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Better training, breaking down barriers would help solve worker shortages
The owner of a small landscaping business contacted my office recently because he could not find enough young people willing to do the type of labor required. He wanted to know about community resources to locate potential employees.
I've heard the same concern from local manufacturers, Ohio farmers and construction employers. While the economy is growing, there is still a need for people to cut lawns, run high-tech factory robotics or install electrical wiring.
The reasons for this are numerous. During the Great Recession, Ohio lost 166,000 manufacturing jobs — a staggering 20 percent. This is in addition to the decades-long erosion of American manufacturing due to increased global competition.
Those losses hardly engender confidence in future job security. Moreover, the health care, financial services and technology sectors continue to expand and offer physically less demanding career options. While a number of jobs in those fields offer high salaries, many pay less than a living wage — with no greater prospects for long-range job security.
Policies and programs needed
We do have young people eager to work and willing to accept jobs. What we need are improved policies and programs to match our youth with the training they need and employers with capable, job-ready applicants. We also need to focus on barriers that stand in the way of successful employment.
Millennials who are mired in student debt are less interested in owning a car than in previous generations. Further, low income households often struggle to afford one. According to the census, more than 41,000 Cleveland households in 2012 had no vehicle available. Consequently, thousands of workers use other means to get around — by foot, by bike or public transit.
Without viable transportation to cover long commutes, however, some attractive job opportunities are unattainable for workers. That is why I strongly support federal initiatives that invest in mass transit and transportation infrastructure.
We must also consider expanding high school and post-secondary level vocational training and updating perceptions about career opportunities available in 21st century manufacturing. Since the recession, smart manufacturing technologies have been increasing American companies' competitiveness in overseas markets.
Manufacturing still a key
Over the last five years, manufacturing has grown twice as fast as the economy overall and accounts for a majority of U.S. exports.
While it's not expected to regain its ranking as the largest employer in Northeast Ohio, manufacturing remains a critical component of our region's economic well-being. I have been a consistent advocate of strengthening workforce development programs and believe public-private partnerships can maximize opportunities for businesses. I also encourage employers and trade organizations to provide more internship and apprenticeship opportunities.
The Department of Labor recently announced $100 million in competitive apprenticeship grants to develop innovative, high-quality registered apprenticeship programs. These are proven to reduce turnover costs, generate highly-skilled employees and yield higher productivity, as well as a more diverse workforce, and would apply to more than 1,000 occupations.
The sooner we put smart initiatives to work, the better it will be for local businesses and communities.
U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, D-11, is now serving in her third consecutive full term. She was elected in a special election in November 2008, re-elected in the general election that was held that same month and most recently in 2012. In 2012, she was unanimously elected by her colleagues to serve as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus in the 113th Congress.
Customer base or fan base, they both deserve top customer service
One of the most common threads that runs through all businesses is the goal of building relationships that will endure between your front-line employees and customer.
If a business has a loyal customer base, it can probably say without reservation that keeping that client base is a top priority.
So it is with the business of baseball. Busch Stadium, the subject of this month's Uniquely St. Louis feature, has been hosting Cardinal fans since 2006, and 21 million have attended Cardinals games there since the stadium opened.
While some may say the best measurement of satisfied customers at a ballpark is whether they keep coming back, it's more complicated than that. Many factors can't be controlled — weather, team slumps and player injuries, for instance.
But what can be controlled are the front-line customer service representatives who deal with the fans. Those representatives should understand the business of delivering customer service. When there are problems, the representatives should know how to resolve them.
A CEO I recently interviewed offered this advice on how to find the right type of employees:
"You're looking for good talent, people who have the ability to adapt and people who have the ability to learn," he says. "When you interview people, look for who's going to fit within the organization. You may not hire the person who is technically right for the job since you should be concerned with somebody who fits in."
While that applies to front-line employees, a different approach is needed to bring results in your search for qualified management trainees.
The CEO's experience showed him that recent college graduates are the preferred material for management trainees. On-the-job training offers senior management an opportunity to observe the would-be managers.
"Design a 24-month program," the CEO says. "You rotate through, say, six different departments, four months per department, to get you to the 24th month. Then you slot them into a full-time job, something that they like that they've learned, for the first 18 to 24 months."
The time spent in the program will serve to groom trainees for their specialty. Many new college graduates are malleable and open to career options.
"Look for somebody who can think on their feet. For any business, you need to go in and learn. We're looking for good talent, where people have the ability to adapt, where people have the ability to learn."
Make training a priority to ensure that your customer service representatives are capable of dealing with the most complicated customer issues. It is equally important to train your front-line representatives to effectively deal with people under the most delicate of circumstances.
You don't need to be an expert to know that keeping loyal customers by delivering exceptional service is smart business. Customer service, however, isn't a box that can be checked off a to-do list. New protocols and systems are not enough. Delivering remarkable service requires ongoing companywide commitment and continuous attention.
So, let's play ball!
Niloufar Molavi capitalizes on new blood and mentorships to drive success at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Niloufar Molavi, Houston market managing partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Niloufar Molavi is now facing a challenge that she hadn't seen in her years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP — acquiring and retaining talent for the accounting firm in the light of fierce competition. The complicating factor is that thanks to a heavy presence of energy companies, young talent in the Houston area is in high demand and supplies are low.
Molavi, Houston market managing partner for PwC, is realizing that you have to pull out all the stops to have an edge over the competition.
It's no secret that PricewaterhouseCoopers over the years has developed comprehensive internship and management development programs that attract desirable young talent. Molavi is betting on those programs to make a difference.
"The average age of our workforce is 27 — so that will give you a sense of how much we rely on and focus on young talent such as college interns," Molavi says.
"The students like to have an experience while they are in college, and they really don't know what to expect ultimately when they come out of school, so we just give them that glimpse," she says.
But more importantly, the interns will get to know PwC, which hopefully will lead to their choice of PwC for employment.
"It has been a great tool for us to not only recruit but they will see what it is like before they have to make a decision that will have an impact on their long-term careers," Molavi says.
Here is how Molavi uses internship and management programs at the Houston location of PricewaterhouseCoopers to help fill the 1,069 seats at the table and keep those seats occupied.
Look and listen
The practice of finding and hiring qualified job candidates has grown more sophisticated for most companies in recent years. Such was the case of PwC some years ago when it started its internship program, now a well-entrenched fixture.
With the competition to secure talented individuals, it is essential to look for the skills that clients are demanding.
"It's important to sit back and make sure that you have identified not only the technical skills in people you hire but, more importantly, the soft skills or the intangible skills that you are looking for in people," Molavi says. "Identify what those are, and recognize over time those change — just because we know today what we are looking for may change over time. We live in an ever-changing environment, and you need to revisit that as often as you can to ensure that those intangibles haven't changed."
Once you sound out your clients, you'll have a better opportunity to know what will best match their needs.
"The most important thing is listening," Molavi says. "Spend a lot of time with your clients to make sure that you are listening to their issues, issues that are important to them, issues that they are dealing with, challenges and opportunities that are at the forefront of their minds."
There are several key qualities that should be "must haves" on the intangible resume of an internship seeker.
"Adaptability — someone who's willing to come in and adapt to new opportunities and a new environment," Molavi says. "It's someone who comes with flexibility of different ways of doing things."
Equally as important is the attitude that learning is a dynamic procedure that lasts an entire career.
"Another important element is the ability and the desire to continue to relearn; when you are in an environment that's changing all the time, you need to be comfortable that you are always learning, and it doesn't really matter what level in the organization you're at," Molavi says.
If the desire to learn is kept burning, it can help establish a long-term interest in a particular field. The possibilities of advancement are many.
"Even as a leader, you can continue to have opportunities to learn new things every day," she says. "For me, that's exciting. That's really what's kept me in the industry and at PwC."
Find the right fit
It's been said that in the military as well as other sectors, the age group of 18 to the mid-20s make the best soldiers or workers if properly trained. And those who are even more well-trained do even better.
While the business world can't really compare its stresses to those of the military, the advantages of young recruits are unmistakable — and similar in both fields.
"Our clients are always interested in our talent because we bring in the young; we help develop them," Molavi says. "Our talent gets to see a lot of different opportunities and things and they learn pretty quickly on the job because of the exposure they get to our clients. So they are in high demand in the market. And we know that; that has been something we've been dealing with for years."
With a focus on young talent, new entry-level candidates coming right off the college campus, it's critical to look at their abilities and what they've learned on campus and their technical skills.
"First of all, try to find the right fit for the organization," Molavi says. "At that entry level, spend quite a bit of time not only in the interview process on campus but spend time with those individuals over a two- or three-week period to get to know them and build that relationship — and then offer the best ones an internship."
