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Training Conference Launches a NASA Move

Marshall Space Flight Center, a division of the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA), had to find a way to launch its employees on atraining mission — fast.


The Huntsville, Alabama-based facility, encompassing 31 buildings andemploying over 2,000 people, faced a massive reorganization in May 1999. HR knewthat a training conference was the best way to effectively use employees’ timeduring the reconfiguration of office equipment and furniture. But an acceleratedmove schedule meant that HR and management had to work together at light speedto assemble a training program for the entire workforce in time for thesix-day-long reorganization.


Both the brevity of the move and Center-spanning training program presentedchallenges. The decision to speed up the Marshall Center move resulted fromfeedback by many employees who, because the Center had not gone through areorganization in over 25 years, felt apprehensive about the move.


“Some of these people had been in the same office for their entirecareers,” says Greg Walker, director of employee and organizationaldevelopment for the Center. Thom Holden, who acted as project manager for thetraining, adds, “We had a situation where we didn’t want to string themove over several months — we wanted minimal disruption.”


But, as Sheila Cloud, director of center operations, points out, “In thenormal government manner, such a move would take 18 months from start to finish,as it did with one of our sister agencies. That concerned us because we saw thatthis was a waste of funds, and it put far too much stress on theworkforce.”


Benchmarking against the sister agency showed that a quick moving schedulewas feasible. Training would get the employees out of the office so therelocation could be done quickly. Certainly conducting training for all theemployees seemed like the best possible use of their time and salaries whiletheir offices were being moved.


“At Marshall, all employees have to complete a certain amount oftraining by the end of the year,” says Walker, “so the training was agreat opportunity for employees to get it out of the way.”


HR also saw the move as an opportunity to build employee morale. “Wewanted to present something really first-class to ease employee anxiety,”says Greg Walker. “Change is really tough for a lot of people, so we wantedto make the training a positive experience for everyone who attended.”


Teamwork helps the idea fly.


When it came to conducting training for so many employees, Marshall Centerfound itself without a model. “Neither our sister agencies nor we had neverdone anything like this before,” says project manager Holden. “Centeroperations teamed up with HR in the office of employee and organizationaldevelopment, meeting on how best to accomplish the training.”


Adds Cloud, “When you’re working in government, you’re sensitive tothe fact that the salaries of the people are also the taxpayers’ money.”So the two offices decided that a training “conference” at a centrallocation would be the most cost-effective option. “Once that was decided,the challenge was whether we could pull it off or not,” laughs Cloud.


The accelerated moving schedule left the team with a month-long timeframe toput the training together. “Normally, arranging a training session with2,000 people takes four months or longer,” says Holden. “It wasn’ttotally undoable, but we had to find a venue, coordinate all the instructors,and watch the budget, too.” Fortunately, Holden and his staff were able tosecure the use of the Huntsville Civic Center, which had both a main hall andseparate classrooms, for the duration of the training.


The sheer diversity of the large workforce attending the training conferenceproved another difficult point to navigate. “That was a big caveat — thatwe were moving the whole workforce. Therefore, the training venue had to beuseful to the many occupations within the Center,” says Holden. That wouldprove no easy feat. The Marshall Center boasts scientists, engineers, ITspecialists, security personnel, clerical workers, and several levels ofmanagement. On the other hand, “We didn’t want to go to the conferenceand teach basketweaving,” says Cloud.


The team then collaborated to make the training conference as beneficial aspossible. With Holden at the helm as training specialist, the team heldbrainstorming sessions to come up with classes that would appeal to the widerange of employees at Marshall.


Then, the entire staff, using existing training vendors and their owncontacts, networked to see which vendors could offer the training in the propertime frame. “Then we worked our infrastructure around that — quite astretch from the way we’d normally handle things,” says Holden.


Despite the time crunch, the team managed to book instructors for generalinterest-type courses, such as team building, e-mail etiquette, and first aid,as well as for mandatory IT and ISO 9000 courses. Other classes were designed toappeal to unique worker situations, including an abbreviated course inconversational Italian to help a contingent of engineers who work with Italiancohorts in the space program.


The training unfolds …


As the training schedule flew into place, an in-house graphics department puttogether a conference-style class itinerary training sessions. One week beforethe training conference, a special Web site went up with a FAQ page to answeremployees’ questions about the training and provide directions to the civiccenter.


