In the summer of 2010 the now retired General Stanley A. McChrystal was Commander of the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. One day, during an important briefing in Kabul, he was shown the following PowerPoint slide: It was meant to represent the most current Military strategy. Upon seeing the slide General McChrystal interrupted the briefing and said: "When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war." After the laughter died down he put aside the slide deck and then wanted to know only two things: What has changed since the last time we discussed the situation? What do you recommend we do about it? Answering those two questions requires a coherent and persuasive narrative without relying heavily on charts and graphs to communicate the message-in other words, he wanted a story. In my time coaching executives in the art and science of business storytelling over the last fifteen years, I’ve learned that certain types of stories are more compelling than others. In fact, I’ve concluded that there are fundamentally five basic narratives that every leader needs to be able to craft in order to move people to action: The who I am story The who we are story The what we have learned story The why are we changing story The how to see things differently to improve your life, work and the world around you story These are the stories that shape organizations. I’ll take them one at a time. The Who I Am story At the Ariel Group we teach that a leader’s job is to connect authentically with the hearts and minds of others in order to motivate and inspire them towards a desired outcome. Warren Buffet, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, believes this too. In an interview about leadership with John F. Harris of Politico he once said: "…people have to understand what you’re about. They may not always fully understand where you are going, but they have to believe in you." A well crafted who I am story helps people believe in you by answering these important questions: How and why did you get to be a leader? What are your strengths? What are your limitations? What have you learned along the way? What do you stand for? And more importantly, why do you stand for those things? The Who We Are story Once a leader has successfully shared their who I am story, their work isn’t done. The next step is to help the organization embrace who they are and who they are capable of becoming. What holds everybody together? What are the values of the company, team, or organization? Why should people want to be part of it? A well crafted who we are story helps create the conditions where people want to participate in their organization. It taps into the basic human need that we all have to belong, to be part of something bigger than ourselves. The What We Have Learned story According to the Pew Research Center 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring every single day for the next 14 years; that’s 51 million people. Additionally, the Social Security Administration has reported that almost 50% of those people are Leaders in some capacity. This mass exodus of managers and supervisors is causing the largest leadership gap America has ever seen. Organizations are deeply concerned about this "brain drain"—and about filling their leadership pipelines. One way to keep intellectual capital in an organization is to get very good at telling the what have we learned story. This story imparts history and context for current decision-making. It helps acculturate new employees, it quickly teaches health and safety policies, and most importantly, it passes wisdom on from one generation of leader to the next. The Why Are We Changing story My first boss used to say that the only person who likes a change is a wet baby. Considering that at the time he’d never even heard of a thing called email, it’s safe to say that change is an ongoing part of business. The why are we changing story is the narrative that answers the questions people always have during times of complexity and transformation: What the heck is going on? Why do we need to change? Things have been fine the way they are. What will happen if we don’t change? How will the change help us make more money, improve our relationships or improve our health? This type of story helps convince people that change is not only inevitable, but also essential to survival. The How to see things differently to improve your life, work and the world around you story A core competency for a Leader is the ability to dream, to set vision and to create strategy. People and communities can achieve great things when they understand what success looks like, which is why the how to see things differently to improve your life, work, and the world around you story is perhaps the most important in a leader’s library. In 1977 when Bill Gates first said that he wanted his company to put a computer on every desk in every home folks thought he was crazy. What would the average person do with a computer? Computers were for hobbyists. But his vision became a reality, in great part, because he articulated his story clearly, consistently, and with passion. Try a story instead of a slide The next time you are scheduled to run a town hall meeting, get buy-in to a new idea, or simply give a status update I suggest holding off on creating another fancy chart or a graph to insert into your PowerPoint. Instead, for greater impact, try crafting one of the Five Essential Narratives to communicate your message. As General McChrystal indicated, some ideas are just not bullet-izable.   The post Five Narratives that Move Organizations appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsYes, bullet points should just be the visual jumping off point ... by MarySimple and straightforward. Naturally the hard part is actually ... by Repeat OftenHi Carol; Great point about bullets vs. stories. Perhaps more ... by Catherine McquaidRelated StoriesGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessStory Slams for Fun and DevelopmentThe Power of the Present is in the Tense 

