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How to Start a Blog Today and Make Money by Blogging

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With large number of people blogging, it is assumed that the age of earning money with it are over. But people still find it interesting and there are people who can make money by blogging. So what are they doing exactly for their income? But before that you must how to start a blog.

Starting a blog doesn’t require you to have any technical knowledge. Here is a list of what you should do to start a blog:

Tips on Starting a Blog

#1. Decide a genre – Personal, industry-related, political, specialist

#2. Topic – Unique, interesting, competitive but with not too much competition online

#3. Research – Know what others are doing and how they are doing it

#4. Domain name – it tells people what they should really expect from the blog

#5. Keyword – helps in getting ranked in the search engine results

#6. Selection of a software – popular platforms include WordPress, Blogger, SquareSpace and Wix

#7. Design – do it yourself or hire a professional

#8. Nagivation – Make sure it is easy to navigate

Once you have done the above, comes the most important task – writing. Write a pool of 10-15 articles. Then arises a question how to make money by blogging.

To earn money, more people should be able to reach your post. The following are the ways to make it possible:

Be Different

When you write, you must ensure that whatever you write should not have been written before or at least offer them a different perspective. Everyone loves variety and if you are able to offer them that. Voila! You may have stuck gold here. You gain more and more audience.

Longer Content Gets More Traffic

Well you may be surprised to read this but it is true. Longer content has been shown to attract more audience. It is regardless of the niche you are writing for. Well it may be true that longer content requires more time but looking at the amount of visitors you can have per hour, it surely is a winner.

Promotion

This is not about social media promotion. It is about building a relationship with the influencer in your field and then asking them to share your work. For this, I would advise you to spend as much time in outreach as you spend on writing content. Spend six hours in writing and six hours in outreachng.

Email List

In blogging, having an email list is extremely important. This is what predicts success or failure of your blog and how much money you might make. More subscribers, more money. Longer the email list, more is the money you make.

Start with Services, Expand into Products

As a beginner, look to offering a service in which you can solve a problem. You can do that with your first blog, you will learn more about a thing when you try to solve it. When you become a specialist you can offer the product.

Keep it Informational and not just Money Driving Force

Yes, there are new things that come up every day in finance too. I felt there was an intense urge to do that. I too have done it on my blog. Mine is about finance.

I Write for Popular Blogging Sites and Charge them for Writing for them…

Having made my mark in the finance arena, I am often asked to come to lecture people. I am more of a motivational and financial helpers at the corporates. And it is all happening because of the blogging initiative I took a few years ago.

Add Videos

Certain things can only be made to understand with videos. I have launced a youtube channel of my own wherein I interact with my audience to help them understand certain things. This confidence came from blogging.

Above All

Once you have built audience for your blog, use google adsense to make money. Suppose you are using wordpress as your blogging platform. Install google adsense pugin. Sign into it. Once you get email confirmation, create your ads and start earning.

Just like add your small business is done, there are blog directories, submit your blog there. Chances of growing your audience manifolds, if you do so.

Photo credit: Bigstock

5 Essentials of Strategic Renewal

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Every organizational strategy needs regular updating regardless of how successful you’ve been. It’s simply not good enough to develop your strategy and put it on the shelf, expecting that it will work indefinitely.

Always be looking for and recording the factors that have changed since you crafted the last version of your plan. The business environmental involves dynamics that are relentless and unpredictable and it’s better to be prepared for them by proactively renewing your strategy every year.

Here are 5 basics of the renewal process:

1. Revisit Your Strategy. If you don’t have a strategic game plan for your organization, create one. Ensure that your growth objective, target customer groups and competitive claim are all still valid given your current circumstances. Markets and competitors change rapidly and it is vital that what you claim to be your uniqueness is still relevant and true.

2. FOCUS. FOCUS. FOCUS.
Concentrate on as few objectives and action plans as you can. Avoid the pitfall of many organizations that think this is a brainstorming exercise where the more objectives you can define the better off you will be.

The reality is that if you have too many things to do, you won’t achieve any one of them particularly well.

Define the minimum number of objectives that will allow you to achieve 80% of your strategy. Apply your scarce resource only to the issues that will yield renewal success so figure out a handful of things to do and get on with it. Attack the critical few not the possible many.

3. Modify Your Business Processes.
Renewal requires that you analyze your business processes and modify them to be compatible with your revised direction.

Don’t assume your existing processes will work; they were created to execute your old plan not the renewed version.

And if you decide that cost reductions are required, do the process change FIRST; cutting costs without changing the WAY you do business could impair how you serve your customers.

4. CUT The CRAP.
Strategy is just as much about NOT doing things as it is about choosing a new direction. Once you have determined your renewal path, eliminate the projects and activities that are no longer a priority but simply drain the organization of time and energy.

Most organizations have difficulty doing this; they relentlessly hang on to the comfortable activities of the past and wonder why they can’t make headway on their new course.

The fact is, you don’t have the bandwidth to continue with the past and adopt a new set of priorities for the future. Assign a CUT the CRAP Champion for your team and charge them with the task of cleansing your internal environment of things that are not consistent with your renewal plan.

5. Plan On The Run.
Don’t get fooled into believing that your renewal strategy will go as planned. It won’t. There are always unforeseen events that happen and execution elements that fall short of expectations and you will have to make adjustments to your plan “on the run”.

Avoid sticking to your original course when the evidence proves its a lost cause. Develop a handful of key performance metrics and examine your progress at least monthly (in times of turbulent change, weekly monitoring may be in order).

Learn from your ongoing results and adjust your plan accordingly. The plan on the run formula: plan – execute – learn – adjust – execute – learn – adjust…

Build constant strategic renewal into your culture.

BE DIFFERENT than the herd.

Make the renewal competency your competitive advantage.

Improving Employee Engagement Efforts

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Most organizations realize the need for (and huge bottom-line benefits of) an engaged workforce, but the majority still struggle with it. Read more

#TChat Recap: The Predictive Power Of HR Analytics

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We could easily be intimidated by data. Yet, we crave answers on how to make the best hires, reduce cost, drive strategy… the list goes on and on.

Many organizations now turn to predictive analytics: the ability to take what happened in the past and find common relationships and factors (leveraging human behavior and neural networks) to model and predict the future, enabling us to report back in analytics with recommendations for the future.

Finance, Sales, and Marketing departments have already realized the importance of predictive analytics. Now it’s HR’s turn to gaze into the crystal ball.

This week’s #TChat guests: Chad W. Harness, VP of Lead Human Capital Analytics Consultant at Fifth Third Bank; and Jen Phillips Kirkwood, ADP Analytics and Innovation Ambassador, shared their insights on the predictive power that HR can bring (we’re proud sponsors of the Predictive Analytics World for Workforce.)

First step? Get clear on objectives and take a close look at problems that are in need to be solved. Once we have painted a clear picture, ask yourself: How can HR help to support KPIs and find analytics that can yield real action?

If we don’t trust or understand the data, it’s easy to make knee-jerk hiring decisions.

By understanding key differences between data, metrics and analytics we can make better recommendations and decisions for the future.

So how do HR leaders start a predictive analytics initiative successfully?

There’s no doubt that predictive analytics will have an immense role to play as we move forward. HR leaders want to get there, and frankly, they have to get there. Once we have arrived, HR will be given a stronger voice that will drive strategy and help cost reduction and retention.

Just remember, it’s not only about the data, it sometimes comes back to a curiosity and willingness to change.

See What The #TChat Community Said About The Predictive Power of HR Analytics:

What’s Up Next? #TChat Returns Wednesday, April 8th!

#TChat Radio Kicks Off at 7pm ET / 4pm PT — Our weekly radio show runs 30 minutes. Usually, our social community joins us on Twitter as well. Next week’s topic: Adopting Social Software for Workforce Collaboration and Communication

#TChat Twitter Kicks Off at 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT — Our halfway point begins with our highly engaging Twitter discussion. We take a social inside look at our weekly topic. Everyone is welcome to share their social insights #TChat.

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics through our weekly email newsletter. Signing up is just a click away!

Passive-Recruiting

photo credit: Crystal Ball / Glaskugel via photopin (license)

#TChat Recap: Finding Your Business Vision

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Finding Your Business Vision

Have we lost trust?

People don’t trust the idea of vision these days. What some organizations call vision is no more than a cleverly disguised marketing message.

Having a vision is extraordinary, but it will require key elements to turn it into reality for your organization. Vision takes serious work and continuous investment to keep it alive.