Says Cloud, “We burned a lot of midnight oil to set the training up intime and make sure every detail was taken care of.” The details includedeverything from planning for inclement weather to making special arrangementswith the City of Huntsville to see that employees would have ample parkingspaces at the civic center, most of which are normally reserved for cityemployees.


At the same time, the team worked to generate anticipation for the training.”Our goal was to make it exciting for the employees,” says Walker.”We wanted employees to see that positive things were afoot and reallyenjoy themselves at the conference.”


Employees pulling into the parking lot on the first day of the trainingbeheld a custom-made banner emblazoned with the training conference slogan,”Marshall on the Move.” They walked to the center on a path decoratedwith colorful balloons.


Once inside, employees gathered in the civic center’s main hall for a townhall-style meeting, with management on hand to answer questions about therelocation. When the meeting broke for individual classes, volunteer greeterscheerfully directed employees to the correct rooms for training seminars.


During breaks between sessions, employees could stroll and view exhibitsdetailing different Center projects. The training team even took the time torefresh the balloons each morning to present a new appearance to returningemployees.


Employee turnout, tracked with attendance cards and evaluation forms, was amajority of the workforce, even though employees had the option of taking comptime during the move. Walker claims out that the key to the training’s successwas its attention to detail, designed to make Marshall Center employees feellike stars.


To minimize concern about employee safety, training staff made the trainingsessions entirely self-contained, bringing in boxed lunches and providing a bankof phones, fax machines and copiers so that employees could check in with theirfamilies or pick up voice-mail. The normally businesslike dress code was relaxedto casual for the entire week of training. Holden explains, “I knew if wemade the conference a comfortable learning environment, they’d like it. Wewanted to make them feel special.”


Evidently, they did. The human resources team received rave reviews, both inthe form of evaluations and a galaxy of complimentary e-mails, from all levelsof employees in the organization.


Six days of training saved more than $1 million.


The “Marshall on the Move” training conference turned out so wellthat it was nominated by NASA for a “Continual Improvement” Award, adefinite nod of approval, since award nominations usually focus on scientificand technical achievements within the agency.


Thom Holden says, “What it really boils down to is the fact that weworked together as a team. It’s a long process to rewrite the way peoplethink, we’re at a point where we know that if we all work together, we cancomplete any project.”


The HR team is even prouder of the fact that in all, the speedyreorganization and training conference saved the U.S. government over $1million. The training itself proved so effective that the Marshall Center nowplans to make the training conference an annual event.


More importantly, employee morale is a far cry from its anxious vibe beforethe move. “The employees could tell by the quality of the training and thecare that went into it that Marshall Center was sending a message,” saysCloud. “That message was, ‘We care about you.’ They appreciated thefact that we tried to keep the move as short as possible and that we reallyworked to make the training useful to them.”


Holden adds: “I may sound like a commercial for the space program, but Ireally do refer to NASA as the ‘great frontier.’ With every accomplishmentthere’s risk involved, and certainly everyone in this agency knows that. Butwhether it’s a training conference or a mission to Mars, we’re alwaysadapting and working to have the best possible outcome for the people weserve.” Mission accomplished.


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 128-131 —Subscribenow!

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Gary Turning Supervision into the Opportunity of a Lifetime

Excerpted with permission of the publisher Jossey-Bass, a Wiley company, from “The 21st Century Supervisor.” Copyright (c) 2000 by Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. This book is available at all bookstores, Amazon, and from the Jossey-Bass Web site at www.jbp.com, or call 1-800-956-7739.



Gary started working for his company almost right out of high school. After five years, he was promoted to the company’s first third-shift supervisor position. Without a night shift plant manager, Gary essentially had the responsibility for the entire facility.


“I tried going right by the book in the early years,” Gary explains. “I wanted every employee to respect me and understand that I was the man in charge. But I was a supervisor in job title only. My people didn’t respect me. Because I’d had no training to be a supervisor, I just did what I observed other supervisors and managers doing before me. Doing things that way, though, never worked for me.”


At that point an unpleasant confrontation with a trusted friend at work began the change needed in Gary’s career. Having just competed in a darts tournament early one evening at his favorite bar, Gary walked in a few minutes late to work. Although he was not drunk, he had consumed a few beers during the competition, so the smell of alcohol was still on him.