A typical internship lasts 10 to 12 weeks. It's an opportunity to get to know the interns and see how they can work in the environment — and is a great opportunity for them as well to see what opportunities they may have.
"Look at a lot of those intangible qualities in individuals," Molavi says. "Teamwork is huge for us. We work in teams. We do not do anything alone. So watching the interns work in teams and how they perform is important. Relationships are very important, both within our organization as well as with our clients, and watching how they develop those relationships and their abilities to learn in that area is essential."
An internship is also a type of probationary period. It's time to spot any red flags.
"I have had at least one person who interned with us, and at the end of the internship, she and I sat down together — she realized that accounting wasn't for her and had never really been her passion," Molavi says. "She had made certain decisions to go into the accounting field, and although she did a great job, she decided that her passion was somewhere else."
Remember that interns are still students. Most will still have another year of college to finish.
"Internships happen generally right after their junior year for most individuals, so we don't expect them to come in and know everything," Molavi says. "We are not testing them on the technical knowledge that they are bringing to the table on day one, but you want to really look for those qualities for a good fit. Then put them on jobs that you would as brand-new associates so they get to experience what it's like when they join as a full-time hire."
One of the more important steps any organization needs to consider when you bring in interns is if you will have the opportunities for them to learn and develop in that short period of time.
"If they come in and they are not getting those opportunities, then it is going to be difficult," Molavi says. "I think any business needs to look at how it is structured and what opportunities it can offer to an intern.
"I know that many of my clients even use internships to give students a sneak peek of an industry by bringing them in over a summer period and rotating them through various parts of their organization."
Focus on the basics
It's a serious undertaking for an organization to operate an effective internship program. But it doesn't have to be expensive. PricewaterhouseCoopers' program, while a significant commitment for the company, looks at it more as on-the-job training.
"On-the-job learning and development is really important," Molavi says. "We do that quite a bit, and it's easy too. I mean it doesn't cost you a lot of money; you've just got to make sure that you are paying attention to it.
"You take the opportunity as you would a project — you stop and make sure that your team understands what you're doing, why you are doing it, why it is important to your client, what they are going to learn from it so that it doesn't just become a task; rather, it becomes a learning opportunity."
As you develop your training programs over the months and years, design as much on-the-job training into it as possible, and it will help pay dividends.
"When we look at our training programs, about 70 percent of it is actually on-the-job training — every day on projects, at clients, real-time feedback and learning," Molavi says.
PwC's program has evolved over time to its current configuration: Each intern is mentored by three colleagues.
"One, they will have a buddy," Molavi says. "They will have an associate who is closer to age and in experience to them, someone they can go to from day one with any questions they may have. They could be administrative, technical or industry questions. The buddy is someone with whom they can engage on a day-to-day basis."
In addition to a buddy, each intern has a mentor who is a manager/coach.
"The manager ensures that they are getting the experiences, the exposure, the developmental opportunities," she says. "The managers are responsible for their assignments during that period and help the interns through that."
The last is a mentor who will nurture what are often called soft skills.
"The interns also get a relationship partner so they will actually have a mentor who will be engaging with them and spending the time to talk about opportunities in the profession, and more importantly for our interns, the opportunities at PwC that they will have in the long term," Molavi says.
"The program involves quite a bit of investment but again it has become a very important source for our full-time hiring, and we believe the investment ultimately pays off both for us and the recruits."
Another aspect of an internship program is shadowing. Interns are given the opportunity to shadow a partner for one day to get a glimpse into a day of a partner's life.
"Because they see us in bits and pieces, the interns probably don't really realize everything in which a partner may be involved," she says.
"One of my interns a couple of years ago had the opportunity to shadow me," Molavi says. "She had a fantastic experience. It just happened to be one of those days where I was doing a lot of different things. We started off the day when I was actually in a coaching session with one of my 'coachees,' and moved on to an interview that I was doing that day with a publication. She got to sit in on that.
"We went to lunch with a client. We had a client meeting that she attended with me. Then we came back and dealt with some of my internal roles.
"She was just amazed at what I touch in one day and saw things that she would be very interested in down the road. So hopefully those kinds of looks give the interns a little bit more in terms of what a day could be as they go through a shadowing process."
Develop new leaders
If your organization has made it a practice to have an internship program, it needs an employee advancement plan to get the most advantage of the intern program.
Tapping outside talent for management posts is not an easy process today, and it is beneficial to promote from within, not only to recognize that individual but to prepare in case a manager should leave. Talent that started as interns is an excellent source for management positions because of the familiarity with the company and work records that show advancement through the ranks.
For example, PwC uses a global leadership development program called Genesis Park for employees who are approaching some nine years of experience — a senior manager or director. This is a 10-week residential program for about 50 people, three times a year, which moves around the globe.
"You bring in individuals from around the world so every one of these 10-week residential programs is very global and very diverse," Molavi says. "You are bringing people together who have never worked with each other — to work with each other.
"It takes individuals through what I call real-life experiences. This is not a situation where they're going to role-play. It gives them the opportunities to work on real projects for either a particular territory, PwC territory or a global issue that our global leadership is dealing with.
"They'll have the opportunity to work on that project and come back with solutions and thoughts. So they are really learning and having that experience of working with individuals they didn't know before, bringing different talents together, putting their minds together and driving innovation to come up with solutions."
Programs such as Genesis Park allow employees to not only continue to develop professionally but personally, as well, with leadership skills.
"My coachee who went through came back out in some ways a different person," Molavi says. "The most important change that I noticed was the self-confidence that she gained from being part of that team and part of that opportunity, and knowing that, she exhibited an attitude, 'Wow, I did this, and I was able to have a very different experience, and it felt good, and I learned a lot.'"
How to reach: PricewaterhouseCoopers, www.pwc.com or (713) 356-4000
The Molavi File
Niloufar Molavi
Houston market managing partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Born: Tehran, Iran
Education: University of Texas at Austin, with both my bachelor's in business administration and master's in accounting
My very first job that I got paid for was working during summer school at Houston Memorial High School, and I helped the staff in the office, running a lot of different errands.
What has been the best business advice you ever received?
To be willing to take risks. In terms of my career development, this has been the best advice that anyone could give me — the fact that someone took the time to sit me down and talk about the fact that unless you take risks, you're not going to learn, you're not going to develop, you're not going to see new opportunities. You need to step out of your comfort zone and do it often.
When you become complacent and you're getting comfortable with something, it's time to do something different. So that is something that has certainly stuck with me. My sponsors early on pushed me and gave me those opportunities, opened those doors for me to step out of my comfort zone and do different things. It certainly has been very important to me, and I have seen it help me in my career and in the advice that I give others.
Who do you admire in the business world?
There are a lot of individuals who have accomplished great things, so maybe the way I would put it is not so much the individuals but those people who going back to what I was taught who had been authentic. They are not trying to be someone who they're not. They are authentic leaders. They have at times put their necks out there and done something different that was not conventional, taking the risk, and then been successful at it.
Those are the people that I look to, those individuals who aren't always going to be sitting at the top of organizations. They're not necessarily going to be the CEOs but individuals who have had significant impact on success with an organization, for-profit or nonprofit as well.
What is your definition of business success?
For me, I think it is really simple: if you think about the success and the legacy that is behind, to be able to have clients who would say, 'Well, she was our business partner and she was able to help us achieve our business goals.' Being a tax practitioner, it is important to make sure that we are helping our clients achieve their goals. I think that would be to me a great legacy to leave behind if I could look back at the number of partners I have personally made so that they could be successful.
Lockheed to split electronic systems business in two
By: admin | 5:19pm EST October 8, 2012
WASHINGTON, Mon Oct 8, 2012 – The largest U.S. weapons maker, Lockheed Martin Corp., said it plans to split its electronic systems business into two separate operations focused on missiles and training, a move it said would save $50 million and eliminate 200 jobs.
The change, effective December 31, will give Lockheed five business areas: aeronautics, space systems, information systems, missiles and fire control, and mission systems and training.
Marillyn Hewson, who currently heads the electronic systems business, is scheduled to take over as president and chief operating officer of Lockheed on Jan. 1.
Chris Kubasik, who is set to succeed Bob Stevens as chief executive officer on January 1, said the restructuring would streamline Lockheed operations and strip out a layer of management at a time when the Pentagon is pushing contractors to lower overhead costs.
"This new structure will allow us to better support our customers around the world and positions our company for sustained long-term growth," Kubasik said in a statement.
Lockheed said the new missiles and fire-control business will be based in Dallas, with 16,000 employees working on programs such as Patriot PAC-3 missiles and missile defense.
Posted in Top News	Tagged divisions, electronic, lockheed martin, split, training	Leave a comment
How to ensure your employees have the proper training to execute events
Michele Clark, Program manager, The Shlensky Institute for Event Meeting and Planning/Hospitality, Corporate College
Event planning is no longer just "party planning." Event planning has become a powerful tool for business success by helping to increase sales through live events and saving time and money when planning or organizing company events. Planning an event takes a great deal of time, energy, skill and creativity to effectively execute.