"This stuff about body language is spot on, really useful," says the English guy in the audience. "But I spend most of my time on conference calls, so I don’t think it applies. Do you have anything about presence on the phone?" I’m presenting to a group of twenty-five high potential leaders at a large pharmaceutical company in the Boston area. Everyone else in the audience nods their head vigorously at David’s comment. "Want to try something, David?" I ask in reply. I ask him to turn his chair around, away from the group. "Can you do me a favor an d sit in ‘low presence’ in your chair and we’ll improvise a phone call?" David slumps low in his chair, puts his head back and starts to fidget with his pen. "Ring, ring!" I say. "This is David," he replies in a mumble, as if he I’ve just awakened him. "We’re meeting now, right?" I ask. "Oh, yeah. Right. Okay. I wanted to talk to you about that spreadsheet you sent last week. I just got to it…and I had some questions…and wait, let me just find it on my desktop (long pause). Here it is. I guess I sort of wanted to hear about the meeting budget for next year and I don’t really know where you got some of these numbers…." He trails off. He has just done an impression of either a 14-year-old boy or someone who hasn’t slept in several days. His energy is low, his speech is mumbled and qualified and he keeps sighing. We debrief. I ask the audience how they perceived David’s presence on the improvised call. "It’s like he doesn’t care." "He seems really disorganized." "I wouldn’t trust him with the budget numbers." I’m always amazed by this; people don’t say, he seems tired or he needs to sit up straight, they instead start to call into question his credibility and even his character. Now you might say that this is an extreme example. Most professionals do not sit in their swivel chairs like they are at home watching TV. But I have witnessed managers cross their legs and lean back in their chair while they are leading a call and all of a sudden they are talking too much and too long, and a lackadaisical tone has crept into their voice. I’m a stickler about this for myself; before I dial into the conference line I conduct this 3-point checklist - Feet flat on the floor. Sitting on the edge of my chair. Straight spine. This 3-point system helps me to breathe more deeply, speak with a stronger voice, and in general keeps me alert and present during lengthy or high-stakes calls. Try it. It takes a bit of effort at first, but muscle memory takes over pretty quickly. I’m at the point where I automatically adjust my body language as I am dialing. The result is that I show up with more presence and energy for my clients and colleagues, which they translate into credibility and character. The post Communicating Virtually? Body Language Counts appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesHow to Keep Virtual Teams EngagedGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessThe Power of the Present is in the Tense 

We all know it’s important to make eye contact with an audience. In practice, though, this can be unnerving. Here’s the secret: focus your eyes on one person and share a complete thought before moving on to the next person. Throughout your presentation, do this repeatedly, transferring your eye contact to a different person, then sharing a complete thought. You will discover that this form of eye contact will calm your nerves rather than rattle them. When you take the time to focus on one person per thought, your mind has time to take in what you are seeing. This slows your mental processing down in a helpful way. By contrast, if you scan the room with your eyes when speaking, you essentially increase the pace of your sensory processing. Your nervous system must "accelerate" to keep up with all the data you are taking in with your eyes. It’s challenging to keep your nerves under control when you are stimulating them at an increased pace. As you take the time to focus on a single audience member, sharing a thoughtfully planned piece of information, you are able get in touch with what that listener needs from you. The expression on that person’s face reveals pertinent information about what he or she might be thinking or feeling, which can guide you in your delivery. In that moment you are experiencing a one-to-one interaction, a context that many of us prefer over a large group. By allowing yourself to focus on one individual at a time, you release the fears and tensions that often keep us from communicating effectively with groups. This approach becomes even easier when you consciously select with whom you will make eye contact. By deliberately choosing familiar and/or supportive people to focus on first, the effect is calming and inviting to you. It then becomes easier to continue experiencing a sense of self-control as you extend your eye contact to others. Top-down attention, sometimes called "executive attention" is attention that we consciously and voluntarily control. By employing the top-down approach, we make intentional choices, call on our willpower, and harness control of our reactions to distracting stimuli so that we can truly connect with our audience. By slowing down how we perceive a situation, we give ourselves time to think clearly about what we wish to say. We can react thoughtfully to what our listener appears to be feeling. We can change the pace of our breathing and speech to a more controlled state. "Bottom-up" attention, on the other hand, is attention that’s driven by outer stimuli—our attention is "snagged" involuntarily by sights and sounds in the environment. Bottom-up attention tends to lead to reflexive actions and impulsiveness. The latter is not useful when we need to manage our nerves. It can cause us to race in our thinking and reactions. This racing can highjack command of our nerves, causing us to spiral out of control. The next time you have an important message to deliver to a group, consider doing so as if you are speaking to one person at a time, allowing pauses between each point of contact. Your nerves—and the audience—will appreciate it. The post The Eyes Have It: Quiet Your Nerves, Connect with Your Audience appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesHow to Keep Virtual Teams EngagedGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessStory Slams for Fun and Development 