This week, Dr. Jesse Lyn Stoner, Founder of Seapoint Center for Collaborative Leadership, shared 3 essential elements to a compelling business vision: purpose, values, and a clear picture of a desirable future.

People get lazy on vision: it takes a long-term plan. Leaders must live the vision consistently and integrate it into the organizational infrastructure.

Creating strategic visions doesn’t lie just with leadership. Visionary leaders involve everyone in the process. 

Give your talent a voice. That takes vision itself, but what is that vision about?

Purpose and values matter, especially when there is trust.

Create an authentic vision. Give the words of your vision life by involving others. People will rally behind the visionary leaders they believe in and trust.

See What #TChat-ters Said About Business Vision! 


What’s Up Next? #TChat Returns Wednesday March 4th! 

TChatRadio_logo_020813-300x300#TChat Radio Kicks Off at 7pm ET / 4pm PT — Our weekly radio show runs 30 minutes. Usually, our social community joins us on Twitter as well. The topic: 6 Steps To Building A Remarkable Workplace.

#TChat Twitter Kicks Off at 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT — Our halfway point begins with our highly engaging Twitter discussion. We take a social inside look at our weekly topic. Everyone is welcome to share their social insights #TChat.

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date! 

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics through our weekly email newsletter. Signing up is just a click away!

Passive-Recruiting

Photo credit: Viktor Hanacek via Picjumbo 

Is Communication Important For Employee Productivity? (Infographic)

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When we talk about business communication, we want to achieve the following three results:

No. 1: Improving liaisons with your customers. When you communicate well within your organization, there are higher chances that you project yourself well to your customers, listen to their problems well and provide them with an apt solution.

No. 2: Educating all employees about your goals. The time you are well versed with what you need to do, it’s time that you share your work and discuss it with other people in your organization. This will provide you with a clear picture about their thought processes and you might just get rich insights from them.

No. 3: Growth. The first two results serve organizational goals. And when you know your customers well and have complete knowledge about your employees’ mindset, that is when you grow.

Here’s an infographic that provides more detail:

What communication should mean

About the Author: Arundhuti Roy is a professional business blogger and is working as a content marketer @ MyOperator.

photo credit: A Meeting Apart: leaders from An Event Apart, A Book Apart, and A List Apart meet to plan the future via photopin (license)

How Would Picasso Design Your Org Chart?

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We typically think of organizational charts as a set of vertically stacked boxes that represent people and their job descriptions. Additionally, the chart illustrates who reports to whom and the hierarchy of the company. And this is generally how we think about organizations: who is the boss and what are they the boss of?

I’m declaring my disdain of those charts and the vertical structures they represent. I am dedicated to the end of the org chart as we know it!

With that in mind, I’ve created the “Top 10 Reasons I Hate Organizational Charts” list:

Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate Org Charts

  1. They are vertical, not horizontal.
  2. People are represented as boxes.
  3. You can’t see the informal relationships of an organization.
  4. They are a myopic internal vision of a company.
  5. There are no customers represented.
  6. There is no community, social or otherwise, represented.
  7. You can’t see the stage or language of an organization.
  8. No core value, noble cause, purpose, mission, or vision is visible.
  9. They don’t promote leadership and mentorship, learning or teaching at multiple levels.
  10. They don’t support creativity, innovation, uniqueness, and greatness.

Check out this video to learn more:

Rebecca Onion wrote about what is considered the first org chart by New York and Erie Railroad on Slate.com. Besides being historically significant, the chart is beautiful to regard. Designed by McCallum and drafted by G.H. Henshaw, a civil engineer, the chart draws from the natural motifs popular in the Victorian aesthetic. Looked at from afar, the whole resembles a tree laden with fruit or blossoms. Up close, the individual “branches” illustrating groups of employees who worked on the trains have the rough, natural look of vines, twining alongside the straight lines of the tracks that they service.

Henry Mintzberg was the creator of the Organigraph. He was on the right path in terms of freeing us from hierarchy and silos. You can view his sample and see his liberating tool. But even dear Henry didn’t foresee our ability to be completely free to design our true vision.

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to get out a gigantic piece of flip chart paper and redesign your org chart with great imagination and vision.

What would it look like if you used the following list as a guideline?

  1. Create a metaphor that represents your business. (What would Picasso do?)
  2. Draw your values, noble cause, and vision in this picture. Remember that your heart is central.
  3. How do people intersect with each other, customers, and your community?
  4. How do people REALLY (informally) interact?
  5. Are you cross-functional or departmental? Can silos be replaced?
  6. How do you make and spend money? Can you represent that in the nature of the drawing?
  7. What communal language do you speak? Are you talking about individuals or about groups, community or greatness?
  8. Where is your leadership or mentorship pipeline, and how do you illustrate it?
  9. How do you represent roles, titles, and hierarchy in the picture?
  10. Place yourself in the picture. Specifically, place yourself where you want to be rather than where you may find yourself today.

Is your picture different from your reality? Can this new org chart set the stage for your strategic plan? After all, a strategy is simply the steps you will take to make your vision come true. What will you need to think of, innovate, start, or stop to develop a strategy that represents the vision represented by your picture?

As of right now, let’s ban the traditional org chart and in its place put organizational vision. This is a critical step toward creating unique organizations that we want to be part of, rather than being defined by the hierarchy of an organization. As we design our organizations, let’s ask ourselves this question: “What Would Picasso Do?”

About the Author: Ruth Schwartz is an internationally certified business leadership coach, motivational speaker and author. She owns High Performance Advocates, a management and leadership coaching company.

photo credit: frankieleon via photopin cc

The Top 10 Most Popular TalentCulture Guest Posts for 2014

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For a holiday treat, we’ve compiled a series of “top 10” TalentCulture posts from 2014 for you to catch up on between now and the first #TChat Show of the New Year.

So pour yourself an egg nog with that plate of sugar cookies and enjoy. Happy Holidays, TalentCulture #TChat Show Land!

The Top 10 Most Popular TalentCulture Guest Posts for 2014:

  1. How Great Companies Attract Top Talent
  2. 6 Eye-Opening Employee Engagement Statistics
  3. 6 Social Media Recruiting Strategies You Should Be Doing
  4. How To Positively Impact Other People
  5. 8 Leadership Lessons From Billionaires
  6. What Millennials Really Want From Employers
  7. What Truly Motivates People? Is It Money, Or Something Else?
  8. Culture As A Competitive Advantage
  9. Behavior In Business: 8 Human Insights Leaders Should Know
  10. 10 Social Media Resources To Advance Your Career

 

The Top 10 Most Popular TalentCulture #TChat Shows for 2014

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For a holiday treat, we’ve compiled a series of “top 10” TalentCulture posts from 2014 for you to catch up on between now and the first #TChat Show of the New Year.

So pour yourself an egg nog with that plate of sugar cookies and enjoy. Happy Holidays, TalentCulture #TChat Show Land!

The Top 10 Most Popular TalentCulture #TChat Shows for 2014:

  1. #TChat Preview: The Extraordinary Potential Of Values Based Leadership
  2. #TChat Preview: Legally Leverage Social Media In Recruitment
  3. #TChat Preview: The Legal And Moral Implications Of Workplace Bullying
  4. #TChat Preview: It’s All About The Talent Engagement Experience
  5. #TChat Preview: Employee Engagement And Putting Thanks In The Bank
  6. #TChat Preview: People, Performance And Building Legendary Teams
  7. #TChat Preview: World Of Work Productivity And E-Mail Excellence
  8. #TChat Preview: How To Avoid The Business Leadership Cliff
  9. #TChat Preview: Best Employers: What Makes Them Work?
  10. #TChat Preview: Empowering HR And The Hiring Process

And the bonus show of the year:

#TChat Preview: The HR Technology Mic Drop 

 

The Top 10 KWG TalentCulture Posts for 2014

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For a holiday treat, we’ve compiled a series of “top 10” TalentCulture posts from 2014 for you to catch up on between now and the first #TChat Show of the New Year.

So pour yourself an egg nog with that plate of sugar cookies and enjoy. Happy Holidays, TalentCulture #TChat Show Land!

