Exceptionally Rewarding?

OR Extremely Frustrating?

     Common to most volunteer groups  I’ve experienced as a management consultant and trainer is that they bite off more than they can chew! Goals are generally vague and too all-encompassing, which creates feelings of frustration, prompts rapid turnover, and frequently results in failure.

     Remember that group goal structures  and criteria are no different than the ones I’ve discussed here for individuals. http://bit.ly/aaCJpz     http://bit.ly/ay6N2C   are two good examples worth checking] 

     For a goal to be a genuine goal  and not a “wishlist” item, you’ll find at the above links — among other points — that a goal must be specific, realistic, flexible, and have a due date, and it must adhere to all 4 criteria. You may want to re-read the last sentence. It contains the guts of establishing goals that work for individuals as well as groups, and it’s worth giving some thought to each of the 4 criteria.

     Why are meaningful goals  particularly important in working with volunteers. Because achievement leads to feelings of success, and feelings of success are the ONLY attributes that can sustain and justify volunteer effort. 

All other problem solutions mean little unless (volunteer group) members feel that they are progressing toward an achievable goal.

     According to  the training profession benchmark University Associates Editors Jones and Pfeiffer in one of their classic  Annual Handbooks for Group Facilitators, “All other problem solutions mean little unless (volunteer group) members feel that they are progressing toward an achievable goal.”

     One way to accomplish the task  of setting realistic objectives — based on consensus and group decision-making methods — “is for volunteers to set aside a block of time to devote totally to planning,” say Jones and Pfeiffer.

     Volunteer groups,  the much-acclaimed editing team experts go on to say, also need to establish meaningful and appropriate contracts between group members and the organization. And these contracts need to spell out what each individual can and will do.

     To function at a high performance level,  volunteers should also have regularly-scheduled group meetings, individual written job descriptions, and a permanent agenda item of “Are we meeting our job descriptions and how should they be upgraded as we go forward?”

     Leadership and accountability  require designation of project leaders and a volunteer coordinator, plus a “buddy system” orientation arrangement for introducing new group members. Rewards (e.g., expense grants, certificates, academic credits, extra training opportunities, news release coverage, commendation letters), and attention to the process that evolves are all critical ingredients in making volunteer group leadership work.    

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Analytical

BELONGS TO SCIENCE AND BUSINESS

Kidding

BELONGS TO GOATS

Teasing

BELONGS TO HAIR

Wired

BELONGS TO ELECTRICIANS

Criticism

BELONGS TO THEATREGOERS

Judgements

BELONG TO COURTROOMS

Pushiness

BELONGS TO BULLDOZERS

Lecturing

BELONGS TO CLASSROOMS

Crowding

BELONGS TO SUBWAYS AND SARDINES

Got some thought-provoking additions? Share what you can. They belong to everyone! 

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Has your brain been

thunder-struck?

     We’ve all heard  and probably used the term “Brainstorming” a few times, but when did you last use a formalized “Brainstorming” process? Did you know that the more rigidly structured approach you use, the more free-flowing and better the brainstorming results?

     I’ve probably  run 500 formal brainstorming sessions, and all have produced great results. Here’s my version of a “recipe” I follow. Print it out. Use it. It works!

[Adapted from the Pfeiffer and Jones University Associates Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training, Volume III (Revised)].  

     THE GOALS: 

     1)  To generate an extensive number of innovative thoughts or ideas, or solutions to a problem, by suspending criticism and judgment and evaluation.

     2)  To develop skills in creative thinking and problem-solving.

     Group Size:  Any number of small groups (best if composed of 5-6 participants each). Time Required:  Approximately one hour total. Materials:  White board or newsprint pad with markers for each group; stopwatch; bell. Physical Setting:  Movable chairs for all participants. Warm-up Activity:  In 2 minutes –without talking– make something out of one double newspaper page, or one lump of modeling clay; follow with quick show ‘n tell.

     THE PROCESS: 

     1)  The facilitator has each group form a circle and select a secretary, then provides each secretary with markers and board or newsprint pad, and asks each to record every idea generated by the group.

     2)  The facilitator states the following rules: 

• A)  There will be NO criticism, no judgments, and no evaluations during the brainstorming phase of the activity.
• B)  Far-fetched ideas are encouraged because they often trigger more practical ones.
• C)  Many ideas are desirable.

