Category: Improving Yourself

What Marketing Message Do They Really Send?

It’s primarily a Christian tradition. But the custom of sending Christmas cards has become popular among a wide cross-section of people, including non-Christians, both in Western society and in Asia. The traditional greeting reads “Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”; much like that of the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843.

There are innumerable variations of the Christmas card formula, many expressing a more religious Christian sentiment, or containing a poem, prayer or Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion, with an all-inclusive “Season’s Greetings”. However, even the ‘generic’ holiday cards are sent at Christmastime, and often contain Christian symbols, such as Christmas trees and ornaments.

Is it (Possibly) a Negative Marketing Message?

What marketing message comes to mind when you receive a Christmas card from a business? Certainly, it’s intended to create goodwill, but it MAY create feelings of thoughtlessness. Are you unintentionally offending a valued customer who doesn’t share the same religious beliefs?

Religious Diversity in the US

The United States is the most religiously diverse country in the world.

While the majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant and Catholic denominations, many non-Christian religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism), collectively make up the remaining 24% of the adult population.

Instead, Send a Message of Thanks!

Thanksgiving is currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, and has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Thanksgiving is a holiday widely regarded by Americans as a time for:

• giving thanks
• spending time with family,
• feasting,
• football games,
• Parades (Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade)

This year, Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 25, 2010. So consider sending your trusted employees and valued clients that same message of gratitude, family and fun.

By sending Thanksgiving cards, you will pre-empt other businesses (including your competition) that send Christmas cards, you will stand out from the crowd, and your message of thanks will be remembered long after the holiday ends. (Can you say the same for Christmas cards?)

What else inspires you (think outside of the box) in your marketing messages this holiday season?

PS: The first Thanksgiving feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, squash and turkey. This recipe is for an entire Thanksgiving Dinner that takes one hour to cook: One hour Thanksgiving Dinner.

(Many thanks to Wikipedia for the great source of information.)

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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I was recently introduced to the work of Barry Johnson and his book, Polarity Management, in my professional coaches group. Johnson distinguishes between having a problem to solve vs. a polarity to manage. Most of us are familiar with problems- budget reductions, cost overruns, pressing performance goals. Johnson defines problems as those things that are time bound and have definite completion or end points. Polarities are those things that are continual and don’t have definite endings. They are often competing but equally important values or priorities. For instance, you may want to perform well at work and be home with your family. These will be continual struggles that don’t need to be resolved or completed so much as managed well.

I’m guessing most working mothers know this dilemma. You work with the polarity of being home with the kids while they are young and also being a contributing employee or fulfilling your professional dreams.

Have you struggled with any of these polarities?

listening and speaking	tasks and relationships
planning and remaining flexible	patience and action
controlling and allowing	faith and doubt

What about your spiritual life and your professional life? Do you feel they are a polarity for you, perhaps separate but equal? Separate and unequal priorities? Do you strive make these interconnected rather than mutually exclusive?

The Yin and Yang symbols represent the Taoist understanding of polarities as natural flows of life. The poles or competing opposites aren’t so much tasks to be managed as life qualities to be recognized and appreciated, both being integral for life.

If you are feeling stuck now in some course of action at work, it may be that the polarities of two opposing desires, goals, values or commitments are pulling at you simultaneously. Knowing when to shift from one side of the polarity to another takes discernment, experience, and sometimes just plain trial and error.

Think of some aspect of your work where you feel torn between two values or commitments. Here are some clues as to when you need to shift attention to the other side of your polarity:

1. Are you feeling strain from going so far in the one direction?

2. Do you feel out of balance by what you are doing/what’s going on in your life?

3. Do you feel tired or irritable from what you are doing/your current focus?

4. Have you forgotten what it was like to be connected to the other polarity?

May you find peace in the shifting between your polarities. Let balance and flow be your guides.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

We say our people are our greatest resource. Do we only say that in good times? Because in bad times, it seems people are the resources we cannot afford. When times are tough, why do managers cut back on training when that is precisely what they need to do to correct productivity?

Aren’t we realists enough to see more than one factor at play? The economy is one aspect that makes a buyer hesitate, but not the only one. Maybe the sales people that talk to him need to modify their pitch a bit; after all, we are all affected by the economy. Maybe the salesman’s own worries about the economy and his perceived shakiness of his job affects the way he sells your product or service. Yet negativity based on the economy seems to dominate the mood.