"Mid-sized businesses often do not realize the value of having someone actually trained in event planning; they often allocate the job to an administrative professional who has a full-time job and little time to pay attention to the vast details it takes to successfully implement an event," says Michele Clark, program manager, The Shlensky Institute for Event Meeting and Planning, for Corporate College.
Even if a business thinks it cannot afford an event planner, it could afford training someone in its office. And, any administrative professional that is given the task of planning and executing events should be compensated for the increase in time and effort it takes.
Smart Business spoke with Clark about the importance of training employees in the fundamentals of event planning and understanding best practices in this essential role.
Why does a business need to ensure its marketing coordinator or a similar employee is properly trained in event planning?
Marketing and event planning really go hand in hand. Events have become an advantage for any business's marketing strategy, and when combined with an advertising campaign, it vastly increases the awareness and visibility for a product or service. It gives your audience a live environment for your brand. The more people see, touch, taste and experience your product or service, the more you sell.
Marketing personnel also become involved in the acquisition of sponsors for events. To sell an event, it's important to understand how to look at the event through the eyes of a planner so you are able to provide real marketing solutions to a sponsor's goals.
What is involved in planning a business event?
A business event is no different than any event in that it all comes down to the details. Whether you are planning a large conference or a gala affair, knowing how to manage every detail is key to its success. If you don't know the fundamentals of planning an event, you could be wasting a great deal of time. For example, a large conference can take up to year to plan. An event planner handles all of the tasks related to an event, such as research, food, decor, entertainment, transportation, invitations, accommodations, speakers, activities, staffing, supervision, evaluations, and the list goes on and on.
How does event planning affect a business's profitability and reputation?
Having someone trained in event planning actually saves time and money. If you have someone who understands time management and the organization of an event, it is much more efficient than having someone just plan the event on the side trying to find their way through hundreds of logistics.
As for reputation, there is a remarkable difference between someone with experience and training who executes an event versus someone who just 'wings it.' If something can go wrong, it will, and a well-trained event planner understands the challenges and knows how to avoid or solve them. Your well-managed events will speak for themselves and be less likely to become a failure, which could, in turn, give you a bad reputation.
What kind of training should be provided to employees who deal with events and hospitality?
A comprehensive course designed specifically for event planning is excellent training for someone given the task of planning events and will provide that person with an appreciation of what it takes to plan an event. An employee needs to understand the fundamentals, such planning a budget, dealing with sponsors and clients, and utilizing organizational tools.
However, experience is the No. 1 attribute when it comes to executing events. So look for a course that also offers your employees experience through volunteer opportunities, internships and working with an event planner for the best combination of learning.
Also, if your company holds conferences on a regular basis, employees can receive further training specifically in Meeting and Conference planning. There is also other targeted training such as trade show and exhibition management or event planning trends and technology.
Trends and technology include information on registration software or how to take advantage of iPhones during a conference. Technology is now a large part of the hospitality industry, such as using something as simple as the 'Bump' app, where attendees can download their information then just tap other smart phones to receive their information. It's a terrific networking tool and saves paper. There is an influx of meeting technology that changes rapidly and accommodates various attendee 'smart' tools.
As the hospitality industry grows in Northeast Ohio, how will this affect corporate business events?
It is a really exciting time for event planning in Northeast Ohio. The event and meeting planning industry is increasing in Northeast Ohio faster than the national average, at 14 to 19 percent over the next few years, according to O*net OnLine.
The new casino alone just begs for an activity, anything from corporate team building to a birthday party. Then you bring in the Medical Mart and Conference Center and you are surrounded by opportunities for event marketing projects, product launches, entertainment parties, major conferences and trade shows. The list of what can take place here is ongoing and event planning and management is alive and well.
Michele Clark is the program manager, The Shlensky Institute for Event Meeting and Planning, for Corporate College. Reach her at (216) 987-2909 or [email protected]
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How to train health care workers to grow within your organization
Patricia Reid, Vice President, Health Care Education Initiatives, Cuyahoga Community College
Patients are walking billboards for your health care organization. Therefore, if you want to ensure and spread a positive message, having an excellent health care culture can help create the right atmosphere not only for patients, but for your staff, as well.
"If a health care organization doesn't create a culture in which workers feel positive about where they work, it impacts patients," says Patricia Reid, clinical nurse specialist and vice president of Health Care Education Initiatives at Cuyahoga Community College. "The health care environment is stressful. It's important the organizational culture values the work that nurses and other ancillary caregivers provide. If the providers of care are not valued or lack the support of management, that dissatisfaction can indirectly be conveyed to patients. In today's world, hospitals are graded by consumers through a nationally standardized satisfaction survey. These scores play a crucial role for hospitals, as they are publicly reported and available to all consumers of health."
Smart Business spoke with Reid about how creating the right culture can increase patient satisfaction and lower staff turnover.
How are health care workers being trained to create a positive patient experience?
Today's emphasis in health care is on a positive patient experience. Forty years ago, when patients were hospitalized, they were cared for and there was little emphasis on cost. With a greater awareness of health, and as costs have increased, so have patient expectations. Patients are more knowledgeable about their health and have become more discriminate in seeking care. Conversely, hospitals are being judged on the quality, safety and patient satisfaction within their institutions.
The Internet now provides a forum for patients to share both their good and bad health care experiences. They are demanding quality care. Health care workers are no longer caring for novice patients who are not knowledgeable of their health or the expectation of the hospital experience. Many patients come armed with suggestions of treatments or medications that may help in their care.
Health care is a much more collaborative environment and health care providers want to ensure patients understand why a particular treatment they may be asking for may or may not be appropriate for them. It's important that care is collaborative and respectful for both patients and providers in order to support the highest quality of care and satisfaction for the patient.
Why is increasing patient satisfaction and lowering staff turnover so important to a health care facility's quality of care?
Due to the recession, health care has not experienced the turnover it had experienced previously. Although there may be some higher attrition rates in the lower salary bands, there are many graduates in health care fields continuing to seek jobs. We will continue to see more hiring, and some predict a shortage as current health care workers continue to age.
The more turnover an organization has, the less consistency patient units will have on a day-to-day basis. In addition, there's a lot of knowledge within a tenured staff that has been employed 10, 15 or 20 years, versus a new graduate. Most important, as new graduates come into the field of health care, it's critical that experienced workers are available to assist the more novice workers in their roles. The culture of health care is about helping transform young staff into mature, confident health care workers. If there isn't an expert they can go to, they must rely on their own knowledge, which can lead to mistakes.
Health care institutions also need to ensure that the more mature health care worker is knowledgeable about current trends in quality, safety and satisfaction, as many were not trained in these newly defined concepts. Health care workers must understand why patient satisfaction is so paramount to the quality of care. It's more than just a score; it's what the organization should be about.
Health care workers want to provide the best possible care. However, today they are being judged through quantitative measures, which is much different than 40 years ago.
What tools can those in the health care industry use to create this kind of positive culture?
It's very important to train people in the educational setting, not just on the skills of taking care of patients but on how you provide quality care from a business perspective. Do you treat patients with respect? Are you efficient in answering their concerns? It truly is a reflection of a hospital's culture, and you need to make sure all employees want patients to say, 'That's the best care I've ever received,' regardless of the treatment or outcome.
How can people learn more?
On June 26, Corporate College presents 'Disney Institute: Building a Culture of Health Care Excellence.' The workshop covers leadership skills in the context of the Disney culture. It stresses that whoever you meet, whoever you greet, should have a positive experience. To achieve that, you have to be knowledgeable about your organization and everybody has to have the same goal. Not only does that create a good experience for the patient, but people feel good about working for that organization.
Today's health care institutions are concerned about their staff-to-patient ratios and the bottom line, but just as much emphasis needs to be placed on the staff. Those on the front line providing patient care are the heart of the organization and they need to feel valued. The organization must recognize those who provide exceptional care and not lose these health care providers. Unfortunately, we commonly promote those with excellent bedside skills to management, instead of rewarding them monetarily to continue to do what they do well. Great caregivers eventually reach their maximum pay grade and the only option is a promotion to management, despite their desire to remain at the bedside. Organizations must rethink the paradigm and consider what truly makes a great organization and reward excellent providers so they can remain in that critical caregiving role.
Patricia Reid is a clinical nurse specialist and vice president of Health Care Initiatives at Cuyahoga Community College. Reach her at (216) 987-4659 or [email protected] To register for the Disney workshop, call (866) 933-5167 or email [email protected]
How to set expectations for new hires and the training that accompanies it
Danny Spitz, CEO, Everstaff
Establishing job expectations and aligning training to those expectations is crucial to retaining newly hired personnel and enabling them to transition into being a valued member of the business.
