Dr. Joan Pastor is president of JPA International, Inc., an international consulting company. She acts as a consultant on the "people" side of business to corporations, and has been a professional speaker, trainer, seminar leader, and organizational development specialist for more than 20 years. She and her associates have worked in more than 20 countries on all five continents. They are known for their expertise in global issues, future trends, strategic planning, and cross-cultural communications.

Joan has a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Clinical Psychology and has practiced extensively as a psychotherapist. She has been a guest of a number of radio and television shows and has hosted her own radio show. Joan is the author of more than 35 articles as well as the book Women's Work. She is a Certified Speaking Professional through the National Speakers Association, and a member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Joan has taught and continues to teach seminars and classes at numerous companies and associations, and a number of universities across the country through their business schools. Courses include Leadership Skills for Technical Professionals, Developing and Implementing High-Performing Teams for Increased Competitive Edge, Cross-Cultural Issues in a Global Economy, and Negotiation Skills for Internal and External Customers. Joan also provides consulting services to and through these schools.

Clients We Serve

ASSOCIATIONS

American Electronics Association
American Gas Association
American Society of Assn. Executives
American Society of Military Comptrollers
American Society of Quality Control
American Society of Training and
Development
Association of Healthcare Internal
Auditors
Association of Secretaries in Asia-Brunei
Bank Administration Institute
Center for Health Resources Association
INFOSYS-Brunei
Institute of Internal Auditors-Worldwide
International Customer Service Assn.
International Assn. for Women in
Personnel
Medical Library Group of Southern
California and Arizona
National Assn. of Bank Women
National Assn. of Purchasing
National Electrical Contractors Assn.
National Management Association
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Speakers Association
News Media Internal Auditors
New York Guidance Personnel Assn.
San Diego Chamber of Commerce
Society of Plastics Industry, Inc.
West Coast Western Market
Western Insulation Contractors Assn.

CORPORATIONS

lst Nationwide Bank
ABN Bank - St. Maarten
AirTouch Communications
Alaska Airlines
Amtrak
Arco Gas & Oil
Arcon Electric
Arthur Andersen & Company
AT&T
Attorney's Title Insurance Fund, Inc.
Baker Electric
Balboa Institute of Travel
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Associations
Boeing
Boise Cascade
Boston Edison
Branch Banking & Trust
Central Intelligence Agency
Chevron, U.S.A.
Coca Cola, Inc.
Columbia Savings Bank, SLA
Compass Bank
Computer Sciences Corporation
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance
Consembition Jaya SDN, Malaysia
Coopers & Lybrand
Coopers & Lybrand - Japan
County of Orange, California
County of San Bernardino, CA
Coupecoy Resort
Dawn Beach Hotel - St. Maarten
Defense Industrial Supply Center
Deloitte & Touche
Demcom Consulting Group
Department of Defense - Numerous
Commands worldwide
Doncaster Apparel
Dun & Bradstreet Corporation
Eli Lilly
Emerites Airlines-U.A.R.
ERA Real Estate
Ernst & Young
Executive Business Services
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
First Interstate Bank
Fleet Technical Support Center
Military Command
Florida Dept. of Transportation
Flow International
Food Lion
Ford Motor Credit & Fairlane Credit
General Dynamics Land Production Sys.
Global Research Corporation
Greenwich Air Services
Hawaii Conference on Quality
Holiday Inns of America
Honeywell, Inc.
Idaho Power Company
IDS/American Express, Inc.
Illinois Credit Union League
Integrated Combat Sys. Test Facility
International Institute for Research -
London, Melbourne, Amsterdam
International Travel Service, Inc.
Jacksonville Electric Authority
John F. Kennedy Medical Center
Jostens, Jostens-Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Kaufman & Broad Construction Co.
Kaufman & Broad - FrancePage

Client Comments

"We have hired Joan on three different occasions during the past several years to train our staff on facilitation skills. Joan is a highly skilled facilitator and one of the best in the business from my perspective. Her human relations skills, knowledge of organization dynamics, and a bottom-line results focus are among her strongest assets. One of the skills of a trained facilitator is to use group knowledge (often what we already know, but don't say) to help the group come to consensus on priorities, goals, and most importantly, a plan to address issues defined. Joan does this very, very well."

O. Dale Jeanes
Senior Vice President and Audit Client Service Manager
Branch Banking and Trust

"One of the areas Joan excels in is developing a plan to correct identified problems and to monitor progress. In every session I have been in with Joan (it must be close to 20 now), she has left us with an action plan and critical success factors and a follow up plan. I would not be overstating Joan's ability by saying that every session I have been in has been a huge success and that profitability, morale and team work all improved significantly due to the training."

Brenda Morris
Vice President of Finance
K2 Corporation

"I would like to express my appreciation for the outstanding skills training that you provided. I was most impressed by your energy, expertise and the ability to stimulate learning. In all my experience with teams and team training, I have not seen anyone do what you do...it's remarkable! The feedback that I've received says it's the best external training they've ever had."