One of Gary’s better employees (and a personal friend) confronted him about being late and for having alcohol on his breath. As Gary recalls, “He told me that I was supposed to be the leader of this shift, a mentor for those wanting to be supervisors. But, what kind of leader or mentor could I be if I didn’t first set the example? His words hit me right between the eyes.”


Such a confrontation from a subordinate might have sent some supervisors into a fit, but not Gary. “He was right,” Gary says. “I was so challenged by his words that I met with him later that same shift to find out more about his observations of me and my leadership. By the end of that night, I determined that I had to change. I could not remain as I was and survive as a supervisor. It was definitely a low time for me personally, but it was just what I needed to turn myself around.”


However, as is true for many people, deciding to change is one thing — putting those changes into action is something totally different. It wasn’t easy for Gary to change his way of acting and thinking after all his years as a supervisor.


Shortly after Gary’s third-shift “conversion” experience, he began to hear about quality, continuous improvement, and work teams. “There was a lot of skepticism about these things at first,” Gary says, “especially from the managers and supervisors who had been around for awhile. While I didn’t understand it myself, what I heard seemed to make more sense to me than the way we had done things in the past. I thought it would be great to pursue quality and work teams if we could get everyone else involved.”


During the early 1990s, the talk about quality and teams began to come together for Gary. He had just turned forty, and the light suddenly went on. “Maybe all the awareness about quality and teams was my midlife crisis,” he says, “but things really did begin to make sense. Being a supervisor meant that I was charged with making sure that what was produced met the needs of our customers. Anything I could do to make sure this happened began to be an obsession for me.”


By this time Gary was a supervisor on the first shift and was recognized as a competent and caring frontline leader. After he moved to the first shift, he began attending night classes at the local college, taking classes in business, speech, English, and computers.


During this period of time, two other important things happened: he took a class on Total Quality Management at the college and a consulting firm began to work with Gary’s plant. “What I was learning formally in the classroom at night once a week,” Gary explains, “I began seeing applied during the day with the assistance of the quality and team consultants that had been hired to help our facility. For the first time I began to see that employees were the key to better performance and that supervisors had to lead in a different manner than was traditionally expected.


“People really do want to follow a good leader. When I began to approach people on a more equal basis, rather than as a dictator, I began to see people think through their decisions before carrying them out. I soon realized that most people want to think when they work. I had been informally trained that supervisors were the brain centers, or jockeys, of the production process and that employees were simply the horses, waiting for their supervisor to crack the whip. But the more I worked with my people, the more I saw their willingness to perform at a level I had never dreamed of.


“Early on in this process, we formed a few small Quality Action Teams to address production-related issues. The response was unbelievable. Production began to improve, morale among the employees began to increase, and I was beginning to have the best time of my life as a supervisor.”


“If I could have known in my early twenties what I began to learn in my forties,” Gary says, “I could have been a lot more effective as a supervisor, not to mention that our plant’s performance would have been better. There is no substitute for education. As a supervisor you have to be constantly learning new things and helping your employees to learn.”


In a little over ten years, Gary moved from being a supervisor who was no different from many of his peers, to being a supervisor who experienced very positive opportunities. During this span of time Gary realized how instrumental leadership was to his success. His education in quality, problem solving, team building, financial reports, and other topics began to have a positive impact on his ability to lead and to make better decisions.


Not too long ago, a special position was created at the facility Gary once led as a supervisor. Because his firm wants to keep the continuous improvement and work team processes alive, it created the position of director of continuous improvement, and Gary now enthusiastically fills that role.


“It is incredible to think that such a position would be filled by someone like me,” Gary marvels. “I’ve certainly learned a lot over the past ten to twenty years, but every day I realize how much more I must continue to learn. My company has put a lot of faith in me in asking me to assist our natural work teams. It’s an opportunity that I hope and pray I can live up to.” If Gary’s past history with personal challenges is any indication, he should have little problem meeting this challenge.


Gary would be the first to say that he doesn’t have all the answers about being a more successful supervisor, but he is willing to offer some thoughts based on what he has been through.


“There are a few things that I would highly suggest supervisors do if they desire to be successful floor leaders in the future,” he says. “First, make an honest commitment to yourself that you will change your behavior about how you deal with people. Probably the best thing that I did was improve my people skills. Supervisors must learn to coach their people, to talk with them in a positive manner.