Training programs are cut. Junior people and dead wood are let go. We pile the extra work on those employees identified as high performers and then we worry they’re going to walk because we know the work just isn’t fair.

It seems to me this is the time to get the best out of people. To do for them what we need to do to see they are motivated; employees need more than ever to feel valued; they need to realize some of their dreams could come true—even now. To them, it’s not just about the stabilization of the bottom line. Motivated and well-trained people work harder and are more productive. But cut, it seems, we must.

Take no risks while the bottom line is affected must be a management mantra although I can’t say I’ve ever heard it. Some winners, and some losers, do just the opposite. It’s time for the cliches. Tough times require tough measures. “Tough” doesn’t necessarily mean to look within. Look outside. Get “tough” on the economy. Don’t let it defeat you. Perhaps, instead of cutting, trimming, or “doing more with less,” we begin to see our most valuable resource as the way out of trouble.

Maybe it’s time to take a risk because it can’t get much worse—at least from this outsiders perspective.

Maybe it’s time for intelligent optimism–for us to:

• admit that negative forces exist but choose to focus on the positive,
• focus on what the office can control and ignore what it cannot,
• avoid adopting a “victim” mentality,
• focus on the tools that are available, not what is lacking, and
• spread optimism, while not letting negative conversations get in the way of the vision.

Leaders and managers should continue to grow the company vision despite the economic outlook, and look at ways to do more, thinking differently, seeking opportunities, and overcoming negative barriers the office itself may have erected.

Train those valuable resources, use them and make them feel valued and necessary to the company’s success. They may have solutions that they’re not be sharing. If you don’t value them, their personal survival is going to be more important than the bottom line. It’s human nature.

By acknowledging that economic problems exist, managers show their understanding of the realities of the marketplace, work environment, their client base and public perception. Remarkable managers and leaders choose to move forward with creativity, commitment, and positive thoughts. Negative thoughts never achieve anything but negative results. Even maintaining the status quo can be just as dangerous, only the end may be slower and more painful.

What? You never heard “attack,” when you could have “retreated?” Or, “you can’t win if you don’t try?” I said that just the other day. Of course, we all know measured risk is at the heart of entrepreneurship. Can anyone say this is any different?

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

“How can I sell this idea to my boss?”

That’s a question I often hear as a career coach. It usually comes from someone seeking to lead from the middle.

Influencing up to obtain additional resources, or to impact a staffing decision, or to extend a deadline, or whatever requires both a business rationale and an artful pitch.

Here are four steps for influencing your boss and convincing him that it makes good sense to consider your idea or request:

1. See the world as your boss sees it.

It’s impossible to sell an idea without understanding your audience’s perspective. What matters to your boss and to your boss’s boss? If they are under the gun to cut costs, then frame your idea in terms of reducing expenses. If customer satisfaction is a hot issue, then frame your idea as a means to improve customer satisfaction. Remember the focus of your “pitch” depends upon the boss’s priorities, not yours.

2. Tune into your boss’s communication style.

Think about how your boss likes to receive information. Does he want to hear a narrative of the idea or does he prefer to see the numbers first? Develop a presentation that plays to his needs. Also be aware of what are good times and bad times to make your “pitch”. Be attuned to his schedule, his demands and how much is on his plate.

3. Make it real and relevant for your boss.

There is nothing more powerful than taking your boss to the heart of the action. If you want to improve customer service, invite her to a customer focus group to hear the need first hand. If you are pushing to purchase new equipment, bring him to the factory and show how it can cut waste.

4. Be the messenger they believe not kill!

If you want to lead up, you must be perceived as competent, capable and connected. So, how are you perceived by your boss, your boss’s boss and even your peers? Are you considered a rising or falling star? What can you do right now to increase or enhance your personal credibility?

Do you have a great idea that you want to “pitch” to your boss or to a key decision maker? Test it out on this blog and get my feedback.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

This is my favorite time of year. The trees look spectacular here in the Appalachian Mountains and everything is ablaze with color. Fall always gets me thinking about what needs changing, what needs to be dropped, and what needs to go dormant for a while.

