Month: April 2023

Originally posted on LinkedIn

Standardization is hard. Why? Because overcoming resistance to change is hard. Which means communication is key as you grow your Knowledge and Process Management programs.

Many organizations, especially growing ones, recognize the need for standardization and the benefits it brings: consistency, efficiency, and the space for innovation. Consistency ensures repeatable products, service, and customer / client experience. Standard documented processes enable new team members to get up to speed quickly and others use their time more efficiently. Teams avoid “reinventing the wheel” and can spend their time focused on the activities that bring greatest value and drive innovation.

Understand Resistance

Recognizing the need and knowing the benefits is not enough. We need to also recognize and seek to understand the hurdles and barriers to adoption of standard processes. This requires listening, empathy, time, and patience. Change does not happen over-night and we need to bring those impacted along on the journey.

Engage Teams

Imagine someone on your team has been doing this work for over 20 years. Tap on them to support development of those standard processes as a great opportunity to capture their knowledge and improve the process in an avenue that cascades throughout the business. Someone else might be concerned about “process for the sake of process.” Discuss with them ways to ensure processes don’t get bogged down with unnecessary approvals. Inevitably you’ll hear frustration that someone just wants to keep doing it their way. Encourage them to try and follow the standard process and then provide feedback on what worked or didn’t work for them. This continuous cycle draws them in, ensures their voice is heard, and makes them part of the change.

Continuously Communicate

Standardization requires a continuous improvement mindset and 2-way communication to address challenges. Consider how the standard processes are communicated. A common pitfall is assuming that everyone knows or remembers the benefits of this standardization. Every communication medium should reiterate the benefits and what the individual and company can gain. By ensuring you are providing an avenue for feedback and responding in a timely manner, teams stay engaged. Being open-minded, thoughtful in communication, and responsive to concerns will support teams along the standardization change journey.

CRB’s Knowledge Services Team, along with some partners, will be sharing thoughts on methods that are helping us build a foundation of capabilities that can give businesses an edge. Our journey has been focused on the human element. This focus on community and connection encourages learning and sharing and allows a business to use its collective knowledge in more meaningful ways.

Follow CRBknows to see more from our series. Is your business on a standardization journey? What challenges are you facing? How are you overcoming the hurdles? 

Two accomplished Franklin Templeton leaders— President and CEO Jenny Johnson; Sonal Desai, CIO, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income—were selected for Barron’s fourth annual list of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance.

The list honors women who have achieved positions of prominence in the financial services industry and are helping to shape its future. The list, chosen by a panel of Barron’s writers and editors, is based on external and internal nominations, and includes executives at major U.S. companies, investment managers and securities analysts, and public servants and policy makers . All are based in the U.S.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Johnson and Desai have been named to the list, having been selected each year since the list was introduced in 2020. Franklin Templeton did not provide compensation to Barron’s for the ranking.

View the full 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance feature here.

Sonal Desai

CIO, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income

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Jenny Johnson

President and CEO, Franklin Templeton

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About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 155 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in fixed income, equity, alternatives and multi-asset solutions. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 75 years of investment experience and approximately $1.4 trillion in assets under management as of February 28, 2023. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 10, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Today Bath & Body Works announces its inclusion on Newsweek’s list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America.

In collaboration with market research partner Statista, the publication identified companies based on a sample of approximately 25,000 U.S. residents. Respondents rated companies on three touchpoints of trust: customer trust, investor trust and employee trust; including if they believed individual companies treated their customers fairly, treated their employees fairly and would be good long-term investments.

“We’re honored to be recognized as one of the most trustworthy companies in America,” says Gina Boswell, Bath & Body Works CEO. “Our values guide how we deliver fragrance to the world and ensure we have a positive impact on our associates, customers and shareholders in a way that makes us proud. Our inclusion on this list is a testament to our team’s passion and drive, which inspires us to continue bringing better, brighter ways of doing business.”