For most of my adult life I’ve written and told stories. As a playwright my job is to create a powerful narrative in a way that makes an audience consider new ideas and as an actress my job is to bring those stories to life in a way that entertain, inspire and touch people emotionally. When I came to the Ariel Group I added a new dimension to my relationship with stories. I became a listener. In our workshops we teach storytelling skills and as a result, I get to hear LOTS of stories. And what I’ve learned is that there are Five Fundamental Narratives that move people to action. Today I’d like to highlight what a simple, yet impactful who-I-am story can sound like. Meet Ken Coulter. Ken is a leader and innovator in the Arts. In 1988 he helped create CCI (now called: Ontario Presents) a not-for-profit arts service organization. Nothing like it had ever existed before. He also serves on the National Committee of Arts Reach and is currently President, Elect for Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar. You could say that Ken is drawn to leadership roles! I had a chance to catch up with Ken last week and asked him what story he’d tell to let someone know what kind of a leader he is. Here’s what he shared: Well, this pretty much sums up who I am; as a kid, I loved school and I loved—and I still love—learning. I was always the first kid with my hand in the air. What’s 12 x 7? I know, 84. What’s the capital of Canada? Ottawa! But, in 2nd grade something happened that I’ll never forget. I actually had a teacher say to me: "Kenny put your hand down. I want somebody else to answer for a change." And so it was at that point that I realized that not everyone loved learning as much as me. Later on, in high school, I’m sitting in advanced math class and we are studying dimensions. You know, two dimensions make up a picture or drawing. Three dimensions are defined by having length, breadth, and depth. The 4th dimension (arguably) is time. And so the teacher asks: What might the 5th dimension be? And I answer: It’s a singing group. I’m still like that. Fast thinking. Wanting to be involved in the conversation—whatever the conversation was. And at the same time, wanting to have a laugh. Not surprising, that’s the kind of leader I am. I enjoy the conversation. And I want other people to enjoy the conversation too. You know that parable: if you give a man a fish he’s hungry again in an hour, but if you teach him to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime? To me, that’s what a meaningful conversation with an employee is always about. Using the Socratic method of always asking questions and probing for responses. That’s how people grow and learn to be self-sufficient. How can I help others, how can I teach others the skills they need to do a better job for themselves? When I was Theatre Manager at the Oakville Center, I would try to make sure that the people that worked for me, or with me, made as many decisions themselves as possible. I’d worked hard to create an atmosphere where that could happen. Where people wouldn’t be afraid to raise their hand with the answer. I’m sure my 2nd grade teacher would be surprised that I put own my hand down long enough to listen, but I was always as interested in what others had to say as I was in what I was learning. So there you have it. A who-I-am story doesn’t have to be highly dramatic or long. A simple story that provides insight into the kind of person, and therefore the kind of leader you are, will help you better connect with your people. And once you are connected, all you have to do is teach them to fish. Next time I’ll share one of Ken’s what-I-have learned stories. Again, it’s simple—yet impactful. Stay tuned! The post Stories from the Road: Ontario. appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesStory Slams for Fun and DevelopmentThe Power of the Present is in the TensePresence for New Managers 

This week I met with a middle manager at a mid-sized high-tech firm for an executive coaching session. Before we even got through the briefest of greetings, he blurted out: "I’m really frustrated. We’re growing fast and our workload has increased exponentially. When I talked to my boss about it, he said: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t give you any more resources. You’ve just got to motivate and inspire your employees to do more with less.’ Argggggh!" I know Simon is not alone in this dilemma. Have you experienced it, as well? For some, this might be the second—or third or fourth—time you’ve been tasked with getting more out of the same team. You’re probably weary of doing it again. Assuming you’re committed to your company, what’s the magic glue that can help you inspire, motivate and engage people - while doing more with less? Start by not using the expression "do more with less" - to anyone, ever. That’s my first bit of advice. Just don’t. As soon as those words come out of your mouth, employees hear budget cuts, reductions in force, perks going away, no merit bonuses, working even harder, etc. It’s very hard to inspire and engage people who have already hit this level of despair. Instead, think to yourself, "What are the things I can do to motivate, inspire, and engage my team that don’t have a big price tag attached?" Here are a few ideas (and I’d love to hear yours in the comments): Ask your employees what motivates them (individually). Invest your time in this way for great pay-off. Don’t assume that you know what motivates someone on your team (it’s not always money) unless you really find out. Some like public acknowledgment, some like private recognition. Some like access to senior leaders or working on a high-visibility cross-functional project. Some place a high premium on learning new skills or the diversity of experiences. Some will go the distance for you just to be able to have flexible work hours or to work part of the week from home. Some may want an experience working in a foreign country; some may not.   Someone may get a boost of morale—and therefore, engagement—by working with a mentor. What motivates Juan may not motivate Jane and vice versa. Find out. Be relentless in giving informal learning and development opportunities. The great majority of men and women like learning new things, being challenged in new situations, and developing a broader and deeper skill set. You may not have the budget for formal courses or workshops but informal learning and development opportunities such as thoughtful stretch assignments can be an important tool to engage your team and help create an environment of self-motivation. Just make sure this is truly done with the goal of development in mind (versus offloading a project that no one else wants). Acknowledge, appreciate, and recognize that which is well done. Forget the no-content "nice job" and go for the specifics of what you see your employees doing that’s good, better, best. In what ways are they contributing to the goals of your team? What has improved over last time? What is someone actively "working on," based on feedback or self-awareness? Frequently saying "thank you for (specific contribution)" is a simple and powerful way to make your employees feel seen and appreciated. Be inspired, motivated, and engaged yourself. Really. An April 2015 Gallup study (in the Harvard Business Review) says that less than a third of Americans are engaged in their jobs. The report states, "The majority of employees are indifferent, sleepwalking through their workday without regard for their performance or their organization’s performance." That’s not so great. However (a little drum roll for hope), a truly great manager can account for "as much as 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement scores."   A manager’s engagement has an impact on his/her employees’ engagement. It makes sense, yes?   Gallup calls this "the cascade effect." Employees who are supervised by highly engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged than those supervised by actively disengaged managers. So, that may be a topic for another blog ("How Can I Turn Up the Volume on My Own Engagement?"), but for now, think about your own engagement—and what emotions and viewpoints you might be cascading down. The post Inspire, Motivate, Engage - While Doing More with Less appeared first on Ariel Group.          Comments…,marginalized (usually UNintentionally)… Atypo! by RichardSteven, your blog is thoughtfully written and contains valuable ... by RichardSteven, some good thoughts. Happily, I've done a version of ... by Mary LahtiI like to think of myself as a business - so under what ... by Work Environment LiesRelated StoriesGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessInformation Translation: Using Metaphors to Describe and Explain TechnologyThe Power of the Present is in the Tense 

