News & Updates – Page 7

February 27, 2011March 29, 2017

Working for pressure or pleasure?

Socrates said “The Life which is unexamined is not worth living”. Just as you empty your piggy bank to count the coins to determine how much value you have created, it is a good thing to tip your life upside down and shake it around to allow you to view it from a few more angles and evaluate the sum of your life value.

However unlike the coins that have a predetermined value, the value we place on all the individual and collective “life” experiences can be viewed very differently and uniquely by each person. The most important evaluation is the one you place on it. How do you measure the value of your total life experiences against all aspects of your life: Family, Professional, Health, Financial, Spiritual, Social, Intimacy and Community?

The sum of where you are today, and how you got here, is not measured by time and does not predetermine the course of the total life balance and value. What got you here, might not get you to where you would like to end up. Time is not measured in minutes, hours and days in a life value, but rather by what you do with your time.

Which comes to the question, what are we working to generate? Are we working with clear purpose? Towards something that will give us a great sense of peace, happiness and satisfaction? Have we truly evaluated the value we are looking to generate? The legacy we would like to leave? And importantly, how to get there?

Many executives and people I know talk of the “treadmill” they are on. Even more so at the start of a calendar year when there seems to be a lot more “getting started” meetings, new activities, education and sporting schedules to be slotted in. People feel just as they are getting into the swing of things, planning for the new financial year begins, and before you know it you are working hard to deliver a number of things with hard deadlines and pressure to deliver on multiple goals, commitments and resolutions.

Since I often feel the weight of the number of balls I choose to juggle, I recently asked myself this question “am I working for pressure or pleasure”? This shifted things for me. Although I set out (in a pretty determined way) to work for pleasure both personally and professionally, doing what I love, with people I love, for people I love; I can get hooked on the pressure and use that to drive outcomes. Before I know it I realize I am working to the rhythm of pressure, and forget that I want to work for pleasure. My experience tells me I can achieve far more and enjoy it far more along the way, when I work for pleasure.

There is no right or wrong answers or evaluations when examining your own life. The key is to evaluate it regularly and to make it meaningful to you. To consciously maximize the value you are looking to generate. To gain pleasure in what you do so that you can achieve more of what it is you want to do.

If you see your life as a piggy bank made up of multiple experiences, against each aspect of your life, with each holding a personalized value, how are you going against the total value you are looking to generate? What will you change?

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?

September 23, 2010March 29, 2017

Be the change you want to see in the world…

I love this quote by Mahatma Gandhi. And I try to live by this mantra.

Having lead an ASX-listed technology company as President & COO for 5 years, and after working 20 years in leadership positions for a range of corporates and agencies( working full time whilst raising my 3 kids), I took the big scary decision to step out last year and take a more entrepreneurial/self-starting career change.

After taking some time out to contemplate what next (travelling around Australia in a Winnebago with kids and husband), I decided to take my future into my own hands and do a number of things:

1) Stay focussed on doing what I love and feel passionate about “helping people and businesses grow”, and to

2) Find a new and different way to leverage my experience by playing to my strengths and passions

I now focus my time on sharing my experience and developing people through coaching, leadership development, workshops, speaking, writing and am now working to help businesses grow through harnessing the power and value of the web.

What drives me is my excitement about the increasing ubiquity of the web, faster processing and download power, interconnectivty and mobility through an ever-increasing range of electronic products and platforms, and how this has opened up the global market.

The model introduced by Apple with the ipod and itunes was a real paradigm changer for all businesses. Now all companies are looking at how to take advantage of technology and how they can connect, interact, create lock-ins with their customers through more personalised, targeted products, services and support – all delivered through the web.

The web is undeniably becoming more social. Right now, people are meeting, finding, sharing, and connecting with one another through the social web – leaving behind digital footprints that are as unique as they are. As an example, a recent Nielsen study found that 75% of global consumers who go online access Social Networks and Blogs, and that there was a 66% increase in time spent on Social Networks/Blogs compared to last year.

Australia’s social media audience is estimated at 9.9 million and 40% of online Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites, reinforcing notions that Australians are open to engaging with brands and companies online. And this type of penetration is typical of western countries and increasing at a rapid rate in the developing countries.

