by Wayne Mates
I had a wonderful opportunity to attend the 79th annual crafts fair presented by the League of NH Craftsman who are celebrating their 80th year in existence. The League is a non-profit guild type association of juried artisans across many different crafts. It is one of the oldest associations of its kind in the U.S. Only residents of New Hampshire or of a bordering town in the states of Massachusetts, Maine or Vermont may be members.
Applications for membership are considered by a committee and a jury of peers. Artisans submit and present their work to the jury. Applicants explain their process of creating and how they develop their ideas into a final work of art. The jury can either accept, reject or give advice to the applicant on how to create a better artwork for future consideration.
That kind of day!
The association promotes its members in several retail outlets throughout New Hampshire as well as producing the annual fair. The fair has been held at Mt. Sunapee Resort at the base of Mt. Sunapee since the 1960s in picturesque western NH, near the shores of Lake Sunapee. It is an idyllic location to browse through the booths of New Hampshire’s most skilled craftspeople.
Overlooking the grounds
This year the fair has over 350 exhibits, 1300 educational demonstrations and a crafts tent for young crafters. Virtually all media are represented including blown glass, stained glass, painters, photographers, wood carvers and wood crafters, chainsaw artists, fabric artists including stitchery and surface pattern design. Others include leather crafters, blacksmiths, metal sculpters, polymer clay artists, metal artists, basket weavers and more. The artists, most of whom manage their own booths, range in age from their 20s to seasoned craftsfolk in their 60s and 70s. Everyone I spoke with was more than eager to talk about their designs, their products and the business of artistry. It is clear to me that these artisans are the some of the best at what they do. I have attended other craft fairs but I marvel at the consistency, quality and imagination of these folks.
The fair runs daily through August 12 this year. If you have a chance, attend. You’ll be glad you did!
For more information, visit their website
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Filed under News, Sales and Marketing by on Aug 7th, 2012. Comment. 
By Wayne Mates
This post has been previously published
One of the most insidious and invasive of all management “tools” is the formal performance review. Many employees are forced to write their own self reviews only to have their managers totally ignore them and write their own reviews for the colleague. Reviews only serve to justify management malpractice. How stupid and what a waste of time for everyone. How did these things evolve? Let’s look at history to get a perspective.
In 44 BC, Brutus was an opposing politician to Julius Caesar and his ways of ruling the Empire. Each year, Brutus would write up his accomplishments and present them to Caesar along with his goals for the coming year. Each year, Caesar would acknowledge Brutus’ performance and point out his failures. Additionally, he would set Brutus’ goals for the coming year and dismiss Brutus’ desired goals. The reviews always took place on March 15.
After numerous years of being berated, Brutus showed up for his performance review only to hear Caesar complain about Brutus’ underperformance, again! Brutus snapped and pulled out his dagger and ran Caesar through. To this, Caesar responded, “Et tu, Brutus?” Apparently, Caesar had been giving poor performance reviews for quite some time. Beware the Ides of March.
Fast forward to medieval England and the reign of King Arthur. Sitting at the round table, his royal highness and his knights would discuss the performance of the serfs of the realm. How much did they produce? Could they be squeezed for better performance? Who were the top producers? Who produced the least amount? At the end of the discussion the knights set forth to deliver the performance reviews to the tax collectors of the realm.
The tax collectors took the reviews and set out to talk to the serfs. The top producing serfs were told they were producing greatly and the king was proud of their work. Then, they were told they would need to produce more in the following year and that their contribution in taxes to his highness were to double. The middle producers were told they needed to increase production or face losing the right to produce. Those serfs on the lower end of the scale were hung. Thus, modern day stack ranking was implemented.
We move forward to the late 1800’s, the industrial revolution and the great mills of the era. Meet Ichabod Ellis, a notorious factory master. His henchmen prowled the factory floors, ever alert for slackers. Everything was tracked, time in, time out, amount of time taken for breaks and hourly, daily and weekly production. Nothing was left untracked. Icky would poor over the records and note any abnormalities in the data. Low performers were summoned to his office where they were given immediate feedback and sent off to perform better or else. Continued poor performance would lead to job loss. And, thus daily performance reviews led to management by fear and intimidation.
We move to modern day practice. Enlightened management has realized that each of these methods alone does not work. So, they have cobbled together a system of performance reviews where the employee believes they have say in their reviews and goals. Instead, management arbitrarily raises production goals, reduces or maintains pay and tries to convince the employee it is being done for the employee’s benefit while continuing to manage by fear and intimidation.
If this is the way you operate your company, it is time to change before your staff pulls out their daggers and leaves your company. Unfortunately for you, your best producers will leave first since they will have the most options. Fortunately, you have the power to change the way you operate. Eliminate this non-productive practice today.
Filed under Hiring and Managing People, News by on Jul 3rd, 2012. Comment.
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