In addition to making Newsweek’s list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America, Bath & Body Works recently has been recognized in several other ways including:

America’s Best Workplaces for Women by NewsweekAmerica’s Greatest Workplaces for LGBTQ+ by NewsweekDiversity in Business Award by Columbus Business FirstForbes List of America’s Best Large EmployersA Diversity First Top 50 Company by the Diversity Research Institute

For more information about Bath & Body Works, visit bbwinc.com.

ABOUT BATH & BODY WORKS
Home of America’s Favorite Fragrances®, Bath & Body Works is a global leader in personal care and home fragrance, including the top-selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. Powered by agility and innovation, the company’s predominantly U.S.-based supply chain enables the company to deliver quality, on-trend luxuries at affordable prices. Bath & Body Works serves and delights customers however and wherever they want to shop, from welcoming, in-store experiences at more than 1,800 company-operated Bath & Body Works locations in the U.S. and Canada and more than 425 international franchised locations to an online storefront at BathandBodyWorks.com.

For more information, please contact:

Bath & Body Works, Inc.: 
Media Relations 
Emmy Beach 
Communications@bbw.com

Corporations have a historic opportunity to invest in equitable place-based development through a wave of new federal programs.

Over the last year, Congress has passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act, which provide a recently unprecedented level of funding for local economic development. In FSG’s work with corporations and foundations, we have seen a flurry of conversation about this influx of investment, accompanied by collective worry and uncertainty about how the funds will be utilized.

In our latest piece, we share how companies can help ensure that these programs reach their full potential. We provide initial considerations for three key stakeholder groups:

Local cross-sector collaboratives and convenersCorporationsNational and regional foundations

Our goal is to spark greater dialogue amongst stakeholders and learn alongside partners who are working actively to ensure that this historic level of funding advances equity and opportunity.

< Read the full article >

About FSG 
FSG is a global, nonprofit consulting firm that partners with foundations and corporations to create equitable systems change. Through customized consulting services, innovative thought leadership, and learning communities, we’re working to create a world where everyone can live up to their full potential.

Learn more at www.fsg.org.

April 11, 2023 /3BL Media/ – As part of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids is offering competitive grants, up to $150,000 per SFA, to small and/or rural SFAs to support efforts to improve the nutritional quality of their school meals. The grant application is now available at www.healthymealsincentives.org.

Small and/or rural SFAs participating in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands and who serve food to K-12 students are eligible to apply. The grant application portal will close on May 26, 2023, with applications due no later than 5:00 pm EST. Learn more and apply at www.healthymealsincentives.org.

“Action for Healthy Kids is excited to partner with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and school food authorities to lift up and support innovative school nutrition practices that ensure that our nation’s students have access to nutritious meals,” said Rob Bisceglie, CEO of Action for Healthy Kids.

Action for Healthy Kids will also help facilitate sharing of best practices across the country and recognize SFAs for their efforts to improve school meals through the Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards program beginning later this year.

“USDA is excited about the collaboration with Action for Healthy Kids to support and share innovative practices that will empower schools to continue serving delicious, healthy meals, and give students a healthy start. We look forward to this partnership and lifting up the great work being done by nutrition professionals throughout the country,” said FNS Administrator Cindy Long, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

ABOUT ACTION FOR HEALTHY KIDS

Action for Healthy Kids is dedicated to improving children’s health and well-being by bringing together and mobilizing educators, families, and other key stakeholders to help children lead healthy lives. Through its core programming and family-school partnerships, Action for Healthy Kids has impacted more than 20 million children in 55,000 schools nationwide to address systemic challenges in underserved communities. To learn more about its growing network of volunteers and champions, visit: https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/.

ABOUT USDA’S FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service works to end hunger and improve food and nutrition security through a suite of more than 15 nutrition assistance programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC and SNAP. Together, these programs serve 1 in 4 Americans over the course of a year, promoting consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being. FNS also provides science-based nutrition recommendations through the co-development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. FNS’s report, “Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security: The Role of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service,” highlights ways the agency will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. To learn more about FNS, visit https://www.fns.usda.gov/ and follow @USDANutrition.