As an Ariel Group facilitator who often leads storytelling workshops for business executives, I’m invariably asked about the use of present tense. Is it better to tell a live story in the present tense or the past tense? Experience proves repeatedly that telling a story in present tense, whenever possible, more effectively engages your audience. Present tense accomplishes this in three notable ways: it engages listeners mentally, emotionally, and physically. (1) Mental. Because present tense is typically associated with storytelling, its use instantly cues the audience that it’s "story time." Attention is aroused. Present tense carries an immediacy that sparks a listener’s mental alertness and imagination. The audience quickly "jumps into the scene" and starts mentally scanning for relatable elements, such as sensory details—how do things look, smell, sound, taste, and feel? The listener also recalls thoughts he or she had when in similar situations. This takes the listener more deeply into the imagined action. (2) Emotional. Present tense is more vivid than past tense, so it triggers stronger emotional responses. Part of this is because when we, as speakers, shift into present tense, we immediately become more animated, engaged, and emotionally expressive ourselves. This, in turn, triggers more vivid emotions in our listeners. If we tell our audience, for example, in a hushed and fearful tone, "I hear a knock at the door. I look at the clock. It’s three a.m.," the audience members experience the fearful, suspenseful emotions as their own. Anytime a speaker authentically and congruently "lives" an emotion, the audience takes a journey down the same emotional path. This happens more easily and naturally when the speaker is using present tense. (3) Physical. Present tense also puts the listener’s brain and body directly into the action. Thanks to a process known as neural coupling, a listener’s brain responds to present-tense story details as if the listener him- or herself were directly experiencing the scene. This can produce actual physical sensations as well as strong physical memories. Present tense, as a grammatical device, recreates the past in the listener’s current reality by triggering muscle memory. Specific muscle groups are stimulated, causing them to expand and contract. When the storyteller says, "I am running down the hill" in an out-of-breath voice, using gestures congruent with the language, listeners connect to their own most relatable memory of running or of similar physical exertion, and relive the physical sensations of that moment. Present tense also invites us, as storytellers, to become more physically involved in the action. As we physically act out a scene, fully or partially, we sharpen our connection with both the story material and the audience. Even voice alone can accomplish some of this. For instance, if we quicken our speech as we describe an experience, we may notice a quickening in our own heart response. This impacts our breathing and creates a sense of physical and emotional urgency, which, in turn, amps up the audience’s physical energy. As our listeners become more engaged on all three levels—mental, emotional, and physical—their energy comes back to us, creating the kind of magical feedback loop that makes live performance so enthralling. I always keep "present tense" in the front of my storytelling tool-belt and use it often. In one classic example of present-tense storytelling in the classroom, I recall sharing a story of being attacked by an animal. The climactic moment triggered a surprise shriek from several audience members. This, in turn, shocked the other participants into their own delayed vocal reactions. I knew I had their full attention! The post The Power of the Present is in the Tense appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesStory Slams for Fun and DevelopmentThe Eyes Have It: Quiet Your Nerves, Connect with Your AudienceGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal Process 

I recently had the opportunity to work with some senior leaders on a group presentation they were about to make. After some fumbling through what was supposed to be "rehearsal" time, I finally hit the pause button. "Let’s think for a moment about actors doing a rehearsal on stage," I suggested. "Ideally, what happens?" "They practice the show," replied a participant. "They act things out and see how it goes." "And what’s been happening here, today, so far?" I asked. "We’ve been talking about what we would, could, or might do." "Precisely." There is a world of difference between talking about and rehearsing. Actual rehearsal is essential. Let me share some best practices for really rehearsing a group presentation or a pitch: Best Practice #1: Actually Practice!   Get the presentation up on its feet. Perform it. Act it out. Speak the words you plan to use. Talk to your imagined audience. Work out the practical kinks. At what points will you stand or sit? How will you handle transitions from one presenter to the other? Best Practice #2: Be a Critic   Next, do some critical and "artistic" evaluation. How’s your choreography? Are you playing to your team members’ strengths while also allowing members to try out new things to develop their skills? What else could you try for greater impact? Best Practice #3: Identify Your Passionate Purpose We’re often so focused on the content of our slides, we forget we’re presenting this for a reason. What’s the underlying emotional content? Why do you care? Why will your audience care? What’s your Passionate Purpose? Do you want to make your audience think about a problem that must be addressed? Do you want to entice them to a new way of seeing? Do you want to inspire them or "rally the troops" to action? How can your voice, facial expression, physical movement, and body language combine to reinforce your Passionate Purpose and present it in the most compelling way? Best Practice #4: Put Yourself in Your Audience’s Shoes   Always use part of your rehearsal process to look at things from your audience’s point of view. This exercise can help: Imagine you are members of the team about to receive the pitch or presentation. You’re standing around talking about the event that’s soon to begin. Share your hoped-for-outcomes, what you’re looking forward to, what you’re dreading, and what will make this presentation a huge success for you. Now integrate the perspective you gained from standing in the shoes of your recipients into the presentation itself. After you run the presentation, imagine once again that you are the team that received it. Talk amongst yourselves about the ways in which this presentation addressed your concerns, drew you in, got you excited. What did "the presenters" do well, specifically? Give appreciation for all the ways various team members knocked it out of the park. But also express, honestly, any ways that the presentation did not live up to your hopes. Incorporate the feedback and run it again. Best Practice #5: Distill It to an "Elevator Pitch" Just for a moment, forget the 44 slides, the charts, the graphs, the bullet points. Ask yourself, "What if I ran into the key decision maker in an elevator and had to make my presentation, without any slide support, in about fifteen seconds? What would I say?" Boil it down so you have absolute clarity on what’s most important. Now use that clarity as the backbone of your presentation. Give these best practices a try and see if you experience a dramatic improvement in the quality and impact of your group presentations. Then help us continue the conversation. What else have you discovered that supercharges your rehearsal process? We’re all ears. The post Group Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal Process appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesInspire, Motivate, Engage - While Doing More with LessThe Eyes Have It: Quiet Your Nerves, Connect with Your AudienceInformation Translation: Using Metaphors to Describe and Explain Technology 

