Thursday, 31 January 2008
Is your business aligned or out of alignment?
| This morning I listened to a tele-seminar by Debbie Bermont from Outrageous Business Growth (it was great to hear all of the other Aussies on the call with me). The thing that jumped out at me was a useful definition of when a business is in alignment and when it isn't. When your business is not aligned it feels like you are walking through mud. You have lost the passion for your business, you work long hours and have no time for fun or your family. You may have health issues and don't have real clarity about what you are trying to achieve. You have cash-flow problems with your business and feel like you have to work hard to get anywhere. You get overwhelmed by information and all that you need to do - but don't know where to start. There is drama everywhere around you - and you are hit hard by economic changes. You think you have to "do it alone". When your business is aligned you come from a space of "yes" - where you are confident you will get what you want - even if it may turn out slightly differently than you imagined. You have time to pursue your outside interests and passions. You feel energised at the end of each day - and when challenges come you can easily deal with them. You have a great supportive team around you that work together to create solutions. Today compare your business to this list. Is your business aligned or not aligned? Is everything flowing smoothly or does it feel you are crawling over boulders each day? Notice which areas in particular feel more "out of whack" than others. If your business is not aligned you are doing it a lot tougher than you need to do. Friction is holding you in place. Just for today focus on what is going right for your business - focus on the things that are flowing smoothly. Focus on the positive experiences. Focus on gaining clarity about your business direction and purpose - and communicate this direction and purpose to your employees and your customers. Start to bring your business more into alignment and reduce your business hassle. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony |
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Great Aussie ideas
| I have just discovered a great blog - My New Shiny Shoes. It is an online shopping guide for Australian shoppers. It is great to see Australian companies happy to source local products. The post that particularly caught my eye were two enterprising companies that send Australian care packs to people o/s including Tim Tams, Polly Waffles, Milo and other goodies. It takes G'day LA to a whole new level! What about sending some Aussie gift baskets for your overseas clients or customers instead of the traditional boring ones for your next promotion or thank-you? It's funny how what is regular and mainstream to us can be interesting and novel to others. Have a look at your business through new eyes and see where you may be interesting to others (but boring to yourself). Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony |
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Leadership Lessons from School
| Today my kids go back to school after a long summer break. Last night as we lay talking about their hopes and fears for the year it became clear one fear was quite strong - "would they make a mistake and be embarrassed in front of everyone"? The fear of embarrassment is a fear for people no matter their age. The fear that you will make a mistake and people will laugh at you can paralyse you from doing anything. How can you break that fear? Telling it to go away won't cut it. Sometimes you just need to laugh at the fear and learn from others who have had the very experience you fear the most (and survived). As a leader - sometimes you have to be the one who shares your experiences to your team, to allow yourself to be open and vulnerable to help others to grow. So here is the story of my worst embarrassment - and how I survived. Picture a tall, gangly, pimply 12 year old (me). I had just started a catholic high school in the fringes of Sydney and knew no one at the school when I started. It was about 2 months into the school year - still warm as I was enjoying sitting on the bench outside my classroom in the sunshine. Our classroom had windows that opened up and out and I was sitting beneath one of the open windows. A girl popped her head out of the window and started teasing me - I took it silently for a few minutes before I reached up and started to shut the window to silence her words. The only problem was the girl just at that moment leant even further forward, so the window smashed onto her head - and the glass shattered. I was marched to the office in tears and fear and told by the principal (a very stern nun) that I was to inform my parents that night what I had done and return the next morning with a letter from my parents about what they would do about my error. Fast forward a few hours - I used to catch the bus down to the local library after school. One of the boys at the library from the boys school near us handed me a note. It was a typical teenage love note all full of how much he liked me and asking me to be his girlfriend. The day wasn't a total loss after all! That night I copped a hiding from my parents and was handed a letter to give to the Principal in the morning saying what had been done at home and how they were going to pay for the broken window. The next day I walked with wobbly legs and dry mouth into the Principal's office. I handed the Principal the note - watched her read it and then with growing horror realised that I had given her the note from the boy and not my parents. My heart sank beneath my feet and I grabbed the note and ran out of the office. I wanted to curl up and die from embarassment. ... But I didn't. The Principal never mentioned it again. My parents had a great laugh about it and my friends helped me through it. I didn't die. The world moved on. In a few short weeks it was old news in the school. If you have ever stuffed up ask yourself - what will this really matter in a few weeks time. Will this really make a difference to the world? Yes, there will be times when you are embarrassed - but if you don't stuff up every now and again you aren't human. How do you deal with a team member or colleague that has made a mistake? Do you make it easy on them or do you make their embarrassment harder to deal with? Do you share your stories with your team? Love to hear your thoughts. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: dealing with embarrassment, leadership, mistakes |
Saturday, 26 January 2008
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Infinite Underpants
| I was doing some research for a client this morning when I found this brilliant article by Beth Banning and Neill Gibson on how to change your thoughts away from negative emotion laden words (like money) and towards more positive, fun strategies. Their theory goes whenever you hear the word money (and feel yourself closing up inside) - replace the word with the most ridiculous word you can think of. In their article they used the word underpants. Here's a few examples they gave to get you started ...
