Sarah Palin. A pitbull with lipstick.

Party bias aside, there is no questioning Sarah Palin's charm and effectiveness as a speaker and public servant. How wonderfully to see Sarah combine the best of feminine charm and scrappy, calculated communication effectiveness to pull off what was undoubtedly a career making speech. Not to suggest she didn't have one before!

I will eagerly follow Sarah Palin, the self-described pitbull with lipstick, to watch how America responds to her Hockey mom, broad based warmth and appeal while combining obvious skill in persuasiveness and conviction. I am interested to see whether these translate in the upcoming, unscripted V.P. debate. I am glad to see now that her male opponents will not tread carefully because she is a woman. She is no shrinking violet and like all women, should not be treated with kid gloves. As a woman, I wouldn't vote for her (because I am neither Republican nor American) but I certainly support her and now add her to the list of strong women to follow.

The ‘personal connection’ in the workplace. Good for employees, great for customers.

Creating a positive working environment can take many forms. In many ways, it is rejuvenating the personal contact that has been lost.

I was impressed to read in a recent Toronto Star article from March 25, 2008 that the Canadian Western Bank CEO, Larry Pollock, has instituted an interesting phone policy. Larry does not have voicemail, nor does any of the bank branches and he answers his own telephone. I found this No Voicemail article on a different site which elaborated on this customer-friendly practice-- "With us, the calls come through to the person you're looking for," said Pollock."Any customer can call me any time they want and complain or whatever. I surprise all kinds of people because they get through to me." It seems to be encouraging better customer service and a greater personal connection to their clients and co-workers.

Similarly, this idea of personal connection in the workplace is translated in an article on sbonline.com, CEO Bobby Yazdani of Saba Software explains that he does not have a corner office – but rather has his desk in the main employee area. He believes that he can better motivate his employees by creating enthusiasm through his availability and transparency on his everyday tasks. He highlights four key points that help to create this transparency at work.

There have been other trends that have been introduced by companies to encourage better communication between its employees.‘Email Free Days’ have been one way employees connect with each other in the real world. On Marketwatch.com, in an article from 2004, Veritas Software president, Jeremy Burton instituted Email Free Fridays at his company of 240 employees. At first they thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t. Burton’s goal was to increase the face-to-face time between co-workers, strengthening the relationships within the office which would translate outside the workplace to the clients as well.

Three great “walking the talk” practices. Employers take note!

Are women better networkers than men?

Or, could we all use some room for improvement? Barbara Moses, one of Canada's great career gurus recently ran two back to back columns in the Globe and Mail. The first, running on Oct. 16th covered Neworking Faux Pas and this last week on Oct. 26th she covered How to be the Consummate Connector. And, she is absolutely right! In our career culture we put very little thought into the connections we make. We rush to set up a meeting and then don't prepare enough to make it meaningful for both parties. Finally, we forget the follow up.

One of my favourite writers on this topic is Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone and columnist for Fast Company. He takes networking to a level of science that we should all appreciate. The best networkers out there get out what they put in. It takes effort!

So, what do you think? Are women better networkers than men? And, what makes them different?

Walking the Talk. A key ingredient in driving employee loyalty.

So, what does Walking the Talk mean and why is it important to employees? We often hear about employee engagement, productivity, retention and other standard human resource vernacular but are we measuring what is really important to employees?

With the changing employment landscape, employees are now defining their careers differently and with that comes major challenges for employers looking to attract and retain talent and staff up where shortages are now becoming more obvious as the boomer hits retirement age. Employees have more employment options then ever before and are no longer seeking the security of a full time, conventional employee role. With employees in the driver’s seat, employee retention and attraction are at the top of Employer lists of challenges to address into 2010.

So what does it take to keep employees in the game? Market Yourself Smarter conducted its second annual Walk the Talk Survey, organically polling employees across Canada on whether they feel their Employer walks the talk.

Last year’s 2006 survey ranked the Top 10 Eastern and Western Canadian Employers who Walk the Talk and unveiled that employees defined Walking the Talk as being honourable, authentic, transparent, supportive and open to new ideas (2006 award recipients . This year’s employee definition was extended to include listening and respect as key attributes.

The process:

-Employees anonymously completed a five minute online survey – www.marketyourselfsmarter.com
-Employees also had the option nominate their employer directly through an online nomination form
-To qualify for an award, employers required a minimum of 10 completed employee surveys, needed to be headquartered in Canada and have a minimum of 50 full time employees
-Survey question format included a combination of numeric ranking and qualitative, text-based answers
-Survey responses were 51 % positive, 37 % negative and 12 % neutral

The 2007 Walk the Talk survey will award three companies in Eastern and Western Canada that where voted in by their employees based on a common Walk the Talk theme. These six companies have exhibited excellence in one or more Walk the Talk areas and will be recognized with these awards to be released and announced at the upcoming Walk the Talk Employee Perspective Forum on Oct. 18th in Toronto and Nov. 1st in Vancouver. Details available at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com . The 2007 Walk the Talk report will be released later in November with highlights available for download at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com .