communication – Emma Lo Russo

September 24, 2011September 24, 2011

Choosing the right mentor

I was recently asked what someone should look for in a good mentor.

The first thing to do is to recognize the value in engaging a good mentor or coach to help you hold yourself accountable for developing yourself and taking your career to the next level.

The value of seeking a career mentor is in how they can help you bring clarity to your career goals over the near, medium and long term, to help you prioritize your next steps towards your goals, how to strategize and evaluate options in light of your goals and values, and to help you stay accountable to the path you wish to take. Through formalizing this relationship with someone, it provides a regular, safe and confidential sounding board to bounce your fears, aspirations and future challenges.

Finding the right mentor is based on how inspirational they are to you, how experienced, how insightful and how good they are in facilitating the right discussions. High Emotional Intelligence would rate as the key characteristic of a great mentor and just as you would look for a great employee, you want in a great mentor someone who has demonstrated that they are smart, talented, have a history of delivering great results and have built many great relationships and people through their leadership and association.

In a busy working world, it is too easy to rationalize to ourselves what we do and why we do it. Much harder to rationalize to someone else. Particularly if they are asking you the right questions and you are looking inside yourself to provide the right answers.

Both you and they will know when you are making excuses or seeing things through a narrow field of vision.

If you want to take your personal life or career to the next level, it may be time to engage a mentor. The benefits of having someone else push, question, strategize with you through mentoring can only lead to greater success.

June 28, 2011March 29, 2017

Tips for leading successful negotiations

Often in business or when supporting coaching clients, I am asked to prepare or help someone to lead a successful negotiation. Here I share my key tips for leading successful individual negotiations:

Prepare in advance – understand the principles of bracketing. Plan for, and clearly know your high point, your low point and your mid point. Your midpoint should be what you are happy to be paid, your low point is your walk away, and anything upside of your midpoint you should be delighted. Think about your strategy in how you could move your first asking point greater then where it would otherwise be to help raise the midpoint.
Try to avoid putting your price down first – no matter what. Look to get the person you are negotiating with to state their position, their thinking, their decision-making criteria. You can look to set the agenda and ideal outcomes based on principles before a number or the details of the introduction gets introduced.
Keep your cards close to you and actively listen to the other party to help you determine your approach and negotiation tactics. To get the other person to state his or her position first assuming the status quo is fine with you and there is no pressure on you to make a move, be bold enough to say to the other side, “You approached me. The way things are, satisfies me. If you want to do this, you’ll have to make a proposal to me.”
Hold to your position for as long as you can – see how far they will come to your point first without you budging or without you budging far. Communicate all the time that you are prepared and ready to make the deal and find something that works for everyone.
Understand all the influencers and decision makers – you must know and work with the person authorized to make the deal. Talk to the key decision maker. Spend time in researching, listening and understanding their drivers and frame of reference.
Discussions should always begin with a clear understanding of the win-win-win. How do they win, how do you win, how do you win together? Much research has been done to support the approach of winning for everyone is a much better outcome and brings greater results (financial & emotional) then if you have win by screwing down the other party. Negotiation is based on the foundations of inspiration and persuasion. How can you make the other party see your point of view or vision for the future?
Negotiation is not always about money – negotiation can be based on a number of factors. Think creatively and really understand your own drivers. For instance, in salary negotiations you may be looking at any one of the following elements: Base Salary, Added Benefits, Profit Share & other short &/or long term incentives, Working environment & flexibility in hours, Additional holiday periods, Job enrichment & satisfaction based on doing more of what you love.
Avoid being the first to double bracket or to negotiate against yourself (you would be surprised at how many people do this – make an offer, then jump in with another based on the other person’s non-response). Hold and wait until the other person makes their offer known. Hold too on your final position and get them to talk about what they are thinking and what you can do to help them. Reinforce their and the combined win in the win-win-win situation. Identify any potential barriers to bringing closure to the negotiations. Think about how you can remove them or how else they could be viewed and change your tactics accordingly.
There may be variables in a negotiation, understand what they are and be clear (first be clear to yourself) as to what is important to you – eg timing, breakdown, flexibility etc
Consider the power of using time as a variable – what needs to be done by when and how flexible can you or the negotiating party be around that (and what is the value to you around that variability). Gain a sense of urgency – if the other party is keen to bring closure to the negotiations you may in fact be able to use that urgency to your advantage by moving slowly and looking like you don’t care how long it takes. However look to ensure the principles of having something that works for everyone remains a priority.
Never negotiate when you are feeling emotional. Try to keep a level head at all times. If you need a break, request time to think about the offer until you can think straight again. Talk out loud to someone else if you need some help in unraveling your emotions and to help reform the confidence and rationale in your approach and position.
Remember to celebrate the final result of your negotiations. It is important to ensure all parties feel good about the deal that was done.
Once concluded, spend some time reflecting – could you have done things differently for next time? Any lessons learned?
Finally, never let the other party know you were prepared to accept less or pay more in the negotiations. They will feel bad, and you will lose any goodwill created by the win-win-win principle.