The Top 10 Kevin W. Grossman TalentCulture Posts for 2014:

  1. The Better Angels Of Perpetual Candidate Experience
  2. The Halves and Wholes of Leadership
  3. When Our Workplace Culture Is On Fire
  4. The Complicated Nuance Of Workplace Bullying
  5. Welcome Everyone To Job Fair
  6. But First, A Single Source Of Business Truth
  7. Talent Engagement And The Dissed-Engaged
  8. Wanted, Preferably Alive And Having Fun With Your Company Culture
  9. The Bravery Of Being Fearlessly Authentic
  10. The New Workplace Social Contract Of Go, Go, Go

What Millennials Really Want from Employers

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There are a lot of rumors going around that suggest millennials are notoriously hard to attract and even harder to keep. The post ’80s digital generation is more concerned with free time than work, demanding flexi-hours and remote working, they want to take longer holidays, they want better perks and bigger benefits, and so on. But is this really true, or is it all hot air?

What Do Millennials Really Want?

No one knows what millennials want better than the millennials themselves. While employers are taking stabs in the dark, wildly updating their Facebook feeds with photos of creativity in the workplace and bean bags in the office, PwC decided to just ask a group of millennials what they really want from their employers.

At the top of the list of what makes an employer attractive was opportunities for career progression, which 52% of the millennials cited as the most desirable quality. Shortly after, 44% valued competitive wages and financial incentives, while 35% felt that good training and development programs were essential.

These three criteria seem to me to be something that employers themselves would also desire for their companies. Being progressive, paying a fair wage, being in a position to give nice Christmas bonuses, and ensuring staff are working at their optimum levels of productivity thanks to training and development programs, should be what every boss wants for his team.

How to Retain Millennials

For a company that realizes the value of its employees, attracting millennials isn’t so difficult. Retaining millennials, however, is another story. By 2020, millennials will make up 50% of the workforce but unlike the generations before them they aren’t adverse to job hopping.

As many as 70% of millennials leave their first job within two years, and nearly six in 10 younger workers (57%) say that it’s unlikely that they will stay with their current employers for the remainder of their working life. Comparatively, 62% of Gen X say it’s likely they will never leave their current employer and 84% of boomers plan to stick by their current employer until retirement. The difference is drastic, but is this all down to the millennials?

Many critics of millennials are saying that the degradation of company loyalty is a crying shame and label it as a “generational” thing. A generational “thing” is certainly a part of it, but it’s not quite that simple. Let’s not forget that the job landscape is changing too. Staff turnovers are high in general, work contracts are increasingly temporary and/or short term, and our workforce is now more mobile than ever before.

If employers want to retain their millennials, they need to be loyal to them. Temporary contracts don’t inspire loyalty, and if anything they create a workforce that spends its time on tenterhooks, worried about short-notice job loss, rather than focused on the job at hand. Today’s mobility and willingness to commute also means workers aren’t restricted by their locale. If they can find a better job opportunity elsewhere, you can be sure that they’ll take it.

Value Your Whole Team

A company that realizes the value of its team is what really makes an attractive employer for millennials, baby boomers and Gen X-ers alike. Employers who can put themselves in the position of each of their employees and treat them as they would want to be treated already know the secret of attracting and retaining millennials.

About the Author: Ron Stewart has worked in the recruitment industry for 30 years, having owned companies in the IT, construction and medical sectors. He runs the Jobs4Group, and is CEO of Jobs4Medical.

photo credit: niceguyjames via photopin cc

Forgive Yourself a Prayer, But Never Surrender to Bad Culture

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“You can surrender
Without a prayer
But never really pray
Pray without surrender

You can fight
Fight without ever winning
But never ever win
Win without a fight…” –Neil Peart, “Resist”

The final shame of not asking nearly overshadowed my extreme physical pain, but not quite. No, the visceral memory of my hands buried deep between my tense thighs pulled close to my crotch while I’ll leaned in as close to the crafts table as possible, has never been purged from memory.

It was 1972 and I was seven years old.

The first day of Bible school. Church friends recommended that my sister and I attend, that it would be fun, that we’d make cool crafts, learn about Jesus and other New and Old Testament folk, make new friends, and get out of the house for a spell.

Day one started simply enough: we got picked up in the morning, were driven to the boonies some 30 minutes outside of town, and then dropped off at Bible school with the church friends’ kids. I wasn’t very social being an introverted child, and my younger sister was just scared and stuck close to me.

The camp culture itself seemed cordial and warm at first, but then turned a little hardcore fire and brimstone, the counselors and teachers reminding us over and over again that, although Jesus loved us just the way we were, we shouldn’t question God’s plan for us, or any authority, and how sin of any size could send us straight to hell.

Happy days, however my bigger problem occurred late in the day. We were cutting and gluing felt pieces to construction paper to tell our favorite Bible story, mine at the time being about Adam and Eve, fascinated by the fact they were naked, and God, at least initially, was okay with that, which made me happy.

Unfortunately I had to pee.

Really, really bad. But our crafts instructor, a large women with big hair, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a yellow dress that reminded me of cat vomit, was in the middle of telling another story while we worked. The urge to pee didn’t come on suddenly, but I did let the pressure build up until it went well beyond the “holding back” threshold.

Yes, I had to pee badly, but I wouldn’t ask to go. The fear of interrupting and questioning the instructor, of being ridiculed publicly because I needed to do something for me that would disrupt the rest of the class, kept me fused to the hard bench under my butt. My sister saw my discomfort, poked at me and whispered, “Kevin, go.”

I just sat there, defeated, no one else to turn to other than my sister urging me to take action, ultimately consumed by my throbbing bladder, praying to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost to end Bible school right then and there so I could go to the bathroom.

And go I did.

All over the bench and down my legs, my pants drenched with a growing dark wet spot emanating out from my crotch that couldn’t be missed, and wasn’t, the shame horrifying beyond that evening and decades later.

In fact, over 40 years later I’ve taken that lesson to heart repeatedly as a greater metaphor of life and work experience; that company culture and cultural fit has a huge impact on our day-to-day happiness, or lack thereof, and how we respond to that culture doubles down on that happiness, or – hell, you get the picture.

Being able to identify when a culture is turning bad, and what we can do about it, are obviously critical skills for managing our career happiness. If we don’t react and respond accordingly, we can and do bust a gut (and burst a bladder).

How many times do we push ourselves beyond the “holding back” threshold until the pain is excruciating? For some of us, too many to count until we affect change.

Culture originates with leadership values and the core business mission, and then emanates outward with what people inside an organization do with all of that, and eventually with what meaning is attached to all those continuously evolving behaviors.

When the accepted collective behaviors lead to conflict and strife, we’ve got a bad culture on our hands. Lots of things can create a bad culture, and a good one, but all of them can be summed up (and oversimplified) by four questions that are repeatedly asked in these happiness surveys I started taking via TrackYourHappiness.org (heard about on a recent NPR TED Radio Hour podcast):

Are you doing something you want to do?

Are you doing something you have to do?

Are you interacting with others right now?

If so, how positive are you feeling? Not so, or extremely?

Well? And if not, why? Especially when at work, wherever and whatever that may be.

This is why mentors are so important.

I’m fortunate to have had and have many in my life, as well as reciprocating. Whether from formal mentoring programs fresh from college graduation or throughout your lifetime in professional organizations and certified associations, or continuous informal mentoring from family and friends, peers and colleagues, and managers and executive leadership, all of which can, and hopefully do, extend beyond whatever current incarnation we’re in.

When we discussed this on the TalentCulture #TChat Show – learning how to identify a bad company culture, understanding factors relevant to your decision to stay or leave, and knowing what to take out of the situation before you leave, including keeping those mentors close to you regardless – were all gladly embraced by the #TChat community, as vital as the air we breathe (and the periodic need to relieve).

Because what my personal mentors of late have reminded me of includes:

  1. When you have to pee, pee. Not pray. I don’t mean to disparage anyone’s religion or spirituality, but you can’t just hope and pray things will get better without doing anything about it. You may feel hopeless in a crappy workplace culture, maybe like a frightened child in the presence of heavy-handed leadership, but you certainly have some things under your control – and that includes getting up and going to the bathroom when you “need a break.” Holding it in beyond the threshold when you feel you’re trapped (and scared) only damages you and those around you, and if when you wet yourself at work, trust me, that shit stays with you a long, long time.
  2. And when you have to fight, fight. Not surrender. You really do; fight for what you want to do instead of only putting up with what you have to do. Passive acceptance of “where you’re at” is not the path to happiness, kids. Fighting for what you want, either as a leader or individual contributor, as long as you develop and deliver, is the critical key to self-fulfillment and ultimate success, although not always equated by compensation (but hey, who’s counting, right?). Make a little mojo magic, always, and for God’s sake, don’t put up with a crappy culture long-term. Opportunities may ebb and flow, but hear your mentors’ voices when they tell you they’re here, or over there.