It’s a good time to take an inventory of your busy schedule and see what needs to be changed, dropped, or let lie for a while.

• Are there tasks you’ve taken on that you really need to let go of?
• What commitments do you need to finish so you can rest more during the darker winter months?
• What about your office- is it cluttered with stacks of papers that need to be filed or sorted?
• Are you squirreling away things that you don’t need to save?
• How can you make a change with your desk or office so that you make some more space in your life?

The squirrels are busy collecting their nuts and people are busy preparing for holiday feasts. Same activity, different species.

Being a mammal you are more connected to the sun and seasons than you may realize. Your body may need more sleep or you may need more stillness through the winter hibernating months. This is a great time for you to figure out how busy you want to be as the holidays loom on the horizon. If you find this a stressful and hectic time, be intentional to do things differently, slow your pace and welcome the hibernation.

• Choose one thing you want to do differently this fall to prepare for winter.
• Choose one thing you want to drop to simplify your holidays.
• Choose one thing you want to go dormant for a few months.

The Celtic tradition of Samhain marks the cross-quarter holiday between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Soltice, often celebrated with bonfires to light the dark sky. Believed to be a time when the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, people wore costumes to commemorate the dead along with the dying of the trees, and to honor their ancestors and celebrate the end of the fall harvest. The tradition has been carried into America as All-Saints Day on Nov. 1^st and Halloween (all hallow’s eve) on Oct. 31^st.

As you look towards the winter holiday season, the darkness calls forward your inner light to glow brighter. What warmth can you bring to your co-workers? What will help you remember your inner light in the midst of the busy-ness of your squirrel activities?

Here are a few quick suggestions as you prepare for winter:

1. Take time to walk and enjoy the fall colors

2. Light a candle each night and reflect on who helped you get through your day- thank the electrician who wired your office, the grocery store clerk who stacked your food, the truck driver who brought the gas to your local station

3. Cook a simple meal of locally grown vegetables or make a soup of the fall vegetables to celebrate the end of the fall harvest

4. Check on someone you haven’t talked to in a while to see how they are doing.

In this life we cannot always do great things, but we can do all things with great love.

Mother Teresa

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

As leaders of an organization, as trainers and managers, or anyone single employee in our organization, it is essential we are able to communicate our credibility and by doing so reflect positively on the credibility of our organization.

We all want to communicate well. It is the key to our success. If we do it well.

Like a tree falling in the woods a thousand miles away that no one hears, if your audience numbering one or a thousand doesn’t “hear” your message the result is the same. Nothing happens. You’re credible in your mind only.

“If I follow the script,” you think, “everything should fall in place.” But it doesn’t. “Why? How can I fix it?” You say it is an established program proven to work. You say all the right things. It should work.

Ever say something you regretted because you didn’t consider your audience? Everyone has had those embarrassing moments. The difference between us and the animals is our big brains and our mouths (often big) that can form words and sentences to communicate ideas—not just immediate needs or express emotions, and yet sometimes we speak on automatic to get the job done. So, we are “embarrassed” by not seeing the “who” we are talking to until it is too late.

We have made a habit of going about our business and forget the basics of communication. In any organization we make a plan. We probably make a “big picture” communication plan so we know how we will get the word out, but what about our messengers? The messengers need to plan how to communicate that plan, or any plan, or any instruction, or any sales pitch, in the same way. Look at the factors involved. What is my purpose, who am I talking to, how do I say what I need to say?

There are three things you should know to effectively communicate your credibility:

1. Know your audience,
2. Know your subject, and
3. Know your self.
   

Understanding what I want to say seems easy at first, but that may depend on the “who.” Of course, you have to know what you want in the communication. And if we don’t know “why,” then we shouldn’t have the job we do.

It may sound little like Abbott and Costello’s famous bit about “Who’s on first, but this is all about communication or miscommunication. If the classic situation didn’t ring true to us in some way, it wouldn’t be funny. After all, miscommunication and misunderstanding are at the heart of comedy. However, it is credibility we are after.

We have to know about our audience to know how to present our subject to that audience in a way that has the desired result. And since we are doing the communicating, shouldn’t we consider ourselves part of the equation? We are the catalyst. We make the message memorable by adding the spice of our education, our expertise or our experience, and the bottom line: our credibility.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Have you lost that “loving” feeling?