     3)  The facilitator announces that participants are to imagine being cast ashore on a desert island with absolutely nothing but a belt, then tells the group they have 15 minutes by the stopwatch to come up with as many ideas as they can in answer to the question: What can be done with the belt? (Other objects can be substituted– a flashlight / a rope / an oar / a corkscrew– and props, e.g., an actual belt, can often enhance the discussion)

     4)  After 15 minutes, the facilitator rings the bell, and tells the group(s) that the ban on criticism / judgments / evaluations is over, and directs the group(s) to evaluate their ideas and select the best –most feasible– ones. With multiple groups, each group’s “best” list can be shared, then all involved can explore ways to combine “best” ideas. The final (combined) list is posted and participants are asked to rank-order them for practical usefulness.

REPEAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS WITH A REAL BUSINESS PROBLEM OR NEED SITUATION. This can be done on-the-spot, the next day, next week, or periodically. The more disciplined the facilitator is in requiring adherence to guidelines, the better the results that can be expected.  So go beat your brains in, if the storm didn’t already get to you! 

# # #  

It’s the Lightening Up

of Corporate America!

     You’re a management trainer and corporate economic climates have taken the wind out of your sails. You’re looking around for community college adult education courses to run. You’re doing drips and drabs of HR consulting with some old friends. Times are tighter than your shoelaces. 

     Stop beating yourself up; stop doing all the things you’ve always advised and taught others to not do. Take some of those deep breaths you advocate. The message is this: L-I-G-H-T-E-N    U-P ! Lighten up the programs you’re proposing. Companies do not want any in-depth, heavy-duty, psycho-analytic training programs for their managers right now!

     They want L-I-G-H-T agendas combined with good relaxing fun and team-building. Corporate America may be stupid about growing business and productivity ratios and revenue streams and job creation, but they know when it’s time to lighten up the stress that their loyal managers have been shouldering. 

     And it’s time now.

     I had my own management training company for many years. I ran over 2,000 workshops and training programs, and had over 20,000 participants in 50 different cities and half a dozen different countries.

     It was everything from Maslow’s Hierarchy to Quality Circles, One-Minute Manager, TA, Theory X, TheoryY, Theory Z, Empowerment, Assertiveness Training, Anger Management, and my own inventions: Corporate Entrepreneurship, Doctorpreneurs and Teacherpreneurs.  

     Then is not now. Then corporate executives charged trainers with the responsibility to teach them how to be better, more effective, more efficient, more productive executives and how to be better humans. This took some doing, and tons of analytical diagnostics and psychotherapy.

     Today, the word is L I G H T. As in S I M P L E and having F U N while gaining firsthand leadership and teamwork experiences with fellow employees. A best buddy of mine, Kevin Bousquet, who runs Interlaken Inn Executive Resort & Conference Center www.InterlakenInn.com in Northwest Connecticut, agrees.

     You may have seen my plugs here for Interlaken. It truly is THE premier business escape (2 hours/NYC and 3 hours/BOS) with the finest location, facility, amenities, meals, service AND budget-conscious prices that any management trainer or meeting planner will find. (If you call, tell Kristy I sent you and get a special gift!)

     Kevin tells me that the programs that are having the most success are those with the least stress and the most fun. Not all fun and games, but fun and learning. Interlaken’s Executive Ropes Course, lakefront boating and golf options and gourmet challenge programs are the busiest and most talked-about. Dump the heavy stuff!

Think of it as the Lightening Up of Corporate America!  

# # #  

Input always welcome: Hal@BusinessWorks.US

(”Businessworks” in subject line) or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals and God bless you! 

 When “Not Enough”

is “Too Much”

and “Too Much”

is “Not Enough”!

     Partnerships are seldom what many think they are. People without business experience think of two tough guys who both have their shoulders to the wheel and are pushing their business enterprise forward with equal effort and dedication. Reality check: Doesn’t happen!

     First of all, based on firsthand exposure to many hundreds of partnerships — professional as well as menial, glamorous as well as boring, and adversarial as well as loving, business partners are more often than not opposites in personality, financial stability, educational background, and often age.

[“Family Partnerships” will be explored separately in an upcoming blog post]

     In my experience, it’s unusual when partners actually like each other (including many who also share marriage or significant-other relationships), but they almost inevitably defend one another to outsiders.

     Doctors, incidentally, do this instinctively, and will (unlike “HOUSE” and “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy”) rarely if ever turn on one another when the chips are down, even when one knows the other is wrong. That’s doctors.

     It’s their job to further the causes of humanity and of those who share the Hippocratic Oath. They’ll whine and complain and throw scalpels, but if it’s really called for, they’ll often take one for the team. 