This is one I think the kids can happily join in on (and of course your team members). You can of course change the concept to apply to pretty much anything that is causing stress in your workplace.In Queensland many local council employees are finding the council amalgamations quite challenging at present. They could easily change the words "council amalgamations" to something silly in their team like "baggy blue trousers" or "bottom burps". This could lead to conversations such as "I wonder if any of our work colleagues will lose their jobs because of bottom burps". It certainly takes the sting out the topic - reduces stress and gives a chance to deal with the issue without emotional baggage. Until next timeIngrid Cliff Labels: infinite underpants, law of attraction, positive thinking, thoughts creating things |
Friday, 25 January 2008
Retiring from a business - Bill Gates style
| How do you deal with leaving your business and retiring? Leaving something you have sweated blood and tears over to have grown to be something spectacular? Every business owner faces this dilemma at some stage. When Bill Gates retired recently he had precisely the same issues. I love his video of his last day on the job at Microsoft - thinking through what he may do now. Aside from the humour, it shows that you are now free to create exactly who you would like to be in the world.But why wait until you retire? Everyone can benefit from stopping and thinking if they are following their heart. If you could do anything - what would you do? As you watch Bill, think about you.Until next time Ingrid CliffHeart Harmony Labels: bill gates retirement |
Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Wednesday, 23 January 2008
What does it mean to be Australian?
| It is nearly Australia Day - and a great time to reflect on what it means to be an Australian and living in Australia. I was looking through some friends posts and came across Rainbow Designs post - where she commented you know you are in Australia when you look out your door and see a koala in your gum tree. For me being Australian is celebrating the great diversity in the landscape, nature and the people. It is diversity that makes Australia a special place to be. It is the freedom - freedom of thought, freedom to debate, freedom to try new ideas and the freedom to fail or succeed on your merits. I look around and I see freedom in every small business, every person and every idea. It is the friendliness and willingness to lend a hand. Businesses and people helping other businesses and people to overcome adversity and succeed. We have seen this with the recent floods in Queensland. On a personal note I have been privileged to have been on the receiving end of this support lately. I have had a rough December and January and I am truly grateful for Uellan from Emerging Health and Leigh from Kayleigh Dowsing in particular for their support and healing on my really crappy days. So what does it mean to be Australian? It means mates helping mates. It means falling down and getting back up again and it means being proud and grateful to be living in Australia. I am proud to be an Aussie. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Labels: australia day |
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
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How an employee handbook rocked the world!
