The March 8 International Women’s Strike
How To Tell Your Boss You’re Participating In The March 8 Women’s Strike http://r29.co/2mJlemy
International Women’s Day May Not Be Stunning News For Everyone!
International Women’s Day Could Negatively Impact Retailers http://bit.ly/2mioRSZ
10 Ways To Celebrate International Women’s Day in Toronto
10 ways to celebrate International Women’s Day in Toronto • Shecosystem Coworking and Wellness http://bit.ly/2miptb1
International Women’s Day Theme For 2017
If you’re a business woman, and even if you’re not for that matter, Internationa Women’s Day for 2017 is just around the corner. Each year there is a theme and for 2017 it’s #beboldforchange and is focusing on creating change for a better working environment. To find out how you can join in for the main event on March 8th, visit the website International Women’s Day 2017 http://bit.ly/2mioqb5
5 Mistakes That Kill Your Case Studies – And What To Do About Them
Writing case studies takes time and effort. When you get them right, you build your credibility and win more work. When you get them wrong, you waste precious time, and worse of all, you can undermine your brand. Read on to discover the simple mistakes to avoid. Short term, reactive thinking Short term reactive thinking is the number one challenge with case studies. Imagine the scenario. You need a case study – for a marketing event, proposal or client pitch – and you need it right now, but you cannot find it. Perhaps you didn’t get around to writing it or perhaps you started writing it and got distracted by other priorities. Either way, you decide to pull it together now, at the last minute, to hit that deadline. What do you end up with? A case study that doesn’t do your business justice. Stepping back, thinking strategically, deciding which case studies are right for your target market, and then giving yourself the time to write them is the sensible way to go. It cuts down on your admin time too, as getting client buy-in for a case study early in the process saves you an awful lot of email back and forth when it comes to review and sign off. Too long, too techy Going ‘full techy’ is a classic mistake. When you’ve worked on a product or project, it’s inevitable that you are going to be close to the detail. Before you dive into the detail, ask yourself: 1. How well do you know your audience? 2. What will keep them reading the whole case study through to the end? 3. Will your audience appreciate a display of deep technical expertise or will it confuse them? 500 jargon-free words can have more impact than a 2000 word in-depth technical case study, depending on the audience. If your case study does needs to go into technical detail, make sure that you include an executive summary at the start so that the reader can understand it at a glance. Too salesy The other extreme is using your case study for the hard sell. Don’t. Do. This. It’s very easy to spot, and it will put off potential clients. Your case study is a story about how you help your client solve a problem. Similar clients with similar problems will relate to it so trust that they will be able to understand how you can help them too. Reign in the sales language and the pushy tone. Audiences connect with an authentic voice. Overly rigid adherence to templates and brand OK OK – so here at Case Study Ninja we live by the mantra of ‘challenge, solution, impact’ and we are always happy to share a template or two. We know that when it comes to a looming deadline, starting with a blank Word document is a miserable experience. As important as it is, the structure is only the foundation of the case study. To shine you need to tell a story. The story is about how you helped your client, and what you helped them to achieve. You can be flexible here as the key is to write a narrative that flows, combined with a very clear and positive impact for your client. If the story works better when you merge the challenge and solution, and call it ‘project approach’ – that’s fine, go with it. If it reads better with 400 words and bullets, don’t try and drag it out to meet at 1000 word ideal word count. The slow death of sign off We’ve all been there. The case study has been drafted and reviewed by a couple of the main parties, and everyone is waiting on one person for sign off. It’s too late to go back in time and get the client’s buy-in during the project, so how much chasing do you carry out before you drop it from fear of irritating your client? Sign off is the final hurdle for many case studies, so make sure that the emails you send help your client to understand the benefits of the case study for everyone involved. A deadline helps too. If you’ve already sent out a couple of emails, be brave and pick up the phone. Of course, you can always outsource the chasing to some super polite case study professionals (*ahem*). You save time and can be confident that we will handle client liaison will in a courteous manner, as part of an established sign-off process. (This Article was first published on Case Study Ninja)
Making other people look good: what improv teaches us about teamwork
In my spare time I can be found ‘making silly stuff up’ with improvised comedy group Classic Andy. What began as a creative and fun hobby a couple of years ago has taught me as much about truly effective teamwork as any management course or corporate role could. Here’s why… Techniques from improvised comedy have already made the leap over into corporate training and organisational development, particularly in the USA and Canada, where improv is very well-established. Many organisations in the UK are also weaving in improv activities to improve collaboration, communication and trust, and to encourage their teams to be more innovative. It’s fantastic when work and hobbies overlap or seamlessly fit together. I have experienced first-hand how improvisation can transform the way we work with others to achieve great things. And these techniques can be blended with other consultancy and organisational development approaches to develop strategy, solve problems, improve services and innovate. Here’s why it works. Because improv is about: 1. Listening Genuinely, truly and actively listening. When you perform as part of an improv team, you literally walk on stage with 20 minutes to fill and absolutely no idea what is going to happen. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying. Active listening means making strong eye contact, keeping an open stance and genuinely absorbing what has been said. It means not railroading through your own pre-formed ideas. How many times have we sat in meetings thinking about what we will say next, rather than giving the current speaker our full attention? We lose many potentially innovative ideas every day because of this. 2. Saying ‘yes, and’ to others’ suggestions If you remember nothing else about improv, remember ‘yes, and’. How many times in a day is your natural reaction to a suggestion ‘yes, but’? Or even ‘no, but’? These are blocking behaviours. Once you begin to say ‘yes, and’ more, you can work with others to develop ideas and build on their suggestions to make something really innovative. It doesn’t mean that you blindly accept people’s off-the-wall ideas but it means that your mind is more open and you genuinely engage with new opportunities in a creative way. It can also be hugely motivational for members of the team. 3. Making other people look good Imagine if your only role was to make other members of the team look good and fulfill their potential. That’s really what improv is all about. The team will not look good or perform well if one member is benefiting at the expense of others or is trying to denigrate someone else. Consider how you can support other members of the team to do the best they can and you will automatically do well and the team’s performance and potential will improve dramatically. It’s simple but it works. And it significantly increases trust. How can you make others look good today? 4. Making strong offers All this collaboration and listening can mean that we feel nervous or disinclined to put our own suggestions forward. We shouldn’t feel that way. Strong offers are fantastic in improv as they give others something specific and tangible to work with. And they can develop in surprising, fascinating and joyful ways. The same is true of teamwork at work. Need new product ideas? Make a bold suggestion. Need to improve performance? Say something radical. Others will then explore and develop it with you. Strong offers make people feel safe as they have something to work with. They don’t have to be the ‘right answer’ or fully-formed. That’s what the team is for. 5. Being emotionally attuned In a world where performance improvement, whether of machines or humans, is often talked about as something that can be engineered, to reach the optimum configuration, the human dynamics are often ignored. Being a strong improviser is fundamentally about humans. It is about establishing emotional connections with others and being able to quickly pick-up on micro-signals. It’s essentially about emotional intelligence. This is clearly hugely important in teams, particularly when it comes to motivation, attitudes to change and approaches to new ideas. It also means that emotions such as excitement and joy can become contagious, boosting morale. Why not try it? I have found that the way I interact with others, both in a work and home setting, has changed dramatically, for the better, since I’ve been improvising regularly. I’m not suggesting that you ask all your team members to take up improv comedy in their spare time. But there are lots of easily accessible exercises that you can use within team settings to help people to work more effectively together. I find that these techniques make the most impact when they are integrated into wider workshops which focus on a particular business outcome or issue, such as forming part of a strategy development or innovation session. I’d love to hear about your own experiences of using improv in the workplace. If you would like to talk about how to incorporate improv techniques to help your teams work more effectively, please get in touch at julie@specialistgeneralist.co.uk or on 07733 306155, or visit my website. Julie Flower is a strategy and organisational development consultant, specialising in corporate creativity. She runs the consultancy The Specialist Generalist and is a performance improviser with Classic Andy. Follow her @specgeneralist.
How to Find Your Purpose with Maureen Dickie
On today’s show, we were joined by the lovely Maureen Dickie, giving us some tips and stories on self-awareness and how to understand yourself for better business success. Maureen is a specialist coach who helps people to find their purpose and peace. She has taken her expertise onto the prestigious TED talks stage and also shares her experience of applying and appearing. We also talked about our tool of the week which, Joomag, a helpful digital publisher for you to write, publish and distribute a magazine – a great way to add a different dimension, and even a new income stream, into your business. Maureen closed the show by sharing the key to finding yourself and your purpose. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed hosting the show – and thanks to Maureen for bringing such a serene atmosphere into the studio.
Be Productive – Tips to Maintain Your Focus
One of the best tips I ever learned was to be able to recognise when you lose focus. And of course if you do this quickly then you lose less time before you get back on track. If we don’t notice our distractions we can lose a lot of our planned productive time on lower priority work or someone else’s priorities. And you know you can’t get that time back and it can lead to frustration, plus increased pressure to deliver on original priorities. We will all be distracted by slightly different things, different people, different apps, and different family members! So the key here is to figure out your own solutions. But first you need to know what your distractions are. Then when you really need to be productive, you can make every effort to eliminate those distractions. So here are some the key pointers. Decide what you want to focus on and for how long Use frequent timed checkpoints to see if you are still working to plan If not make a note of what has distracted you Make every effort to return to your plan Stick at it until it becomes automatic for you to note the different things that distract you during your workday and start working on strategies to reduce those distractions. Take control and protect your productive time. So let me know if this works for you. And of course please share any other ideas, tips or tools in the Comments below.
Entrepreneur, Mother or Lover? – 6 Tips to getting closer to what you really want!