These are the keys to surviving the bad culture, and staying happy, whether that’s in a 100K-person global enterprise, or your own little company of one (hey, it happens to even the most successful solopreneurs and consultants). And sometimes you just have to leave.

It’s easy to state the obvious at this point, but mercy me, forgive yourself a prayer every now and again, but never, ever surrender without a fight.

Amen.

photo credit: thejuniorpartner via photopin cc

Building Trust In The Workplace

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Trust in the workplace is more important than ever as it drains productivity and eventually leads to costly turnover

Many experts agree that trust is perhaps the most important element of a successful workplace. Companies whose employees trust them tend to have a more engaged workforce and a high efficiency work environment. On the flip side, organizations that have lost employee trust are not as successful. It is not uncommon in times of economic distress for trust to be lost with employers, government and our fellow man. This was seen during the depression of the 1930’s and it is being seen again with the current global economic situation. The meltdown on Wall Street has exposed many stories about executive greed, non-ethical behaviors and decisions. Government has made attempts to encourage corporate integrity by passing legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Dennis Reina and Michelle Reina, authors of numerous books on this topic, contend major betrayals in the workplace from corporations grossly mismanaging worker layoffs to CEOs committing crimes and misdemeanors. While these events make headlines, other betrayals such as finger-pointing or taking credit for others’ work erodes trust over time. In addition, their research indicates “90% of employees report they feel the effects of eroded trust daily.” In 2010, Deloitte LLP conducted an Ethics & Workplace survey which showed the following:

    • 30% of American employees plan to look for a job when the economy turns around
    • 48% of the group mentioned above cite a loss of trust in their employer as the reason
    • 65% of Fortune 1000 executives believe trust will be a factor in voluntary employee turnover in the near future

There are many factors that can erode employees trust in their company’s leaders, and the experts agree one of the biggest factors is communication. This includes not being open or honest with employees, especially when there is “bad news,” not sharing information such as why a decision was made, and speaking and/or acting inconsistently. In addition to communication, lack of accountability and abuse of management status are also given by employees as a reason for loss of trust. Organizations that have a low level of trust for management tend to have low productivity rates. D. Keith Denton, Department of Management at Missouri State University, states “that it is essential for companies that wish to survive economic strife to create an atmosphere of trust in these untrusting times.” You may ask at this point what can we do to not only avoid losing trust, but how can we build trust with our employees?

The ability to build and maintain trust in an organization starts at the very top and then must be fostered through the rest of the company. Management must set the example and the standard for all employees to follow. Integrity is crucial to building an environment of trust in any relationship, including those between an organization and its employees on every level. Excellent and open communication also very crucial in the development of trust; employees must know the company’s vision and its plan to achieve the vision. This type of communication includes sharing information (including negative information), which should not be minimized. Employees should be considered and treated as equals in the company to foster a sense of community, and all ideas should also be considered equally. Employers should also be able to empathize with their employees, as it is hard to trust someone who cannot put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Employees also very much appreciate when a company leader can own up to a mistake they have made. Employers that take the time and care to develop trust in their organization will reap the rewards.

Apply Now

(About the Author: Michele O’Donnell joined the team in January 2007 and currently leads MMC’s elite team of HR Consultants. Ms. O’Donnell has been involved in the Human Resources industry for more than 14 years, bringing vast training and management experience to the MMC leadership ranks. Her experience spans the broad scope of labor law, regulatory compliance and HR Best Practices, drawn from her rich experience as Director of HR for several firms throughout her career. She currently works to ensure that MMC’s consultants forge long lasting relationships with our clients, fostered in exceptional service and unsurpassed HR expertise. Ms. O’Donnell earned her baccalaureate degree in Business Administration from Auburn University before receiving her Masters degree in Human Resource Management from Troy State University.)

 
photo credit: citirecruitment via photopin cc

 

Kudos To You: 10 Top To-Do’s To Keep Those Customers Coming

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Every day we spend our precious time and hard-earned money out in the market searching for new customers.  We advertise, we network, we use social media strategies – all for the purpose of finding ever-elusive hot new prospects and turning them into profitable new customers.

With all this emphasis on attaining new customers, what we are doing to retain our current customers?  According to a study conducted by marketing guru, Dan Kennedy, here are the reasons that a customer leaves:

  • 1% die
  • 3% move away
  • 5% follow a friend or relative’s advice and switch to their recommended supplier
  • 9% switch due to a better price or better product
  • 14% switch due to product or service dissatisfaction.

While the first two reasons may be out of your control, you should be able to do something about the other three.  However, all of the reasons above still only account for a total of 32%. So, why do the other 68% of customers leave a business? Simply put, they leave because they feel unappreciated, unimportant and taken for granted.

Customer turnover is costing businesses billions of dollars each year.  Here are some startling statistics from Emmett C. Murphy and Mark A. Murphy, in their report, “Leading on the Edge of Chaos:”

  • Obtaining new customers can cost as much as five times more than retaining current customers
  • Increasing customer retention by 2% has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10%
  • The average company loses 10% of its customers each year
  • Reducing customer defection by 5% can increase profits by 25-125%
  • The customer profitability rate tends to increase over the life of a retained customer

Wow – is that a wake-up call or what?  Let’s take a look at how you can stop spending so much money trying to attract new clients and instead, learn to take care of the customers you already have.

Here are 10 Strategies that you can begin to implement TODAY for massive results:

1.  Keep in touch regularly and systematically.

When your customer places an order, follow up with them to see how satisfied they are with your product and/or service. Invite feedback – both positive and negative. (Chances are you’ll learn more from the negative feedback) Let your customers know that you care about them for the long term and not just for a one-shot deal.  Take the time to learn as much as you can about your customers during your follow up calls. A little extra effort can lead to your clients inquiring about other products or services that you offer and you’ll gain new business.  Since it’s always easier to sell more to someone you’re already doing business with, think of the lifetime value of each and every one of your customers.

2.  Educate your customers with valuable, FREE information.

Sharing your knowledge via a newsletter, social media updates, special reports and blogs will prove your expertise.  Providing value will also set you part from all the others that are merely promoting their products and services in every communication.  In BNI (Business Networking International), the philosophy is “Givers Gain.”  Be a giver.  Pay attention to the issues that are important to your customer and make it a point to find answers for them.  You’ll become the go-to person for both information and their business.

3. Become a Resource.

Look for other ways that you can serve your customers, even if it doesn’t mean an immediate return on your efforts.  Look for occasions when you can refer business, help out with an event or offer suggestions to improve their business.  In your clients’ mind, you’ll be the expert and will thereby be “top of mind” for the next time they are looking for your product or service.  As you get to know your customers better, you’ll be able to offer them assistance in a variety of areas. Networking events can play a critical role in meeting the “right people” to refer to other “right people.”  Be a conduit and you could become your customer’s hero.

4. Write a note of appreciation.

When you send a personalized card or note through the mail (not an e-card), you are setting yourself apart, big time. Not only is a card a pleasant diversion from the junk mail and bills that your customers are used to getting on a daily basis, it adds a personal touch to the relationship, which is priceless.  Think about it, you are giving your customer tangible evidence that you value them and support them.  Chances are that that card is going to be hanging on their bulletin board or displayed on their desk.  When someone picks up the card or asks about it, YOUR name is going to get mentioned – in a good way.  Great opportunity for referrals!

5. Respond to customers promptly when they contact your business.

Take care of issues immediately.  Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away, it just makes them bigger and harder to correct. Remember what your mother told you: If you make a mistake, say you’re sorry. Then make things right. Let your customers know that you are committed to a high level of service and that you will do whatever it takes to resolve their issues.  Chances are, it will take a lot less than you think it will to completely satisfy (and keep) your customer.  There is a study that showed that only 17% of customers would give a second chance to a company that makes a mistake.  However, you greatly improve the chances of repeat business when you go beyond their expectations to solve their problems.

6. Pay attention.

Listening to what your customer has to say will provide clues that will help you provide a more personal touch.  If your customer talks about their brand new grandchild, send a congratulatory card.  If he or she has a child heading off to college, jot a note on the calendar and make sure you ask about it next time you talk to them.  Find out birthdays and anniversary dates.  Send cards for nontraditional occasions.  Remember, you may be the only person that has taken the time to send them a card.  It may be a cliché, but people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.  Ok, one more cliché – you have two ears and one mouth – they should be used in that proper proportion.