“Second, a supervisor must learn how to present information and facilitate meetings. Maintaining continuous improvement will require that others are kept informed about problems, solutions, and improvements. The supervisor will make a number of ‘speeches’ to upper management as well as lead team meetings. Learning how to organize meetings, create an agenda, and things like that will go a long way toward leading your teams.


“Third and finally, supervisors must be committed to learning in general. Whether it is computers, statistical process control, basic accounting, or even developing better equipment knowledge, supervisors will need to be the best students in the company. We can hardly expect our employees to learn if we as supervisors are not also learning.”


Gary is living proof of what can happen to supervisors who are committed to being the best they can be. Reflecting on Gary’s experiences, it seems apparent that there are no shortcuts to becoming a twenty-first-century supervisor. The only way to be successful as a supervisor in the future is to get started now. Take it from Gary, even after the age of forty, old dogs can still learn new tricks.

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HR 101 Training

This special monthly section gives you information you need to know about important HR topics, including articles, tips and charts, as well as links to product information.

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HR That Really Works 2000 Workforce Optimas Awards

What a difference a decade makes. Just 10 years ago, HR in most organizations was still an administrative support function. Some went so far as to call it a backwater, where old forms were sent to die and where useless rules were written. But a few visionary souls–within HR and outside it–had seen the future and it looked very different. They saw a world in which HR was a key force in business, a valued player grappling with big challenges and helping to move business forward.


The visionaries faced rampant skepticism and even pockets of open derision. Undaunted, they set about proving they were right. They have succeeded. HR today is not only a major force in business, it s also the custodian of what we understand more than ever to be our greatest assets: employees.


The story of the transformation from administrator to strategist is a story we ve told through the experiences of the 89 organizations that have received the Workforce Optimas Award. It isn t a story punctuated by policies, forms or rules. It isn t a story told with the vocabulary of benefit plan enrollment, EEOC compliance or salary grades. It is a story writ large, of rules broken, conventional wisdom shattered and boundaries stretched.


It is, above all, a business story. In it you will find all the buzzwords of the past decade: reengineering, TQM, rightsizing, diversity, globalization. Like it or not, that s what everyone in business was dealing with. But whatever the lingo being slung at any point in time, the real business story of the ’90s is that HR was right in the thick of it, working alongside everyone else to make business better.


So the stories of the Optimas Award winners are stories of aging businesses reinventing themselves to compete in a new economy and of record growth in new high technology firms. They are stories of public-sector organizations struggling to compete in unfamiliar ways with the private sector. They are stories of organizations confronting deregulated marketplaces, a more diverse workforce and global expansion. They are stories of mergers and acquisitions that have reshaped the business landscape. They are, in short, stories of business in the often thrilling and always turbulent 90s.


In that sense, the Optimas Awards have fulfilled our mission. We created them 10 years ago to focus on business issues. We sought not only to celebrate the best work being done in HR but also to prove that HR could transform itself from administrator to strategist. We sought to focus on new, broader interdisciplinary competencies such as Managing Change and Vision. We sought to inform and to inspire.


Choosing the organizations to offer that inspiration is a labyrinthine process of reading, research, interviewing and heated debate. It may not be easily described, but the process affords us a unique opportunity to watch HR evolve. Although we never sit down with an agenda in mind, each year a theme or trend nonetheless has become apparent.


Never has that been more true than this year. It somehow seems fitting that in the 10th year of the Optimas Awards–and the first year of a new decade–HR has come full circle. Year after year we ve seen HR confront the new: new technology, new markets, new labor laws. This year, in organization after organization, the focus was on something so fundamental you could be forgiven for calling it old-fashioned: employee development. Yes, after years of solving other problems, HR is again focused on getting the best work out of the best people.


Was the work driven by competitive forces that made it necessary to focus on developing employees, or was it simply time to revisit HR s core purpose? Some of both, and probably other reasons, as well. In any case, the back-to-basics approach to human resources is not a step backward. HR may have come full circle, but in making the journey the circle itself has been transformed.


In the new circle, employee development looks radically different from one organization to another and perhaps even from one employee to another. In the new circle, there s a clear return in every dollar invested. And in the new circle, employee development is always in support of meeting a specific business goal.


Reaching those goals is never easy, as you ll see when you read the profiles of the 10 organizations added to the Optimas honor roll this year. But goals do get met, and today they are most often met because HR plays an integral role. That s what the visionaries a decade ago hoped to see.