Getting a balance & time for us is often one of the hardest things to do. Now you may not like what I am about to say, BUT if you can’t get the balance its something that you are doing or not doing, a way you are feeling about yourself, and restricting your success as a whole person – nobody else can make it happen only YOU! Saying that, we can support you and help you develop the skills and tools you need to get more consistency, and allow yourself to be more of who YOU want to be – whilst juggling all aspects of your life. Are you an entrepreneur? Are you a mother? Are you a lover? Are you a combination of many different things, wearing different hats? OR can you wear just one hat – be everything you want to be all at once? If you feel you have a good balance of everything you want, a clear identity, and more often than not you have this nailed then you probably wont want to read any further. However if, like me, you struggle to know who you are at times, and get a balance when you need it most, then keep on reading and lets see how we can work towards achieving a more consistent balance in our lives – who are we? What happens when you say the following words: entrepreneur, mother or lover? You can add words that you feel define who you are at times, make it fit your situation, you may be an employee, a step parent, and so on. Think about the main words that describe you and then say them to yourself and see what happens? Notice your reaction to each of the words, do they make you smile and feel happy, do they make you cringe, do they make you feel worried or concerned? Then think about saying them out loud to others and what does that bring up for you? I will give you an insight into some of mine as an example so you can see what I mean! Entrepreneur – Hmmm, quite like the sound of that, I feel proud that I have developed my own business and work for myself but then do I earn enough money to use this word, am I successful enough to call myself this? I see others who I perceive to be more successful at this than me. Then thinking about saying this out loud to others brings up more new stuff, will they think I just don’t do very much, and why doesn’t she just get a job! Mother – This fills me with pride and fear all at the same time! Eek! I think I am a pretty good parent most of the time but I also know I can get it very wrong at times but this is part of being a parent in my view, so I am OK with that. I feel that this SHOULD always be my priority but with my therapist hat on, I know I need to put myself first at times to make myself an even better parent! When I say this out loud I sometimes think will people judge me for doing so many other things, going away for weekends without my daughter and sometimes putting myself first. I also sometimes feel judged when the next question that comes along is, how many children do you have, to which I answer one! Does this make me less of a parent in comparison to someone who juggles having 2, 3 or 4 children? Lover – Should I even be saying this word, does it just imply sex? Is that wrong? To me this indicates my intimate relationship with my husband and I don’t just mean sex, I mean the closeness and the togetherness that you have with each other, separate to being a family unit and a parent. You may call it something else. Will people judge me for even using this word, as I am a mum, should this not even be a priority! Am I being unrealistic? Do I need to be this person? Is it important for me and why? This is not even something I would usually say out loud so I must fear being judged, not sure why? Maybe its a fear of other parents and entrepreneurs thinking things like, well my business is my priority at the moment to provide, my children come first and so this is a nice to have but doesn’t happen. Does this mean I am prioritising incorrectly? OK so these are just some examples of thoughts and feelings that come up, yours may be very different but the principle is the same, how do you perceive yourself versus what you would like to balance in your life? Could I have all of the above? Of course why not, but it will only be available to me if I allow it and deal with the restrictions I place on myself. Looking at what comes up for you when you say these words to yourself or out loud will give you an insight into your comfort zone and how you may want to be perceived versus what you actually genuinely want in your life. You may be happy with one main role in your life, and again that’s OK, if its not broken then don’t try and fix it. I would never work with a client, as a therapist, who was sent by someone else but didn’t feel they actually wanted any change for themselves but rather just for others! It would waste both of our times. Here are 6 tips to getting closer to what you really want! *Know what that actually is in the first place! We can’t reach any goal if we don’t know where the end is. Saying YOUR words like I described above, may help you get…
Sarah Dillingham, Case Study Ninja
Sarah Dillingham In 2015, Sarah identified an ongoing challenge within professional services and public sector organisations to create, manage and publish case studies, so she developed a software platform and service offering to tackle this. Beta testing for CastStudyNinja subsequently began in January 2016 and officially launched on June 30th, 2016. Sarah has specialised as a Knowledge Management leader for over 20 years and has achieved successful programme delivery, at both a global and UK level, for companies including: National Audit Office, KPMG, Ernst & Young, HM Treasury, Tribal Group, PwC, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and IBM. As a regular conference speaker and writer, Sarah has published a number of enterprise technology articles focusing on business development, product reviews and market activity analysis. Sarah has a PGDip in Information Science from City University and a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Essex University. on Facebook on Twitter on Instagram on Linkedin Listen To Sarah’s Show Sarah’s WIB Author Page & Articles Website
Be Productive – Take Control of Your Inbox