7.  Act with integrity.

In everything you do, you want your stakeholders and customers to trust you. Developing trust takes time, yet it can be lost in an instant.  When you say you are going to do something, do it.  When a mistake is made, admit it, and then make it right.  Do whatever you can to earn your customer’s unwavering belief in you and your business.  Remember, confidence must be earned continuously. People want to do business with and work for trustworthy companies.

8.  Maintain Quality.

No matter how good your customer service is, if you’re providing an inferior product or service, your customers are going to leave.  Make sure all of your employees are aware of the importance of maintaining quality.  Put systems into place to monitor it.  If you have any products that are outsourced, rigorously insure that your quality standards are met.

9.  Reward Customers.

Institute a customer loyalty program.  Give your customers coupons they can use for their next order.  Surprise them occasionally with a free gift.  Hold a “Customer Appreciation Event.”  Look for different and unique ways that you can delight your customers.

10. Do Good.

Establish a relationship with a nonprofit or charity and invite other local businesses to participate.  Share what you’re doing in your newsletter and in your social media campaigns.  Remind people when they patronize your business that they are contributing to a greater cause.

All of these strategies work, but don’t overwhelm yourself thinking that you have to perform them perfectly right now.  It’s important to get started moving your customer relationships forward. Choose one technique that you feel that you are already doing well, then brainstorm some creative ways you can do it even better.

You may want to rank these ideas in order of importance or impact to your bottom line. Implement systems, one key point at a time, until you see progress and then move to the next one. Paying consistent attention to the way you acknowledge your clients will pay off in way that may surprise you. Go for it!

(About the Author: As Founder of Grategy, Lisa Ryan works with organizations to create stronger employee and customer engagement, retention and satisfaction.  Her proven gratitude strategies (Grategies) lead to increased productivity, passion and profits. She is the author of seven books, and co-stars in two documentaries: the award-winning: “The Keeper of the Keys,” and “The Gratitude Experiment.”   To learn more, visit www.grategy.com.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#SHRM14: Moving Into The Warming Light

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Failure is an enabler.

In both senses of the term, but for some, the one ultimate driver.

It’s our confidant and our kryptonite; it elevates and cripples us. Ideas fail, businesses fail, processes fail, people fail, and through it all, if we’re paying attention, learning and even a little lucky, we might just find a little light.

It’s that little light that warms us to something new, something pleasurable that we enjoy doing and providing that creates value for those around us, and ourselves, because regardless of popular belief about bloggers and social media “rock stars” not worth the words they spew out every week, some nearly ever day – they are worth it.

Okay, some more than others, but then again, I’ve been in the HR technology space for over 15 years and I’ve viewed some established industry journalists, HR and recruiting practitioners and business leaders as not worth the words they spew out nearly every day.

And that included me at times. (Heck, if you don’t already know me, I’m all about transparency and authenticity, in good times as well as bad.)

#SHRM14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When American journalist, columnist and author Tom Friedman spoke at the 2014 SHRM Conference this week, he said something that really stuck with me:

“No one cares what you know. They only care about what you do with what you know.”

Makes sense. We’ve seen the rock slide of skills and jobs bury themselves at the bottom of a dark canyon, never to see the light of day again. Consider that many of us “world of work” bloggers have been through many incarnations, some practitioners, some marketers, some from completely different industries, we could foresee a time that, beyond connecting professionally on LinkedIn, all that silly Tweeting and Facebooking and Instagramming and Pinteresting and blog-blog-blogging and speak-speak-speaking, all this would bring a valuable, warming light; that being hyperactively connected to one another and the world would spawn opportunity that had never existed.

“They only care about what you do with what you know.”

Because as Mr. Friedman also told us in his keynote, average is officially over. In fact, he admitted he has 70 million competitors these days, with bloggers and writers online with all the tools and reach that only old school media and journalism used to have.

No pressure, right? We have to constantly be “innovation-ready” or we’ll slide into shadow canyons.

This theme resonated throughout the SHRM conference, from keynotes to sessions to parties to the expo hall to sidebars that took place in every nook and cranny of the convention center. When I saw Margaret Morford speak, CEO for The HR Edge, Inc., she hammered home that you’ve got to differentiate while ignoring the status quo hype; that you’ve got to be brave and “outrun the pack.”

Or they’ll run over you.

Imagine that you have billions of competitors, regardless of your status or profession, because that’s where it’s headed (if not already there). If we don’t continuously relearn and reimagine while being relentless in failure enablement, we’re doomed. Simply and utterly doomed.

#SHRM14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s why four years ago Meghan M. Biro and I launched the TalentCulture #TChat Community and Shows, because the “world of work” needs constant upending and tending to, it needs to hear from all sorts of voices, from a ever-growing online community of knowledge-thirsty professionals including business leaders and innovators, human resource and recruiting executives, organizational development and learning professionals, HR technology vendors, industry consultants, job seekers and hey, even bloggers – all of whom are our daily competition and enablers.

So there you go, we’re just a couple of those bloggers, one a recruiting practitioner and one an HR tech marketer, moving into the warming light one weekly world of work topic at a time.

To all the other HR bloggers out there, whether you made it to SHRM this year or not, whether you have a current job, consultancy and/or side gig (or not), we thank you.

And a special thank you to SHRM as well!

And of course to our gracious partners and sponsors (many of which exhibited and/or sponsored this year’s SHRM Conference) – RIVS, GreatRated of Great Place to Work, TalentWise, GloboForce, SAP/SuccessFactors, Dice, Red Branch Media, HRmarketer Insight and my mothership PeopleFluent.

P.S. – And thank you Dwane Lay for organizing another fantastic fundraising event for No Kid Hungry that included a Big Lebowski bowling extravaganza! We raised over $5,000 dollars, which will help provide over 50,000 meals. Right on. And if you haven’t donated yet, you still can by clicking here.

#SHRM14

Authenticity: A Buzzword Revisited

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Written by: Joe Gerstandt, Co-Founder of Talent Anarchy

Unfortunately for all of us, authenticity has recently taken on buzzword status and today the word is thrown around casually and frequently as if it were a simple, safe and common thing. Those of us in the people business might want to think about taking this word back and taking better care of it. Authenticity is a righteous thing. Authenticity is a powerful thing. Authenticity, properly understood, is fundamental to any and all conversations about this work we do, it has a rightful place in any conversation about anything related to working with humans.

It is not, however, simple. If it were simple, I do not think that these would be our most common regrets at the end of our time on this planet. Authenticity is not simple, it is not neat and orderly, it is not always safe, and it is certainly not common…especially in the workplace.

This lack of authenticity is not a result of people going to work deliberately and intentionally pretending to be someone other than who they are (okay, once in a while that happens!), but rather because of our very real tendency to play small and to keep things to ourselves. There is often real or perceived risk in being different. Our desire to fit in, to belong, to be “a part of,” is probably one of the strongest of human drives and in order to fit more neatly in, we often play down, cover, or deny aspects of our personality or identity that make us different.

We recently spent a day with the leadership of a very cool, very successful company. We could tell that this was an organization that people loved working for. One of the employees gave us a ride to the airport at the end of the day and without any prompting from us, was talking about how and why she loved working for this particular organization. “I have never had a job that I hated,” she told us, “but before this I had never had a job that I loved either. This is the first place I have worked where I do not have to cover up my tattoos, and that may seem like a small thing to a lot of people, but it is not a small thing to me.”

Authenticity simply means being true to who you are. While there are often risks involved in being authentic, whole and unique at work, not being true to who you are comes at a real cost as well. When the individual has to do all of the accommodating, by suppressing aspects of their identity and values to fit in, their sense of self is eroded as well as their level of commitment to the organization.

“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”

– Freya Stark

Joining any organization or social group involves a certain amount of conformity. Conformity, shared values, and shared purpose in the right amounts hold people together and provide needed parameters and direction to diverse groups and teams. Too much conformity is dangerous and wasteful.

How is your organization doing? How are you doing?

Joe-Gerstandt

(About the Author: Joe Gerstandt is a leader helping organizations understand diversity and inclusion. As a keynote speaker and consultant, Joe works with Fortune 500 companies, small non-profits, and everything in between. Seamlessly interweaving art and science, Joe uses stories and research to illustrate how next generation cultures can flourish both inside andoutside the workplace.

Talent Anarchy is the dynamic duo of Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt. The two have stayed busy traveling the world, working hard to provoke, entertain, educate, and inspire. The story of Talent Anarchy dates back to 1999 when Jason and Joe met through work. These two were fated to be friends and realized quickly that they had much in common. One example was their shared belief that much about the world of work could “suck less.”