Each of us negotiates many things and many times in daily life and in business. By considering these simple strategies, you should obtain an outcome you are happy with.

For leading more complex negotiations, there are many resources available. One book that I recommend reading is “Negotiation Genius – how to overcome obstacles and achieve brilliant results at the bargaining table and beyond” by Deepak Malhotra & Max H. Bazerman, Harvard Business School 2007

What have you found works for you? Do you recommend any strategies or resources that have helped you? What tips would you offer others who want to lead successful negotiations?

February 10, 2011March 29, 2017

Socializing your organization…

Social Media is not just for the geeks, techos and the under 30’s. No manager can ignore the increasing power and influence of the social web. People are connecting, sharing, listening, influencing, growing the relevance of their networks every day.

It is easy to see that as technology advances at such rapid rates, the rules of marketing, customer and employee engagement have changed and must continue to change.

Most managers accept you can’t ignore the social web. The question really becomes for each of us: “How can I add value to my organization in determining where and how the social web can be leveraged to deliver solid bottom line outcomes?”

Connecting the social web to organizational value:

Building your brand is largely based on how your brand is perceived by your customers. You don’t own your brand – your customers do! Your customers are already choosing to watch, connect, discuss and engage with your brand. Aden Young of DigitalBuzz noted in his December post “that 67% of people on Twitter follow a brand (that they will purchase), in comparison to only 51% on Facebook. Yet on Facebook 40% of all people follow a brand in comparison to Twitter’s 25%.”

Easy to conclude that the social web should not be seen as an add-on channel, but rather an extension of your business, providing customer information and the means to engage that should integrate into every aspect of your business.

Opportunities include:

WHAT QUESTIONS CAN AND SHOULD YOU BE ASKING?

Here are just some of the questions you can be asking your organization.

Customer Journey – how is this being captured and managed from possible interest>engagement>purchase>repeat purchase>advocate>evangelist> influencers?
Social CRM – how and where does (& can) the social media insights fit into the broader marketing and customer engagement, sales and support strategy? Your communications strategy? How is this being integrated and implemented in real-time?
Lead generation strategy – where and what is involved in leveraging the triggers provided within the social web in relation to your known customers and your ideal customer target markets?
Employee Power – How does your digital strategy allow for you to grow, harness and leverage your employees? Your partners? Your franchisees? What is their role in this? How can they be involved in utilizing social media? What guidance and more importantly, permission and encouragement do you need to provide?
E-Commerce – Thinking beyond “bricks and mortar” and your current go-to-market model, where and when will your e-commerce platform sit within this? Where and how do you drive traffic to and from this site?
Retailing – How can you grow your online brand and customer engagement to drive traffic into store?
Business Information – How are you overlaying the insights gained from the social web as it relates to your customers,markets and ideal new customers and markets?
Measuring – How do you measure all the above? Once you embark on a digital strategy that includes leveraging the social web, how can you be sure you are being successful? What measures, insights and returns can you gain? How real-time is this?