THE EMAIL PROBLEM It has happened to us all. We have a plan for the day, we check our email first and the next thing we know its mid-morning or worse still lunchtime! Our intentions are good, “I’ll just clear my Inbox before I start and then I will feel more organised”. But of course those emails just keep arriving as every reply we send can prompt another one! And our plan for the day? Well our email processing may have cleared some items but it may not. And that’s the problem, it’s reactive and in fact we are often responding to someone else’s priorities, not ours. So how can we take control of our email, develop some good habits and be more productive? Well it is not easy. But spending hours on email every day isn’t easy either so maybe it’s time to try something new. Here are my 4 tips: Chose when you check in Have a process Use other ways Spread the word CHOSE WHEN YOU CHECK To do this you need to close your email programme or email app and proactively chose when you check in. I know it’s a scary concept isn’t it? Why, because we like to be in touch all the time and often we our job requires us to be in touch all of the time. And that’s ok. But figure out if there are times in your week when you can switch off your notifications even for an hour or a morning. Could you check first thing in the morning, after lunch and near the end of the day? If that seems too little, add in a mid-morning and mid-afternoon check. Most things can wait an hour or two – think about the day you are caught in a 2 hour meeting and you can’t check mail, the world doesn’t stop. So try to go 2 hours without checking your mail, even at your desk. Why? Because statistics show that when an email interrupts us, even only for a minute, it can take another four minutes to get back to what we were doing. So if you eliminate 15 interruptions, you could be creating about an hour of uninterrupted time. And this is time you can use to concentrate and be you’re most productive. USE A PROCESS We can lose a lot of time trying to decide what to do with our emails. So be focussed when you are checking. Try to quickly distinguish between the important and non-important ones. Develop a way of categorising your emails as you read them. Try the approach described below and modify it to suit your way of working as necessary. Control Email The first question is whether the email requires further action or not? No further action – you have 2 options: Delete it File it for reference Further Action – you have 3 options: Do It now Plan It -convert to a task now Pass it on Do it now? This should only be a response that will take 2 minutes maximum 2. Plan It ? For something that will take longer don’t get caught up in it now. But make sure to schedule when you will do this – put a task in your calendar. 3. Pass it on? For something you can’t do or someone else can definitely do. Forward the message on with a covering note For tasks you create think cleverly about when it really needs to be done. If something is not due until next week, don’t do it this week, put a reminder in your calendar for a day before the deadline. To make this work you firstly need to and set up folders in your Inbox to file the Email you want to keep. These folders should represent the way you work –create one per project or per client or per area of responsibility. USE OTHER WAYS Don’t always default to email. How about a phone call or a desk visit? Remember, every email you send can prompt a response that you will have to process later. Email is great for facts, figures, reports, group updates and traceability but maybe the situation in hand calls for a chat or an exchange of opinions, feelings, thoughts. So challenge yourself, do I always need to send an email? SPREAD THE WORD So if you find some of these ideas help you be more productive then ask if others on your team will try it too. Maybe you can agree a particular morning or day where you agree not to send emails to each other. Have a brainstorm with your team and come up with ideas that will best suit the way you all need to work. So be productive and take control of your Inbox. These tips may not suit everyone’s style or every work place. But take these ideas and modify them to suit your own environment. Let me know how it goes and of course I would love to hear any other ideas, tips or even email tools that have worked for you in the Comments. And if you find this useful share it with your colleagues. Thanks!
How To Write A Case Study With Case Study Ninja
Case studies are a fantastic sales tool, especially if you do something people have trouble understanding. Today we were joined by Sarah Dillingham from Case Study Ninja giving valuable insights to how to build and use case studies in your business.We started the show off with Kelly Culver, giving us some helpful tips and tools to how you can manage your social conversions from Instagram. It’s been a very valuable show on how you can correctly prepare and use case studies. Not only were there some valuable tips, but Sarah gave us her formula for creating case studies – it’s little trickier than you might think, but the effort really pays off. Case Study Template and Tips Thanks to Sarah for sharing her case study template with listeners and readers and you can download the PDF below. We’ve also got the word document for you to download and have a play with create your own case study We’ve also got the word document for you to download and have a play with create your own case study Case study tips and template Word Document Case Study Template PDF There are also some lovely examples of case studies on the Case Study Ninja website here Read Sarah’s Profile and Connect
Access Your Alpha State For Productivity, Clarity and Happiness – With Angela Gower-Johnson
On today’s show, we had Angela Gower-Johnson, Business Energy Strategist from Ultimate Dream Project, and boy was it a whale of a show! At the start, we were discussing some marketing campaign ideas for February (February is rife with holidays!) and about organisation. Did you know that if we spend 10 minutes each day looking for something, we spend 60 hours per YEAR looking for things? For the rest of the show, we were chatting with Angela about Alpha and Beta brain states and how you can get yourself into the right state for optimum performance. This isn’t magic “woo woo” stuff, it’s been backed by science! Listen to the show now to learn how you can become the best you for your business. If you think you should be meditating, but can’t seem to make that happen, this show is for you!