In addition to the speaking that they do together, Jason and Joe also dabble in event design and facilitation, wrote a book together, Social Gravity: Harnessing the Natural Laws of Relationships, and are in the early stages of their next book.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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Collaborative Learning: Web Conferencing Tools Made Easy

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Computer technology has progressed in amazing ways, providing a seemingly endless list of tools to make life, work, and even learning easier and more available. In reference to education, electronic learning (e-learning) successfully utilizes electronic media in the pursuit of higher learning. E-learning takes advantage of such media technologies as typed text, imagery, audio bites, video, and animation to teach its diverse lessons.

Although television and audio/video tapes have been successful e-learning outlets, the internet has revolutionized distance learning, mainly due to its interactive attributes. One of the most popular forms of internet e-learning lies in networking through a variety of platforms which allow the advanced sharing of information. Through such means, collaborative learning can occur which places a group together for the purpose of sharing and interacting, thus increasing learning time and effectiveness while reducing costs. 

Web Conferencing Features

Web conferencing technology is the driving force behind collaborative learning. Meetings, classes, and training sessions that used to only be accessible through person-to-person, telephone, email, or online chats are now available in face-to-face settings from great distances over the internet.

The value of a visual and audio presence will always hold its edge in any learning or training environment. The power to drive home a message relies on an acute ability to offer a winning presentation, and the visual and audio capabilities of web conferencing delivers these qualities to its audiences. 

Benefits of Web Conferencing

Web conferencing, therefore, offers a wide selection of benefits for those pursuing collaborative learning goals. A large number of people can get together from around the world to give and receive information. Through webcams and web microphones, interaction takes place in real time so that ideas, solutions, questions, and answers can all be shared with all who are in attendance.

Web conferencing platforms also allow users to interact through websites, pictures, charts, files, notes, recordings, videos, whiteboards, and more to present what is needed–all through a computer screen. These meetings can also be recorded and experienced over and over again to gain more from the information provided.

Both time and money is also saved through web conferencing technology. Great amounts of time are saved by bypassing travel. Meeting can be set up within minutes, shared through email, text, or phone and attended from wherever there is a computer and internet connection. Not having to travel to distant lands or even across town to attend meetings also saves a lot of expense as well as reduces one’s carbon footprint. 

UberConference Makes It Easy

UberConference is a top web conferencing application that allows its users to partake in stellar audio conference calls. Once the application is loaded, connection is made automatically through a dialup feature. Attendees are then selected and receive an email, text, or call to meet. No registration or PINs are required by attendees to be present at the meeting which has been initiated by the original user. The UberConference app is available for iPhone or Androids as well as computers.

Practically every feature necessary to create and attend a high quality web conference is included in the UberConference software. For instance, a visual overview is provided on every attendee so that everyone can be viewed which drastically reduces confusion of who said what. A variety of filtering features are also included so that users can mute, remove, add, or ‘earmuff’ (temporarily block) other callers. Meetings can even be recorded in a popular MP3 format.

The company of UberConference has taken their service to the next level by merging with Google which has a well established video platform, but suffers from limited voice call participation. The merger allows UberConference, with its limited video abilities, access to Google’s powerful video platform while enhancing it with its wide calling capacity (up to 100 people). The two companies integrate their technologies via the Google Hangouts platform which provides a conferencing experience that excels the expectations of any collaborative learning or other web conferencing requirement. 

Conclusion

The power of the internet has opened a wide and beneficial door for those seeking collaborative learning opportunities. By utilizing the latest web conferencing technologies, such as UberConference, knowledge can be obtained and skills honed easily, conveniently, and without wasting time and money.

(About the Author: Norah Abraham has been a freelance writer since 2005. She attended the University of Boston and graduated with a Bachelor in English Literature. She loves public speaking and motivates people in her own comic style. She loves gadgets and techie stuffs. In her career, she has written dozens of Press Releases, Articles, and Essays.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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3 Bites To The Core Of Communication… And Engagement

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At the core of successful employee engagement is communication. You likely think I mean communication between manager and employee. Your thinking is spot on. The most common reason an employee leaves a job is the employee’s manager. And the most common element is the communication — or lack of — between manager and employee. There are plenty of other aspects of communication and how it can boost employee satisfaction and engagement. But for this writing, let’s look at 3 core “bites” that will have communication contribute to employee engagement.

Share Expectations.

An employee who knows what is expected experiences less doubt, less confusion. Knowing the weekly report must include narrative as well as statistics precludes the risk of rework. Knowing what to do, the employee expends time and energy engaging in the job, rather than wondering “what?” and “how?” This applies to graphic design, garage mechanics,  IT deployment or training & development. Stating expectations to an employee early, frequently and consistently is an art of communication. Remembering to restate frequently is part of that art — either to verify or to vary the expectations.

Remove Obstacles. 

Most work has some degree of problem-solving. That does not mean we want employees focusing continually on unnecessary problems. Open line communication between employee and manager provides productive Q&A. This allows the manager to help the worker know priorities. This in turn leads to identifying obstacles quickly and easily. That allows fast application of efforts to move obstacles aside. Consider an employee’s inability to access onboarding e-learning. Recollect the glitch in a new procedure that brought it to a standstill. In such instances, communication is step one to remove the obstacle. When communication is fundamental to the business culture, you’ll look for the solution there first.

Offer Feedback and Recognition.

A good idea is to recognize an employee’s successful engagement in her assignments, with her team, and for the company. An equally good idea is to give feedback to the employee whose efforts are less successful. Both actions are communication-based. Both recognition and feedback have positive impact on employee engagement.  The manager speaks about what has been done well and why. The employee hears and strives to repeat. That is engagement. A manager speaks about what has been done, could have been done better, and how. The employee hears and strives to improve. The connection between communication and engagement is clear.

Don’t take this as an oversimplification of engagement culture and strategy. Both require substantial attention and effort. Just keep in mind that these steps can get you to the communications core and to better employee engagement.

(About the Author: As an Employee Engagement and Performance Improvement expert, Tim Wright, has worked with businesses and national associations of all sizes. His company, Wright Results, offers proven strategies and techniques to help businesses increase employee engagement, improve personnel performance and build a strong business culture by focusing on performance management from the C.O.R.E. For more information, visit www.wrightresults.com or connect with Tim here: tim@wrightresults.com)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Preview: Create A Transformative Onboarding Experience For New Hires

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The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. #TChat Radio starts at 6:30 pm ET (3:30 pm PT) and the convo continues on #TChat Twitter chat from 7-8 pm ET (4-5 pm PT).

Last week we talked about how to visualize real-time talent alignment, and this week we’re talking about how to have a transformative onboarding experience for new hires.

According to the Talent Board’s 2013 Candidate Experience Awards report, based on data from nearly 50,000 candidates from over 90 progressive companies, new hires are sometimes met with less-than-ideal onboarding processes. They’re usually bombarded with disparate paperwork on the first day, as well as left with many questions about everything from benefits to job responsibilities.

Nobody wants to do their “day 1” paperwork from a cold, dark office. They want to do it from the comfort of wherever that comfort derives. They want to get on with the cultural immersion — and get to work.

A good onboarding experience is crucial to the success of every new employee. Since a new hire will decide within the first year if they want to stay with the company or not, the ability to deliver an effective and inviting onboarding process is key to improving employee morale and retention.

A happy candidate experience makes for exceptional hires and happy customers.

Join #TChat co-creators and hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as we learn how to have a transformative onboarding experience with this week’s guests: Todd Owens, President & COO at TalentWise; and Wendy Matyjevich, SPHR, Managing Partner of Human Capital for BlackRain Partners.

Sneak Peek: How To Have A Transformative Onboarding Experience For New Hires

We look forward to learning more from our guests, Todd Owens and Wendy Matyjevich, to learn more about creating a better onboarding experience for new hires.

Related Reading:

David Smooke: Hiring Culture: Creating A Recruitment Ecosystem

Meghan M. Biro: The Onboarding Experience Matters To Your Future Employees 

David Obelcz: Five Keys To Onboarding That Drive Employee Engagement 

Abigail Tracy: Offer Your New Hires Training, Not Free Donuts

Jim Dougherty: Company Culture Is Part Of Your Business Model

We hope you’ll join the #TChat conversation this week and share your questions, opinions and ideas with our guests and the TalentCulture Community.

