Why Social Workplaces Reign Supreme

Why Social Workplaces Reign Supreme We know that people are happier at work when they are on good terms with colleagues. Gallup found  that close work friendships boost employee satisfaction by 50% and people with a best friend at work are  seven times more likely to engage fully in their work. Not convinced yet? Fostering friendships at work is a simple way of enhancing employee engagement.  Building a culture that  embraces fun, team spirit, camaraderie and a common sense of purpose creates a sense of shared  commitment. It builds increased levels of employee trust, creativity and communication, leading to staff  retention rages, good morale and healthy productivity and profits.  We need to work together, so fostering fun, friendship and support makes sense. Great organisations are  places where people look forward to going in to work. A decade of research by the Great Place to Work  Institute reveals that “great” companies consistently earn significantly higher marks for “fun”. Space to socialise All this was easier, of course, when we spent eight hours a day sharing space, meeting at the water cooler  or copier, listening to our colleagues gripe, josh and banter. In an open plan space we also had to ignore  their loud telephone conversations, raucous laughter and pungent snack foods but then nobody’s perfect.  A colleague used to say “it’s a good thing we’re all different”, usually through gritted teeth.  Making friends at work is harder now so many of us work from hot desks, home or serviced offices on  short-term or freelance contracts as we only meet up with colleagues occasionally. Times have changed Adam Grant, Professor of Management and Psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says  work is more transactional now; we go to the office to be efficient, not to form bonds and we have  plenty of productive conversations but fewer meaningful relationships.  Grant blames flexitime and virtual offices for our failure to bond with colleagues and points out that work  is more transitory, since we know we won’t be with the same organisation for long, we don’t invest in  building close relationships. This is a shame, as research shows that groups of friends outperform groups  of acquaintances in both decision making and effort tasks. Share and enjoy Personality and, in particular age, mean friendship and support at work don’t have the resonance for everyone. A recent study by LinkedIn looked at how different generations think about relationships at work: Half of all workers believe friendships with co-workers increase workplace happiness; Millennials report that friendships at work have a significant impact on boosting happiness (57%),  motivation (50%) and productivity (39%); Baby Boomers (those between ages 55-65) report work friendships had no effect on their  professional performance.  That’s not really surprising, of course, and Nicole Williams, LinkedIn career expert says “This means that  creating an office culture that resonates across generations, roles and personalities is a critical factor in  building a successful working environment.” Dr. Jessica Methot, Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management at Questrom School of Business  and Labour Relations, Rutgers University recommends organisations should focus on practices that  promote friendship among co-workers who can interact for work-related purposes such as introducing  friendly competition between staff, or implementing social intranet systems that simultaneously allow  employees to collaborate and share task information while getting to know each other on a social level. Fun  is an important component of how people  work best together. When meeting up, sharing a good time with colleagues should be front of mind as well  as productivity,  targets and business. It’s all part and parcel of how people  operate best together, doing business should be fun! Image: Shutterstock

Product Strategy What It Is, How Its Done, Why We Do It - Algrim.co

Product Strategy What It Is, How It’s Done, Why We Do It - Algrim.co We know product development is not a one-day or one-person job. It is a combination of various aspects that in some way or another help define the characteristics of the product. The influence of numerous such elements has the probability of invoking chaos into the design system. Hence, this risk calls for some form of guide to ensure order in interactions and the contributions of every element in the system. Companies adopt product strategies to do just that, by assuring the incorporation of various design influencers along with the valuable info and contribution they have in offer for the product development. Product strategy allows products to be more than just an idea, and factor in transforming the product ideas into actual products. What is Product Strategy? Product Strategy is merely a product plan. It is a plan for a product concerning the market. Markets are playfield for products. A product is built for a purpose, to serve some need. Unless a product sees the daylight of the market, it would never achieve its objective. So, a product lands in the market offering some value (in features) that solve the market problems. Products have to provide some benefit to appeal to customers. But, how do companies create that medium to serve the market? Market research lends insight into the market; product strategy speaks how to take advantage of the market opportunity. Thus, one can say that product strategy helps shape the life path of products. A product strategy builds a product life plan relying on these three elements: vision, goals, and initiatives. Vision Vision is the chief objective of product existence. A product cannot exist without a vision. These are the long-term targets. The overall life cycle of the product is centered around achieving this intended target. Let me draw some similarities between human life and product life. A simple question to you â€" what is your aim? It could be earning more money, helping the poor. Products have the same intentions albeit in a different context. Product vision includes details like market opportunity, customers, positioning, competitor analysis, GTM plans. They are inclined to company interests. Product vision tells how a product serves the customer needs while being an asset to the company. Goals Goals are the baby steps to product vision. Goals have their