How To Be More Successful By Improving Your Fitness
Are you an entrepreneur, a student, or have a demanding job? Do you feel like you’re always on the go, stressed out, and need more hours in the day? No matter what it is we’re trying to achieve – whether it’s career progression, passing exams or being more organised at home – there’s one thing that we can do that will guarantee we’re more successful. And that’s improve our fitness. Being more productive, and therefore more successful, isn’t about spending more time working. Here’s why you need to be taking the time away from your desk in order to reap the endless rewards: 6 Ways Improving Your Fitness Will Make You More Successful Improving your fitness will supercharge your energy levels Imagine a world where you don’t get as tired each day… You’d have the energy to work longer hours, or even work the same amount of hours that you do now, but with more energy you’d certainly get more done in less time! Having more energy will definitely help you achieve more in each day, thanks to exercise. So hit the gym to increase your stamina and your working day will be juiced up too. Improving your fitness will upgrade your focus With an increase in energy comes an increase in focus. Now that you’re less distracted by tiredness, low mood, or that ‘is it time to go home yet’ kind of clock-watching, you can better focus on the task at hand. Pair energy boosting workouts with good nutrition choices and avoiding performance-robbing junk to unlock lazer-focus all day long. Improving your fitness will reduce your stress levels Working out, going for a run or breaking a sweat in any way is a great stress buster. And this doesn’t just apply to when stress strikes, so don’t wait until that contract falls through to hit the heavy bag! Exercising everyday will help you sack off daily stresses as they pop up, resulting in a happier, more productive you. Get away from your desk, take a break and go workout! Improving your fitness will help you gain perspective Making your health and fitness, and that of your family, an absolute priority in your life will help you realise that as long as you’re happy and healthy, not much else matters. When you feel the benefits and importance of great health, you’ll recognise that 99% of the shit that you worry about at work doesn’t matter. This’ll lead to better and more rational decision making abilities and a next-level mindset in business. Improving your fitness will promote your immune system Raise the bar on your health and fitness and you’ll automatically promote your attendance. Improving your fitness will improve your overall health dramatically, including boosting your immunity, thus reducing the number of days that you take off due to sickness. So taking the time out to exercise now will mean you can put the time in later, even when there’s ‘something going round the office.’ Improving your fitness will inflate your confidence Exercise affects our well-being in so many amazing ways, from energy, focus, stress, positivity, immunity… it’s not surprising that we feel so good when we exercise! But another reason we feel great after a workout is because it boosts our confidence, too. Having faith in our own physical abilities is a powerful confidence enhancer that will be reflected in other areas of our lives, including work. Smashing a few PBs in the weights room will translate into smashing that up-coming presentation, too! Improving our fitness levels will create so many improvements in other areas of our lives, that it’s such a no-brainer! (In fact, our bosses should definitely recognise the importance of great health and fitness in their employees by prioritising healthcare benefits, IMHO…) What benefits have you discovered since improving your fitness? Dani x
Tackling The Menopause And Business
It can be tricky being a woman in business, but when you’re dealing with some of the symptoms of the menopause, that can ramp right up. Kathryn helps women in business through the symptoms of the menopause from all different angles. Maybe you run a business and one of your employees is going through menopause, or perhaps you’re struggling with some of the symptoms such as sleeplessness, forgetfulness and disorganisation. Either way, we have some ideas for you in this episode, so grab a coffee, (or a glass of wine) stick your feet up and listen in. On today’s show, we were joined by Kathryn Colas, menopause expert, giving us some mature insights to symptoms and her experience whilst going through it. Laura, our co-host of the show also gave us a #ToolOfTheWeek called LyteSpark, it is like Skype just with a few extra features that you can use to interact with clients or business partners. Book of the week was recommended by Katheryn and it is “Be Gender Smart” by Inge Woudstra. It is essentially a guide for both genders to help understand the different issues both genders faces and how to go about it. We learnt a lot about how menopause can affect not only your personal but workplace life. Some of the main symptoms are forgetfulness, being confused and cross more than usual but overall quite depressed. If you are suffering, Katheryn suggests a great way to start getting help is by recognising and this and talking about it, especially if it’s people in the workplace. Accept you need a break and take one step at a time.
