“Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky actually begins at the earth.”
- Diane Ackerman

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Managing a values-conscious service business

Human resources in a service business

Below are resources to help the small business owner manage relationships with customers, partners, and staff.

Staff management top^

Challenges of a Change Process

Provides tips for managers on understanding staff resistance to change and how to support staff through a successful change process.
Dorothy Riddle, Service-Growth Consultants Inc., Copyright 2008, linked 09/10
http://www.servicegrowth.org/documents/Challenges of a Change Process.org.pdf

Creating Healthy Organizations: Know Your Life Purpose, Vision and Values

An article exploring the link between your calling - your life’s purpose and your personal vision of work - and work that is the most practical and useful for yourself and for the people in organizations that you support as a human resources professional.
BC Human Resources Management Association website, Ellen Hayakawa, linked 09/10
http://www.hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=2672&issueid=764

How Do You Accommodate Spirituality in the Workplace?

A brief article exploring how diversity training and valuing multiculturalism can help accommodate employees’ religious needs and boost others’ awareness in the workplace.
BC Human Resources Management Association website, Farah Kotadia, linked 09/10
http://www.hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=2026&issueid=690

Integrating Spirituality Into Work

An article profiling 3 professionals that demonstrates distinct strategies for incorporating spiritual beliefs and practices into work life in order to connect with the deeper intentions of one's work and to serve as a motivation for doing that work well.
Free Library website, linked 09/10
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Integrating+spirituality+into+work:+professionals+find+ways+to...-a0179032134

Meaning in the Workplace

A short review of Jerry Schuitema's book, "Value through Values," providing a very brief discussion of our sense of service in the workplace.
SoulCircle website, linked 09/10
http://soulcircle.typepad.com/soulcircle/2007/12/bring-meaning-i.html

Planning for Your Human Resource Needs

Tips for how to visualize your service delivery team, when to use temporary staff, and how to keep professional and frontline staff performing effectively.
Dorothy Riddle, Service-Growth Consultants Inc., Copyright 2008, linked 09/10
http://www.servicegrowth.org/documents/Planning for Your Human Resource Needs.org.pdf

Sample Policy on Zero Tolerance for Harassment

A sample policy that covers, and includes definitions of, discrimination, personal harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, abuse of authority, and poisoning a work place.
Dorothy Riddle, Service-Growth Consultants Inc. (2008), linked 09/10
http://www.servicegrowth.org/documents/Sample Policy on Harassment.org.pdf

Virtual Business Association

An online source of valuable information for improving non-governmental associations, including best ideas, sample documents, and resources for five department managers of successful organizations.
Website, linked 09/10
http://www.cipe.org/vba/

Ways to Empower Staff

Lists six general approaches to empowering staff, with examples of each one.
Dorothy Riddle, Service-Growth Consultants Inc., Copyright 2008, linked 09/10
http://www.servicegrowth.org/documents/Ways to Empower Staff.org.pdf

Working with customers and partners top^

Partnership Assessment Tool

A questionnaire to assess how well the collaborative processes of a partnership are working by measuring the level of synergy, with a reporting function that helps to identify specific areas to focus on to make the collaborative processes better. Developed for health partnerships, but applicable to a wide range of settings.
Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health (2002), linked 09/10
http://www.researchtoolkit.org/home/disseminating-and-closing-research/documenting-and-closing-out/6792-partnership-self-assessment-tool-from-the-center-for-the-advancement-of-collaborative-strategies-in-health-.html

Service Growth

Values-Conscious Business