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Hub You - 6 Ways to Keep Things Simple
A couple of weeks ago I heard a speaker detail several of the ways where men and women differ in business. In her book, Stop Whining and Start Winning: 8 surefire ways for women to succeed in business, Molly Dickinson Shepard lists lack of self-promotion as one of the critical reasons why men get promoted faster and more often.Women tend to believe in fairness…that if they work hard, they will get
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are ofte
Working with a verbally abusive boss is something that people often have to deal with.I'm speaking specifically about a verbally abusive boss and not one who is physically abusive. If I had to deal with a physically abusive boss, I wouldn't be working there anymore and I'd be consulting a lawyer.If your boss uses abusive language, the first thing I'd try to determine is whether they use it against j
We can have greater success with our Clients when we make our work processes and agreements simpler and more elegant. This article will give you ideas for making your contracts and commitments, projects and plans, reports and relationships with Clients simpler. Here then, are six suggested ways to make your products and services more elegant.
1. Ask why. When we understand the root cause of the client request we are better able to sort out and find simple elegant solutions. Often complex solutions come from unfocused efforts and expectations. Asking why can help you make your client contracts much more effective – helping both you and your client. Clients will appreciate the results of you helping them get to the heart of the matter.
2. Understand the Client’s real needs. Asking “Why?” helps us get to the client’s real needs. We can also get to real needs by discovering the needs of all the relevant groups involved. A little time to build greater understanding will help you build more elegant solutions.
3. Keep the big picture in mind. While you are building your solution, or delivering your service, keeping the big picture in mind will help you keep it simple. When we remember how hard deployment of anything(!) can be, we are reminded to Keep it Simple. Let’s say you are building a training module on customer service for new employees, as a part of their orientation. The big picture says that these new people will be inundated with new information, expectations, procedures and more. Your module on Customer Service needs to be simple. It doesn’t need to incorporate all the nuances of your 9-step model. It needs to be to the point and easy to access and understand. Do they need all those nuances? Maybe later – but the big picture helps us reign in our designs and plans.
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are often
How does a small company become successful? It’s such a provocative question that it prompted me to do some research. Despite the bad news we so often hear about businesses closing or moving, I found some encouraging news. After interviewing and working with many small companies, common trends began to emerge regarding what they did to be successful. There are a total of fourteen principles and the successful com
2. Understand the Client’s real needs. Asking “Why?” helps us get to the client’s real needs. We can also get to real needs by discovering the needs of all the relevant groups involved. A little time to build greater understanding will help you build more elegant solutions.
3. Keep the big picture in mind. While you are building your solution, or delivering your service, keeping the big picture in mind will help you keep it simple. When we remember how hard deployment of anything(!) can be, we are reminded to Keep it Simple. Let’s say you are building a training module on customer service for new employees, as a part of their orientation. The big picture says that these new people will be inundated with new information, expectations, procedures and more. Your module on Customer Service needs to be simple. It doesn’t need to incorporate all the nuances of your 9-step model. It needs to be to the point and easy to access and understand. Do they need all those nuances? Maybe later – but the big picture helps us reign in our designs and plans.
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are ofte
Today’s hottest Internet businesses are all about the power of social networks. Companies like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube have become worth billions because businesses have realized that these social networks are generating huge advertising and marketing opportunities. As these social networks grow, the economic potential for its owners – and the advertisers who target the site’s users – is remarkable.
3. Keep the big picture in mind. While you are building your solution, or delivering your service, keeping the big picture in mind will help you keep it simple. When we remember how hard deployment of anything(!) can be, we are reminded to Keep it Simple. Let’s say you are building a training module on customer service for new employees, as a part of their orientation. The big picture says that these new people will be inundated with new information, expectations, procedures and more. Your module on Customer Service needs to be simple. It doesn’t need to incorporate all the nuances of your 9-step model. It needs to be to the point and easy to access and understand. Do they need all those nuances? Maybe later – but the big picture helps us reign in our designs and plans.
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are ofte
A Chief Financial Officer looked at the Marketing Knowledge Mentor standing next to her in the elevator and stated, "You work with those product managers in marketing on the second floor. They don't build anything, they don't sell anything and they spend all our money! So the big question is why do we need product management or marketing at all?” That is the business perspective many people have of product or br
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are ofte
Being a strong change catalyst is critical to being an effective mentor. In order to “inspire others to continually strive for higher levels of performance through creative and strategic methods that are always focused to achieving your goals” you must move through the personal emotions that change creates so that you can effectively lead others. Here are some critical suggestions for assisting you in developin
4. Keep the communication clear. “If you can’t write it on the back of an envelope, your idea isn’t clear enough yet.” So goes the oft quoted advise. We as consultants are often guilty of not getting our ideas clear, or well focused enough (read NOT simple!). When we have clear communication as a real goal, we will keep things simpler.
5. Make it a criterion. Seal all your work with a “KISS” (Keep it Splendidly Simple). Before sending a draft, a report, a template, a recommendation, whatever, to your client, as yourself if it is as simple as it could be. If it isn’t simple enough, you (or the client) will have more trouble understanding, communicating and deploying the work product.
6. Apply the Grandma Test. Early in my career, my grandmother asked what I was doing. I tried to explain about improving client performance, teaching useful skills, etc. As a retired schoolteacher, she eventually caught on. “Oh,” she said, “you teach adults.” Yes Grandma, that is exactly what I do. I am a better consultant when I remember this lesson. Your clients and their employees don’t care about your jargon. They care about results. Keep it simple. Tell it like it is. When you do that you’ll have better success with current projects, and more referrals in the future.
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