So read on–join us in celebrating the remarkable achievements of this year s winners, and in doing so celebrating HR.


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 37.


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How to Commit to Self-development

To become better in your profession and maintain a sense of fulfillment in all you do, it’s important to stay focused on your own self-development. Keeping this goal may be difficult as life gets more hectic, but remember that by investing in yourself you also enrich others and enhance your performance across the board.


To better commit to self-development:


  • Become a Continuous Learning Machine. Set a personal goal to learn something new about your job, your organization, or your professional discipline every week.
  • Encourage others to pursue self-development activities. Make time and resources available for them to enhance their job skills.
  • Learn by teaching. Volunteer as an instructor for organizational training programs. You’ll not only develop in-depth knowledge about subjects you prepare to teach, you’ll also be able to help others develop and grow.
  • Look beyond your profession. Consider pursuing developmental activities that have nothing to do with your job, but can also help you grow as a person. You’ll probably be surprised to find that unrelated learning can positively impact your job performance.

SOURCE: Reprinted with permission: 144 Ways to Walk the Talk. Copyright Performance Systems Corp., Dallas, TX.

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Evaluate Basic Computer Skills

Employers spend billions of dollars each year to train and improve the skill level of their employees. Any company, large or small, that heeds the following three tips can make training programs more effective.


Test job candidates for computer skills.
Many of today’s jobs require at least basic computer skills. While computer proficiency isn’t the only criterion for companies to consider, the ability to use a computer is especially important now.


The administration of standardized tests offers a scientific and valid method for assessing a job candidate’s computer skills.


Assess employees’ training needs with skills testing.
Computer-skills testing shouldn’t be limited just to new hires it needs to be done for all employees. A business can then develop an effective, comprehensive training program that will increase the overall level of computer skills within the company.


In addition to the increased productivity and elevated employee morale that a company achieves by keeping well-trained workers, designing a computer-training program based on skills testing offers yet another advantage.


The company will save money by placing employees in training programs specifically targeting the needs of those employees.


Administer post-training testing.
By testing employees after the training is completed, a company can gauge how much employees have learned from the class. It also determines whether other employees should be sent to the same program.


Any company that’s looking to improve the computer skills of its employees should determine applicant skill levels before hiring, assess computer training needs within the company, and plan appropriate, cost-effective training programs.


Effective computer-skills training also provides employees with the tools needed to perform well in their jobs, which ultimately reduces turnover and saves the company money.


SOURCES: Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 119. Also, Presenting Solutions Inc, of Oakland, CA.


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WorkScramble Answers

A little fun with simple directions. Here are the two directions:


1) Rearrange the letters in the phrases you will see.


2) Then, using the FIRST LETTERS of each phrase, create one final phrase.


Here’s an example.


FORKCROWE


Unscramble the letters above to arrive at the leading HR/management media organization.


ARE


Unscramble the letters above to find a part of the body.


Alls you do is:


  • Unscramble the first word. The answer is “Workforce.”
  • Unscramble the second word. The answer is “Ear.”
  • Take the first letter of the first word (“W”) and the first letter of the second word (“E”) and put them together to get the word “WE.”

Remember, all you have to do is write the correct phrase next to each word. Then, write the final answer at the bottom, using the first letters of each word.


The winner, chosen randomly among the 31 who got everything right, was Matt Chaffee of Littler Mendelson. Matt won the compact disc Songs of the Working People featuring Pete Seeger and others.


This contest was void where prohibited. Workforce employees, relatives and anyone who thinks Jeopardy is easy were ineligible.Workforce was not liable if you or anyone in your organization was injuried while trying to get your entry in on time.


 


A N N S B I T E R


Last name of 1954 British sports legend who later worked as a neurologist. (Roger Bannister, the first four-minute miler)


 


A B Y E


Employees working on this Bay help people find Pez, posters and puppets.(EBay)


 


S L O P E L N W


In 1998, union members encouraged each other to vote in this Workforce.com feature.(News Poll)


 


O K W A R T


These kind of musical men “come from a land down under.” Who Can it Be Now?(At Work. Men At Work sang “Down Under” and “Who Can it Be Now?”)