It is through this changing world and the increasing take up of what has become the social web that I co-founded DIGIVIZER together with my (very smart) partner Clinton Larson to help businesses bring sense to the billions of connections and conversations that are happening on the web each day. To help them find what matters to them and to help them use it in ways that they can extract value and a return to their bottom line.

And so I now introduce DIGIVIZER to you…

DIGIVIZER delivers to businesses the digital footprints of people you know and people you would like to know, providing insights into who and what people are saying and about things that matter to you. All presented in meaningful, people-centric, easy-to-understand and easy-to-access sets of data.

When integrated with your customer relationship, sales and marketing platforms and programs, DIGIVIZER gives you a new edge to enable more powerful personalization and targeting through all customer interactions – significantly increasing the return on your marketing and sales investment.

We are in the early stages of growing, balancing client requirements with the development of the base platform. It is exciting, it is challenging, and it is unlocking some powerful results.

I truly believe this Social CRM is the future for businesses and as a very wise person said, that the personalization of our experience on the web will no doubt be viewed as the characterizing aspect of the current phase in the evolution of the web and the way we will do business.

And so, the journey continues. And it all starts with making the changes you want to see in the world – starting with yourself and your world, then looking beyond.

Exciting times for us all ahead!

July 19, 2010March 29, 2017

Compliance vs Engagement

Doing the basic job required of us, in most cases, is easy to do. In fact we can often do much of what we do without having to really engage, invest and stretch ourselves.

We learn from an early age to follow instructions. To have our creative thinking ordered with a set of pre-determined decisions to create structure, harmony and order.

Certainly it helps to learn the consequences of taking actions that are outside of what is expected of us. However do we consider the dangers to progress if we merely look and teach others to comply?

How often do you hear “I do this because that is what is asked of me.” Or “I don’t do this, because the rules say not to.” In business we can often provide more processes, instructions and parameters to reduce risk and error margins, but what happens when it stops people from thinking or taking ownership all together?

In this past week, I saw two separate cases where perfectly intelligent and capable people were discussing a problem within their working environments. In being challenged as to why they did not see those problems as ones they could solve, the dutiful responses were offered around it not being their job, it wasn’t done that way, there was red tape, a usual way to solve this etc.

In reality, they had become compliant. Stopped thinking, stopped ownership, stopped engaging with the broader objectives and motivations for their companies and themselves.

It didn’t take long to unlock their thinking and to see alternate ways to own and solve the problems they were facing.

Unfortunately once I started looking for examples of compliance over engagement elsewhere, I started to see it everywhere – in customer service across multiple businesses, in my children, and in me. It has made for an interesting point for reflection.

Key to solving passive compliance is engagement ourselves and encouraging engagement in others. It is not enough to just observe or be present. Not enough to comply even if it gets you over the line and off the hook. What is required of us is to really engage with a problem you see and view it as something you can own, influence and drive towards a solution.

In these cases I refer to this week, by engaging with the problem didn’t mean these clients had to make the problem their own completely and feel the pressure to solve it on their own.

In both cases it was enough to shift the thinking from it being someone else’s problem to being “our problem” to solve. And to get them thinking about how they could lead and influence change. To think about possible options and opportunities.

Seeing the bigger picture and not being hamstrung by barriers – perceived or real, allows for progress.

By engaging fully with what you are hoping to achieve and not the process of getting there, promotes critical thinking and creativity. It brings action and results.

Where do you need to switch gears and move from compliance to engagement to really generate progress?

July 1, 2010March 29, 2017

The Try> Apply> Fly Approach

A key part of mastering something is practice.

As children we understand this concept as we try time and time again to do the perfect cartwheel, learn to ride a bike, catch a ball or master a popular dance move.

As we get older, we recognize and appreciate mastery in others, and will often choose to step aside to allow other experts to show the way.

Although I am a big believer in recognizing and playing to people’s strengths and working to your own, it worries me to see so many adults defer or give up before they have given something new their best shot. A best shot can mean quality of preparation and at least a solid period of dedication in learning and putting into practice.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Outliers – The Story of Success”, he introduces the 10,000 hour rule.

The basic premise is that it takes 10,000 hours of dedication to your craft or skill before you are likely to really master or become a “superstar” at it. He also adds, to be a true Outlier, it probably takes 10,000 hours plus talent and a timing opportunity before you really make it into the Outlier league (those that truly stand apart from the rest of the high achievers).