Two blocks before arriving at Badlands, a music venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I can see the line of people snaking down the street and around the corner. Tightening my coat and finding my way to the end of the line, I take in the characteristics of the waiting throng: mostly young and hip. A typical crowd for the venue, Badlands, which usually present up-and-coming indie bands. But on this damp and chilly Monday evening in March, these folks are not here for music. They are braving the weather to hear stories. Some are even hoping to tell stories themselves. Monday, you see, is Moth StorySlam night. A story slam is an open microphone event where you can choose to drop your name in a hat. Get picked, you climb onstage and tell your story—a true one, about yourself, five minutes or less. Usually there is a theme for the evening, like "Close Encounters" or "High Anxiety." And, as with poetry slams, a winner is chosen. These are raucous events, with stories cheered and judges sometimes booed. As an Ariel Group coach and facilitator, I often help my clients create personal stories designed to make a business point. I love my work. And I am not alone in the pleasure I take in a story well-crafted and well told. Over and over I have witnessed the immediate shift in listening-energy that occurs—in a conference room, an auditorium, or hotel ballroom —when a speaker segues to a story. "I am standing at the edge of the high diving board…" or, "My family only went camping once when I was girl…" You can literally watch the audience settle in and listen up. There’s a reason for that. Stories create instant empathy between the storyteller and the listener. Thanks to so-called "mirror neurons" in our brains, stories can literally cause the listener’s brain to fire in the same patterns as the speaker’s. Stories can also stimulate the production of the brain’s "feel good" chemical, oxytocin.   The need for stories seems to be embedded in our DNA. And judging by the youth of the crowd outside the StorySlam in Brooklyn, today’s high-tech, multi-tasking world has not diminished that need. If anything, it has deepened the hunger for the direct human connection that stories provide. The greatest measure of effectiveness for a story in a business setting is when you see it become the metaphoric language that carries a vital team message. When I hear one member of an organization remind another, "Hey, don’t climb that diving board if you aren’t prepared to jump," or, "Before you crawl in a sleeping bag always check for snakes," then I know that a story—and more importantly, its message—has taken root. Stories are internalized in a way that dry facts are not. Why not take advantage of the fact that storytelling is having its moment in the sun? Get out there and experience some live stories. Learn firsthand what makes a great story great. Currently, The Moth is the five-hundred-pound gorilla of live storytelling. It produces Slams in about twenty US cities, as well as Dublin and London. It also produces MainStage shows—curated events with selected storytellers telling somewhat longer tales. (I am honored to be a Moth MainStage storyteller myself. Search my name at themoth.org to hear my actor’s nightmare experience getting killed by Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.) Whether The Moth is the sponsor or not, great storytelling is everywhere these days. Searching Google, and mapping my travel itinerary over the next six weeks, I found live storytelling events in or near Bethesda, Maryland; Cambridge, Massachusetts; St. Louis, Missouri; Cupertino, California; Amsterdam, Holland; and Williamsburg, Virginia. Consider tapping into this master class in one of the most powerful communication tools on the planet. Learn by watching and listening or - better yet - throw your name in the hat. It’s never been easier to build your skills—and, in business, the need for skilled storytelling has never been greater. The post Story Slams for Fun and Development appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsLove this, Josh! by Greta CowanGreat piece Josh! I hail from Williamsburg, VA and will have to ... by Chris von BaeyerRelated StoriesThe Power of the Present is in the TenseGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessThe Eyes Have It: Quiet Your Nerves, Connect with Your Audience 

    As manager of public affairs for SHRM, I managed more than 40 bloggers during the SHRM 2015 Annual Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas in June.  I’m excited to be heading back to Las Vegas in October for the 2015 HR Technology Conference where I’ll have the opportunity to wear the "blogger hat" and deliver all the best highlights for the HR Tech Insiders and SHRM blog...

The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) is my professional association. I support other professional organizations, but my first HR job was as a generalist so SHRM was the first professional association I joined. Every employer I’ve ever worked for supported my membership in SHRM and allowed me to attend SHRM professional development events. They also supported me being a SHRM volunteer leader. It wasn’t until I became a volunteer leader that I learned about the SHRM Foundation. That’s why I think of it as a best kept secret. The...

