This week in the every Tuesday Club, Aleen Bayard discusses social media marketing for your business.

Many of us are wondering why we need to be so conscious of on-line media and social networks.  It’s no longer just a place for kids to meet on Facebook.    Here are some things you should be thinking about in terms of how to leverage your business on-line.

1.     First of all do you have a Facebook account?

Businesses today are using Facebook as a way of creating Fans to learn more about their business and to connect their customers together to create even more advocacy for their products and services.

2.     Secondly, Twitter can be an excellent way to get out immediate notification about products. Let’s say you are putting something on sale or you’re introducing a new product.  Twitter would be an excellent way to get that out to your market place.

Blogging is important, even if you don’t have a blog yourself.  You want to be checking what other bloggers are saying about your product, your staff, or your services. 

3.     And the third thing you want to think about is Linkedin.  It’s the fastest growing site for professionals. 

So well beyond your website you want to think about how you can use social networking to increase your reputation and your presence. 

One of the most important phenomenon here is that the organisation doesn’t only go to its customers through the website, but you are actually having your customers talk about you and become advocates for your business.  These are really important reasons why you want to think about social media.

Finally, are you effectively using your email?

Think about client alerts, newsletters, even eBooks.  Other things you might be able to put onto a podcast or even  on www.youtube.com     For example your CEO doing an important speech. 

Take a look at some recent research conducted by the Neilsen Company. 

·           Social networks and blogs are the fourth most popular online activity, ahead of personal email. 

·           And over two-thirds of the overall global online community now visit these sites.

That’s why it’s so important for you to have a handle on your online presence and to have an online strategy.   

You can see what MBE is doing on Facebook by going to  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Management-Business-Education/409875285647?ref=ts

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

Welcome back to the Every Tuesday Club. 

One of the biggest constants in today’s business world is dealing with change.  And no doubt, at some level you’re dealing with change right now in your organisation. 

There are three very important things you want to think about as you’re managing change:

1.         What is the level of change readiness of your department, your team or your organisation?  You can check that by figuring out how much resistance you have and how flexible or agile you are as an organisation.

2.        Do you have a change plan in place?

John Kotter is probably the guru of change management – take a look at his 8 step plan.

We found in working with clients that they often miss two or three of these critical steps.  Which ones might you be missing?

1.         Establish a sense of urgency

2.         Create a guiding coalition

3.         Develop a vision and strategy

4.         Communicate the change vision

5.         Empower employees for broad-base action

6.         Generate short term wins

7.         Consolidate change and produce more change

8.         Anchor new approaches in the culture

Most notably -is not doing a good enough job and creating a case for change.  What’s often called the burning platform.  If you haven’t communicated the rationale for a change plan, no doubt your employees will have a much more difficult job embracing it.

3.         And finally, have you built in a good transition plan?  Transition has three phases

1.         Loss

2.         Being in limbo

3.         The new beginning

Even if your change is overall positive, it will require some change and loss on behalf of your organisation.  For example, let’s say you are moving to a new office building, and it’s got much better equipment, and facilities.  Your employees are losing the comfort and familiarity of their old office space.  You may think there is no issue.  Why are they resisting?  But again, there is a loss involved.

So as a manager, there are three important things again that you can do:

1.         Test for change readiness

2.         Develop a thorough change management plan

3.         Properly account for loss and limbo that you will be dealing with in transition.

If you do those things, you’re guaranteed a much better success rate of any change you undertake.

Good luck with that and let us know how you get on.

 If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

Welcome back to the Every Tuesday Club. 

A lot of the tips we usually talk about are when someone is actually settled into the job.  But there are challenges when someone is new to a team as well.  I often talk to managers that an opportunity is missed by people having an orientation rather than an induction.  An orientation being “here’s the coffee machine”, “here’s your desk”, “the toilets down there”.    Induction is a bit more.

Another term for induction is “on-boarding”.  Think about when you are boarding a plane or a train, you have to do a lot more than just get to know where your seat is.  So in an on-boarding situation you want to know more about the culture.  What are the rules of engagement on the team?  What are the expectations?   Are you able to speak up in a meeting?  Or not speak up in a meeting?  Some of these things can be real career stallers if you don’t get that right. 

A lot of the time managers say, “all of that stuff could take a lot of time”.  So there are some clever ways that you can go about doing it.  Such as:

·           Involving members of that team doing tasks in the induction.

·           Have a team meeting when you have got the new person there and ask each person to share one unwritten rule of the road.  You can have some humour involved or it can be a very serious thing.  Make sure that new person knows how they should communicate and play ball.

·           We also recommend that maybe at the 3 month or 6 week mark, there is a half hour catch up with somebody who is external to the team and not the manager.  So that the employee has an opportunity to check in with somebody else in the organisation and let them know how things are going

In the long run that’s really time well spent.  A little more time invested early on saves heaps of time later in terms of the team getting along and being productive right away.