The more involved I am in successful businesses or with people who have achieved success, the more the pattern for success and mastery of something is evident. And it is not just spending time (or 10,000 hours) working on something. It is more their approach. An approach based on continuous feedback, learning, finessing, trying and applying.

Stories shared by successful people often have the same theme: they tried, they learned, they applied their new skills, they tried again, and applied their learnings, until eventually they mastered what they set out to do.

Even when they achieved what they first set out to do, they went back to the same cycle of try>apply>fly to reach new heights.

Yes, they experienced fear. Yes, they experienced failure (often many times), but they all had the approach of continuing to try and not giving up until they succeeded.

Seems like an easy lesson for each of us.

You need to be happy to continuously Try and Apply to really Fly!

June 2, 2010March 29, 2017

Excuses! Excuses! Excuses!

Is it this time of year? Are people so busy that the topic becomes such a key one to cover and to revisit?

I ask these questions because I note over the past fortnight there has been a marked increase in the number of articles around time and priority management. It feels like every business and management article or blog is covering this theme. No real new stuff, some very good stuff, but still there are a whole lot of words and opinions around what you need to do, how you need to think, what steps you need to take.

My preference is not to add much to this well covered theme… I have too much else I have prioritized to do first….but I can tell you simply the answer is in the following:

YOU OWN YOUR TIME.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME.
ONLY YOU CAN KNOW HOW BEST TO MANAGE AND USE YOUR TIME.
DON’T LET OTHERS TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TIME
WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU ARE OFF-TRACK, REVISIT THESE AFFIRMATIONS.

There is one more thing to remember – you always have a choice – so please, no more time-wasting or excuses.

Plan for what you want to do and just do it!

May 17, 2010March 29, 2017

Inertia – the biggest threat to progress

Years ago when I was studying for my HSC, my parents imposed a curfew. I was not able to go out unless I did 15 hours study a week.

Fortunately for me they did not specify where I had to spend my time, so I focused a minimum of 10 hours a week where my passion lay – painting and art – and the rest to what I considered at the time as the boring subjects. The 15 hour study curfew became easy to meet and the targets I had for my social life were able to be easily fulfilled.

It was a great lesson around naturally pursuing the areas you feel passionate about. This time and effort I naturally skewed towards was also rewarded in me later winning a number of art awards. I easily connected that if you work and operate from a position of passion, it delivers you significant power to excel.

When you love something and love what you are doing, you naturally progress. You find things easy to do and easy to commit to. This principle serves you just as well in your working career as it will in your personal life.

I am sure you can validate this principle with your own examples.

Recall a time where you pursued something you felt really passionate about and it propelled you to success. Now reflect on how you felt.

You felt buzzed right? When you did what you love and you achieved the goal you were hoping for, you felt highly energized, invincible and ready for more.

This isn’t rocket science, so why do we sit for far too long in jobs or in situations pursuing something where we don’t feel that passion?

A number of people I know have communicated their unhappiness in their current situation.

They try to justify not doing anything by rationalizing away the risks of changing with the comfort levels of today. They know and can be strong at articulating what they would prefer to be doing, even going so far to identify the steps they need to take to get there, but still don’t go and pursue it. The longer they look for reasons to not move, the more the barriers to change seem larger.

When focusing on the fear of change and potential downsides, there is a great danger that the sense of “too hard” will set in. Or worse, you quickly move into a mode of accepting what you are not happy with, with a feeling of “this is good as it gets”. So you stay in something you are not happy with.

Yet we can all recall examples and look to people where a decision to change was made and it was pursued. Or perhaps you know someone or were forced to make changes through circumstances not of your own doing.

These changes and shifts in life often become the catalyst to move onto much greater things, greater than what may have first been considered. It is a powerful feeling when you have new opportunities, new ways of thinking, new ways of working, new ways of juggling life to pursue.

We look back and see that change as the greatest thing that happened to us. Change brings opportunity. Change brings great personal growth which helps us professionally.

More importantly change gives us an opportunity to tap into our passions. To find the things that once again excite us, energize us, propel us forward.

So don’t allow inertia to kill your progress.