     Lawyers, on the other hand, will almost always –given the choice– go for the throat. It’s their job to be adversarial. The minute they befriend another lawyer, they’ll end up suddenly facing one another in the courtroom the next morning. They may be entertaining as golfers, but stay alert; they don’t always yell FORE!

     Enough of these big money guys. Let’s focus on the down-in-the-trenches partners who run physical labor businesses, or who provide services FOR the doctors and lawyers, or who came together because they both (or more than two) hated the stagnant company or boss they worked for, and one or both or more had a better idea.

     Not pulling enough weight–responsibility–is often too much mentally, physically, emotionally for the partner(s) who carry(ies) the lion’s share (finances, work hours, productivity, sales, customer service, product/service development, etc.).

     The lack of shared commitment or workload easily ends up taxing the relationship(s) beyond where either is (any are) comfortable. You can imagine where things go from there.

     Pulling too much too fast is just as bad.

     Is this any different than how you treat your body? What’s missing in these examples? Balance? Ah, balance. That elusive, invisible, intangible quality that keeps us all sane…or at least a quart or two short of lunacy.

     Without balance, our bodies go into negative stress overload and produce illness, accidents, and death. Without balance, our families become distant and dysfunctional. Without balance, business partners march to different drummers and businesses literally fall apart at the seams.

     So, what can we do to short-circuit lack of balance from taking its toll? Start with ourselves. Figure out where we are so can get a better idea of where we’re going. Decide if where we’re going is where we want (or need, in order to survive) to go.

     Communicate about these ideas to family and friends AND to partners. AND LISTEN! Partners may hate one another, but they share mutual investments in one another and that counts for something. Relationship history alone dictates the need for open discussion with set (not hidden) agendas.

Balance only comes when you can put one foot in front of the other and focus on each step instead of the finish line. 

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

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Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEEL CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 303-day “7-Word Story” (center col.). New Hal Alpiar short story Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…$19.95 ($24.95 CAD) @ Barnes & Noble, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @$18.95+s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC. @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to address (mainland US only).  SEPT. 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! [Details via Blogroll link @ right]

Budget-Conscious Boss,

Best Friend, Do Business

in the Foothills

     Another day. Another dollar. And here I sit through yet another meeting.

     Only this meeting is different because it involves a whole different breed of people, and this meeting is taking place outdoors! Actually, all the leaders of my company are here, and we’re next to a big beautiful shimmering lake nestled into the foothills of the Berkshires.

      After listening to a little spiel that one of the HR directors just gave, my boss and I are getting ready to climb into a canoe together. We’ll be with a bunch of other partnered-up bosses and underlings in other canoes. I’m not much good at steering these things so I hope he lets me sit in front. “I can canoe a canoe, canoe canoe a canoe?” kinds of chatter starts flying around.

     As if I’m not unnerved enough, my boss starts in with how the best way to see if a marriage is made to last is to take a canoe trip when you’re newlyweds. General agreement seems to be that if you don’t kill each other while canoeing, you’re destined for a relationship of longevity.

     Anyway, this whole paddle around the lake deal is part of what’s called a Management Training Conference. Just yesterday, on the hillside over in the woods, we went on an Executive Ropes Course. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. In truth, it ended up being lots of fun. My boss and I both made lots of new friends with those we didn’t know before, who came from our other offices.

     Tomorrow, some of us are going to the nearby Lime Rock race-track and race-car driving school to learn about safety, risk-taking and something called mental focus. The mental thing sounds like it might be a bit above me, so I might just pass on that session and go instead to an Executive Golf Class that’s being held over by the other lake. Something about objectives, strategies, and tactics is supposed to be demonstrated by hitting little bumpy white balls into holes with flags.

     As for right now, I need to concentrate on not embarrassing my boss by falling out of the canoe as I tip-toe in from the dock. I mean just imagine how red his face would get if he had to hear “Dog Overboard!”

     Oh, did I mention that I’m a Golden Retriever, and that my boss’s Meeting Planner found this grrrrrreat location for a meeting that allows well-behaved dogs like me to go to the company meeting and participate in everything (well, not the dining room, bar, sauna, or heated swimming pool activities)? We can even hang in the library and game room if we don’t chew books or chase dropped ping-pong or billiard balls around.

     The bottom line is that my boss and I are having a wonderful time and we are learning a lot about ourselves and the others we work with. He says we may even stay through the weekend so we could do some hiking and antique shopping.

     Pssssssst! These guys set the standard for complete meeting packages, and you get more for less than anyplace I could find.

