heartharmony.com.au

For the past few weeks I have been helping an international speaking client totally rebrand. This meant constructing all new marketing collateral assisted by the brilliant Paul from Brandrally, who has created amazing branding & design & Geoff McDonald from Ideas Architect for the awesome game design. (Did I mention we had 2 1/2 weeks to do this 6 month project, as there was major event that the branding had to be ready for?)

One of the areas our client talks about in his speeches, is his early career as a professional bull rider (as is the normal career path for all Chartered Accountants). Bull riding is also known as “dancing with thunder”, which seemed a great analogy – except our ride lasted for more than 8 seconds.

In 2 weeks I wrote the copy for handouts, banners, business cards, website, presentation slides, game, polished his speech, while working with Paul & Geoff on design, graphics, images and refining the branding elements. Sleep has been in short supply!

Given the deadlines for printing, we used multiple printers across Australia to complete parts of the project. This meant we had printing flying in from different capitals to the event. This week I have been in Sydney helping coordinate everything on site, while Paul looked after the Brisbane end of the project.

Our dance with thunder included:

• Presentation folders streaking & only 100 out of the 1000 being able to be printed to the particular colours that were designed.  The balance we compromised on.
• Another printer not collating the copies of the 18 individual pages of copy for the kit – which meant a late night of all hands on deck around a dining table, manually collating pages & inserting them into the folders.
• Only the business cards arriving – the letterheads & envelopes were delayed.
• Pull up banners being delivered to the site according the courier – only problem was they weren’t & in fact had disappeared into a black hole, so we had to organise same day reprinting of the banners (they were still damp when they were delivered that night).
• The airlines losing one suitcase which contained all the printed games being flown in from Melbourne – so we had a very nervous 12 hours until they were found.
• 4pm change of plans for trade booth display the next day requiring rapid re-nogotiation with the hotel, catering staff combined with a quick race to the shops to buy the new strategy.
• And quite a few other little “challenges” – luckily the copy was perfect (of course).

And even with all of these challenges, we improvised like crazy when things didn’t quite come in the way we wanted, and scraped it over the line. Luckily the event went off brilliantly! So what is the point of this story?

At times if can feel like all of us are dancing with thunder in our jobs. There are days or weeks, when we are just hanging on & hoping like heck that we won’t get bucked off.

There are times when we just have to rely on our colleagues & friends to help get us over the line & there are times when things don’t go the way we hope, which is when we have to roll with the ride.

There are also times where we are so exhausted that we don’t acknowledge all of the people who have pulled together to make our project a success. So, from the bottom of my heart Paul & Geoff – you are truly amazing! Thank you! Paul in particular, you have gone above & beyond the call of duty – if anyone needs a brilliant Brisbane graphic designer or web designer – then Paul from Brandrally is truly superb.

And in case any of my other clients get ideas … I’m heading off for a few days break before my own speaking gigs for AIM on Tuesday at the Gold Coast & Cairns Workforce Council on Wednesday.  And won’t be tackling impossible projects again for at least a few more weeks.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter & Miracle Worker

With the Federal Election off and racing, now is the time to remind  all of your staff about appropriate codes of conduct in relation to elections.

Generally that means:

• No use of company emails or faxes to share party political comment
• No use of company photocopiers or material to copy political material
• No bringing of how to vote material and leaving it in the lunchroom
• No wearing company branded clothing in any political photo shoot (without your prior authorisation)

If you have the discussion now you won’t have to discipline later!

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance HR Writer

Many businesses with salespeople struggle to work out who is the best person to hire for the role. Do they take the raging extrovert (who couldn’t complete paperwork to save their lives), or the diligent paper completer who struggles with getting out of the office and talking with people?

A hidden dimension to look for in sales success is empathy – the ability to understand what people are feeling. By being able to “get” people’s feelings, they are better able to help the person find the solutions they need and therefore make better sales. However, measuring empathy has been tricky to accurately assess.

The Neuromarketing blog reports on a study that looks at the correlation between empathy and the melodic voices (yes, whether or not the person speaks in a monotone or has variable tones). The study shows that people whose voices are more melodic, are more empathetic. The suggested reason for this is the person whose voice shows light and shade, are more likely to be able to identify emotion in other people.

Having a strange mind I had visions of the application – candidates voices being run through voice analyzers as part of the selection process. However, the more practical application is through just listening to the voice of your candidate and then following it up with standardised questions and reference checks to verify your assessment. You still have to resolve the paper warfare dilemma – but at least you would have an idea of how well they can identify and work with customers once they get in front of them.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

In a world where we are switched on, tuned in 24/7, with hundreds of  online “friends” you could be forgiven for thinking that deep human needs are being met. And yet, when I talk with my clients, the need that they most crave, and are missing in their lives, are deeper connections with other people. They want to be known and accepted as they are by others.

Social media for many people is the equivalent of the head nod as you pass someone whose face you recognise on the street.  The people who do social media really well add in the hearty g’day and a chat about the weather – but they are still not meeting the needs for deeper connection between people.