You’ve survived the layoffs, cut wages, reorganizations and other company changes. You‘re stressed out, fed up and ready to bolt.

On the other hand, the economy is going nowhere, the analysts aren’t sure if we’re in recovery, recession or something in-between and you’re being told “you have a job, be happy.”

So, should you stay or leave? Before you make that critical career decision, take a deep breath, assess your situation and do a cost benefit analysis.

First, consider the reasons to stay. For example:

1. Relationships matter more than money.
You may think you can find a job that will pay you more, but you will be leaving behind a wealth of relationships. When weighing your options, don’t forget the value of the network, the friends and professional colleagues you have now.

2. You are doing well compared to your peers.
Research shows that many people under estimate their skills and their prospects and over estimate others. Take the time to do a realistic assessment of what you have to offer and its value in today’s marketplace.

3. The grass is not always greener.
People, who are desperate to get out of a job, tend to see potential opportunities only outside their company. They enthusiastically take a new job and then realize they’ve gone from the preverbal frying pan into the fire.

Now, consider the reasons to leave. For example:

1. Your relationship with your boss is damaged beyond repair.
You have tried to mend it but you’re getting stonewalled. Yes, she may be a jerk but she is the boss and in a power struggle, you will probably lose.

2. Your values are at odds with the culture.
For example, your company is hierarchical and you want more influence over your job. It’s very hard for one person to change a culture unless he’s the CEO or has been brought in to change things.

3. Your stress level is way off the charts.
It’s affecting your physical or mental health and your relationships with family and friends. You’re burnt out, burnt up and dread going to work.

So what will it be – stay or leave?

In looking at the reasons to stay and the reasons to leave, which will have the best impact on your personal and career satisfaction? What will provide you with the most benefit today? What about tomorrow?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Excerpted from Linda’s forthcoming book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand”

A colleague taught me an expression I really like- “You are a perfect expression of who you are at this moment in time. You can be nothing other than that.” If you continually judge people based on their worst behavior, you won’t find the gift that they offer. Rather than staying stuck in your judgments, shift to see a troublesome co-worker as capable of being kind, caring, or compassionate. Even if they don’t exhibit these qualities in the moment, see through their behaviors to what lies beneath- a soul being experiencing life.

Accepting others’ frailties and faults requires patience. We all have things to learn. And we encounter those who help us learn our spiritual lessons. Imagine a co-worker you really would like to change. What are they there to teach you? What are they mirroring for you that you need to see in yourself? They have been brought to you at this divinely inspired time for your growth and learning.

For example, if you are supervised by someone poorly skilled, there may be a lesson in there for you on patience or tolerance. Rather than stewing in frustration at someone’s incompetence, especially if there is nothing you can do about it, remind yourself, “We’re all doing the best job we can at any moment.” I also like this quote “Have patience with me, God isn’t done with me yet.” What a great reminder that we are all a work in progress!

When you get frustrated with someone who seems to learn their lessons more slowly than you would like, look back at times when it took you several dozen or several hundred attempts to master an important life skill or spiritual lesson. Honor and bless their journey of learning, as you deepen your own. Find patience and forgiveness in that moment and practice letting the rest go. Staying attached to your frustration or resentment doesn’t do you or anyone else any good.

If you can find ways to help someone learn skills they seem to be lacking, then provide that assistance. Just remember, people generally receive help only when they are ready to shift out of their past patterns. You can’t teach someone who isn’t ready to learn. Instead of worrying about what the other needs to learn, focus on the spiritual work waiting for you. Till your own fertile soil and see what you can get to blossom there.

I love this quote as a greeting for others. Imagine how different our work environments would be if we saw each other in this way every day:

I greet that place in you wherein resides the Center of the Universe

I greet that place in you wherein resides Truth, and Beauty, and Peace and Love.

I greet that place in you where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me,

We are One.

Namaste

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her first book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.

Reflecting on the right word for N, I kept coming back to the word No. Then I was in the class that I’m helping to pilot for a client called Renewing Life – which integrates the mind, body and spirit partnership – and I know why No is the right word. We discussed the following activity in class, which explains it all. I’m using the exercise with permission so that you too can increase your ability to know when to say No. These are the facilitator instructions for you to conduct the activity yourself. I encourage you to do so!