These are just a few questions to start the ball rolling. What else do you think should be added to this list?

How can you (the non-geek/non-social web expert) get involved in harnessing the social web and add even more value to your organization?

October 27, 2010March 29, 2017

How do people experience you?

I recently made the decision to switch from PC to Mac for my business platform.

Everything about the experience – from walking into the store; interacting with the technology; enjoying the broader synergies with our iPhones and iPads; the ease in which I am able to connect and share content with my family and business colleagues; the stories, sharing and understanding offered by the broader Apple community – has lead me to think about the importance “experience” plays in our decision making.

Every single part of my exposure, interactions, associations – my collective experience with Apple – is always positive, enjoyable and exceeded my expectations.

The relationship between our experiences and our feelings are key drivers to the decisions we make.

Just like a product or company brand’s true value is in the eye of the consumer and how it is perceived in the market place, our personal brand is really valued by the experiences people have with you and the perceptions they then form.

Today, there is much talk about the importance in investing in personal branding. Spending time to understand and shape what we represent as individuals, how we represent our core values and articulate our unique selling proposition.

Asking people to stop and think of how they may be viewed and the disparity to how they wish to be viewed, can certainly grow self-awareness and can influence behaviours.

How people view, interact, associate, and do business with you, are all opportunities for people to “experience” you. The experience they have with you is far more important in determining their evaluations of you and the decisions they make that concern you, than anything else.

Considering how meaningful, enjoyable, interactive, and valuable the experience people have of you is as important in the social web as it is in our personal dealings.

When you consider the ease in which we can connect, associate, interact and share on the social web, do you consider what experience people are having of and with you? Is it consistent with the experience they would have with you and you would hope to deliver in person?

It certainly makes an interesting point for reflection:- what experience are people having when they see, read, or exchange something with you? Or in more simple terms: – How do people experience you online as well as in person?

March 31, 2010March 29, 2017

Preparing your 10 second sound bite

Are you like me? Do you love words? Love a clever turn of phrase?

Do you have a favourite quote? A favourite song lyric? A favourite movie line?

What about a favourite brand tagline? Like Nike’s ‘Just do it’? Or Apple’s ‘Think Different’?

There is some paradox for the lover of words. Because the volume of words is not nearly as valued as the meaning of those words.

The real art and appreciation is in delivering the maximum meaning in the fewest words possible or as better described by Mark Twain as “a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense”.

Keeping your points succinct makes it easy for others to hear, to hold, to consider, to repeat, to remember, to action. The longer it takes to communicate the point, the more likely your words will be lost – competing with other noise, activities, word associations and meanings that can be personally attributed.

Increasingly our communications are being compressed into bite sized chunks. Whether it is TV, radio, video, voicemail, a quotation attributed, a headline or article referenced, a 140 character post on Twitter or 421 characters on Facebook , we are being asked to scale our communication into succinct points. How do you turn those restrictions into opportunities?

It takes active discipline and focus to communicate something a in few words so that it is meaningful and powerful. If you can also make those words memorable and repeatable, you have just unlocked one of the keys to success.

With every opportunity to communicate, we need to take time and plan in advance how to better utilize the small chunks of space that we have. Hence before you are under pressure, take the opportunity now to stop and think about your 10 second sound bite.

How can you pack the most punch into a few words?

How would you answer the question of “What do you do?” or “What do you want to do?” in 10 seconds? As a leader and manager you must also be able to clearly answer the question of “Why are we here?”, “What is my role?” and “How can I help?” in the same bite sized chunks.

Consider today what other questions or opportunities you have to communicate something where the impact of those words matters to you or your business.

In business and most of our personal interactions, every question requiring a response should be considered as having been asked the question “Why should I care?”. Treat the next 10 seconds as the most important in ensuring that they will.