     Their rates include a luxurious world-class room, 24/7 business center and wireless Internet, endless coffee, all indoor and outdoor facilities and meeting rooms — plus all service charges, 3 award-winning restaurant meals for him, and a turn-down biscuit for me at bedtime!

     And they’ve been hosting businesspeople there since 1892!

     If you didn’t know better, I bet you’d think I was the one who’s the boss, huh? Hmmmm. Well, try it: www.InterlakenInn.com  (Oh, and take your dog, will you? It’s just 2 hours from Manhattan, 3 from Boston, 3 from Hartford)  Mention this blog for a special treat!         

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # #

Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEEL CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 302-day “7-Word Story” (center col.). New Hal Alpiar short story Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…$19.95 ($24.95 CAD) @ Barnes & Noble, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @$18.95+s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC. @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to address (mainland US only).  SEPT. 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! 

Food-for-thought

thoughts . . . 

on leadership.

What are yours?

     “Making the right choices,” says America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, “is the most important part of leadership. Every other element–from developing and communicating ideas to surrounding oneself with great people–relies on making good decisions.”

     “Humans,” says Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, “are the only species on earth that will follow a totally unbalanced, unstable leader.” He goes on to say that “Balance comes from all four parts of ourselves–intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and instinctual–in alignment”

     Author/management consultant Marvin Weisbord says in twenty-five years, the leaders he has learned the most from have “certain knacks. They focus attention on valued aspirations. They mobilize energy by involving others. They face the unknown without answers.”

     “The ability to step up to the plate and provide the necessary leadership is the key determinant of achievement in all human activities,” says motivational guru Brian Tracy. “Great business leadership,” he says, ” is characterized by honesty, truthfulness, and straight dealing with every person, under all circumstances.” 

     Leaders, says one of America’s great entrepreneur successes Deaver Brown, “are often like the Pied Piper, turning around to find a group following them wherever they go. They can ignite their followers almost at will.They have the remarkable talent of being able to inspire devotion and loyalty, mustering excellent performances from average people.”

     U.S. President General Dwight David Eisenhower defined leadership as “the ability to get a person to do what you want him to do, when you want it done, in a way you want it done, because he wants to do it!” 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Leaders have to control their

emotions under pressure.”

Rudy Giuliani, Time Magazine’s “Mayor of the world”

     We’re reminded to be kinder than necessary because everyone we meet is fighting some kind of battle. If that reminder is only half true, we’re talking about a lot of pent up stress. Bottled up anxieties = emotions under pressure. Leaders, by virtue of being leaders must rise above that.

     Forcing your brain to functionin ways that are totally opposite of what you are feeling can be a daunting if not overwhelming challenge, but not one that’s impossible. Why? Because you choose your behavior. You choose whether you will reACT or reSPOND to any given situation.

     Being aware that you have that choice and consciously making that choice is a fairly conclusive bit of evidence that you are indeed someone who is in a leadership position. This is not to say that you need to be unfeeling or insensitive about other people and situations. It means you need to control your feelings when you’re in the pressure-cooker!

     The best starting point for this is to follow the 4-step 60-second exercise spelled out at:

http://halalpiar.com/2009/05/4-steps-in-one-minute-zero-stress/

     Next, recognize that not only is the act of leadership a choice, but so too is the designation that empowers the action. Or, as some have more succinctly put it: if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!

     Remember too that leaders are both born AND made, but that leadership doesn’t fall from the sky! 

     What is this elusive quality all about? TIME magazine (which I don’t think gets very much right in general, but happened to here) had this to say about designating Rudy Giuliani as “Mayor of the World” and as the 2001 “Person of the Year”:

For having more faith in us than we had in ourselves, for being brave when required and rude where appropriate and tender without being trite, for not sleeping and not quitting and not shrinking from the pain all around him.”

# # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING

To be on sale at Barnes & Noble and at special discounted price here! 

“You’ve got to stand

for something, or

you’ll fall for anything”

— Aaron Tippin, Country Western Performer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hja0XND8Ms 

     The business world seems to have a mission to have a Mission Statement for everything these days…Sales Mission Statements, Customer Service Mission Statements, Corporate Mission Statements, Financial Mission Statements…

     And many of these, I believe, are merely token lip service public relations-type tongue-twisters with no teeth that hang framed on walls and plastered onto every ad and document and website in bordered shadow boxes, flaunted as if they were flags of honor and integrity!

     First of all, any company that has to be boasting about a Mission Statement (no matter how goody-goody it might sound) is simply indulging itself in mental masturbation.