Twenty-two percent of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment and the cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least three times that of the person's salary. However, new employees who go through a structured training program were 58 percent more likely to still be with the organization after three years, according to a study by The Wynhurst Group.
"When new employees receive quality training, it builds a comfort level that the company is investing in them and leads to longer-term employment," says Danny Spitz, CEO of Everstaff. "The new employee should understand the company's goals and how he or she can help in achieving them. At the same time, if somebody is fully trained, you should be able to encourage feedback for process improvement, which will allow the employee to take hold of the position and understand where he or she can make a difference."
Smart Business spoke with Spitz about how businesses can use their orientation and training programs to ensure job responsibilities and expectations are clear.
How significant is a first impression, and how can you guarantee it goes well?
It's extremely important because the first impression sets the tone for accountability. When hiring, it is essential to discuss what is required from the person and what the day-to-day responsibilities will be if hired. Explaining this during the interview process will allow both sides to have the same understanding of what the job entails and will cut down on turnover, as the expectations have been discussed. When the newly hired employee starts, it is important to have an up-to-date training program that matches the company's operations and individual position responsibilities. This is where showing strong organizational skills as a manager is critical.
What's important to remember when setting expectations for your new hires?
Having already discussed this during the interview process, it is still recommended that the manager outline the daily responsibilities and expectations during first-day orientation. I find it important to cover, but even more important to explain how the company will provide the training and resources to make the person succeed in their new position. More information provided to the individual will allow for a stronger comfort level, and even discussing the finer details such as hours, company standards, etc., is recommended.
What can employers do to make sure their training works with job expectations?
It's good for managers to refer back to when they started, either in their current position or in a previous position when they were unfamiliar with the company. Remember what type of training was provided and build the current training around your experience. Recognizing the strengths and deficiencies of the training you received will allow you to build your own successfully program.
Often, the manager is fully responsible for training, but if it's a larger organization, you can use current employees to conduct training on individual responsibilities of the job. Identify the strengths of your current staff members will allow you to involve them in the training of the new employee.
It all goes back to not waiting until the day before the person starts to develop a training plan. As you continuously evaluate your company, you should always update your training module and have a clear understanding of how long each step of the training process will take.
Successful managers have a set schedule, often two weeks, that maps out which functions should be trained when, giving time in between so the new employee can digest the task and not get overloaded. With a training schedule stretched out over a certain period of time, you can train the new employee, and then let that person go live on those responsibilities, allowing him or her to utilize the training to complete the individual task before moving on to the next training piece. Everybody has gone through training where you've done a quick overview, but once you get to the actual function and you're on your own, you have to guess because it was covered so quickly.
If the resources are available, shadowing is great tool for training. Have the new employee shadow one of your senior employees doing the job function and then reverse the roles. The senior employee will shadow the new employee to make sure everything is being done efficiently and properly, while being a resource for additional questions. You always want new employees to ask questions — that's part of the training.
How often should training programs be updated?
Your training program should be updated two to four times per year, although each update doesn't mean there are large overall changes. It also depends on how often you hire.
Once you finish the training process, get feedback from the new employee on what he or she feels was a benefit. You really should do 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews, which will allow you to ask about their level of comfort with the daily responsibilities and see if additional training needs to be done.
These reviews give the newly trained employee a higher success rate of the job responsibilities and allow you to update the training module for the next hire.
Danny Spitz is the CEO of Everstaff. Reach him at (216) 674-0788 or [email protected]
Insights Recruiting & Staffing is brought to you by Everstaff
How Douglas H. Yaeger made leadership development a priority at Laclede
Douglas H. Yaeger, retired chairman and CEO, Laclede Gas Co.
It was a moment that was "make or break" time for Douglas H. Yaeger's future at Laclede Gas Co.
In 1993, massive flooding was occurring throughout the central United States, including territory serviced by Laclede. Among the many things homeowners had to be worried about was the effect of the flooding on their gas lines.
"Houses were underwater and water was infringing our system," says Yaeger, who was senior vice president of operations at the time. "Parts of our heavy pipelines where the ground support was, the actual dirt that was around the pipes had washed away and the pipes were floating in the water. We knew when the water went down, we were going to have to do something relatively quickly or the weight of the pipe would not hold itself."
The burden to come up with a solution to this crisis fell on Yaeger. His response was to lead an effort to drop quick-setting cement bags into the water to create new support systems for the pipe.
"They set up as cement so when the water receded, we had a trellis that was holding up the pipe," Yaeger says. "We backfilled it with dirt and everything was great."
It was a defining moment for Yaeger, who ultimately went on to become chairman and CEO at the 1,622-employee natural gas utility, which generated $932 million in 2011 revenue.
Defining what it takes to be ready for whatever challenges you might face is rather simple — it's your ability to develop leaders in your organization. Just as others had put Yaeger in position to be ready to deal with the flooding crisis when he became CEO, it was up to him to do the same for the next generation of talent.
"Quite frankly, it makes the employees that much more involved in the mission of the organization so they feel like they are really current on what's happening inside and outside the company," Yaeger says. "They see and feel that they are a meaningful and important part of the execution of the strategy. Companies that don't take advantage of that are not going to operate on an optimal basis."
Yaeger retired early this year from his position leading Laclede, but he took some time to offer his thoughts about clearly identifying the problem you face and then developing a team of people who can help you solve that problem.
Identify a clear problem
Much of leadership is about solving problems such as the one Yaeger faced in 1993. But one of the things that can create trouble for leaders is when they don't really take the time to figure out what the problem really is.
It's not always as plainly obvious as massive flooding that is uprooting your gas lines.
"You get to the senior levels of organizations where not everything is an operational problem or a financial problem and not everything is earnings driven," Yaeger says.
Yaeger learned about the gray area where problems often live during a 13-week senior management program at Harvard Business School.
Participants in the program met six days a week for 13 weeks and would go over three case studies a day regarding problems that had occurred at prominent companies such as Frito-Lay and Nike.
"You'd go through it and come up with what you thought was a really profound definition of what the problem was and a profound response to that," Yaeger says. "You'd be sitting there and you might give your two cents worth and then you would sit and listen to five other people and you know what, they had five different ways of getting to the same place. Sometimes it was a completely different view of what the challenge was."
The exercise was trying to teach leaders that not every problem is as clear-cut as it might seem, even one as seemingly obvious as the floods of 1993.
"What they really try to get you to do is sort through the noise of an organization and really get down to the basics," Yaeger says. "What are the drivers of what's going on? Make sure you've got the problem defined correctly. What's driving that problem? What are the real solutions, not what the superficial stuff might be."
Yaeger says it's easy to get wrapped up in a certain mindset when you become a leader to the point that your vision becomes very narrow.
"There are a lot of people who run companies who come up through the financial side or they are attorneys," Yaeger says. "But not everything is financially driven and not everything is legally driven. There's a lot of operational, marketing, supply, etc. You need to make sure you're not relying on what's comfortable to you because that's what you know. You need to be able to look through the organization with kind of open eyes and a clinical approach to the other functions as well."
It's perfectly logical that someone develops a skill, hones that skill and uses it to advance up the corporate ladder. But you need to keep broadening your skill set beyond what you already know and so do the people you want to train as leaders.
"At a certain point, you have to go from being a specialist to a generalist so that you have the ability to oversee multiple functions, multiple disciplines and multiple departments," Yaeger says.
"As was typical in the utility business years ago, you become kind of a siloed employee. You come into the company as an accountant and you retire as an accountant. There is certainly room for people like that; I'm not dismissing that. But in terms of successful management development, you really want to challenge those people to see what their capabilities are and allow them to develop and give them an opportunity and the authority to do that."
Always be learning
Yaeger spent a lot of time at Laclede evaluating people and considering their potential to be a leader in the company.
"That's really the key of a successful manager," Yaeger says. "Keep an eye on those folks who have that capacity and give them the opportunity to demonstrate it. Make sure they understand that their key to success is their ability to broaden their capabilities and not just be a single-subject specialist, but much more of a generalist."
As you're evaluating your people, give them opportunities to contribute to matters that affect the company as a whole. Take the situation at Laclede in recent years where the supply of natural gas has increased significantly.
"That's a benefit for us and it's an opportunity to grow our markets and build and leverage that stability of both supply and pricing that we haven't had in quite a while in the gas business," Yaeger says. "So from a standpoint of empowerment, it's really letting my folks know and really directing them toward much more of an aggressive and offensive approach to expanding markets."
Ideally, Yaeger doesn't want to be the one being aggressive and offensive in expanding into new markets. He wants to create an environment where his leaders feel the pull to do that on their own.
"I view my role as one to help set the vision and the strategy and then get out of the way and empower people to execute on that strategy and that vision," Yaeger says. "But certainly be available and be there to jump in and get into the nuts and bolts if need be. It's their job to execute on that and it's my job to make sure they are doing it in the right direction and that they have the resources and assets available to them to execute."