It pays off, so it’s worth spending the time when a new employee joins the team.

Think about it, or maybe share it with another leader in your organisation to help get a new team member in place.

Good luck with that and let us know how you get on.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

Welcome back to the Every Tuesday Club.  This week Steven and Aleen discuss why so many organisations are using assessment tools, like Myers Briggs, DISC, Colby. 

So why do you think it’s so important that organisations think about assessing their teams? 

More and more organisations, and even smaller teams, are looking for ways to reduce any conflict, and actually tap into the diversity of the team and get to understand it.   These tools are very affordable, and very practical.  You don’t need a psychology degree to actually use them.

Often people in teams get into places where there are actually poor opposites, and they personalise that stress, and it becomes more of a factious situation – when in fact it’s a matter of style.  Sometimes these assessments give people a common language, and they will talk about “well you’re more of a processor and I’m more facts based”, or “you’re more analytical” versus saying “you’re just slowing down my work”. 

Taking the personal sting out of feedback is really important for it to be effective.  It gets rid of that sense of negativity and gets to the hub of the issue, and that’s the best way to lead to positive improvement.

The other thing about some of these assessments is I can learn how to flex my style, and be more accommodating to you, whether you’re a colleague a client or my boss.  If I know you like something a little different than me because of your style, I’m able to work more effectively with you.  And a lot of managers who have used that find that’s it’s reciprocated.  The people that they’re trying to build a more effective relationship with, also flex their style so the work relationship is more effective on both sides.

So over the next few weeks:

·                Take a work relationship you would like to improve,

·                Focus on how you might depersonalise feedback or language,

·                Go on line and see if you are interested in using some of the assessment tools – they’re affordable and very practical.

Good luck with that and let us know how you get on.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week Aleen Bayard and Steven give some tips about speaking in front of your peers.

“Would you rather go to the dentist or stand up at your next meeting and speak to your peers?”  I know that a lot of people would probably prefer to go to the dentist.

Aleen and Steven do a lot of speaking to groups, so they thought they’d share a couple of tips with you this week that might be useful.

Aleen thinks that one of the most important things is to get as much information about the audience as you can.  She often talks to a conference organiser and does a survey or a pre email to participants.  By getting some information ahead of time she can start her remarks referring back to something they are very interested in.

The second thing she does, even in a large group, is to try and make eye contact with one person at a time.  This tends to shrink the room from several hundred people, down to one or two people at a time.  That really helps her to feel confident and creates much better rapport with the audience.

One of things Steven often does is to meet a few people in the front row before he actually does a presentation.  Then he can pick them out and make eye contact with them.  Whatever you do don’t stare at the back wall over everybody’s head, because they can tell.  And don’t picture everybody naked, as a presenter who’s killing himself laughing, usually isn’t very effective.

Steven also thinks it’s not just good to get to know the audience, but get to know their terminology.  Use the phrases and words that they use.  You’re an expert on your subject, maybe it’s better to find out how they talk about things.  You can do this by reading some things on the internet, industry journals or magazines, just pick up some of their language.

The most important thing Steven always impresses upon people is to breathe.  Good deep breaths using your diaphragm.  Almost like breathing from your stomach.  This not only overcomes the symptoms of nerves, but it also means that your speech comes out polished and professional, even if you are actually a little big nervous underneath the surface.

So don’t forget to BREATHE.

If you forget where you are, you lose your place for a moment, nobody knows that but you, so don’t say “oh my gosh I forgot”.  Just keep going, because the only person that knows that you missed a page is yourself.  The audience never knows any difference.

And a pause or silence from you, actually shows confidence and gives people time to collect what you have been saying.  So nobody’s going to lose anything if you take your time and pause.

We hope those tips help you this week.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses Emotional Intelligence. 

Emotional Intelligence typically has five components:

1.     Self Awareness;

2.     Self regulation or control;

3.     Motivation;

4.     Empathy; and

5.     Social skills.

Why are these important to those of you in leadership?  Because there has been a direct correlation between those leaders who show great emotional intelligence and the impact on the culture or climate of an organisation.  In a positive climate, employees are more engaged, do a better job and that leads to better customer service.  Better customer service equates to stronger profits.

So how can you become more emotionally intelligent?  Probably by getting a handle on what we call ‘self regulation’.

Think of a situation, either a person or a condition at the office, where you tend to lose your cool.  Next time bite your tongue.  Take a deep breath.  Think about your behaviour in public and choose another time or place to vent your anger.  That will immediately score you higher on the Emotional Intelligence Quotient. 

This is an important subject for all leaders to understand and demonstrate in the workplace.

Practice ‘self regulation’ this week and see what a difference it can make.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses how self awareness is one of the most important attributes of any good manager.

She refers to Marshall Goldsmith’s book ‘What got your here, won’t get you there’, which talks about self awareness.  He calls the things that we do that get in the way, as Behavioural Tics.