By communicating what you want someone to understand and action in a 10 second sound bite, you may surprise yourself at just how effective you can be.

Pythagoras, the Greek Philosopher and Mathematician said “Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few “. Just like maths required back in highschool, you need to practice Pythagoras theory – just this time as he applied it to words. It is an essential skill if you are in leadership, marketing, sales or any role that requires communicating with others.

So perhaps I should finish this article with the message I have tried to convey using my own 10 second sound bite:

”When it comes to effective communication – keep your words simple, succinct and clear. Chunk them into 10 second sound bites. Only then can they be used and re-used to powerful effect”

December 7, 2009March 29, 2017

The extinction of the technoignoramus

“TITF” (pronounced tit-ef) my nearly 14-year old son said to me as I lectured him on his responsibilities.

“What?”

“TITF – you have Taken It Too Far” he said as he rolled his eyes and sighed again in frustration.

Well yes of course I have. I used words not acronyms for one thing.

Within days of this experience my friend told me about her 17 year old daughter who looked deadpan at her as she completed a joke and said without a hint of sarcasm “lol”. Clearly using the abbreviated form of “laugh out loud” was more efficient then actually breaking into laughter or even smiling.

Another friend told me of his son who had an intriguing t-shirt on – one with a picture of Chairman Mao on the front with a picture of Rolf Harris on the back and the word “ROFLMAO”. Obvious to his son and his friends (and probably anyone under the age of 21) was the clever use of these images with a well-known instant messaging short-hand statement. To the uninitiated, this stands for “Rolling On Floor Laughing My Arse Off”.

My six and ten year old daughter’s are learning mathematics through an online tool that not only provides relevant and prescribed homework activities, but allows them to “dual” with anyone at the same level who is online anywhere around the world. Assuming that they don’t want to just work to improve their personal best and total scores which allow them to move up levels and win prizes.

If they play with their Nintendo DS’s together or with friends – they can link up, see each other virtually and send visual or text messages to one another. They learn through interactive smart boards and are encouraged to remember their security log-in and to email their “safe” friends at school. Online G-rated games allow them to collect virtual points then shop for branded goods – often advertisements for the latest and greatest toy or gadget slyly marketed as movies.

Don’t worry about spelling – they happily use and rely on auto-correct and voice recognition tools saving their minds for more creative pursuits.

And these are just a few examples of how, where and when technology forms part of their lives already at such a young stage.

It thus makes for an interesting time for any business who wants to appeal to and attract a younger audience – whether this is as potential customers or as employees. Technology is deeply integrated in their lives and is considered as important to them as oxygen is to the rest of us. This is regularly reinforced to me as I use the threat of technology bans as my preferred tool to generate positive behavioural change in my children.

Technology is how they connect, communicate, conduct relationships, learn, evaluate, play, shop, design, share, promote, read, relax and even simply be a fan of their favourite band and brand. They are able to read moods, decipher genuine and honest representations, find and filter quickly to relevant information and multi-task across multiple platforms.

They connect and share information through SMS, Instant Message, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked in, Bebo, Orkut, QQ, or their personal blogs. They share information in groups and communities all of which take precedence over checking their 1 to 1 email (most applications are not smart enough for the way they wish to engage when you can reach 1 to many through other mediums).

They scan a web page, click and watch the first seconds of a video to see if they will give you the next 10 seconds of their attention. Communicating your message quickly and succinctly is no longer an art, it is a necessity to get cut-through and engage this generation.

In business, we increasingly rely on technology to manage most aspects of our customer and employee relationships and engagements. While there is much value in face to face daily transactions, I have seen first-hand the smartest and brightest employees sitting a metre apart instant messaging each other rather than engaging in verbal communication.