 


F L N


Employees of this popular American sports organization went on a bitter strike in 1987.(NFL)


 


D O V E


This musical group of former Kent State University art students was “Working in a Coal Mine” in 1981.(DEVO)


 


R A C E T I M R Y M J


U.S. president who worked as nuclear physicist and as a senior naval lieutenant in the ’40s; in 1953 he became a farmer and ran a Georgia seed and fertilizer business (first and last name).(Jimmy Carter)


 


A N I C E


First electronic digital computer, introduced in 1946.(Eniac–this stumped a few folk)


 


R A N A G E


Worked as a radio broadcaster; actor; union leader (last name) (Reagan).


 


A R A T S T U R N E


Workplace that comes from the French word meaning to “restore oneself.”(Restaurant)


 


T OY H U


The Associated Press refers to people 13 through 17 as this.(Youth)


 


E A R S S


They’ve been honored for excellence in HR.(Sears)


 


Now that you’ve written the correct answer next to each word, take the first letter of each word and in this space write the phrase you come up with. It’s a company that’s well-known in the workforce management world.


Ben and Jerry’s

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Sample Job Description

S o, what’s the job?
The Brand Equity and Marketing Director will be the advocate to the outside world for Jellyvision’s corporate brand and its product brands by ensuring that we (the company, our products and our teams) are being represented and handled appropriately. Internally, this means interacting with our Creatives and Business Development teams and, externally, working with our partners’ marketing folks. Additional responsibilities include handling/managing PR opportunities and managing trademarks.


What do we mean by “partners”?
Jellyvision licenses its products and its brands to publishers who are responsible for marketing and distribution. The company views these licensing arrangements as partnerships where both parties seek to build a long-term successful brand that can be extended across categories (e.g., from CD-ROM and Internet to console, board games, television shows, and other merchandise).


More specifically, what will the Brand Equity and Marketing Director be doing?


  • Creating a brand equity strategy for the company.
  • Being the company liaison to our partners’ marketing people and the outside world:
  • Using the brand equity strategy as an anchor in dealing with our partners’ marketing departments and the outside world.
  • Balancing Jellyvision Creatives’ demands, instincts and ideas with the marketing ideas, constraints and realities of our partners. More specifically, this means defending Jellyvision’s interests in the way our partners develop and execute marketing plans for our products.
  • Determining which marketing and promotion deals are best for Jellyvision as a whole and for its brands, both from a creative and financial perspective.
  • Ensuring that there is consistency in the way Jellyvision is portrayed by all of our partners and by ourselves and that the portrayal is true to what we want it to be.
  • Staying on top of marketing and promotional issues in our products’ distribution channels (currently they include retail, on-line and schools) so informed decisions on various initiatives can be made.
  • Communicating information on partner initiatives related to our brands to the company (via e-mail, bulletin boards, samples, etc.) in a manner that allows the creative staff to feel connected to the promotion of the products they have created.
  • Working closely with our Business Development team to ensure that the spirit and letter of the partnership agreements are being adhered to (we currently negotiate some marketing and promotional details into the contracts we have with partners).
  • Managing Jellyvision trademarks:
  • Establishing and implementing a strategy for handling trademarks. This includes: working with outside counsel on filing, deciding what to file for and in what areas, protecting our mark and ensuring that our marks are being used appropriately.
  • Handling Public Relations:
  • Overhauling, updating and maintaining the Jellyvision Press Information Kit and web site.
  • Working with partners to ensure that Jellyvision is being appropriately incorporated and represented in all press initiatives.
  • Ensuring that Jellyvision and its Creative team get appropriate credit for their work.
  • If appropriate, spearheading Jellyvision’s own PR efforts (e.g., having Jellyvision represented at relevant industry events, securing speaking engagements/interviews for Jellyvision personnel, etc.)
  • Handling/coordinating all in-bound press inquiries.
  • Coordinating PR messages to ensure a consistent message.
  • When appropriate, evangelizing our approach to interactivity to help build awareness and generate interest in Jellyvision in general.
  • Managing Jellyvision’s corporate identity which includes spearheading the establishment of the design and presentation parameters of our corporate logo.

What skills and experience are we looking for?


  • A minimum of 5 years experience in a marketing–related role.
  • Proven client management experience.
  • Brand management experience.
  • Agency experience a plus.
  • Retail channel management experience a big plus.
  • Proven experience in collaborating with a variety of positions.
  • Superb written and oral communications skills.
  • Successful experience working with creative teams (particularly in balancing creative integrity with business/financial realities).

What characteristics should the Brand Equity and Marketing Director have?