#TChat Events: How To Have A Transformative Onboarding Experience For New Hires

TChatRadio_logo_020813 #TChat Radio — Wed, June 4 — 6:30pmET / 3:30pmPT Tune-in to the #TChat Radio show Our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman talk with our guests Todd Owens and Wendy Matyjevich.

Tune-in LIVE online this Wednesday!

#TChat Twitter Chat — Wed, June 4 — 7pmET / 4pmPT Immediately following the radio show, Meghan, Kevin and our guests will move to the #TChat Twitter stream, where we’ll continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. Everyone with a Twitter account is invited to participate, as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: Why should candidates be treated like paying customers? #TChat (Tweet this Question)

Q2: How should companies react to changing modern-day job seeker & employee engagement demands? #TChat (Tweet this Question)

Q3: How can recruiting and onboarding be transformative for candidates & new hires? #TChat (Tweet this Question)

Q4: What practices help leaders ensure a compelling and sustained company culture? #TChat (Tweet this Question)

Q5: In what ways does a collaborative onboarding platform change engagement? #TChat (Tweet this Question)

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, and in our new TalentCulture G+ community. So feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!!

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday.

To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Preview: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

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The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, May 28, 2014. #TChat Radio starts at 6:30 pm ET (3:30 pm PT) and the convo continues on #TChat Twitter chat from 7-8 pm ET (4-5 pm PT).

Last week we talked about the inspire or retire leadership theorem, and this week we’re talking about how to visualize real-time talent alignment.

Employee turnover is a common challenge for organizations of all shapes and size and industries. It’s an overgrown and thorny path that leaders and HR teams walk bare foot daily, with no compass to guide them. This wild “talent cycle” can create poor climates and cultures where your people are forced to scramble and hire reactively each time an employee makes a move toward the door.

Focused on the people not the processes combined real-time talent alignment technology allow leaders to better visualize their human capital investment, while simultaneously engaging employees and driving performance.

Join #TChat co-creators and hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as we learn more about visualizing real-time talent alignment with this week’s guests: Andre Lavoie, CEO and co-founder of ClearCompany; and Matt Norman, a leadership and sales consultant and a Dale Carnegie Training franchise president.

Sneak Peek: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

We spoke briefly with our guests, Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman, to learn more about real-time talent alignment. Check out our YouTube Channel for videos with other #TChat guests!

Kevin Wheeler: Moving From Transactions To Engagement – 4 Recruiting Trends

Afton Funk: From Short-Order Cook To Chef: Talent Alignment Gets You There

Abigail Tracy: Offer Your New Hires Training, Not Free Doughnuts

Meghan M. Biro: How To Succeed At Real-Time Talent Alignment

China Gorman: How Great Companies Attract Top Talent

We hope you’ll join the #TChat conversation this week and share your questions, opinions and ideas with our guests and the TalentCulture Community.

#TChat Events: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

TChatRadio_logo_020813 #TChat Radio — Wed, May 28 — 6:30pmET / 3:30pmPT Tune-in to the #TChat Radio show Our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman talk with our guests Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman!

Tune-in LIVE online this Wednesday!

#TChat Twitter Chat — Wed, May 28 — 7pmET / 4pmPT Immediately following the radio show, Meghan, Kevin and our guests will move to the #TChat Twitter stream, where we’ll continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. Everyone with a Twitter account is invited to participate, as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: Why are organizations reactive vs. proactive when hiring and retaining talent? (Tweet this Question)

Q2: How can companies better align recruiting & onboarding to improve long-term performance? (Tweet this Question)

Q3: What role does learning and development play in real-time talent alignment? (Tweet this Question)

Q4: How can companies build and sustain a desirable, stable culture? (Tweet this Question)

Q5: How can business leaders promote a vision of continuous workforce performance? (Tweet this Question)

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, and in our new TalentCulture G+ community. So feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!!

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday.

To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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Pay Attention: 3 Corporate Culture Shaping Techniques

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Employee Engagement (defn.): employee’s investment of time, energy, creativity, knowledge, skills and abilities to fulfill expectations of work assigned.

Business/Corporate Culture (defn.): the philosophy, values, behavior, dress codes, etc., that together constitute the unique style and policies of a company.

The above phrases are defined numerous ways by numerous sources. The above definitions include the factors that comprise Employee Engagement and Business/Corporate Culture. They are offered because culture and engagement are causally related.

Business culture stimulates the quantity and quality of employees’ engagement. This means engagement in performing their individual job. It means engagement in contributing to team projects, objectives, and goals. It certainly means engagement in fulfilling company requirements and obligations.

The more an employee appreciates, identifies with, and receives energy from the business culture, the more eagerly she engages: in her job, with her team, for the company.

If that is true — and it is — so is this: keeping the business culture timely and vibrant keeps the engagement by employees meaningful and intense. Let’s look at 3 Culture Shaping Responsibilities every leadership team owns if they want to keep employees engaged, especially increasingly engaged.

1. Pay Attention To The Big Picture

Pay attention to the needs for your big picture culture and pay attention to the wants for your individual employees culture. Include both in your business culture. The topmost leaders of the business can’t help but see and focus on the big picture. Success in the specific industry and the current economy may require a culture that is intense, independent, and entrepreneurial. Or success may be better generated by high levels of teamwork and measured progress. Or success may come from a think-tank strategy that keeps the business ahead of the competition. More than likely, business leaders already have this in mind as part of their company definition.

Just remember to pay attention at the individual level as well. What kind of employee best serves your business? That is answered, of course, by their specific skills and abilities, their work habits and their views of individual success and satisfaction. Social media? (Un)structured work-environment? Health & wellness offerings? Creative opportunity?

The goal is to fit together individual wants with business needs to form a seamless and satisfying corporate culture. That culture encourages employees to engage in their work because they want to.

2. Pay Attention To Your Culture

Pay attention to making your business culture “front of mind consciousness” throughout your company. Culture can be like vision: put into a neat phrase, engraved on a pretty plaque, hung up somewhere and forgotten. The frequently and regularly managers and employees should talk about the business culture — in real terms, in real time. Business culture is meant to live, breathe, and change as the business situations change. That happens when culture is embedded in communication, when people constantly talk about what’s going on. Try these:

  • Have “Culture News” as a 5 minute regular agenda item for meetings. The team can decide what to do with it. Just be sure it’s talk about the corporate culture.
  • Invite informal feedback that essentially answers this question: “What do you like about our company culture?”
  • Invite informal feedback that answers this question: “What don’t you like about our company culture?”

The purpose is more to bring individuals’ awareness/appreciation of culture to the forefront. If the culture vibrates positively, they will make added effort. That’s engagement. If there’s no vibration, the sooner you find out, the sooner you can make the changes.

3. Pay Attention To Your Behavior

Pay attention to behaving the culture. In her discussion of culture change, Nancy Rubin cites “Guiding behavioral principles: how [leaders] expect all associates to behave” as a critical element.

Take that one step further: expect leaders and managers to pay attention to their own behavior. Guarantee that leadership behavior matches culture expectations. Employees are quick to emulate their managers’ behavior. They are even quicker to notice when the walk doesn’t match the talk.

Becoming a more effective leader involves more than defining the culture. It requires more than espousing the culture. It demands living the culture for the workforce to see. Because seeing is believing.

Paying attention to a vibrant business culture results in vibrant engagement by the workforce.

(About the Author: As an Employee Engagement and Performance Improvement expert, Tim Wright, has worked with businesses and national associations of all sizes. His company, Wright Results, offers proven strategies and techniques to help businesses increase employee engagement, improve personnel performance and build a strong business culture by focusing on performance management from the C.O.R.E. For more information, visit www.wrightresults.com or connect with Tim here: tim@wrightresults.com)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Preview: Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem

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The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. #TChat Radio starts at 6:30 pm ET (3:30 pm PT) and the convo continues on #TChat Twitter chat from 7-8 pm ET (4-5 pm PT).

Last week we talked about the talent-centric recruiting experience, and this week we’re talking about the inspire or retire leadership theorem.

Yes, that’s what we said. The first part of this theorem is a reminder that from the junior employee to senior management, leadership is everyone’s business. When organizations are in a VUCA environment (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), they are usually flatter and everyone must lead.

You’ll learn more about the theorem soon, but until then, inspirational leaders encourage their team by example and allow their people to take the lead in accomplishing the organizational vision.

The most significant contribution we can make as leaders today is to leave a legacy of inspired leaders behind to take care of tomorrow. We can leverage our skills, talents, and experiences to transform our people into leaders.