| Who ever heard of a company's employee handbook being discussed around the world? Well that is precisely what has happened this past week. Billionaire property Tycoon Sam Zell has just taken over the Tribune - a major newspaper in the USA. One of the first things he did to shift the organisation culture was to throw away the old company manual and rewrite it in his own unique way. So why is it making headlines in newspapers and magazines? Why is it being talked about in blog posts around the world? Well - it could be the way that it is written. Rule # 1: Use your best judgment Rule #2: See Rule 1. That's it. That is the one hard and fast rule. Unless a serious mistake was made when you were hired, you have pretty good judgment. One of the clauses causing the most debate includes “working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and not considered harassment” Great idea – but it won’t stand up in court! Employee handbooks are seen as a company declaring how it intends to deal with a situation. While the manual does go on to say how they will handle any allegations of harassment - the damage is done by the first paragraph. The reason it is damaging as it declares the company believes that poor language, racial vilification or sexual harassment in its widest sense should be tolerated within a company. This will mean that the company will have a very hard time arguing they took reasonable steps to prevent such harassment occuring. I did say it was quirky - and quite funny in places - “Making the building too hot, banging on trash can lids or loud bagpipe music are annoyances you can complain about …” That said – there are a lot of great features you may want to consider incorporating into your manual – particularly the core values of keep your word, collaborate, no surprises, compete, play fair, take intelligent risk, reward successful performance, question authority, serve our local communities. There is no doubt that the quirkiness has certainly raised the awareness of the manual to all staff and potential employees in a way few companies have been able to do. The test will be when someone (and they will) tries to defeat the manual in court - what will the court think about the quirkiness and humour. Personally I love humour, but given all of the cases I have seen I would say leave the humour out of critical business documents such as employee handbooks. It only comes back to haunt you. If you would like to check out their manual in full I have uploaded a copy of the Tribune Employee Manual here in PDF for your thoughts and opinions. Is the Tribune manual great or a problem that could have been avoided? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Labels: employee handbook, employee manual, tribune employee manual |
Monday, 21 January 2008
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The expectation economy
| One of my favourite trend watching sites has just released its latest summary on "The expectation economy". What is the trend? The growing trend of highly aware, well researched consumers demanding exceptional service and products. Many consumers have changed their buying patterns. Previously they would go to a store, look at products and talk with a salesperson before buying. The trend we are now seeing is consumers first doing extensive research about the product AND the company before they will consider purchasing. They check out blogs, forums and other places to assess how credible and reliable the company is. Many also check out "green credentials" - what the company is doing to preserve and conserve the environment. All of this happens before you even get to hear from the customer. If you "fail" you have lost a sale. What impact does this have on businesses? If you are the only real alternative on the market - not much, at least initially. But if a company with better credentials surfaces, you will suddenly find your business dries up. What do you do about it? Be aware of the trend - look to see who is doing great things in meeting customer demands. What can you learn from them? Here's just a few examples: Walking sticks with funky designs and colours - just because you need a stick to get around doesn't mean you automatically like silver! Free photocopying for students - some clever campuses sell the back of pages as advertising space. Students get free copies - businesses get to market to students. Keep a running ideas book in your office, where anyone in the team can jot down somewhere that had exceptional customer service and what made it so great; fantastic niche products just what they were looking for; or products that had a clear green message about their creation. How can you adapt these ideas to your business? Don't ignore the trends - unless you want to go out of business. Until next time Ingrid Cliff |
Friday, 18 January 2008
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Thursday, 17 January 2008
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The impact of the internet on business
| Recently I was asked how the internet was forcing businesses to rethink their current business model. This is a massive topic - many businesses are not aware of the changes happening around them and continue to do business in the same old way. It is working for them after a fashion - but it is also limiting their future. But the internet is not just causing changes to business practices - it is also fundamentally changing management, marketing and leadership. The web and the rise of social media and Web 2.0 has meant a blurring between personal and business. Many of our business contacts are now "friends" on Facebook who mingle sometimes uncomfortably with our social friends. This has an impact on the workforce as managers try and manage the productivity of work vs. recreational interaction. The rise of the maven or star vs. company branding. With web 2.0 there is the rise of the cult hero - individuals gain a following, where their thoughts and opinions sway results. People follow people - not companies. It is now much harder to brand a company than it is to brand a leader. We saw this in the last election - with Kevin 07 vs. the Labor party reflecting the change in society. The total reversal of product development. In the past companies had a "great idea" then created a product before taking it to market to see if it will work. With Web 2.0 that is a recipe for disaster. Now you find a niche that is not being served effectively, test the market to see if people are willing to pay for a product in that niche by selling someone else's product and using free web media and gain