Managers struggle with having honest and open conversations with their team members because they know they have no relationship & connection with the people they manage. We all instinctively know that we listen more if feedback comes from people we trust, respect and like, than someone who is part of our business wallpaper.  And yet, these same managers view the step to connect with their team in the same light as setting sail for the new world back a few hundred years – fears that “there be dragons” on the journey.

Women seem to find it easier to connect. Put two women in a room with some coffees between them and often the level of disclosure quickly heads into the “wouldn’t put that on Facebook” territory.

Guys on the other hand seem to struggle. I’m sure there are piles of wonderfully academic books written on this one, but here’s some home spun wisdom. If you want two or more blokes to “connect” or have a hard conversation, make sure there is some form of sporting equipment between them.

I have seen blokes deal with grieving the loss of a child over a few hoops of basketball. I have watched a few blokes fishing and in the process sort out inter team work conflicts.  I have seen handball courts form the backdrop to working on thorny goals, and have observed indoor cricket made from improvised equipment (you can’t beat the old rubber band balls) resolve stalemates in projects.  It doesn’t matter the form – just make the conversation not the focus but the sideline to something else.

So if you are serious about being a successful manager or business owner, work out how you can help fill the deeper need for connection with your team and clients … even if that means playing the odd round of  golf or lawn bowls.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance writer

This week I have been debating with a colleague about logical decision making. In normal situations, most businesses simply do not take enough account of available data to help inform their decisions.  They don’t look at Google search data before choosing their keywords, they don’t understand their balance sheets and instead make decisions based on flawed logic.They ignore information from government agencies about demographic trends & build their stores in areas of falling population. In normal cases, a simple look at the numbers will improve the quality of decision making 100%.

But what happens when the situation is not “normal”?  When you have all of the statistical data in the world and yet raw, messy emotions get in the way of logical decision making?When logic takes a holiday and emotion takes over?

I have seen this in many businesses over the years. Business owners holding onto their first store in a chain of stores, decades beyond when it was no longer profitable – purely for sentimental reasons. Business owners staying firm on price points for their products, ignoring feedback from clients that the items are over-priced, and conversely business owners not charging enough because their self esteem cuts across the data, making them believe that they are worth less than the data says.

I have  seen it in managers who have evidence that one of their team may be bullying or harassing staff – yet try and wave it away as an anomaly.  Other managers who have massive turnover in their team try and blame everyone else but themselves. And managers who hire family or friends who blatantly do not have the skills needed because they feel sympathy for them, and wonder why it all goes pear shaped in a few short weeks.

Decision making is not an exact science. Yes, we should try and gather as much logical data as possible. But when emotions are high, we need to run three “non logical”, emotion based rulers over our decisions.

1) What does our gut tell us about the decision? Is it right for us & the situation we are in right now? Does our gut feel smooth or are butterflies doing backstroke in there? Is our hunch that this will fail or work out?

2) What does our heart tell us about the decision? Does this decision make our heart sing or sink? Does it make our life feel lighter or heavier? Does it match or conflict with our personal values?

3) What are the assumptions we have made about the situation? Are we assuming that sales will magically improve, that our price is correct and feedback is wrong, that we are worthless and not worth more. What are we assuming about the situation – and are those assumptions correct?

Paralysis vs compelled action

Humans then go into flight or fight mode. They either head into flight – feel compelled to act RIGHT NOW, or they go into fight mode – usually fighting the data.

Often when emotions are high, we feel compelled to take immediate action.  Putting in a breathing space (no matter how short), helps to get some perspective back. Go and get a coffee. Talk with a trusted colleague. Sleep on it. They are all useful ways to gain perspective and counter the flight risk.

The other approach people take is delaying – looking for more information to help them decide, or in other words fighting the data they already have. Many people get into decision paralysis – sitting and hoping for the right decision to be written in 50 metre high burning letters in the sky.  If you wait for that degree of certainty, I have to tell you that it will never happen. It is just procrastination under a politically correct guise.

Just make a decision will ya!

The thing with decisions are that they are rarely 100% cut and dried, with no escape clauses.  The people who are successful are those that make decisions that may not be perfect, yet they take considered action taking into account all of the information. Then they track the results of the decision, and if necessary, quickly adjust the rudders to steer the ship in another direction.  It’s always easier to change direction of a moving ship, rather than one tied to the wharf.

Yes, they consider the data from a range of viewpoints and work out ways to mitigate the risks, and strengthen the best points of the decision. They don’t go in blind. They don’t let one factor take precedence over the other factors. They weigh up all of the factors and take the best educated decision that they can.

Decision making when emotions are strong, are messy, complex and raw. After all, humans are not the logical beasts we would like to believe we are.  For logical situations, follow a logical decision making model. For emotion laden decisions, you need to bring in emotion based information.

At least, that’s my view. What do you think? How do you make decisions when logic takes a holiday?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance writer