Join #TChat co-creators and hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as we learn more about the inspire or retire leadership theorem with this week’s guest: Thomas S. Narofsky, Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer for the Narofsky Consulting Group, a leadership development, team effectiveness, and executive coaching consultancy.

Sneak Peek: Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem

We spoke briefly with our guest Thomas Narofsky, to learn a little about the Inspire or Retire Leadership Theorem. Check out our YouTube Channel for videos with other #TChat guests!

Related Reading:

Michael Rogers: Inspirational Leadership – What 5 Things Do They Have In Common?

Jesse Lyn Stoner: How To Give Your Boss Bad News 

Peter Sessum: Military Leadership: Lessons In Military Leadership For Civilians

Kevin W. Grossman: On Finding The Leader’s Way

Meghan M. Biro: Leadership Is About Emotion

We hope you’ll join the #TChat conversation this week and share your questions, opinions and ideas with our guests and the TalentCulture Community.

#TChat Events: Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem

TChatRadio_logo_020813 #TChat Radio — Wed, May 21 — 6:30pmET / 3:30pmPT Tune-in to the #TChat Radio show Our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman talk with our guest Thomas Narofsky!

Tune-in LIVE online this Wednesday!

#TChat Twitter Chat — Wed, May 14 — 7pmET / 4pmPT Immediately following the radio show, Meghan, Kevin and our guest will move to the #TChat Twitter stream, where we’ll continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. Everyone with a Twitter account is invited to participate, as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: What are the current and best leadership development approaches and why do they work? (Tweet this Question)

Q2: Why is it important to teach leaders of all stages how to develop themselves? (Tweet this Question)

Q3: How can next-gen leaders be comfortable in a volatile and uncertain environment? (Tweet this Question)

Q4: How can we train new leaders to inspire future leaders? (Tweet this Question)

Q5: What technologies improve the delivery of inspiring leadership development? (Tweet this Question)

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, and in our new TalentCulture G+ community. So feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!!

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday.

To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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How To Use Instagram To Recruit: 5 Easy Steps [Infographic]

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By this point, most of us have come across the term, “social recruiting.” With the rising importance of fostering a successful and sustainable company culture and hiring people who are not only the right professional fit but the right cultural fit as well, employers and human resource professionals have started to turn to the power of social media networks, like Instagram, to help with their recruitment efforts. Instagram is a photo-sharing app that recently surpassed 150 million active users and counting – 70 percent of whom log in to the site at least once a day. That’s a huge pool of potential employees!

A few articles have surfaced about how some companies have started to use Instagram from a recruitment perspective. Vocus, a cloud-based marketing and public relations software, hired a marketer with a background in social media to manage the employment brand, including their activity on Instagram. Instead of taking the traditional HR approach, Veronica Segovia created a separate Instagram careers account (@vocuscareers), specifically for the hiring side of the business. Segovia published a blog post announcing their presence on Instagram to both employees and candidates, which included guidelines on how employees could get involved. “We looked at Instagram as an opportunity to make contact with passive candidates, to show them that Vocus is a cool, fun, young company”, says Segovia.

But the question remains, can you really recruit candidates for a job through Instagram? The answer is yes, but it has to be a combined effort. Instagram is most effective as a complement to other social media channels – so it’s best if your company is already using other social media sites (as you should be!). Before launching the @vocuscareers Instagram account, the company had been actively brand building on other channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Images posted on Instagram can be repurposed for other corporate social profiles, such as the aforementioned, helping extend your reach. The real focus with Instagram should be on maintaining the image of your brand, which aids in the recruiting process by attracting people who want to be more familiar with your company.

So where do you start? We’ve put together an infographic below that outlines the ways that Instagram is most useful and how to use it properly for recruiting, employee engagement and brand building in 5 easy steps.

Recruiting-With-Instagram-WEB

Do you have an example of using Instagram to aid in your recruitment or employee engagement efforts? We would love to hear about it. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Written by Rachel Scott | Infographic by Tara Burt

(About the Author: Rachel Scott has a diverse background in advertising and communications that includes everything from working as a Research Assistant for the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology, working in the Public Relations department for CJSF 90.1 FM, to her most recent role as Marketing Assistant at Clevers Media, a marketing and consulting agency based in Vancouver, BC.

Currently Rachel is the Marketing and Content Manager at Boost Agents. Boost Agents brings together growing, forward thinking organizations and qualified creative, marketing and communications professionals through our timely and ethical process to make the perfect cultural fit. Whether you are a candidate (job seeker) looking to boost your career and need someone to help take you to the next level, or a client looking to grow your team, we’re excited to be part of the process with you.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Recap: How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes

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How Talent Centric Recruiting Improves Business ROI 

You know, it used to be that employees were complacent; they kept their heads down and focused on their work, and it got done. It was business as usual, and then, magic began to happen. Employees became self-aware and management could no longer get away with its robotic-systemic approach to doing things. Since then, the world of work has been playing catch up. Going from process-centric thinking to cultivating a talent-centric mindset. Why? Employees are people, not just components to your business. They matter.

This week on #TChat, powerhouse guest Elaine Orler, President and Founder of Talent Function, joined us to discuss the business about talent-centric recruiting and its current state. According to Elaine:

Simply put, recruiters and hiring managers have to shift their approach to a more talent-centric one. And here’s why:

Developing a talent-centric recruiting mindset and culture has to be held accountable past the hiring process. Why? Because measuring performance is what drives the world of work today. Fortunately, we have talent analytic tools that can help tell us how much fun we’re having.

Here are some metrics that recruiters and hiring mangers should be measuring:

Thanks to technology we’re able to measure our success and failure. A knighted necessity in today’s business world. However, we must not forget about the big picture and that is:


Yes, people do matter and they are why we innovate. Employees are the driving force behind work. They hold the keys to the success factors of your business. If you want better a ROI, then develop a talent-centric mindset.
 

Want To See The #TChat Replay?


Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to our guest Elaine Orler for showing how talent centric recruiting can improves the bottom line in business. Click here to see the preview and related reading.

#TChat Events: How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes.

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on talent-centric recruiting?

We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

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Save The Date: Wednesday, May 21!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

 

Brave New World, Brave Business Leaders Needed

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The first quarter of 2014 brought welcome optimism for some of the world’s major economies. On the face of things, it’s great news. However, businesses still face a battle to get back to the levels of pre 2008 performance and growth.

One thing that could be preventing them from doing so is if business leaders aren’t equipped for the brave new business world. Could Generation Y leaders hold the key?

Have Leaders Got This In Their Locker?

Concerns persist that many of today’s leaders lack the skills and knowledge needed to lead businesses in a rapidly-evolving corporate landscape. This is highlighted by the London Business School’s Lynda Gratton in her research.

The Future of Work Research Consortium, led by Gratton, found that half of the executives sampled across the world don’t think that leadership programs are currently equipping leaders with the right skills. This is a worrying trend which must be reversed.

Gratton offers great insight, setting out a clear and bold vision for the future of leadership. She explains the need to develop leaders that are able to leverage new technologies, take risks, build external relationships and champion creativity.

Failure to develop leaders with these skills and traits will stifle innovation and, with it, economic growth.

The Present: Developing Leaders Now

Companies must quickly recognize and respond to the changing business world. They’ll need to adjust talent and leadership development programs accordingly.

The first step is for businesses to identify what skills, behaviors and competencies their leaders need to possess in order to deliver strategies now (and anticipate how this might change in the future). They should measure leaders against a defined set of key skills, behaviors and competencies. Awareness of leaders’ strengths and development needs will then help companies to provide targeted support in areas where they need to shift behavior or change their approach.

Taking these steps will certainly better equip leaders now. However, the real change in leadership approach for business may only come about when the next generation of leaders take the top jobs.

The Future: Generation Y Leaders

Generation Y or ‘Millennials’ as they’re also known will, naturally, be more inclined to embrace and leverage new technologies and to champion innovation.

And, as others have noted, Generation Y workers are more collaborative and flexible in their approach. This makes them better able to build relationships and create strong, engaged teams.

I’d argue that this combined skill set and experience gives Generation Y the perfect foundation to be the bold, brave and forward-thinking leaders we need to drive future business success. Time will tell if I’m right.

(About the Author: Ben Egan is an experienced consultant specializing in communications strategies at UK-based HR consultancy and bespoke technology firm. ETS are experts in employee engagement, development and performance appraisal working with major global businesses including PepsiCo, Tesco and RBS.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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