Relax….you got this!
As many organisations are forced to work from home, the challenge can be for people who’ve never had to do this other than for a day or so. From a manager’s perspective, it’s important to do a few things to help your team feel more comfortable. Firstly, we need to get them to RELAX. This doesn’t mean sitting on the couch watching Netflix all day, but rather getting them to relax and understand that it’s fine to work from home, that they’re (and we) going to be OK. All we need to do is develop a new routine. Much like …
What’s the point?
At a recent workshop, I went around the room and asked each person what they wanted to get out of the session. Most had a specific thing they wanted to understand or learn, but what one participant said surprised me. They said, “I don’t use Excel and I’m not sure why I’m here.” I was blown away! We can never replace time. It’s our most precious commodity. Yet the organisation was happy to send this person out all day to learn about something they never use. Now it might have been that in the near future, the person attending the …
Quick and easy isn’t always quick and easy!
I recently received an email from someone who needed help with a drawing that had been done in Excel! I know, sounds strange doesn’t it? It was a floorplan. If I was creating this type of drawing, I would use software such as Visio, or even shapes and drawing tools in Word or PowerPoint, definitely NOT Excel. The floorplan had been created by “someone who was no longer with the business” and the client was not going to be best served by suggesting they recreate it in another program. What they needed was a simple solution to their challenge which …
Distraction is not just a business problem, it’s a life problem!
How we deal with distractions now will set the stage for how we cope when exposed to more distraction. We build resilience to respond to bounce back from events such as lost opportunities, cancellation of an event, but we need to build resilience to technology distractions and over exposure. Technology is designed to create engagement but not necessarily engagement that makes us productive, its often engagement designed to keep our eyeballs on technology! What are you doing to ensure you and your team are not distracted and are focused on your targets and goals?? Subscribe to Donna’s monthly eNewsletter at …
Here to help….
The last twelve or so weeks have required everyone in business to think outside the box and get creative. For some of my clients transitioning to work from home was not too challenging. For others it required unexpected investment and adaptability to ensure business continuity. As a speaker, trainer, and educator it’s been a time of change. Despite the circumstances, it has presented an opportunity to step back. To explore at a much deeper level more sophisticated ways of serving clients. Rather than continuing to do the same thing because we’ve always done it that way, changing circumstances have required …
The Power of Connection
Business today has come to rely on technology for so much, but we can’t rely on it for everything. Technology helps streamline and make easier sharing and collaboration of data, but it doesn’t replace the emotional connection of conversation. Beyoncé, Oprah and The Rolling Stones recognise the importance of connection. Whilst technology can distribute their music and message to a global audience, these performers recognise nothing beats the experience of a live concert to create connection. It binds those present. It creates community and a shared experience that is multi-sensory and dimensional. Feeling connected and part of a community via …
What’s changed for you?
The last few months have required stepping out the box and getting creative. New and existing clients and connections have reached out with a view to sourcing programs, ideas or tools to help support their teams both in the transition to work from home, and to keep them engaged and productive as we move back into the workplace. Some of the ideas I’ve pitched to clients didn’t fly, but others have and have expanded, not just what my team and I can offer clients, but have ripped apart any limiting pre-conceptions about how we serve our clients and community. The …
New Normal
Interesting perspective in this Forbes article. In my twenty plus years as a corporate speaker trainer and educator, I have seen a lot of trends. Companies spending millions of dollars on customised solutions that do not achieve the financial benefits promised in the business cases sold to boards and executives. A colleague of mine, Dave (thanks Dave!) once told me, people want the “ab-cruncher” solution to their problems. In a time poor world, individuals and organisations want the outcome of the ab-cruncher, the six pack wash board stomach, but many aren’t always prepared to make the time, or put in …
Don’t be Scared!
So many of people are afraid…. they are afraid of making mistakes! In business and in life we have long been conditioned not to make mistakes. That making a mistake is bad. But what if we instead of viewing them as mistakes, we viewed them instead as learnings, I know that metaphor has been around for a long time, that’s “there’s no such thing as failure, it’s simply learnings. Thomas Edison when asked about his failed attempts at perfecting the light globes has been said to have answered that he did not fail, that in fact he had merely identified …
Why do we over use technology?
Is it because it’s easy? We tick a metaphorical box and move onto the next thing making actioning or responding to what we’ve just sent now someone else’s problem. The electronic equivalent of ‘passing the buck’ I think it’s time to challenge the way we do things because that’s the way we’ve always done them. We used to fax things now we email them it’s faster, more cost effective and provided the ability to send one to many. But just because we have the technology doesn’t mean we HAVE to use it for everything. When was the last time you …