proof of concept. Only once the test is proven with guaranteed results you then invest in product creation in your own right. Impact on traditional advertising - web "direct mail" is now a science, where every element is tested, results measured and tweaked for maximum return on investment. It is very easy to now prove ROI on a web advertising campaign. Traditional forms of advertising don't have similar speed and data availability so are losing out in terms of expenditure from savvy businesses. Information silos are busted wide open (think Wikis). The web has meant people value instant access to information (often in an organic way vs. a structured way). Businesses are struggling to keep pace with sharing information within and across parts of the business. Many knowledge management tools where they impose unnecessary structure are not stepping up to the mark in terms of useability. It is not uncommon for parts of businesses looking for info on the wider web because an internal silo will not share, only to find someone in that area had posted that info for all to see on a blog post etc. The use of social media such as You Tube as a major way to communicate. People are turning away from traditional TV, magazines and newspapers. More people use Facebook, Myspace and YouTube each day than Google! Even Oprah now streams via You Tube on the You Tube Oprah Channel - that is telling you something! I am an avid trend-watcher - every person I have worked with in the past knows that this is one of my areas of passion. Businesses need to be aware of trends building momentum and get on board before they are left behind. The good part is that small businesses are the best placed to capitalise on these latest trends. It doesn't cost a lot of money to reach the world with your niche product. You just need the desire, the knowledge or someone with the knowledge. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: small business ideas, small business marketing ideas, small business trends, social media, web 2.0 |
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
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Businesses working together rather than standing alone
| Why do many small businesses think they have to "go it alone"? They believe they should be able to succeed by learning everything, doing everything, being everything to everybody. They believe the only way to succeed is by reinventing the wheel from the ground up. If this is you then your approach is self limiting. It is costing you success and wealth. No person or business is as island - they rely on other people to help supply their needs. Just look at the computer screen on your desk in front of you. People from around the world created it for you - they assembled the hardware, coded the software, designed the equipment that manufactured the pieces within it. People built your desk and your chair. People drove trucks to stores with your goods on the back and people sold them to you. Your desk and computer are the results of thousands of people working together to bring them to you. Where am I going with this? You didn't decide to handcraft the desk by yourself. You didn't grow the timber, cut the tree, finish the wood, make the nails and assemble it. You relied on other people's expertise to help you. You already have the experience of relying on others - extend this further. Where are you standing by yourself in your business? Where are you trying to reinvent a wheel that someone else already has invented? Sure you can improve the design, but fundamentally the wheel is sound. Build on it. I see this all of the time with businesses trying to find a perfect niche no one else has thought of. It has been thought of - the question is has it been applied effectively. I see it in businesses trying to build a product, write a policy or code software from scratch. Templates exist - borrow and build on them. I see it in businesses trying to implement cutting edge HR practices and change initiatives when the dust hasn't settled on the last effort. They don't reflect on what has been done and build on that. They don't borrow ideas from people who have successfully been there - done that. I see it in businesses trying to market by themselves - when a shared mail out with like businesses can be cheaper and more effective. I see it in businesses fight to gain clients - when providing referrals means everybody wins (including the clients as they get people with a great track record). So what can you do? Stop and reflect before you act. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel? Is there already a wheel you can build on? How can you borrow ideas from other great businesses and implement them/tweak them to make them your own? How can you learn from the past and other's experiences. My blog contains stacks of "Twitters" about great sites around the world where people are doing interesting things. Check out some of them and be inspired. Form your own Master Mind group to keep you motivated and to share ideas - learn from each other Go to networking events and learn from others experiences. Share your knowledge and expertise. Share your wisdom on social groups such as LinkedIn and Yahoo answers - you may have the answers others need to hearThe bottom line is you don't need to stand alone. Ask - share - learn - build on what is already great. Your success will be so much greater as you are starting from a higher point Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: business to business networking, small business ideas |
Monday, 14 January 2008
Marketing Tip - Low cost marketing ideas
| I am always on the look-out for great low-cost marketing ideas for small business and found these ideas on the Tall Poppy Blog. While they are written in the context of party planners getting bookings - the ideas are directly applicable for any small business wanting appointments or sales from clients. And the best and simplest idea ... simply ask for an appointment with every contact! Here's a link to the full post if you would like some more low cost ideas. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: marketing tips, small business ideas, small business marketing ideas |
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Sunday, 13 January 2008
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Employee Performance Review Jokes
 Employee performance reviews are very serious things. ... But- like all things in life there is a totally opposite side which can be very funny. I just updated one of my sites with some of my favourite employee performance review jokes.