focus on smaller elements which when brought together show the broader scope of the product vision. Goals are fragments of path break-down to vision. These are measurable, hence, hold the key to evaluating the development of products. Goals are short-term objectives. A goal could be achieved in weeks or months, achieving visions takes years and decades. Goals are time-bound, meaning they have to be delivered within a particular period. Their achievement means small progress towards achieving the vision. A goal could be something like: • 10% increase in sales • 5% drop in conversions Initiatives Initiatives are the driving force that helps accomplish goals, and in order, visions. Goals are the finish line; initiatives are the paths. These are the road of actions taken within an organization. The implementation of initiatives is mandatory to achieve respective goals. Goals could be something like, • Expanding into a new market • Provision of customer support Whenever a product head goes for creating a product strategy, he/she has to keep these three elements in his/her mind. Vision, goals, and initiatives integrate these intricate elements of the whole product planning process. Customer needs, competitors, required product values, and other such parameters need incorporation to establish a proper understanding of what the product is, what it intends to achieve and who it is going to serve. How it’s done? Product strategy is all about planning and its execution. And what one does before planning something? They gather data related to the subject. In this case, it’s the user or market research. Research Market research helps companies assess the market, view the opportunity to serve the customers by tending to user needs. Analyzing the market sheds lights on many aspects that relate to the product. It exposes companies to their target customers with their needs. Moreover, companies get some valuable insight into what the competition is doing to address the market issue. So, research makes businesses aware of competitors’ moves while also showing what the current products have in offer for the users. The primary value provided by the competitor products is the basic user need. Product designs have to be centered around these user needs while providing some additional benefits and experience to distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd. Hence, market research is the first step to acquaint companies with the unknown variables and assess the market options. Value determination Research makes business rich in information. The next phase is to make some meaning out of all of this data. After data collection, design teams have to deduce the information and determine the vital points that will help take the next steps of product development. Teams have to determine the existing product values in offer in the market. They have to evaluate the values being offered with the research results. They have to focus on the pains that hold most priority to the users and compare the current crop for their effectiveness in serving the corresponding need. If the current product options are failing the customers, then the company has landed on a gem of a product idea which gives the users what they want. However, such instances are rare. Existing products with a significant market presence address the primary user needs. If a company intends to dive into that market with a new or revised product, they have to offer additional values upon the primary. For example, a company wants to launch a grocery shopping app. The app has to provide the fundamental value (ability to shop for groceries), but for it to stand out from apps, it needs to offer some other values additionally. It could be a feature like timed delivery. New products are developed from the provision of primary needs along with some other appealing values. The differentiation needs to make the product stand apart in a positive sense to accomplish the intended goals. User and business goals Any product serves both the customer and the business. But what makes a product? Let me be straightforward about it with an example. What is a phone? A phone is a device that helps you communicate with people without being present with the person. What is a mobile phone? A mobile phone is a device that aids communication with people but does not confine you at a specific location as a phone does. Hence, the term ‘mobile’ as it allows movement. Products (phone or mobile phone in the example) provide some value (ability to communicate) to the users. In offering these values, product address the user goals along with the goals of businesses. Both goals are different from each other and only have a product as the common factor. How the product serves the customer or company is defined by their respective goals. Products incorporate some value for the customer in the form of features. The customer-product interaction and relationship benefit the companies. A user need points to user goal. The users interact with the product to achieve their intentions. Product values address user goals. Though the act of a user-product interaction is beneficial for companies, business goals are entirely different from product interaction. Business goals depend on product intention instead of product interaction. They align with the idea of why a particular product exists, rather than concentrating on what it does. For example, a product could tick the boxes for generating revenue, promoting other products, or brand exposure in the business goals checklist. The meaning of product existence varies with the perspective, which is different from a user to the company. Adaptation A product strategy does not remain the same for the entirety of the product life. Any product plan designed is with respect to the current conditions. These conditions change over time, but the product intention does not change. Hence, product plans go under constant amendment during the life cycle of the product to cope with the product vision. Changes might happen during the introduction of the product to market, its growth, maturity, or death/revamp. Product teams need to have touch with scenario changes and act accordingly to enable the product to accomplish its vision. The strategy alterations are necessary to achieve vision while adapting to new market conditions. Why do we do it? It’s a simple task of organizing the intentions and actions. Why do we