Instructions:

1. Each person is to take out two sheets of paper. Give the following instructions one at a time as you do each one.

2. On the first sheet of paper write the word: SHOULD. On the other side of this piece of paper write the word: WHY.

3. On the second sheet of paper write the word: KNOW. On the other side of this piece of paper write the word: NO.

4. After everyone has written these words on their papers, the facilitator tells the participants to crumple, crunch up, rip to pieces, and destroy and throw the SHOULD and WHY paper into the wastebasket. (This is usually done with great drama.)

5. Explain:

Should and WHY are questions with no answers. They are both examples of “stinking thinking” as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous. Louise Hay, in her book, You Can Heal Your Life, says that she believes SHOULD is one of the most damaging words in the English language.

Shoulds:

• imply we are wrong, or we were wrong, or we are going to be wrong
• teach us NOT to listen to our own intuition or inner knowledge.
• often have us feeling drained or guilty

Instead of thinking about what we should or shouldn’t do, ask yourself if an activity is LIFE-GIVING. Will this action give my life meaning, will it give me energy? If it will, then it becomes something to plan to do and look forward to….something you could do…or might do.

WHY is in the same category. There is no answer to the question “WHY?” It is okay to try to make sense of the things that happen to us. Making sense of something is different than finding answers to the WHY questions in our lives…”Why me?…Why didn’t I take better care of myself?” (Sounds a little like the SHOULD question!). WHY does not produce results. It just reinforces staying stuck. It is like trying to change the past, instead of saying, “Now that this has happened what am I going to do with it?”

MAKING SENSE is more realistic. It is answering questions in a different way.

6. Now take the second sheet of paper with the KNOW and NO on it.

Explain:

• From this course you have more knowledge – you have gained skills, self-awareness, and self-acceptance.
• From your illness or the struggles with the illness of those you love, you have grown, you KNOW yourself and what you need better, and you may have a greater sense of what you want from your life and what you have to contribute. Knowledge is healing.
• From these same experiences you have asked yourself your limits and have grown in your ability to say NO to those things that are not life giving, or dissipate that energy you need for living.

Saying NO to others is often saying YES to you. It is setting healthy boundaries and helping add focus and direction in your life.

NOTE: Use the NO page to demonstrate when you hold it right side up then “Say NO (then turn the sheet upside down so the word is now ON) to turn your immune system ON.”

This is the whole course! You now KNOW much more than when you started Renewing Life and you can say No to things that will drain your energy and say YES to yourself.

Fold the KNOW/NO paper and keep it in a safe place always. You now KNOW how to live in the NOW.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Are you learning new shots or skills every single day?

Jack Nichlaus was asked if there are really talented golfers who never make it. “Oh, hundreds of them”, he replied. “A lot of people out there are more talented than I am and yet, through the years, I’ve passed them by. That’s because I never was satisfied with my game. I was learning new shots every single day.”

It’s up to you to make sure you are continually improving, growing, and learning every day. It’s up to you to make sure you never go out of style! It’s up to you to take charge of your professional development. Here’s how.

1. Have a learning perspective.

Be on the lookout for teachable moments. Approach each learning experience, whether you want to be there or not, with the questions: What can I learn? What one or two things can I take away that I can use immediately? Who else would find value in this learning?

2. Benchmark your skills periodically.

Do it at least once a year. For those in a fast moving profession or industry every three months may be required. In other words, what’s in your work portfolio? Is it filled with skills or competencies that are up-to-date and sought after? Or, is it filled with skills which are obsolete and not very portable?

3. Create a learning plan.

Pinpoint specific skills and knowledge that you need to acquire or up-grade. Then identify the professional development activities that are available to you. They can include mentor relationships, special assignments at work, in-house and public seminars, professional conferences, on-line courses, university education, books, journals, blogs, etc.

Are you learning every day?

I hope so. If not, you may find yourself a professional dinosaur…out of touch, out of skills and out of work. Just as a company invests in its own research and development, you need to invest in your own career growth and development. Remember, as you never outgrow your need for milk, you never outgrow your need for professional development.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?