The Power of No!
It’s said if you want something done, ask the busiest person! However, if you are someone who loves to help colleagues or serve clients, sometimes you need to say NO. Saying no can release you from the burden of doing something that would increase your stress levels when you may already feel overloaded. Sometimes people ask for your help, but don’t realise that what you are asking isn’t in your area of expertise, they just recognise you as a problem solver. I love to solve people’s problems and make life easier, but sometimes I just have to say no. The …
Band Aid® or a Strategy?
When I work with a client’s staff in one on one scenarios, I am regularly told how stressed they feel because they can’t or don’t know how to do what they need to do to get their job done. Some have admitted to even taking home their work at night or on weekends, losing time with family simply because they don’t want to let others know they can’t get things done. Technology can be one of the most effective or challenging aspects of the modern workplace. It has the ability to make life much easier, when you know how, or …
The Power of a Mastermind
The concept of a mastermind has been around for centuries. Our predecessors shared stories of events and activities with others which were passed down over generations. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich credited the principle which he first learnt about from Andrew Carnegie, as a key to success in business. It is common in business today, collaboration groups for business owners such as BNI (Business Networking International), executive teams and boards. However, the principle itself has been largely overlooked as a tool to be utilised elsewhere in organisations to aid in support, collaboration, engagement and retention of staff. …
Communicating your appreciation
According to a study by Hays Recruitment1, 40% of Australians plan to change jobs this financial year. Many people think money is the main reason people leave, whilst it was 41% in this survey, other reasons cited included lack of promotional opportunities (53%), lack of new challenges (42%), poor training and development and poor work-life balance both at 27%. So, how can you provide challenge, training and development opportunities and work-life balance for your team? What are you, or SHOULD you be doing to communicate how much you value your team members? https://www.hays.com.au/press-releases/HAYS_2048450 Donna Hanson works with organisations to unlock …
Productivity Transformation
Whilst recently tidying up some paperwork, I came across a 1990 to current day timeline I’d put together of world events and technology changes. A range of incidents and activities have changed how we see the world and how we do business. We’ve seen transformation in energy as we look to sustainable alternatives such as wind and solar, as well as significant transformation in technology. From mobile (cell) phones, to smartphones, apps and cloud computing, how we use, access and leverage technology has transformed, but personal productivity hasn’t necessarily increased. Which raises the question…Why do we seem to be doing …
Change is inevitable
We all view life through a lens. We have habits and processes. They provide us with structure, consistency and security all things human beings desire. But when the lens through which we view life alters, it can be challenging. For many of my clients this may be the introduction of new software, the acquisition of a new manager or organisational downsizing. When we create a change for ourselves, it’s easy, because we chose it. When it is thrust upon us, we can be caught off guard, and if we cannot immediately see the positive, we default to a defensive approach. …
Are you effective?
I’m often asked by clients why people don’t respond to their email messages. There are many things we do in haste that mean we aren’t as effective as we could be with email communications. Here are my top 3 tips to get a response to your emails. Minimise the use of email. – Tones and body language, you normally experience in face to face conversations are lost in emails. This can result in miscommunication, frustration and delays in responses. One of the best tips I learnt when I spent 18 months delivering an email management program to Microsoft staff in …
Personal Emotional Connection
When teams are connected and feel part of a plan, or like a family they are more productive. When in Las Vegas several years ago, I went on a tour of a company called Zappos. Zappos (Spanish for shoe) are renowned for their fun culture, “family” style environment and amazing staff retention. Primarily an online retailer, Zappos induction process is lengthy and at the end, staff are incentivised to exit the business if they feel they aren’t a “fit” for the culture. Zappos figure it is cheaper to have someone exit the business early, than to exit the business in …
Circle of Trust
When I ask audiences what they do when they don’t know how to do something in Excel, Word or PowerPoint, the answer I hear 99.99999% of the time is “I just Google it!” Whilst one of the benefits of technology is the volume of information available to us to answer our questions with a few keystrokes, it’s also one of its downfalls. Amongst all the data, finding the answer you need in a context that is relevant to you, can produce slim pickings. An alternative I ask my audiences to consider is the Circle of Trust concept. The Circle of …