     If your business is as great as the pursuit of its Mission, the people you want to know it, will know it without you having to strut it across every stage. Your behavior and the behavior of your business is what constitutes your “brand” and people will know you by your brand, your conduct.

     That having been said, there is a need in every organization (even sole proprietorships) for an internal “Leadership Mission Statement” that owners, operators, and managers can rally around and bring into daily practice. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

     It needs to address HOW your business leadership will function and communicate with others inside AND outside your organization. Why? Because –no matter what business you’re in, no matter what quality or value of goods and services you offer, no matter how industrious and honorable you may be– 80% of your business is communication!

     If you don’t have a Leadership Mission that focuses attention on the processes and ways you will strive daily to communicate clearly (including, importantly, active listening practices) with associates, staff, customers, prospects, vendors, community, industry and the rest of the world, you are setting your company up for failure.

     I’m not talking about a PR or media or customer service policy  manual, or some empty suit theory. I’m referring to a genuine statement of leadership conduct that calls on human communication best practices at every level… in letters, emails, on the phone, in-person, in presentations, and in all marketing related materials, publishings and broadcasts all of the time. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

What’s the guideline to use? Trust and Authenticity.

With special thanks for inspiring tonight’s blog post to a strategic alliance partner of mine, Andrew Jackson, who sent me the link to the music video source of the headline quote above. 

# # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 289 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…on sale here! 

The gun goes off!

     No, I’m not suggesting some form of warfare is needed for starting a business (though, at times it can feel like being on the edge of a military engagement). I’m talking about a starter’s gun, the kind that’s used to start events, that shoots blanks? Whew! Glad we got that straight.

     Starting a new business, or a new venture spinning out of an existing business–in case it’s been a while and you’ve forgotten–is very much like the beginning of a crew race. Okay, you live in the desert or the mountains and haven’t the foggiest idea about a crew race.

     Maybe you saw one once on TV? Crew races take place in rivers, lagoons, bays, and lakes. Skinny, lightweight 62-foot-long sculls (boats) with 8 rowers (each with a two-handed oar: 4 on the port side and 4 on the starboard side). Yes, there are also 4 and 2 and 1-rower sculls.

     Each oarsman/oarswoman has his or her feet strapped in, and each slides forward and backward on little butt-snuggling seats that actually have each rower precariously perched in such a manner as to practically hang out over the boat edges just inches above the water.

     There’s a “coxswain” (usually a featherweight athlete with  heavyweight vocal cords) in the bow (front) who steers the boat with guide wires and pounds the rhythm into blocks on the sides of the boat. This little person does a lot of yelling through a megaphone. Oh, thatcrew race! Sooo?

     Competing boats get positioned on the starting line, standing still, dead in the water. Oars and rowers ready. Let me try that headline again: The gun goes off! Every rower slams their oars as fast and furiously as they can in and out of the water in order to get some starting momentum and get the boats moving from their dead weight standstill positions.

     Once some forward motion is established (and assuming no capsizings or tangled oars with other crew teams), the coxswain starts in with a quick paced rhythm, calling “in” and “out” for rowers to coordinate oar placements in and out of the water.

     This builds the pace of movement in a smoother, more team-coordinated manner. The coxswain eventually calls out “stroke” as the pace lengthens out into longer harder quicker pulls.

     The coxswain is all the while banging on the boat because rowers cannot always hear the shouted ins and outs because of wind, but they can feel the vibrations of the pounding and respond to that.

     Rowers slide forward and back in time with lifting their oars up out of the water, twisting the handles so the oar blade skims back across the top of the water, then plunging the blade back in for the exhausting pull through the water, then repeating the motion again and again.

     Rowers must concentrate on staying in tandem (from a head-on view, an observer should see but one single rower when the team is in perfect sync). They must also focus on working to not “catch a crab” (getting an oar stuck out of rhythm with the other seven oars, going into or coming out of the water, and creating a splashy puddle).

“Catching a crab” can be serious enough to “catch” an oar blade and take the oar that’s fastened into the oarlock beyond the point of recovery. This will likely turn the entire boat over, which –aside from losing the race and likely damage to the expensive fragile boat– is not a fun thing in 50-degree water with a hooded sweatsuit!  

Are you beginning to see why this athletic ordeal reminds me of starting a business? Are you paddling fast and furiously to get some forward motion? Are you trying to row and steer your fragile, expensive boat at the same time? Are you missing hearing the steps you have to take but feeling the vibrations? Have you “caught a crab”? Are you lengthening out? Capsized?

Hey, there’s always another race!

  # # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial.

FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 288 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…ON SALE HERE!