The concept of exponential education entrepreneurship applies directly to your online coursework success. In this LMScast Joshua Millage and Christopher Badgett explore what this is and what it means to you. In their book, Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World, Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis explain how exponential entrepreneurship has replaced linear growth in business and how you can leverage the power of technology to build and expand your own business in ways that were never before possible. Technological entrepreneurs like Larry Page, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos have built billion dollar businesses using disruptive technologies that outperform older established corporate entities. They accomplished this by following revolutionary philosophies based upon three factors that will help you as you develop a plan for your online courses. The three basic factors that create exponential value are: Exponential technology Flow dynamics The power of the crowd Exponential growth occurs far more quickly than linear growth, and is made possible by powerful, accessible technologies. One of the best examples is the internet, especially since it is available via mobile phone, and is now globally ubiquitous. What that does for eLearning is that it allows people to take online courses even if they don’t have a computer. Flow dynamics is probably best known as "being in the zone." It is a framework for thinking that you can use for creating your course content, not only in your own process of course development, but also for the student’s learning experience. The power of the crowd is all about people. It includes crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, but also community building. When you create courses for people to use online you are addressing individuals, but also scaling for groups of people. You can also create a community for your students within your eLearning site. You can visualize these concepts are working together in a scenario beginning with the technology you use to develop and present your course offerings to an exponentially larger population than ever before. Creating your content in a flow state helps students enter their own flow experience in learning. You could fund your courses through crowdsourcing. And the more students who take your courses and like them will refer you exponentially to other students. The more passion you bring to your exponential education entrepreneurship endeavors, the greater your success will be. Our LifterLMS course development platform is designed to help you build your courses using these concepts. You can try a demo of LifterLMS and see for yourself what it can do for you. Remember that you can post comments and also subscribe to our newsletter for updates, developments, and future episodes of LMScast. Thank you for joining us. Joshua: Hello, Everyone. We’re back with another episode of LMScast. I’m Joshua Millage. I’m joined with Christopher Badgett. Today we’re talking about exponential education entrepreneurship. What in the world are we talking about, Chris? Chris: This stems from the work of two guys who are writing and speaking and creating content around exponential entrepreneurship. Their names are Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis. I think their most recent book is called Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World. They study people like highly impactful entrepreneurs like Larry Page, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos. They also are technologists. They’re often looking at the impact of technology on business. They think a lot about the future in terms of what’s coming in medicine, or things like artificial intelligence and so on. They’re big tech business thinkers. I’ve been listening to some of their stuff. I’ve realized that what they’re saying about exponential entrepreneurship is also applicable to more of our niche to education entrepreneurs who are building and creating online courses, and the online schools, or blended learning environments. There’s a lot of lessons that can be learned by studying what these guys are up to. Maybe we can start out by defining. Joshua: Yeah, what’s a first or first concept? Chris: I think the very first thing is to think about the three contributing factors that create exponential entrepreneurship, which really means just creating exponential value. Those three things that come into that mix include exponential technology. I’ll just run through them and then we can unpack what each of them are. Exponential technology, the flow states, and then also the crowd, the power of the crowd, whether that’s crowd funding, or building online communities and so on. When those three things come together, that’s when that …. Exponential, meaning something that grows very fast, or spherically. Those are like those explosive growth things like when Facebook came out, or Amazon, and eCommerce, and that kind of thing. There’s some real exponential things happening there. Joshua: The first concept in a nutshell is? Chris: That it involves a technology that’s growing exponentially. Joshua: Got it. Chris: A couple examples of that beside the internet would be the things that are happening with processing power on a computer. Joshua: Oh, speaking to like Moore’s law, I think it is? Chris: Yeah, yeah. Joshua: And then probably other things that are going …. They’re talking about artificial intelligence, too. Chris: Say that again. Joshua: Artificial intelligence is jumping exponentially right now all the time. They’re looking for the opportunities in technologies that are doing that. Chris: Absolutely. There’s certain things like Peter Diamandis, I think is on the board of Singularity University. The singularity, if you will, is a theoretical moment in time that Ray Kurzweil talks about and wrote a book about what happens when the processing power of computing outstrips the processing power of the human brain. That inflection point is called the singularity. We don’t really know what’s going to happen after that, but we’re heading in that direction based on these exponentially growing technologies. Joshua: Yeah, we’re heading there really quickly. That’s interesting. I like it. How can we leverage this idea in our courses? Chris: If you take it and you’re not just looking at, if you bring it into the educational context, the internet is an exponentially growing technology. There’s more people coming online. There’s a lot of people who haven’t even come online yet. We take that for granted in the developed world. Some areas of the world have skipped the laptop or the desktop and are going right to the phone. There’s all these interesting things happening with technology. Maybe in another episode we can get more into the lifecycle of exponential technology and talk about where learning management systems are, and eLearning, and educational technology in greater detail. That opportunity is here. We have the tools. WordPress power is like 25% of the internet or whatever. It didn’t exist seven years ago. I’m not sure of the exact start date. That is a very fast growing exponential technology that we’re tied into. I think the other cool things to look at outside of the technology are what these guys would call the flow dynamics or the flow states of the leaders behind it, also the crowd. To talk about flow first, a flow state …. There’s a great book called Flow. I have a hard time pronouncing the guy’s name. His name is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi or something. He writes about exactly what flow is and what’s going on in your brain and in your psychology. We’ve all experienced flow at some point in our life where we’re being challenged, but we’re in the zone. That could be in an athletic endeavor, or it could be in an intellectual endeavor. It could be in a entrepreneurial or a relationship endeavor. When you match exponential technology with a flow state, you really unlock a lot of potential and power in entrepreneurship, or creating valuable courses in community and that kind of thing. Joshua: Yeah, I like it. Really what we’re talking about today is a framework for thinking, a framework for thinking through ideas and thinking through really just course content. I think the interesting part of this though is that it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t make a living off of a niche that isn’t in this, too. Everyone is talking about, "The riches are in the niches." and all that sort of thing. We forget about, oh, what are some of the things that we can do to interact with an exponential market and place ourselves to even capture a half percentage of that market is still a lot of cash if that’s our goal or impact. There’s some people who are more open source minded. That’s fine, too. It’s still a great way to look for opportunities to impact people that way. Cool. Any final thoughts before we wrap this up? Chris: The last thing you said, people, that’s the third part. It’s the power of the crowd. When you have the opportunity to do things like crowd funding, or crowd sourcing, or build a community in some way with your exponential technology tools, your flow state, and your ability to interact with people at scale, that’s the three-legged stool, if you will, of exponential education entrepreneurship right there. Let’s say you have a course idea about, I’m just pulling this out of the air, how to make your own medicinal herbs for a homemade first aid kit, or something. You want to teach other people how to heal naturally with food, and herbs, and plants. You could pitch that idea, create a video, put it on Kickstarter. If you get validation, you can use your exponential technology, and the internet, and your learning management system. You can get in a flow state because you love it so much, and you’re so passionate about it, that’s an example of using the power of the crowd and how that fits into the greater context. Joshua: I love it, I love it. Thanks for listening, Everyone. We will talk to you next week. http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/216986877-lmscast-049-exponential-education.mp3 The post Exponential Education Entrepreneurship appeared first on LMScast.