  • Direct.
  • Detail-oriented.
  • Flexible (since the job description will evolve as projects change and the company grows).
  • Able to work autonomously (we are not looking to micro-manage; we are looking for someone to bring expertise in this area and who can understand Jellyvision, its brands, its goals and establish and implement the right course of action).
  • Able to collaborate, gather input and make decisions.
  • Able to act decisively and quickly when necessary.
  • Able to say “no.”
  • Good judgment about where to compromise.
  • Creative problem solver (we are not looking for someone who solves a problem or accepts a solution/approach because that is the way it is always done…we created one of the best selling software products because creatively we weren’t deterred by “it isn’t/can’t be done that way” and we expect the same approach from our business team).
  • Long-term oriented.
  • Team Player.
  • Has fun at work.

Who will this person be working with?
The Brand Equity and Marketing Director will be a member of the Business team and will report to the President. Of course, this person will also be working closely with Creatives and other members of our Creative Support (a.k.a. the Business Team) including business development and finance.


Who are we? Just in case you were wondering…
Jellyvision is a Chicago-based creative shop that invents original interactive experiences for CD-ROM, the Internet and other interactive platforms. From our wildly popular trivia game You Don’t Know Jack® (all-you-can-eat free samples at www.youdontknowjack.com) to our educational software That’s A Fact Jack®, we pride ourselves on creating programs that are clever, thoughtful and original. This commitment is exhibited by Jellyvision’s biggest asset: our ever-expanding creative and technical staff. Together, we intend to shape interactive experiences now and in the swiftly approaching new millennium.


Since our early days as LearnTelevision, we’ve come a long way from our first product, the award-winning film “The Mind’s Treasure Chest”. We’ve already combined interactive design with high production values to create active learning experiences for school children and irreverent party games for adult users, but Jellyvision is constantly moving into new territory. We have two new entertainment brands and a service/transactional product in development and scheduled for release 2000, and there’s more on the way. Working at Jellyvision is more than a salary and desk, it’s a chance to shape the company’s future, to be fulfilled as an individual, and to help determine how people will interact with technology for years to come.


Given the long road ahead of us, we are committed to making Jellyvision a great place to work. This doesn’t just mean the usual benefits, like disability, life and health insurance or a 401K, although Jellyvision does provide all these things. It means little things like easy access to public transportation, free parking, a fully stocked kitchen, a relaxed office atmosphere and even a great party now and then, courtesy of the Jellyvision Social Committee. It also means bigger things, like offering employees the opportunity to participate in Jellyvision’s financial growth.


Still want to know more? Visit our company website at www.jellyvision.com.


Interested?
Send, fax or e-mail a resume along with a well-organized cover letter outlining three strengths, which would make you an ideal candidate for this position. Forget what you’ve heard about companies never reading cover letters-we do and we weigh them heavily! As a matter of fact, we won’t consider a resume without a cover letter.


Where do I send my stuff?


Jellyvision, Inc.
Attn: Recruiting- BED
848 W. Eastman, Suite 104
Chicago, IL 60622-2536
Fax: 312/266-0088
E-mail: recruiting@jellyvision.com


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Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision, Inc.


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The Graceful Leaving Policy

Nowhere is Jellyvision’s innovative human resources perspective and respectful treatment of employees more evident than in the company’s Graceful Leaving Policy (GLP).


The GLP encourages employees who are planning on leaving the company to give as much notice as possible, without fear of reprisal and with the option to change their minds and stay at Jellyvision. HR Director Vaiva Vaisnys says, “We’re a project-based company, so we encourage people to give as much notice as possible so that whatever project they’re working on isn’t left in the lurch.”


Says Founder Harry Gottlieb, “Our company president, Liz Michaels, and Vaiva really made me understand that how you treat people when they’re leaving says everything about you.” Employees who follow the policy receive a prorated portion of their year-end bonus.


According to Vaisnys, it isn’t unusual for exiting employees to provide four, five, or even six months’ notice. “For us, it’s all about the relationship,” she says. “We want the best for our products and for our employees, so when they succeed, whether that’s in what they’re working on here or at what they do outside Jellyvision, we celebrate that success.”


“When people leave here, generally there are very good feelings,” remarks Gottlieb. “That’s important in terms of what it says about the entire organization. You don’t need to be clandestine. You can tell us, and expect that we’ll work with you and treat you in a responsible, caring manner.”


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 64.