
IMD International Institute for Management Development |
|
|
|
“Thank you for all you have done to make our conference the world class event that it is. We’ve received a lot of feedback already – people had fun, they were highly motivated, and the conference went very smoothly. I know that this is due in large part to the energy you put into this, the late nights of work, and the direction and coordination you provided. Thank you for everything you have done”
Manager, Global Financial Services Firm |
|
|
 |
Video: A UNISON Setup
TOP