Guest post by Richard Lee, Director of Digital Marketing and Analytics with Honey Growth can be very positive for many companies. Growth pays for team outings, free snacks, in-office massages and... Visit site for full story...

Posted by Dawn Marie Bailey Since 1989, the Blind Foundation for India (BFI), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, has served over 15 million blind people in India, raising over $4 million, performing 125,000 free cataract operations, donating 10,000 Braille kits to blind children for their education, and funding 115 vans to transport doctors and patients. Additionally, the foundation has worked on prevention, conducting 750,000 eye exams for school-age children and providing necessary interventions such as eye drops, glasses, and Vitamin A. And according to Dr. Manu Vora, chairman and president of Business Excellence, Inc., the charity has done all of this by using the Baldrige Excellence Framework as a way to manage its work and ensure optimum efficiency and effectiveness. "The Baldrige framework has added great value throughout the BFI journey," said Vora. "By using various concepts/tools from the Baldrige Criteria, we were able to create a lean organization with six directors. Corporate governance and ethics have been used to manage BFI. We keep focused communication with our donors, for example, with an annual appeal showing a progress report. We recognize our donors and volunteers. Use of these tools helped us in becoming a donor-centric, nonprofit focusing on the actual needs of 15 million blind people in India." Vora, who is also a blogger for the ASQ Influential Voices program, said he has been familiar with the Baldrige Excellence Framework and its Criteria from his work since 1990 in quality management at AT&T Bell Laboratories. "Since 1993, I have integrated these Criteria in my Total Quality Management course in MBA programs at various business schools globally," he said. "I am convinced that the Baldrige framework provides important guidance to effectively manage an organization." The Baldrige framework is used to ensure that the nonprofit considers all elements of its operations-by aligning its quality tools with the Baldrige Criteria. For example, Leadership category focus: Vision, Mission, Values, Ethics, Governance, Social Responsibility, Lean, Board of Directors, Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) Strategy category focus: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis; Balanced Scorecard; and Hoshin Planning Customers category focus: Voice of the Customer (VOC), single yearly update to donors (Lean) Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management category focus:  Benchmarking with other nonprofit organizations Workforce category focus: Recognition of donors and volunteers Operations category focus: Brainstorming, Affinity Diagram, Pareto Principle, Ishikawa Diagram, Lean, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), Process Mapping, SIPOC, Problem Solving, Medical Partner Development in India Results category focus: Feedback Reports to Donors, Gantt Chart, Critical Path Method (CPM), Risk Matrix "The Baldrige framework provides an excellent platform to manage any organization," said Vora. "The assessment helps in focusing on value addition to stakeholders (donors, volunteers, the community, etc.), with a continuous-improvement philosophy. For nonprofits with limited resources, the Baldrige framework is a great way to optimize resources and provide value to society." BFI’s mission is to prevent and cure blindness, and educate and permanently rehabilitate  blind people in India. India is home to one-third of the world’s blind population. This video will help you learn more about BFI. How might your volunteer work be made more efficient and focused on value through use of the Baldrige framework?  

                     Women start their careers with more ambition than men do, but they lose their confidence within their first years in the workplace. That’s the conclusion of a Bain & Co. study that compared employees with minimal work experience with more tenured workers. The study posed two simple questions:         --Do you aspire to top management within a large company?         --Do you have confidence you can reach top management? The study found that, within two years of starting out...