Drawing your way to organisational improvement – five reasons to get more creative
‘Our colleagues get scared when we bring out the Post-it notes’. This comment from a recent client sums up the dread that many people feel about the use of ‘creative’ techniques within the workplace. It’s a real shame as moving beyond the traditional flipchart and bullet points approach can free up people’s minds, encourage innovation and vastly improve collaboration and communication. One of my favourite techniques is the use of rich pictures. The clue is in the name. Rich pictures are drawings that are usually made collectively to explore or define a complex problem, situation or system. I first came across them as part of Peter Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology, which provides a wider framework for entering and improving messy organisational problems. I deliver an annual ‘systems thinking’ workshop to MBA students at Brighton Business School and, without fail, rich pictures form the aspect of the session which students find most useful and applicable to their own work. Rich pictures enable groups to draw out key relationships, emotions and groupings in a way that makes sense to them, as a starting point for further exploration of issues and the generation of potential improvements or actions. They are great for rapidly addressing problems and for generating new ideas and opportunities. So why should you ditch the bullet points and draw your way to organisational success? Because rich pictures are: 1. Visually interesting Once people get over the initial fear of not being able to draw (it really is not about artistic prowess), they very quickly become absorbed in the creativity of making a picture. Some work very descriptively, others use metaphors or tell visual stories. Whichever way, the results are always memorable and eye-catching, and groups relish explaining them to others. A picture is often genuinely worth a thousand words. I have worked with clients for whom a hand-drawn amateur image of an exasperated nurse or a metaphorical picture of disparate desert islands has done more to shift senior thinking and gain engagement to change than any number of board papers. The images can also be reproduced and shared in newsletters, team meetings and future events. 2. Accessible and adaptable All you need is some paper or a white board and some different coloured pens. That’s it. There is no need for professional cartoonists; rich pictures are about engaging groups to produce a view of the world in their own way. I have found that the process is a great leveller. It is a fantastic way to engage mixed groups and everyone has something to input about their perspective on the situation, regardless of role or status. It’s also a very adaptable approach. Although rich pictures originated as a way to explore the current situation, I’ve found it rewarding to ask people to draw what they hope the future could look like; this can be very empowering and enables you to ask ‘so how do we get from where we are now to where we want to be?’. 3. About relationships, not just process Unlike some more ‘rational’ problem-solving approaches, such as process mapping, rich pictures enable you to very succinctly map out some of the key relationships and emotions within a given situation. Given that, within complex environments, many of the challenges and potential solutions are people-related, this gives rich pictures an edge and a different perspective. This doesn’t mean that other problem-solving or quality improvement techniques cannot be used to further explore certain aspects of the situation or system; they can be complementary. Drawing out a problem is a great route in and it helps people to collectively engage with the problem. In the end, it is likely that these people will also be the ones you call on to make improvements happen. 4. An opportunity for team development The act of creating a rich picture requires teamwork. It helps people to communicate, collaborate and creatively express themselves. Even more importantly, it encourages people to better understand others’ points of view, which can immediately help to solve problems. And, as rich pictures are intended to help explore and address real challenges, the activity may feel more relevant, tangible and useful than more general team-building sessions. It will help engage people in potential solutions and improvements. 5. About embracing complexity Rich pictures come into their own when the situation or system is messy. There are often many different people, groupings or even organisations within the mix. Emotions, relationships and communications are often challenging and at the root of some of the problems (and solutions). And these situations are usually playing out in complex and changing contexts. Rich pictures enable people to acknowledge the complexity and identify areas of focus for further problem-solving or service improvement without losing sight of the whole and the relationships between different parts of the system under scrutiny. So…why not try it? Expressing the problem situation is the first step to addressing some of the challenges and I believe that rich pictures offer an initial degree of analysis and engagement that some more traditional techniques lack. Rich pictures work best when you engage widely and provide careful facilitation, either internally or externally. Key questions to ask are: – Who are the key players or what are the key groupings/functions/organisations? – What are the main relationships and how do they work? – What are the main activities, inputs and outputs/outcomes and how do they happen? – What does this mean for clients? I’d love to hear about your own experiences of using drawing and rich pictures to explore and address complex problems or situations. And, if you would like to talk about how you can apply creative techniques (such as drawing and improvisation) to produce genuine improvements in your workplace, please get in touch at julie@specialistgeneralist.co.uk or on 07733 306155. Julie Flower is a strategy and organisational development consultant, specialising in corporate creativity. She runs the consultancy The Specialist Generalist and is a performance improviser with Classic Andy. Follow her @specgeneralist.
Be Productive – Learn to Say No!
By Moira Dunne During my first job as a consultant, my client told me that I had the ability to say no while making other people feel good about it. I think it was a compliment! It wasn’t something I planned but when I analysed my approach I realised I was protecting my work time so I could deliver on my commitments. I always tried to help but if I couldn’t at the time I would explain and offer an alternative. SAYING YES IS NATURAL For most of us saying yes comes more naturally than saying no. People genuinely want to help people. We want to be known as “a team player” and don’t want to be difficult. We don’t want to appear overloaded with work either, as if we can’t cope within our role. So learning to say no is a skill most of us have to develop. SAYING NO BY SAYING YES! So how do we do it? Well, the best way to say No is actually to say Yes. By that I mean to say no to dropping everything at the time of the request but say yes to a time or approach that suits you better. Take control. But do this professionally with consideration so that the requester understands and is happy with your alternative suggestion. And then follow through. The requests we receive loosely fall into two categories: A request from a colleague for help or advice A request from your boss to do extra work over what was agreed A REQUEST FROM A COLLEAGUE FOR HELP OR ADVICE If you can’t help straight away offer an alternative time that suits both schedules. Alternatively, consider if you are the only one who can help? If help is needed immediately direct the requester to a report or training material or another expert. A REQUEST FROM YOUR BOSS TO DO ADDITIONAL WORK If you are already working to a plan that was agreed with your boss then you are in a good position to negotiate. Offer to do the additional work but point out “This is what I am working on based on the plan we agreed. I will happily do this new work but I may need to push out one of these tasks“. So your objective is to get approval to free up time to do the new task. That way if one of the original tasks doesn’t get done, there is a common understanding why. If your boss insists that you still do everything, at least you have provided a reminder of your current workload based on the agreed plan. This can be a subtle way to highlight that your boss is being unreasonable, maybe unintentionally. TONE OF THE MESSAGE As with most business interactions the tone of delivery will greatly affect how your message is received. Find your own words. Use your judgement about how best to position your response. Consider the other persons’ perspective. If you are clear in your own head about why you are responding the way you are, it will start to come naturally. EMERGENCIES Of course, there are times when we need to just drop what we are doing and help. Again we have to use our judgment and knowledge of our work situation to identify these times. This will not be a time for alternatives or rescheduling. LEARN TO SAY NO Strive to say yes if you can If you can’t, explain your reasons professionally Provide an alternative Be committed to the alternative Negotiate priorities if saying yes Saying No can Increase Your Credibility Saying no from time to time can actually increase your credibility, as long as it’s done in a professional way. Saying no (or yes with conditions) can sometimes be the right thing to do for your role, your team and your organisation. Saying no successfully is all about using your judgement. It’s a trade-off between being helpful and being in control of your own work life. -oOo- Let me know your thoughts in the comments section or tell me what approach has worked for you.