See if you can identify any of the following attributes in yourself:

·           Making destructive comments

·           Speaking when you are angry

·           Taking credit that you don’t deserve

·           Making excuses

·           Playing favourites with your staff

·           Failing to express gratitude

·           An excessive need to be me.

Aleen suggests that you identify one or more of these Tics and determine how you can get better at behaving differently.  You could ask people that you trust around the office, “Have you ever seen me behaving this way?  I’d like to improve.”  And give them permission to give you honest feedback.

Remember one of the most important attributes of leaders worldwide is to be able to give and receive feedback.

Let me know if you have identified a Tic and what changes you have made to your behaviour.

This week in the every Tuesday Club I talk about how we still need to recognise and reward good performance, even though we might not have as much cash in the bank. 

We also need to think about how we can make sure we retain our talented staff throughout the recession.

How can we do that?  We need to think more creatively.

We also need to also understand that our employees are looking for more than just dollars.

This is where we can look to research to see what else employees are interested in besides money to keep them happy.  Consider the following as alternatives to money as recognition.

·           Time – Time is very important to employees and something that is under recognised by managers.

·           Discounts – Look at what your business already buys in bulk and receives a discount for. Is it something you can offer to staff?

·           IT needs – Is there anything your organisation can do to help staff with their IT needs at home?

·           Financial advice – Can you arrange services for your employees?  This can help with stress and provide staff with a reward.

What are you doing to reward your staff?  I look forward to hearing more of your ideas and thoughts.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Steven Nayda talks about how as a leader or manager at work, you need to think about what perception you create within the team and in the workplace.

Leaders and managers are feeling the pinch the same as a lot of other employees at the moment.  But we need to be aware that our behaviour and what we do and say as a leader has an impact on the performance of our team and the organisation.

So make sure you are aware of what you’re doing and what you’re saying.

Leadership Tips

1.     STOP, take a breath, check your behaviour and think about what you’re doing.

2.     At the moment teams and employees are looking to their leaders and managers to see where there is some stability.  Times are changing; things are moving under their feet, there is some discomfort.  One of your rules as a leader is to make sure that you bring back some of the stability and make sure that they are confident about their future.  So you don’t want to be overly optimistic, you need to be realistic, but make sure that you are aware of keeping a positive spin on what you say and how you do things. 

3.     Try to keep your stress to yourself.  It doesn’t sound like its fair but as a leader you need to try and keep that in check and not display it to other team members, because it can be contagious, and that will affect productivity.

So over the next week take the time to pause, think about your behaviour when you are feeling a bit stressed and learn from that.  And think about how you can improve the perception of your leadership around your organisation.

The first thing you need to do is decide what sort of leader you want to be.  Write down 3 words you’d like your employees to use to describe your leadership style.

During the week think about the things that contribute to your image as a leader and manager in your workplace and compare them against those words.  Make sure you are delivering a consistent perception.

The things you need to think about are:

1.     How you say things – What language do you use?  How do you speak?  Is it a consistent tone of voice?  Are you loud?  Are you abrupt?  Are you patient? 

2.     How do you behave?  Do you move quickly around the office, looking in a fluster? Or do you walk slowly and calmly?  How do you act at meetings?  How do you talk to your team?  How do you talk and act with clients?

3.     Your work area or office – How does it look?  Is it untidy? Is it organised?  Is it clean?  Is it cluttered?

4.     Are you responsive and accessible to your team?  Or are you difficult to get hold of?

5.     Your personal appearance – How do you dress? How tidy are you?  Your cleanliness? Are you casual? Are you formal? 

These are all things that say something about you as a leader and a manager.

So during the week think about those 3 words, review the list and see if you can project a more consistent image as a leader.

Let me know what behaviour or appearances you have noticed about yourself and what you will look at changing.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard talks about how to make your business resilient. 

There’s an old saying “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”.  That’s quite inspirational as a cliché.   But how do you actually put that into practice in your business?  The best way is to develop individual and institutional resiliency. 

Resiliency is not a word we often use, but it’s actually what’s called for in a difficult market.  And the most important quality of being resilient is being realistic versus being optimistic.  It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have hope and be positive with your workforce.  But it’s more important to get through a difficult market when you’re being absolutely realistic, and you understand what’s happening in your business.

Here are some leadership questions you might want to think about when you are determining how you can develop more resiliency. 

1.     Do you have a good sense of reality?

2.     What truths are you denying about your business?

3.     Are your assumptions based on the past or do you have a good sense of the future?

4.     What opportunities exist in this scenario?

That’s another important part about being resilient, being opportunistic.

People often confuse brute strength with resiliency.  It’s kind of like the difference between being a boxer and being a gymnast.  The boxer uses brute strength, the gymnast is much more flexible.  In this market place, you want to be more like the gymnast.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.