It is not that they can’t verbalize, it is just they find instant messaging a much more efficient form of communication. There is much to be said and done, and abbreviating it, using shortcuts or forums to share solutions easily changes the scale of reach from 1:1 to 1: infinite. And this is able to be done much more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

Sharing knowledge and thoughts instantly in forums and in collaborative enterprise wiki’s now forms the basis for other’s future education. It can act as a referencing and training tool for employees, partners and customers. It is easy to see how it has more potency and is far more powerful than communicating individually and sequentially. Collaborative documentation tools make easy task of finding, reviewing and tracking of content that can be accessed by many.

Many years ago when I joined a progressive technology company, I joked about how I was the “technoignoramus” of the company. I knew if I didn’t actively seek to understand, embrace and use the latest technologies I was going to become irrelevant, maybe even extinct.

Recognizing that there was a gap in my knowledge regarding emerging technologies, I made it my business (and eventually helped me lead the business) in determining how, when and what were the best ways to leverage these new technologies within our products and our enterprise solutions.

This resulted in a growing of the product development roadmap and changing from heavy self-developed software applications to those that were available and supported in the internet “cloud” – much more accessible and beneficial to our moving global workforce. We were able to reduce communication costs through the use of Skype and deliver extended customer training programs using video and having it supported through YouTube.

Today I still continue to seek knowledge and look to participate in using new and available technologies in order to better understand them. I will play with them, use them, observe others using them, read about them and link to them. This has formed an important element in the role I now play in assisting other businesses and individuals understand where technology fits into their overall business, marketing and customer engagement strategy and see how best they can be leveraged.

With all of this technology around us, it still surprises me how many baby boomers and generation X’s still resist embracing new technology and social networking platforms.

They cite discomfort about strangers knowing something about them or the arduous chore of sorting through meaningless messages to find those of interest or value.

The one I have seen many shudder at is the concept of “follower” on Twitter. Somehow this is equated as “stalker” to some. Certainly in business if you have a bunch of potential customers and partners interested enough to stalk you, this can only be a good thing, right? They actually tell you who they are, tell you they want to follow you so that they can hear what you have to say, and to whom and what you recommend. And you can choose what it is that you share with them.

At a personal level it is about understanding the different available platforms, the controls you have and the intent of the people you choose to “friend” or “follow” and who you allow to follow you. You need to be comfortable about what information you provide and finding your comfort levels about reading and seeing information about others. One of the rules I follow is one I was taught many years ago – don’t ever write anything you would not wish to show your grandmother or would not want published or have attributed to you on the front page of the national papers.

Advantages of using technology are many – especially in being able to stay abreast of your own personal data and of others that you are interested in, their life successes, major events and challenges. I recently easily organized and could keep track of both a common interest group and a family event using Facebook.

I am able to take my office everywhere with me on my iphone which can double as my entertainment tool allowing me to watch the latest TED video or listen to my favourite songs. I can publish my own blog through WordPress (which has surprised and thrilled me at the size of my readership). I am able to easily keep in close contact with global friends and colleagues. I have been able to meet people and new businesses and have opened up many new relationships or rekindled older relationships that previously were either dead or dormant through using a combination of online networking and communication tools.

There certainly can be no safety in the expression “technology is not for me” or “technology is too scary” or “I delegate technology to others”. I fear for those who take confidence in standing behind the good old days with statements like “I believe in personal, intimate face to face interaction and in protecting my privacy and those of others”. In the past fortnight I have personally heard each of these statements. And unfortunately, none of them for the first time.

I know I don’t know everything. In fact I am far behind many leading technology pioneers. But I make it my business to become an early adopter and stay abreast of technology trends and changes. This helps me understand how they are utilized, where they work and fit in to the bigger personal, social, product roadmaps and commercial pictures. I see this as part of a strategy to help me stay relevant now and into the future and I urge you to do the same.

To be able to engage and be relevant to the broader population, especially the generations that follow us, both you and I can not afford to be a technoignoramus.

If you choose to stay closed to embracing and using new technologies, your days of being relevant or being heard or understood by others may in fact be numbered.