Where did you say your office was? From employee to entrepreneur- How to build your entrepreneurial identity
If you’ve been brave enough to make the leap from employee to entrepreneur, you may have suddenly found yourself having to rebuild ‘brand you’. You and everybody else knows you are a great employee, but does your employee brand automatically transfer to the new entrepreneurial you? For most of us going from large established organisations to suddenly working from a kitchen table, there are no swanky offices, strong brands and a good reputation to hide behind. You may feel that the ‘you’ you know and love, the ‘you’ you’ve been creating for years has faded away. Here are a few points which will help you create your new identity, brand you! Who is the real you? Your brand, your mission and your purpose should be an extension of you. If you’ve thought carefully about what your product represents, then you should already know who you are as a person. Channel that person in every meeting, your marketing material and every service or product that you offer. Time to talk about yourself more Speak to as many people as you possibly can about your project. Your friends will get tired of listening to you talk about your work, however, the more you talk about yourself as an ‘entrepreneur’ the easier it is for yourself to except your new identity. “The external world of our society plays a huge role in defining our self-identity.” In other words, connecting your internal identity (how you see yourself) to your external identity (how others see you) may help put the building blocks of your new identity together. Love yourself and customers will love you too Clients will only take you seriously if you take yourself seriously. I found myself negotiating contracts worth thousands of pounds within a few days of my website being up. My new company had zero infrastructure and in my head, it didn’t really exist. New entrepreneurs should refer to their mission, think about what makes you special, what makes your company and the service you are providing different. People buy people, customers don’t care if your office has mismatched furniture but they do care about your work ethic, whether you keep your promises and what their working relationship with you is like. What do you mean you don’t own any taxis? We have reached an era where companies don’t own anything tangible. Uber doesn’t own any of its own taxis and Airbnb don’t own any real estate. This is the current trend and it is obviously one which seems to work for many, however, in the early days of starting your business, it may be harder for you to talk about what you do when it may seem that there is not much there. Practice describing your business and its model, it will help you to define what it is about and it will build your confidence when talking about it. Write about your business, blog about it or try to get some PR from a newspaper or professional blog. There is a lot of help online on how you can do this. You’re an entrepreneur from the word go It may take what seems like a century to get a sale. You may think to yourself, I’m hardly an entrepreneur if I haven’t made any money. You are wrong. If you were brave enough to have a dream, to share your ideas with people, to put yourself out there in a very scary world, then you are as entrepreneurial as they come. Go to networking events and meet like-minded people, get a mentor, someone who has been there and who understands the road you are on. Hang in there and repeat after me… you are an entrepreneur.