The role of teaching and developing is one that never really ends, at least if you want your leaders to always be on top of their game.
"If you get to this position in any organization and you think you know everything there is to know about the job, that's a guy I'm going to keep my eye on because I just don't think that's necessarily the truth," Yaeger says. "I don't care what part of the company you are in. The company is changing and the marketplace is changing and that is a factual state of growth. There are always new challenges and there are always new things to learn. You can always improve and you can always do what you do better."
You can't throw your leaders into a critical situation where decisions have to be made if they are not ready and if making the wrong move would put people at risk. At the same time, it is important to present as real a scenario as you can to help leaders feel what it's like to make decisions while under pressure.
"We do a lot of simulation and regular testing of our plans," Yaeger says. "When we do have a situation where those plans and those types of reactions in the real world have to be enacted, we do post mortems afterward to see what we did well and what we need to improve on."
By getting people involved in simulations and combining that with discussions afterward, you can get pretty close to making sure they are ready for a big challenge when it occurs.
"We sit down and we clinically look at how we handled the situation," Yaeger says. "What could we have done better, what we did exceedingly well and if there were areas we didn't anticipate. Did we overemphasize certain areas that maybe technology has changed so we don't need to focus on as intently anymore?"
Continue to evaluate people just as you should continue to evaluate your own skills and job performance as CEO.
"We do 360 Evaluations where we have subordinates, superiors and peers all evaluate their management style and the way they treat people, the way they handle emergencies, the way they go about executing on strategy," Yaeger says.
"Have the ability to critique yourself. Self-critique how what your vision of what the company should be is matching up with what the marketplace's vision and your employees' vision is. Sometimes you find out that what you thought was dead right wasn't. So you have to accept that nobody is perfect."
If you find out as your training someone else that the individual doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a leader, you need to take that person's attitude into account to determine the appropriate next course of action.
"There are people who turn out to be very good competent accountants and that's what they're going to be when they retire and that's fine," Yaeger says.
"Not everybody can run the company or be in senior management. It's those that don't meet the expectations and don't show the flexibility and the ability to adapt to the implementation of strategy that you say I don't think the fit is good and it's probably best for everybody that you find somewhere else to work. But we try to make that the exception, not the rule."
How to reach: Laclede Gas Co., (800) 887-4173 or www.lacledegas.com
The Yaeger File
Born: St. Louis. Yaeger grew up in Webster Groves, Mo.
Education: Undergrad degree in marketing, Miami University, Oxford, Oh.; MBA, Saint Louis University; Advanced Management Program, Harvard Business School.
Probably the best job I ever had. I worked in the concession stand at the Webster Groves public swimming pool. I got a dollar an hour, all I could eat and all the girls you could meet at the swimming pool. It was a great job.
Who has the been the biggest influence on you?
I've been very fortunate to work with and for a lot of different people both here at Laclede, and before, who had good Midwestern values and a lot of integrity and just were good human beings. I think it's part of this industry. I feel really blessed that I had that ability and opportunity to work with some really fine people almost throughout my career. Is there one? No.
Who would you like to meet?
I've always been intrigued with Winston Churchill. He was an interesting person and from what I've read about him, not a particularly likeable person. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time to provide the kind of leadership that England needed at the time when they needed it. I've always intrigued by him.
Making sure employees are trained and ready for the job
JoAnn Breedlove, Business Service Manager, The Employment Source
Smart Business spoke to JoAnn Breedlove, Business Service Manager at The Employment Source, about an on-the-job training program that helps employers ensure that new hires are integrated in their new positions and productive as quickly as possible.
What is the On-the-Job Training (OJT) Program?
The On-the-Job Training Program is a federally funded program that helps employers hire and train laid-off workers for full time, long term employment. OJT helps workers become more proficient in needed skills more quickly, which will serve to encourage employers to hire workers sooner than perhaps initially planned, facilitating the hiring of well-qualified individuals who may need additional experience to contribute to their bottom line and spur economic recovery.
How does it benefit area employers?
Through the OJT Program, employers may receive 50 percent of the wage rate of an eligible new trainee to help compensate for the cost of training them in the specific skills they will need to help a business thrive. Employers receive affordable hands-on training tailored to their needs, electronic forms for easier access, fast turn-around and an investment in their company.
Are there any employer requirements?
To qualify, an employer must offer a wage of $10 per hour or more, a full time work schedule and have a fringe benefit package available. This is for direct hires, so no subcontracted or third-party employees are permitted, and an OJT agreement must be developed prior to the start of employment.
Are there any employee candidate requirements?
All OJT employee candidates must be assessed and found eligible and suitable by The Employment Source for each particular position.
What type of funding is available?
Funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Total reimbursement to the employer cannot exceed $8,000.
How is the length of training determined?
The length of the training period will be based on the trainee's current aptitude compared with skills needed to perform the job. Length of training cannot exceed six months.
How does it benefit job seekers?
OJT is an excellent vehicle for individuals to build their skills, to re-establish themselves in new fields and to increase employment retention and self-sufficiency. It is an opportunity for participants to earn and learn, which means they will develop applicable occupational skills while earning a paycheck.
For more information on the OJT Program, contact JoAnn Breedlove, Business Services Manager for The Employment Source, at (330) 491-2645 or [email protected]
To see if your business qualifies for the program, visit The Employment Source website at www.eswork.com, and click directly to Additional Employer Services.
The Employment Source is Northeast Ohio's premier workforce development and training center that connects job seekers with employers. The Business Services Department offers the following fee-free recruiting services to employers:
– Recruiters to pre-screen resumes to your qualifications
– Professional and confidential on-site interview and conference rooms to assist with your recruitment needs
– Mass recruiting assistance
– Free advertising
– Recruiting qualified professionals locally and nationally
We also can assist with:
– Outplacement
– Labor market Information
– Information on federal programs
– Community resource contacts
– On-the-job training
– Incumbent Worker Training
– Job fit assessment system
– Meeting affirmative action and federal contractor requirements
To place a job order:
Complete the Employer Profile and Job Order forms at www.eswork.com (click on Employers)
Fax or e-mail forms to one of our two locations:
Stark County
Tuscarawas County
JoAnn Breedlove is the Business Service Manager at The Employment Source. Reach her at (330) 491-2645 or [email protected] in Stark County, or in Tuscarawas County contact Barb Ventura at (330) 364-9777 or [email protected]
Scott Wise finds, trains the right people to keep Scotty's Brewhouse growing
Scott Wise, founder, president and CEO, Scotty's Brewhouse
Scott Wise admits it's difficult to find and keep good employees for the seven restaurants he operates. But despite that, he knows he's doing something right ― Scotty's Brewhouse grew from $11.6 million in annual revenue to $18 million between 2008 and 2010, a 55 percent increase.
"It's important to keep growing our company so everybody's fire continues to burn, so everybody feels they have another place for them to move forward," says Wise, founder, president and CEO of the 1,000-employee company.
"Your employee is No. 1, not your customer," he says. "If your employee is not happy, your customer is going to know that and is probably not going to come back."
Smart Business spoke with Wise about how Scotty's finds workers and stokes the fire within them.
What does it take to find a good employee?
Gosh, it's hard. It's tough. It starts all the way from the beginning. From the minute you hire them, you've got to hold hope that your manager has done his job. We try to put a lot of effort into the manager who's doing the hiring so that he or she can find the right person. You absolutely have to recognize the right person, see through the bullshit and make sure that someone is not just saying things you can say to get hired. So it starts with that.
But from watching over my entire company, I would say just the generation we are dealing with right now, I don't want to blame anybody or blame a generation, but it's just, I hate to say weaker, but I think every generation gets a little weaker in some respects. Maybe they have been a little more overprotected or they need to know a little bit more about why ― "Why do I have to be there at 10 o'clock instead of 10:30?"
They ask a lot more questions. They want to know why they are doing this, or what's in it for them if they sell these different food items or these different drink items.
I think that the toughest challenge is to always keep all your staff motivated, content, happy and, obviously, as the end result ― pleasing your guests.
What solutions are you taking to address the challenges of Gen Y workers and others?
It takes proper training. If you don't train them correctly, they won't want to stay with a company that doesn't train them properly. The employees won't feel like they know what they are doing, and they feel uncomfortable where they are, and they are not going to want to stay there.
To follow up, the chief executive needs to personally send an e-mail to every new trainee that comes into the company and tell them, 'Hey, here's my e-mail address. This is really me typing this e-mail. If you ever have a question or you feel like someone is saying something rude to you or anything, you need to e-mail me here.'
It all takes good training. We actually have two directors of training in our company so we try to put a lot of emphasis on them and making sure that they have proper training manuals and everything in place.
What are the responsibilities of the two directors?
One travels to the restaurants and actually goes to each store and talks to staff and the training manager.
The other one, who is the main director of training, manages the entire database and stays back to make sure everything is put together. Then she gives out information to him to transfer to the restaurants. They work together in the training.
What types of perks are successful with employees?
Try to just take a little bit extra effort to show support to all employees: Christmas parties, summer baseball games, anniversary cards and gym workout memberships are a few.
You don't want them to be giving 80 hours a week at work and just killing themselves with that.
You want people to have a good work/life balance. That's kind of my philosophy. I really think that helps.
How to reach: Scotty's Brewhouse, (317) 759-6336 or www.scottysbrewhouse.com