plan? Aren’t plans made to accomplish something while keeping a smooth and steady flow in progress? Innovating a product contains a long list of tasks and measures. It’s easy to get lost while concentrating and working on a particular stage of developing products. Planning makes sure something like that does not happen. Besides, product strategy helps assess the expenditure of resources and time. Disorganized actions will lead to wastage of resources and time. Apt product strategies prevent the potential risk of overspending resources over particular aspects. Product strategy helps teams progress through steps in a hierarchy or sequence. Take the example of a person washing their clothes in a washing machine. Here are the steps: • Switch on the washing machine and water supply. • Put clothes into the machine. • Set your wash preferences. • The machine does the washing. • Finally, you get clean clothes. The goal was to have clean clothes, which we did. But think what would happen if in between any one of the steps was not performed? Would you expect the same result? Not likely. The sequential order in the activities performed resulted in the final goal achievement, and that’s the takeaway. Product strategy ensures that any development that takes place is in the interest of the product. It prevents missing out on product goals and subsequently, vision. It helps maintain a clear focus on the target. Unless teams are goal-focused, they risk missing out the entire product intention. Besides, product strategy are the pathways to product vision. A product vision guides the respective product strategy. Visions are the final objective of the product, think of it as their aim in life. Product strategies are the blueprint of how the products intend to achieve that aim. Further, product plans help define the product roadmaps. While product strategy deals with planning the product development, product roadmaps, on the other hand, deal with the implementation of product strategies. An apt product strategy will result in an adept roadmap to create what would be the perfect product for the customers. In conclusion Through this article, we were able to put the aspect of Product Strategy under the microscope. Product strategy supervises the use of research information and resources in building plans for developing products based on the user pain points. Product strategy achieves this task by incorporating three significant elements â€" vision, goals, and initiatives. Vision aligns with the company by stating the long-term objective of the product. Goals are for short-term, cumulatively they shall result in achieving the product vision. Initiatives are the actions that direct the goals. To prepare an effective product strategy product teams have to perform extensive market research. The research helps them be aware of the opportunities and constraints in designing the product. Product plans help manage elements responsible for product design and development by a systematic allocation of resources, information and time.

Speak Softly Using Strong Technology Techniques - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Speak Softly Using Strong Technology Techniques - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career As society and culture change over time, it is wise to review what worked best in the past in order to adapt it to the new age. Long ago, Theodore Roosevelt said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” In today’s world, that big stick may have us viewing the use of technology for business development purposes. It’s difficult to comprehend the impact technology has on business growth with just a few minutes of time usage each day. However, on LinkedIn, you may soon be linked to millions of people. For growing business that is certainly a very big stick. The “speak softly” portion of the President’s quote refers to diplomacy. This philosophy will hold true throughout time because without diplomacy, few will remain long-term clients. More than that are the associated communication techniques that have you almost softly whispering to the minds of your prospective clientele. Speaking softly includes several complementary communication avenues. Hearing what is not being said and asking questions of the other party as to why specific information was omitted sheds much light. This line of questioning will further your progress in the sales cycle. Observation of body language and facial expressions provides clues as to what the other person is truly thinking. And recognizing whether your prospect is an auditory, visual or kinesthetic type personality will enable you to more easily communicate on their terms. All of these nuances of communication serve to build the relationship and trust. Doing so establishes your personal brand and enhances the likelihood of the pending sale. Through the social media sites, we are more adeptly able to communicate with a wider range of people. Including pictures, links, articles, blogs, video and all else new at the time, along with your posting, makes a greater impact upon the person receiving your information. An even bigger impact is made when others share your information with their connections. And larger than that is when you form a group dedicated to sharing one another’s content. The reach for each of you becomes exponential. The increased and combined sharing of information today is ripe for headlines with the media. As the media interviews increase along with requests for articles or combination postings from you and your peers, your activity will be seen and read worldwide. The more active you become online, reaching huge numbers, and share valuable information that your intended clientele can use, the greater the likelihood awards may come your way, too. Likewise, the ability today to remain nimble with technology is of importance. We are transitioning from high-end desk top computers to pads and phones that are lightweight, easy to carry and offer highly effective apps for ease of business execution. For example, Twitter and LinkedIn apps make it almost easier to grow connections with apps than on the traditional desktop computer. The process of speaking softly and using strong technology with expert communication skills, and effective marketing strategy, move you to becoming unstoppable. Implementing these ideas will enable you to attract a much larger clientele and find the Smooth Sale!