Make the changes today to align what you do with your passions. At a minimum, the bigger the wave of change and the bigger the ride, the less likely you will have time to look back and you will enjoy the process of moving forward.

Take a step forward today and see how quickly your passion will carry you towards success.

May 2, 2010May 2, 2010

Senior Women share the Benefits of Mentoring

Recently I was asked to support FITT’s Mentoring Program in the capacity of interviewer to help assess and match the right mentor to the mentee candidates.

FITT (Females in Information Technology and Telecommunications) run a dedicated Mentor program connecting experienced and senior women with up and coming managers and executive women within the industry. Mentors volunteer their time and range from CEOs, CIOs, COOs, Executive Directors and HR Directors to Senior Architects, Project Directors and Senior Business Analysts. These women are impressive – with significant achievements and scope of responsibilities and sit at the top of very well known top organizations in the technology and telecommunications space.

Mentoring generally refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. It provides an informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support relevant to work, career, or to personal or professional development.

With huge gender representation divides in boards and senior management across all industries, this program provides a structured support process for these high-achieving women who are already at the top, to share their journeys, their experience and tips for overcoming any barriers with others still on their rising journey.

Ultimately it helps demystify the path, approach and strategies taken and is designed to help address gender imbalance and the question of “how do we get more women to the top”.

Although the mentees obtain great insight and knowledge through the program, the Mentor’s who operate in this capacity, also see the benefits.

Here are the main benefits of mentoring shared by these inspiring women:

Rewarding – each Mentor recognized the great satisfaction and reward gained at a personal level when helping someone else learn, grow and develop their potential, their confidence and their skills. There were many “proud” stories shared of helping others through promotions, major projects and major decisions. Many previous mentor relationships had developed into friendships and mutually-rewarding business relationships where both parties felt they had learned much from each other and enjoyed the connection and history they had shared together immensely.
Recognition – each Mentor could share a story of how someone had helped mentor them along their path to the top. They recognized the value in having a powerful role-model, someone to share their experience and wisdom and connected this to their own learning and support at critical times in their own career progressions. Mentoring was seen as a gift for helping them and it was now time for the gift to be passed on or as a way “to give back”.**
Growing – each Mentor sees mentoring as an opportunity to grow themselves. By taking time out to help someone else, they recognized that they would benefit from self-reflection, from learning about someone new and their different experiences, from the language and skills you use as a Mentor. Often a mentee will push the mentor with their questions, suggestions and probing. These relationships were seen to be mutually sharing and beneficial.
Motivation – each already had a passion for developing people, however mentoring others was seen to be motivating and re-invigorating to themselves. It helped them push themselves, to revisit their own strategies and challenges, to recognize the strengths in others and in making them more aware of their own strengths. It helped them revisit and retap their own drivers of what makes someone successful and more importantly what makes them successful. By taking time out to share experience and knowledge, it unlocked additional wisdom and energy to be applied in new ways.

Many of these women shared their challenges of being a woman in IT. It is wonderful to see so many of these women now providing real employment opportunities, creating flexible and supportive work cultures and in actively helping other women break down barriers and stereotypes.

I enjoyed the interview process immensely and commend these women for taking time out of their busy schedules to share their experience, knowledge and wisdom to help promote the next generation of women leaders.

There are real benefits in Mentoring others – and this is not just for women. So if you see an opportunity to Mentor others outside of your direct report lines, I encourage you to take the opportunity up.

Enjoy the growth, rewards and motivation that will be yours.

** You may be interested in reading this article on returning the gift of experience. Read more>

April 7, 2010March 29, 2017

Speaker & Leadership Development Facilitator for NSW Red Cross

Emma will be keynote speaker and facilitator of an interactive leadership development session for NSW Red Cross Youth Advisory Committee.

Emma will be addressing “How to lead a project team to success” and will be looking at communication, negotiation and management strategies, skills and styles and how they can be applied to ensure solid engagement within project teams and the wider community, and how by applying focus you can achieve your desired outcomes.

The team will benefit from an interactive learning session which will be conducted Saturday 10th April 2010.

For further information on Emma’s keynote speaking and leadership development modules and how they can enhance and progress your people and organization’s development and growth, contact Emma at emma@emmalorusso.com