There are also regular ferry connections between Indonesia and Malaysia and Singapore.
Indonesia has many internal flight and ferry routes, and private speedboat operators connect many islands too. It is usually fairly easy to move between the major islands and those that attract a lot of tourists, but outlying islands can be a challenge to reach, including overnight boat trips on vessels that may not meet good safety standards.
Bus networks are often extensive in and around major cities and places that attract large numbers of tourists. Minivans offer an alternative way of travel in some areas. Roads that are used frequently are usually well maintained. Public transportation infrastructure on lesser-visited islands can be almost non-existent, with some places having no real public transport at all. In such cases, independent visitors will have to rely on local taxis.
Myriad taxis can be found around the different islands, and drivers can be quite insistent. While the cost of taking a taxi is higher than catching a public bus, solo travellers who buddy up with other travellers can split the cost of a taxi and may find that it works out to be a cost-effective and convenient way of making a trip. Negotiation is key!


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23/01/2022 Shatin Race 8
23/01/2022 Class 4 Shatin Turf A 1200m Going: GOOD (2.72) Rating: 060 - 044 Section Time: (24.16) (22.47) (23.07)
1 2 PINS PRINCE J Moreira J Size 1 133 60 SH 1:09:70 7.5 5-4-1 24.48 22.27 22.95
2 4 LESLIE Z Purton P F Yiu 9 127 54 SH 1:09:71 2.4 6-6-2 24.56 22.31 22.84
3 14 DURHAM STAR L Hewitson D J Whyte 11 117 44 SH 1:09:72 32 9-8-3 24.80 22.27 22.65
4 3 MARVEL DRAGON K Teetan T P Yung 3 128 55 1 1:09:86 5 7-7-4 24.60 22.31 22.95
5 10 AUGUST MOON C Y Ho P O'Sullivan 2 122 49 1 1:09:87 14 2-2-5 24.24 22.39 23.24
6 5 AMAZING VICTORY H T Mo L Ho 6 123 52 1-1/4 1:09:91 192 11-12-6 25.00 22.31 22.60
7 8 SIXTH GENERATION B Shinn C H Yip 12 125 52 1-1/4 1:09:91 86 12-10-7 25.08 22.19 22.64
8 13 E BROTHER A Badel K L Man 10 118 45 1-3/4 1:09:99 39 3-3-8 24.32 22.43 23.24
9 9 BAEBAE TSOI M F Poon F C Lor 5 122 51 2-3/4 1:10:12 6.7 1-1-9 24.16 22.47 23.49
10 7 HANDSOME VEGGIE A Hamelin D A Hayes 7 125 52 3-1/2 1:10:24 40 10-11-10 24.80 22.47 22.97
11 11 PRESIDENT'S CHOICE M Chadwick R Gibson 14 120 47 3-1/2 1:10:28 36 14-14-11 25.32 22.11 22.85
12 6 ENCORE R Maia C S Shum 8 125 52 4-3/4 1:10:44 100 4-5-12 24.40 22.39 23.65
13 12 FANTASY SPRING H W Lai Y S Tsui 4 119 46 6 1:10:68 278 8-9-13 24.76 22.31 23.61
14 1 CLASSIC MOON K C Leung W Y So 13 133 60 6-1/2 1:10:75 8.8 13-13-14 25.32 22.11 23.32
MARVEL DRAGON was crowded for room on jumping between AUGUST MOON and FANTASY SPRING, both of which shifted ground. CLASSIC MOON shifted out at the start and bumped PRESIDENT'S CHOICE. After this, CLASSIC MOON and PRESIDENT'S CHOICE were steadied to obtain cover. From wide barriers, DURHAM STAR and SIXTH GENERATION were also steadied in the early stage to obtain cover. Passing the 1100 Metres, AMAZING VICTORY shifted in and bumped FANTASY SPRING. Near the 950 Metres, FANTASY SPRING shifted out and bumped AMAZING VICTORY which was being steadied to obtain a position closer to the rail with cover. AUGUST MOON lay out rounding the Home Turn and was awkwardly placed inside BAEBAE TSOI. MARVEL DRAGON was held up for clear running in the early part of the Straight. SIXTH GENERATION had some difficulty obtaining clear running passing the 400 Metres. Throughout the race, E BROTHER travelled wide and without cover. When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of CLASSIC MOON, K C Leung stated that as with its first start in Hong Kong when successful, CLASSIC MOON was ridden at the rear of the field today from a wide barrier. He said CLASSIC MOON travelled well in the early stages and initially responded well when the tempo of the race commenced to quicken after the 600 Metres. He said he shifted CLASSIC MOON to the outside of runners rounding the Home Turn, however, the horse came under pressure shortly after entering the Straight. He added after initially staying on one-paced when being ridden along, CLASSIC MOON would not respond to his riding after the 300 Metres and then was disappointing in the manner in which it failed to finish the race off. He said, in his opinion, CLASSIC MOON did not handle the increase in weight from 124 lbs last start to top weight of 133 lbs today. A veterinary inspection of CLASSIC MOON immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. The performance of CLASSIC MOON, a last start winner and which finished at the rear of the field, was considered unacceptable. Before being allowed to race again, CLASSIC MOON will be required to perform to the satisfaction of the Stewards in a barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. A veterinary inspection of BAEBAE TSOI immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. PINS PRINCE and LESLIE were sent for sampling.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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How to Play Poker Like a Pro
Poker is a game of strategy, chance, and skill. There are many variations of the game, and the most fun is switching from one version to another. There are also some silly variations, such as Strip Poker (for child-free nights!). Other variations include Holding cards behind one's head, and others require a larger stake. All these versions have something in common. The best way to learn the game is to play it. Below are some tips on how to play poker like a pro.
The most common poker variant is Hold'em, sometimes referred to as the Cadillac of poker. Each player has two or four hole cards, known as Hole Cards. In the game, the players compete to get the best hand. If they do, they are required to match the bet of their opponents, who must match it or lose. Bluffing, or betting that you have a winning hand, is an option as well. Depending on the variation, you may be able to play the game like a pro without ever meeting the other player face to face.
The history of poker is complex, but its origins are interesting. It was originally a game of bluffing and misdirection, and the word "poker" derives from it. A game similar to poker may have originated as far back as the 17th century in France. In addition to its modern-day version, the original game was known as Poque, which was based on a similar game called primero. French settlers brought the game to North America, where it became a popular activity for adults and children alike.
The game has a shady past, and its name is a slang word used by pickpockets and card hustlers. It is still played today as a gentleman's game. Its name was changed during the Civil War, but the game itself remains a popular sport. Hundreds of variations of poker are available today, and you can play for pennies or compete with professional players for thousands of dollars. If you play poker for money, you'll get a lot of practice by trying out different variations.
One variant is called a backdoor flush, where a player can obtain a royal flush by hitting two of the necessary cards on the turn and river. A backdoor flush is when one player has an advantage in statistics and wins the pot. For example, if a player holds a pair of trip sevens, he might also hold the best hand: a straight. But if he holds different suits, he may want to consider playing a poker variant that does not require these specific cards.
In some poker variants, blind bets are required before a hand is dealt to the players. This bet will either be the ante or an addition to it. It will be placed before the dealer deals each player his cards. This bet is made by the players in clockwise succession. The player who has the highest hand at the end of the round will win the pot. It's very important to remember that the game of poker is a gamble, and you're only as good as your hand!
As the first player to act in a game, you're placed at the button or immediately to the left of the big blind. The dealer is usually a casino employee. A player who sits at the button position is called a nominal dealer. The dealer's job is to deal each hand, and the buck or dealer button is used to determine the order in which betting proceeds. The dealer button also determines who the game's dealers are.
In standard poker games, the money players place in the pot is known as the "pot." In these games, there are five community cards. This final card is called the "rock," and it is a poker term for a player who's "tight." A rock player sits at the table for hours and doesn't play, but will occasionally enter a pot when he has goods. In split-pot games, qualifying for the low hand is necessary, which means holding 5 cards that are 8 or lower.
The standard hands of poker are ranked based on their odds. The higher the player's skill, the greater their chance of winning. Poker mathematics is interesting even for non-players, and the game is a fascinating study in probability, decks, and probabilities. It's not surprising, then, that the more skilled a player is the more likely he will win. Once the game is in full swing, you'll be able to see what cards your opponents have!
How to Spot a Cheater at a Casino
The History of Roullete