Jerry Frankenfield
TQM Consultant
National Security Agency

"The seminar you presented to us on Teambuilding and Negotiation Skills was beyond excellent...it was outstanding! The way you customized the material and tailored your approach to our staff had an extremely positive impact."

Joseph Til, Director
Siemens Energy & Automation

"I wish to congratulate you on the success of the Conflict Management seminar you presented to us...the lessons we learned will prove extremely valuable to each and every one of us throughout our careers, not only as auditors, but as business people as well."

Anthony Quan, International Manager
The Coca-Cola Company

"My thanks to you for the wonderful job you did...there was enthusiastic agreement that these two days were the most valuable training they have received. Specific comments were made about how truly practical and useful the information was proving to be as they used it both at work and at home."

Sonja Whitesell, Director
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa

"Thank you very much for your outstanding presentation. On a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the most positive...you received a score of 4.7 - one of the highest ratings ever given by the group. Your topic certainly met our objectives. It was relevant to our work and your specific recommendations and effervescent presentation kept us all highly motivated. "

John Cannon, Chairman
American Gas Association

"On a scale of 100, the participants evaluated this seminar a 94; that is truly remarkable, coming from such an exacting group as internal auditors. As a group they felt this information would have very practical application in their jobs...as for recommendations the majority had only one: extend the seminar!"

Michael Twomey, Vice President
Institute of Internal Auditors

"Thank you very much for your recent presentation on cross-cultural communication. The concepts which you presented were very important for all of us to consider...your enthusiastic presentation was not only educational but kept everyone's interest throughout both days."

L. K. Smuts, Manager
San Diego Gas & Electric

"As usual, your high standards provided the participants a wealth of useful information. The evaluations on your session, "Leadership Skills," received the highest grade of the four sessions."

Deborah McLaughlin, Chairperson
Institute of Internal Auditors

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Sample Article

DELEGATING UP, DOWN, AND SIDEWAYS
by Joan Pastor

Competition has always been a fact of life in the American marketplace, but economic globalization has caused an increase of per capita workload beyond anyone's expectations. How can you keep from getting snowed under with extra work? Delegate. Of course, as a supervisor, you already delegate-or do you? Mastering the skills of delegation includes understanding how to delegate not only to your staffers but to your supervisors and peers as well.

Traditional Delegation

To most supervisors, delegation means someone in a superior role transfers authority to various staff members to enhance overall business capacity. This "downward" delegating runs smoothly as long as certain rules are followed. A good supervisor takes care to delegate to people who have proven they can do the job at hand. Deadlines should always be reasonable-an employee faced with a task that can't be done on time becomes frustrated. Encouraging feedback keeps staffers involved and makes them feel more a part of the overall project. Giving feedback is equally important; it makes workers feel that the supervisor cares about their success. Downward delegation remains the most popular and effective means of getting work done quickly and efficiently. But as the workplace becomes increasingly complex, supervisors need to find more creative approaches.

Sideways Delegation

Delegating to one's peers can be a touchy proposition. Your peers don't report to you, so they have no obligation to honor your requests. Those who do agree to accept work will invariably ask: "What's in it for me?" When they do, how you answer will determine how much cooperation you can expect. Ideally, if you can provide some tangible benefit, peers will be more willing to lend their assistance. If, however, no immediate benefits come to mind, you should try to think of a special way to thank whoever helps you. Sometimes as simple a gesture as a thank-you card is sufficient, but you can probably come up with a number of other ways to show your appreciation. Remember, too, that neither you nor your peers are in business for yourselves-as team players, you should always be looking out for the company's best interest. Frequently, this is a strong incentive for peers to help you with your work. Obviously, you should always be willing to help your peers with their work. People will naturally be more willing to help you out if they know they can count on your help-and they rarely forget when someone doesn't help others.

Upward Delegating

It's almost a rule that emergency projects come up when everyone is swamped with other work. How do you handle a boss who comes to you, project in hand, and tells you "I need this done now"-perhaps two or three times in the same day? Delegate the work right back to the boss. First, list everything your boss tells you to do. You may want to make "to do" lists for weekly and daily assignments, making sure to display them prominently in your office. When your boss frantically appears with another rush job, calmly refer to your "to do" list (which will have all the other rush requests you've received all day) and ask the boss: "How can I prioritize to determine what items on the list can be put off?" All you've done is put the responsibility back into the boss' lap. Obviously, you can't do three or four projects at once. The boss will have no choice but to identify priorities. But suppose you have more than one boss? If you work for Smith and Jones and Smith hands you a rush job while you're in the middle of a rush job for Jones, you can explain the situation and suggest that Smith and Jones get together and decide which project takes priority. At that point they really have no choice but to honor your request.

By exploring new ways to use delegation, you not only get more work done faster, but also build a feeling of cooperation and team spirit that may not have a chance to occur under normal circumstances. You also create a situation in which people are more likely to make concrete decisions on the basis of priorities, rather than try to get several jobs done at once.

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