How Meditation Increases Productivity
by Jennie Lee The benefits of meditation are diverse and well documented, but an interesting one that is often overlooked is the effect meditation has on our productivity levels. Given how competitive the business world is, and the ever-increasing demands on our attention, it is easy to appreciate the value of a tool that can be used anytime, anywhere to enhance performance, and best of all is free and healthy! Studies show that the more times we are asked to change focus in a day, the higher our stress levels are. Stressed out minds are never productive and eventually start to make mistakes, some of which may be costly to our jobs. Meditation is a simple, natural, and effective method for reducing stress and cultivating the mental clarity we need for efficiency and maximum productivity. If you have never practiced meditation, you might be wondering how sitting quietly can help you get things done with greater ease and speed. It is because meditation is based on present moment awareness and the ability to focus the mind single pointedly on a chosen thought or technique. In the social media saturated, over-stimulated environment we live in, the mind is in a constant state of scattered restlessness. But if we cultivate the practice of directing our thought to just one thing for a period of time, we create a clear mental field, kind of like restarting our computers now and again, or erasing the history in our browsers. And this helps us operate more efficiently. Our minds need rest to perform at their highest capacity. They get some each night when we sleep, which is essential of course, but mediation offers a different, conscious rest that is extremely rejuvenating for our creative functions and intuition. Meditative focusing techniques help us to calm restless thoughts and enable the mind to receive intuitive awareness that can provide solutions we would otherwise not have considered. Mental Benefits of Meditation Improves overall brain performance Enhances focus Increases clarity of thought Relieves stress Increases creativity Combats aging factors such as diminishing memory Boosts immune system Increases sense of inner peace Regular practice of meditation increases our ability to concentrate for longer periods of time on one task, which correlates to an increase in productivity because we are not jumping around in our attention. Essentially we are able to do more efficient and extensive work in less time. Like any other skill, learning to concentrate in meditation is a process and is built over time. It is important to be patient and persistent. Even five minutes of meditation, practiced daily, can make a difference in your life and mental functioning. Simple Beginner Meditation Find a comfortable cushion or chair and follow these instructions. Turn off the phone and set a timer for 5 minutes. Inhale and tense your whole body. Then exhale, release and relax. Repeat 5 times. Sit with a straight spine and relax the body. Close your eyes and take ten slow deep breaths. Take ten more slow breaths in this way: Inhale for count of 10, hold for count of 10, exhale for count of 10. Let your breath return to normal. Silently in your mind with each inhale say to yourself “I am.” Silently in your mind with each exhale say to yourself “here now.” I am….here now – with each breath. If the mind drifts to other thoughts gently bring it back to the breath. When the timer sounds, take another moment to set an intention for a peaceful day. Congratulate yourself on doing something simple and wonderful to increase your productivity. Remember that for meditation to help you become more productive, you need to be consistent with your practice. Be sincere and give your best effort to concentrating on the breath and the affirmation of mindful presence. Do not hold an expectation that you will experience something in a prescribed way, just trust that the effects will come with time and dedication. Meditation is a long-term endeavor, but all effort is progress and soon you will celebrate the improvement in your creative performance.
Top Tips For Productivity & Organisation in 2017
2016 has been a terrific year for me in business, but not without its hurdles! I’ve learnt a lot along the way and helped clients do the same. I have no doubt that 2017 will be bigger and better, but the key to that progression? Organisation & planning! Being a Virtual Assistant takes organisation, careful coordination & a little bit of timely juggling! Remaining focussed and productive is not always easy, life is busy and there’s a lot of things to make happen. Take charge and get started on 2017- you’ll wish you had my Top Tips for productivity and organisation back in 2016! Create Plans & Schedules And I mean, for EVERYTHING. I’m talking; marketing strategy, social media strategy, blog plans, newsletter plans… these could all be put into one master plan or into a few smaller ones. Daily to-do lists written the night before are ideal – seeing your tasks lined up in black and white help the mind to focus rather than wander, especially whilst trying to figure out where to start the next day. My most important plans and schedules can be found in my social media schedules – I use Facebook Schedule and Hootsuite but Buffer and other schedulers come highly recommended also. Planning and scheduling social media in advance saves so much time and enables you to focus on other work, with the confidence that your posts will go out automatically. Furthermore, when you plan a chunk in advance, your ideas are more consistent with your wider plan, marketing strategy and branding. Break Tasks Into Bitesize Pieces Huge workload? You couldn’t eat an elephant in one go, but you could if you broke it down into bitesized chunks. The worst thing about large work loads are, that they tend to be overwhelming and put you off beginning the tasks at all – thus delaying you further, creating an even larger work load! Take each job and write down how many tasks it can be broken into, then take each one at a time – crossing them off as you go. You’ll be surprised at how quick you’ll move and realise how much less scary the task is once it’s broken down. Big Things First Take on the biggest or more important task first, before anything else. By doing this, you set the tone for the rest of the day (or week, or however long!), at very least you can say that you’ve battled with the most important task and won. This then frees you up to move forward with the smaller tasks at a more relaxed rate without the stress of bigger tasks hanging over your head. Time Block Pick up your to do list, work out the tasks involved and it’s simple: block out time in your calendar in which to complete those tasks. Use each time block to carry out just the task at hand – as well as this, turn off all notifications on your gadgets, put your phone screen face down, don’t answer calls or emails. This requires a certain degree of discipline but it is one of the most worthwhile tips I can offer. Once you’ve started and got yourself into a time block pattern or schedule, you’ll find it becomes far easier to stick to. Make & Track Goals If you can visualise something being completed, you can realise it! Think up your goals based on what you want to see happen with your business, then write them down and keep them visible at all times. Even if this is in a ‘to do list’ format – as simple as you like. Chances are, you already have these goals outlined in your business plan – if you do then great, grab a copy and keep them handy. Track these goals regularly and monitor your success. There’s no better motivator for productivity than working your way through your check list. Assess, Reevaluate, Move Forward Don’t flog a dead horse. Spend time at regular intervals assessing your efforts and ensuring that you have effective methods for measuring your success. Reevaluate social media strategies, newsletters, productivity tools, software, policies, documents… check everything you’re doing or using is performing as it should be! Keep in line with your master plan or business plan by checking back against it regularly. Consistency is key. So, my top tips for getting in gear in 2017: work out your goals, get your plans together, break tasks down into chunks, prioritise, block out your calendar, then; assess, re-evaluate and move forward! Say hello on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let me know how you’re getting on! Wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2017! Rosina