Join Me & Create a 2014 Summer Photo Bucket List!
you can expect to sweat buckets!
That said, summer is also a great time to create some wonderful memories. I want to be sure that this year, I don't let the hot summer days pass us by.
That's why, I created a 2014 Summer Photo Bucket List!
These are the 10 things I plan to make sure I have a picture of by the end of summer (I am giving myself June, July and August to get these pictures done, posted AND printed!).
For the most part they are things we definitely do every summer, but I might not necessarily take pictures of. Be sure to come back to this post often, I intend to update this everytime I take a bucket list picture!
As we complete these items, I will post the pictures on this post!
Another self imposed rule is that these pictures HAVE to be with my NICE Canon camera. No camera phones!
Do you have a summer picture bucket list? Post it below! Or post it on your blog and link me to it!


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Q: Jquery code not working, but JavaScript is. What is my error? The JavaScript that is commented out works, however, I need it in jQuery for mobile touch functions. So I tried to convert into jQuery, but it does not run properly. What this program does is calculate quadratic equations. Sorry for the bad variable names. What is my error? The webpage loads, but it when I press a button nothing happens.
           <!DOCTYPE html>

      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <title>Quadratic Calculator</title>

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      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

      <link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootswatch/3.3.6/flatly/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen">

Quadratic Calculator

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          = 0

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x=

or

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A: When you pasted the code in from another source you transferred the single ticks, instead of single quotes:
var submit = $('#submit'); should be var submit = $('#submit');

A: In all your selections you have the back tick instead of quotes; fix that and see what you get

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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"The Guardian", Sarah Smarsh, Who Are the Trump Voters?
What we need is to have our stories told.
Dangerous Idiots: How the Liberal Media Failed Working-Class Americans.
After she carefully watched us grand parent her sister's three children for almost eight years, daughter Elizabeth decided she could leave her almost eight month old Samantha with us over night (28 hours and 34 minutes as it turned out). She was scheduled to run in a half marathon a couple of states away, and her husband, son-in-law Brandt, was scheduled to be away in California during that time for his work (with the Kansas City Chiefs).
Thus, we found ourselves in KC this past Friday, reviewing Samantha's schedule and receiving instructions from both Elizabeth and Brandt as to what we could expect and what they expected us to do. Actually, they both seemed remarkably calm for first time parents leaving the first born overnight. True, we had raised our own children with minimum of damage, but that was more than three decades ago. And, we had 'taken care' of Samantha for up to 12 hours, but never overnight. Still, compared to the "Miller Bible," the 22 page outline we had drawn up for my sister 35 years ago when she was taking care of our daughters, Elizabeth and Brandt's instructions seemed almost derelict. Other than a 12-step process to be followed for putting Samantha to bed at night and an outline of what and when we were to feed the child prodigy, it only took about an hour of instruction (with shorthand note taking).
NEW YORK – As I have traveled around the world in recent weeks, I am repeatedly asked two questions: Is it conceivable that Donald Trump could win the US presidency? And how did his candidacy get this far in the first place?
I voted today (absentee ballot) for Hillary Clinton for President.
As I wrote in an earlier post about the DC Primary, this choice was an easy one to make. She is by far the most prepared, most serious, most competent, and most experienced of the two candidates. This vote is not simply a "lesser of two evils" choice. While I see and know her weaknesses and ethical challenges, putting this country's future in her hands is the only rational choice to make.
In voting for Clinton, I am also actively voting against Donald Trump. If you look at his supporters, he has clearly tapped into an unrest that pervades this country. He has correctly identified that the political establishment — Democrats and Republicans — have largely chosen to serve the interests of those who have access to power and influence in government and not to those who are struggling.
However, Trump has also demonstrated, in so many ways, that he is both unprepared to be President and that he would be a dangerous choice. Without going into detail (no doubt the reader has his/her own list), it is clear that he has both traded upon and unleashed hatred, intolerance, and encouraged violence. We cannot afford to have a man with Trump's temperament entrusted with the powers delegated to the leader of our country.
Not voting or voting for one of the two third-party candidates is not an option as I believe that simply throws away a vote. See my earlier post on this point, There's No Such Thing as a Protest Vote.
For me, and for our country, Clinton is easily the best choice. And to back up my vote, I will go to Ohio from Nov. 4-8 to help with a Get Out the Vote campaign.


Fortune Global continues to demonstrate expertise and capacity to deliver on high demanding turnkey projects. Projects involving Heavy Lift operations of highly technical and intricate nature have become synonymous with the Fortune Global success story.
A recent accomplishment of the Fortune Global success story was the masterly handling and management of the design, planning and execution of the transportation of Riser Porch Steel structures of 20,030 CBM from Niger dock Free Zone to SHI-MCI/Ladol Free Zone for OML 130 Total Egina FPSO Project awarded by Samsung Heavy Industries Limited, in collaboration with SAL Heavy Lift GMBH. The beauty of this excellent feat goes beyond just delivering on the project but for the fact that it was completed six days before the designated deadline. That's class! You know?


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14th Virginia Cavalry
14th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
Flag of Virginia, 1861
September 1862 – April 1865
Western Virginia Campaigns
Valley Campaigns of 1864
Battle of Five Forks
The 14th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.
Virginia's 14th Cavalry Regiment was organized in September, 1862, with nine companies, some of which had previously served in Jackson's Squadron Virginia Cavalry. The tenth company was made up of surplus men of the other companies.
The unit was attached to Jenkins', Echols', and McCausland's Brigade. It skirmished in western Virginia, then saw action at Droop Mountain and Lewisburg.
During January 1864, it had 29 officers and 424 men present for duty. The 14th continued the fight in Western Virginia, took part in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and disbanded in April 1865. The field officers were Colonels James Cochran and Charles E. Thorburn, Lieutenant Colonels Robert A. Bailey and John A. Gibson, and Majors B. Frank Eakle and George Jackson. A Union soldier, Private James F. Adams, was awarded the Medal of Honor for capturing the regiment's state flag during an engagement at Nineveh, Virginia, on November 12, 1864.[1]
American Civil War portal
List of Virginia Civil War units
List of West Virginia Civil War Confederate units
^ "Medal of Honor Recipients - Civil War (A–L)". Medal of Honor Citations. United States Army Center of Military History. December 3, 2010. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service".
This article about a specific military unit of the American Civil War is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


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Edgar Sydenstricker (15 July 1881 – 19 March 1936) was an American economist and statistician.

Sydenstricker was born on 15 July 1881 in Shanghai to missionaries Caroline Maude (Stulting) (1857–1921) and Absalom Sydenstricker. His parents returned to their home state of West Virginia for the birth of his younger sister Pearl S. Buck. Sydenstricker came to the United States in 1896. He enrolled at Fredericksburg College and later Washington and Lee University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Sydenstricker completed a master's of art degree at Washington and Lee in 1902. For further graduate study, Sydenstricker enrolled at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University.