Visit Employee Performance Reviews - Tips, Templates and Tactics page on Squidoo, scroll down and have a giggle at the lighter side of performance reviews. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: employee performance review jokes, performance appraisal humour, performance review humour, performance review jokes |
Saturday, 12 January 2008
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Friday, 11 January 2008
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Thursday, 10 January 2008
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Marketing tips - Lessons from Christmas
| I just read some very interesting stats in a blog by Tonic Gifts - most people who bought their Christmas gifts on-line had to purchase by Dec 18th to ensure pre-Christmas delivery. If you are a small business and sell gifts suitable for Valentine's day - you only have until Feb 7th to make the mail. How can you remind your customers of the rapidly looming deadline? What else can you do to boost your Valentine's Day sales and marketing. While we are at it - think bigger. What press-releases can be issued about Valentines Day - newspapers are always looking for a great Valentine's Day angle - so get your thinking caps on. One year we had great media success with a meditation on forgiveness packaged under the heading "What to give you ex for Valentine's Day". The sky is the limit - so think laterally Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: buying presents online, christmas gifts, marketing tips, valentines day gifts, valentines day marketing ideas, valentines day press releases |
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
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What small business needs to know about employee performance reviews
| Many small businesses struggle with employee performance reviews. They want a system that works, that has "ready to go" templates, has tips on how to do them and is not just a cut-down version from big business. Announcing the release of "Employee Performance Reviews - Tips, Templates and Tactics". The pack is specifically designed for small business - and is choc-a-block full of useful information. Check it out at: http://www.heartharmony.com.au/EmployeePerformanceReviews.html Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: employee performance review, performance appraisal, performance reviews, small business employee performance reviews |
Monday, 7 January 2008
Small Business Ideas - What is your personal brand?
| This week I was asked on Linked In: "Ever since I came across Tom Peter's "Brand You" philosophy I've always been fascinated with the concept. With that in mind, I have set out to create my own personal brand to make myself stand out from the crowd and competition. I do this by dressing well, having strong technical and creative skills, being driven and goal orientated, and able to work alone, in team environments, or in front of other people. What is your personal brand? How do you try to stand out from the crowd?" SteveHere is my response - I thought it may be relevant to other business owners. Brands to me are more than just exteriors ... they are your personal values and goals made visible. Brands can be personal brands if you work for a large organisation. But ... what I have found in small business is the personal/business line becomes very blurry so often the brands become one and the same. No matter whether you have a personal or small business brand, if you focus just on the exterior of dressing a certain way or carrying certain executive toys without being clear on the underpinning "who am I" then your brand doesn't stick or truly work in your clients mind. So for your personal brand, first work out and define your core values. Steve - I am guessing that you value technical expertise, achievement and success. This would mean that your brand is one where all your solutions head towards those values. Every interaction you have with customers reflects technical expertise, achievement and success. Every letter you send is a mirror of these three things. Every blog post is a reflection of who you are. If they aren't, you need to go back and assess whether you are being true to who you really are. So what is my "personal brand" ?
Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Linked In: Ingrid Cliff Labels: brand definition, linked in, personal brand |
Sunday, 6 January 2008
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Saturday, 5 January 2008
Royalty free images
 Often small businesses need a picture to help make a point or to break up the expanse of words on a page, letter or newsletter. Stock images are great ... but can be costly for many small businesses to buy. This is my favourite site for royalty free images - http://www.sxc.hu/home. There are thousands of great photos on the site you can use. Some photos you need to pay for, some you need to acknowledge the photographer but many many more are totally free to use (as long as you aren't using them for nefarious purposes). It is a site worth checking out to make your next blog post or marketing stand out! Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: royalty free images, royalty free photos |
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Friday, 4 January 2008
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Thursday, 3 January 2008
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