He was a high school principal in Onancock, Virginia until 1905, when he became editor of the Daily Advance, a newspaper in Lynchburg, Virginia. Sydenstricker also wrote for other publications. Between 1907 and 1908, Sydenstricker was a fellow in political economy at the University of Chicago, after which he worked for the United States Immigration Commission and the Commission on Industrial Relations until 1915. Sydenstricker joined the United States Public Health Service in 1915 to work with Benjamin S. Warren. Together, they researched the health and economic status of textile factory workers in New York City, as well as sickness insurance in Europe. From 1916 to 1918, Sydenstricker and Joseph Goldberger researched causes of pellagra in the American South. Sydenstricker and Wade Hampton Frost began in 1918 to research influenza with a statistical focus. Sydenstricker was named head of the Office of Statistical Investigations in 1920, and began the Hagerstown Morbidity Survey the next year. It later became the U. S. National Health Survey. In 1923, the League of Nations invited Sydenstricker to establish the Epidemiological Service of the Health Organization, which ran similar public health studies on an international scale.

Sydenstricker became a consultant to the Milbank Memorial Fund in 1925. As he took on more extensive leadership roles within the organization, including as director of research in 1928 and scientific director in 1935, Sydenstricker's reduced his responsibilities at the Public Health Service to consultancy work. He served in several positions within the American Statistical Association, among them counsellor, member of the board of directors, and associate editor. Sydenstricker was elected a member of the ASA in 1917, and became a fellow in 1922. He also represented the association on Social Science Research Council between 1931 and 1934. He died on March 19, 1936, aged 54, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

References

1881 births
1936 deaths
American statisticians
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Scientists from Shanghai
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Chicago fellows
University of Chicago alumni
Washington and Lee University alumni
Editors of Virginia newspapers
20th-century American newspaper editors
American school administrators
American expatriates in China

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Note: This device is not intended as a replacement for regular dental checkups.
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Minor child of permanent resident.
I'm a US citizen, which recently my parents got their greencard thru my naturalization.
We sent all the right forms,I-130, I-485 and the EAD form too and the I-864.
He has his fingerprinting done about a month ago.
And there's also a second page explaining who's not eligible for an AOS, and they selected in orange ink his category, which is that he entered US thru the VISA WAIVER PROGRAM (he's italian, and no visa is required).
I'm so lost and we can not aford a lawyer right now, and we have 87 days or they will cancel the application!
Please any help will be appreciated!
Your brother does not qualify for AOS. He has to return to Italy.
It takes about 2 years for an LPR parent to petition for an unmarried child under age 21.
Have one or both of your parents file for a Re-Entry Permit and return home to Italy.
I thought you could petition a brother or sister as long as you were over the age of 21? As long as he is still in legal status on the VWP then he should be applicable.
the visa waiver is only for visiting the US for 90 days, while the process of the petition takes around 2 years, her brother would have to be legally in the us for those 2 years.
Ah, gotcha. Spouses get any overstay waived but siblings do not.
Wording was strange in OP's post. 'We' instead of 'they' is what threw me off.
The weird thing is that when we saw a lawyer before sending the paperwork he told us that he could be waiting for an available visa HERE in US, even though he's out of status.
Dang, now i'm really dissapointed! There's no way for him to he back in Italy, he is disabled, and has a rare genetic disease (degenerative), which is the main reason my parents came to live here with me! Just so we could take care of him all together!
ps, i use the word WE because i'm doing everything by myself since my parents speak zero english ?
The weird thing is that when we saw a lawyer before sending the paperwork he told us that he could be waiting for an available visa HERE in US, even though he's out of status. The lawyer is an idiot. Not all lawyers are versed in immigration law. This one clearing was no versed in immigration law.
What should we do? Follow the law or your brother will never get a green card. He must go back to Italy. If he stays, he can never get a green card. Get a Re-Entry Permit so the parent can return to Italy without losing his/her green card and take care of your brother while he is waiting for an immigration visa. This is the only way to get your brother a green card.
Another case of a lawyer giving bad advice.
Unfortunately your brother has no legal path while he is here in the US. And the longer he overstays the worse it will get. You may have to sit down and have a deep discussion with your parents. As already mentioned, one (or both) parents could return to Italy with your brother and care for him until his visa is ready. Or maybe another family member back in Italy.
A shame you were fed misinformation.
The I130 will not be cancelled unless your parent who filed loses green card status themselves. Your I 485 will be cancelled because you had no right to file it. Your brother MUST leave. If he has stayed longer than 90 days he can forget coming back on vwp and has little chance of a visitors visa. You should report the lawyer to the bar association and ask for a refund of fees to do with your brother. Which parent actually filed for you brother. It is most important that that parent not lose status.
Is there not another EU country that could treat his condition? Germany has excellent health care. As do Sweden and Denmark. It might even be cheaper than the USA? Especially if you could find some sort of reciprocal EU health care plan.
Unfortunally No! He's doing an experimental treatment here in MA, all free.
Also the possibility of starting in a new country all by themselves, new language is so difficult.
We are seying a new lawyer friday, praying that he'll find a loophole!


This month, we were hard at work tracking some guitars and drums for our song "Now That You're Gone", which we actually wrote together over 10 years ago. The song is an extremely heartfelt ballad about the aftermath of a suicide. We also brought in the very accomplished pianist/arranger, Charlie Sydnor to add some piano throughout the song, and Keith Brinkley to play bass. Fun fact: Keith's part was done remotely. Keith actually recorded it in San Jose with Jerry Ososkie at J31 Studios. We watched via Skype! Gotta love modern technology.
longtime friend and total badass, Keith Brinkley to play bass on the track at J31 Studios in San Jose. Keith and Dennis played in bands for many years when Dennis lived in the Bay Area, and they just gel unbelievably together. You gotta hear this one!


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Home Management Everyone a Leader
Proximate Environment
Under the conventional organizing approach and beyond, a culture develops over time at least partly as a direct result of the outside world's inluence. By "outside world" I mean the proximate environment in which the organization operates. Key elements of this proximate environment are the realities of the market and the industry and (often) the geography in which the organization inds itself.
An activist, not-for-proit, service-oriented organization may operate in an inner city, in public schools, or in any number of other well-deined sectors of society. The space in which a Rotary Club operates will be quite different from the one in which the Salvation Army operates, but each organization will be well aware of its proximate environment and how it affects its members' character and behaviour. Similarly, the people at Google can easily deine their culture, and so can the people who work for the Canadian National Railway (CNR). They operate in very different market spaces and have quite different aims – Google might say it is moving knowledge; the CNR might say it is moving materials and people.
So the reality of your marketplace, and of the environment in which your business operates, will do much to deine the character and behaviour of the people in your organization and often the skills they must have. Each organization, given its proximate environment, must do certain things very well. For any organization, it is the customers or service receivers who deine the marketing, selling, inventory, manufacturing, and other functional processes and skills.
Customer needs and the character attributes of the customer base are relected in the organization's culture. This is easy to understand in reference to a business organization that is a single-product, single-service provider. But what about large, complex organizations that serve the needs of multiple sets of customers? DuPont Canada was a large company with many diverse business units when I was there. The customer base for the "paint" business was quite different from the customer base for the "synthetic ibres" business. How could people working in each of these business units be culturally deined as DuPont Canada people?
In strong but complex organizations, the culture can be deined in terms of character and skills. For example, DuPont Canada can be described culturally as a "marketing technology" and "manufacturing in potentially hazardous environments" company. The multitude of products and services offered by DuPont Canada shared these cultural descriptors. Thus, people in DuPont Canada – and in similar business organizations with diverse business units – can recognize common behaviours and character attributes. Each business unit at DuPont Canada was marketing functionally complex products; some of these products were sourced from potentially hazardous manufacturing processes. This created cultural bonds that in turn affected the behaviour and skill sets of the people.
This point, about a coming together of skills and character attributes even in complex organizations, is relected in DuPont's tag lines as they have changed over the years:
Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry
Better Things for Better Living
A Science Company
The global DuPont Company is about 200 years old. The phrases that its marketing people have developed to describe the company have changed over that time, but DuPont has always been and is to this day described by its character attributes, behaviours, and skills. It is often described by the new products it engineers and by its ability to regularly reinvent itself, its technologies, and its products. This is one statement of culture as seen by the proximate environment.