In part 1 of the article we took a look at storyboards, their purpose, and the best ways to start working with them. Today I will give you some advice regarding best storyboard creation practices, and also explain in what situations you will be best served to not use them. I will begin by reminding you that a storyboard is something like a schematic of your course that displays its main ideas and sometimes even its design in a clear and demonstrative manner. Creating a storyboard makes working on a course significantly easier, and enables you to identify weak spots in your course and fix them on the fly. And like in any other human endeavor, there are many nuances and tricks to creating storyboards, and knowing them can save you a lot of time and effort. As you have probably guessed, this is what the second part of the article will be about - bringing people who have never created a storyboard in their life up to speed. No need to make the same mistakes thousands of E-learning pros have already learned from before you, right? Lucky for you, they are a pretty cool bunch, and are ready to share.Storyboard Creation - Best PracticesDetermine your storyboard’s target audienceWho will see it, and who will be reviewing it? Take this into account when creating the storyboard content, text, and descriptions. Target audience also dictates how thorough you need to make them, what kind of illustrations will be required, and also how deep you will need to go when presenting the course material. Target audience can be, for example, college graduates, software engineers, students, or subject matter experts. Or maybe it will be just you alone, if you plan to use the storyboard purely as a blueprint for your course.If you are preparing a storyboard for software engineers, it will likely include a lot of technical details. On the other hand, if no one besides you will see it, a basic outline will suffice, as long as you are able to recall what it was that you planned to do on each marked slide.What information to include on every screen?The structure of your pages depends on a number of factors: how much time are you prepared to dedicate to your storyboard, how detailed a blueprint do you need, and who will be reviewing it. If you are pressed for time, or are unwilling to expend a lot of effort on storyboard creation, limit every screen to the title, screen number, and a schematic drawing of the page. If, however, you are the kind of person that likes to describe everything in meticulous detail and you have time to spare, your storyboard may look a little like this:Your storyboard may contain detailed descriptions of every page, including information about  interactive components, details regarding navigation, transitions to other pages, and sound. Go one way or the other, or find some middle ground that works best for you - it all depends on your needs and on how much time you are willing to spend.Pick a tool that will enable you to change the storyboard plan with easeCreating a blueprint for a course is quite a dynamic process. Most likely, you will need to change the order of pages within the course and add new pages between existing ones, thus changing the storyboard structure. This makes using a tool that enables you to mix up the structure of your storyboard and the order of pages within it very much preferable. An erasable pencil will do, but a web service allowing you to drag-and-drop pages within the course is even better.Don’t be afraid to change or delete already existing storyboard pagesIt takes a genius to think up a scenario from start to finish and not make a single mistake. More likely than not, you will start doubting your storyboard layout during creation, and your doubts will grow stronger while working on the pages themselves. Should you come to the realization that half of your page sketches are best scrapped and re-done from scratch, take heart: this is just preliminary planning, not a manned mission to Mars. On the contrary, by noticing and correcting your original mistakes you demonstrate a greater insight into the nature of your course gained through the creation of the storyboard. This would not have been possible without the handy and versatile tool that helped you improve your course - the storyboard.Pay attention to nonlinear coursesSince the structure of a nonlinear course and the relations between its pages is not always easy to describe with words, consider using more visual means that will enable you to demonstrate the nonlinear connections within the course without confusing those who will see your storyboard. There are online services that can help you, such as course authoring aids giving the ability to see the course skeleton, but a sheet of paper and a pencil will work in a pinch. You can also use PowerPoint or a simple graphics editor.When working on a nonlinear course, it always pays to provide a detailed description of all possible transitions - what page the learner will be redirected to after encountering the nonlinear portion of the course, and under what circumstances.When to Avoid Using StoryboardsDepending on how detailed a blueprint you want, storyboarding can be quite time consuming. Creating a visualized storyboard, complete with thorough descriptions and detailed mockups of pages, can take quite a lot of time. So before starting, you should ask yourself: "Is this worth it?" The answer to that question can be "No". Here are a few situations where you may want to avoid using storyboards:Storyboarding may not be for you if you prefer to rely on the trusty "paper and pencil" method and are constantly having a change of heart about the course structure. Constantly erasing half of what you have sketched and starting over will get tedious soon.If you are the only person within your organization tasked with the creation of E-learning courses, and do not need to share your vision and ideas with colleagues/SMEs/software engineers, creating storyboards may not be practical.Creating a comprehensive storyboard for a complicated nonlinear course can take a lot of time and effort. You may be better served by skipping the storyboarding stage and proceeding directly to the course creation, using the course authoring tool to express the transitions between the course pages.If you are not sure whether creating a storyboard for your course is worthwhile, try limiting yourself to a basic storyboard. Sketch pages with titles only, maybe jot down a few quick lines about some key points you want to get across. Use short words and simple sentences. This will not take much time, and at the same time will give you a better understanding of the course and its main ideas, and help you get going. More often than not, preparing a storyboard will help you get your ideas in order and get the course structure just right (especially if you do not have another document detailing the course blueprint).

Hello! I am Michelle Kosmicki, Research Manager for NET Nebraska. I engage in many different types of media research, including broadcast media, digital media, social media, and web analytics. While most of the data I curate and analyze is used for monitoring performance and planning, nearly all of my grant funded reporting requires some form of media impact evaluation. Media impact evaluation has been a hot topic over the past few years. It’s been discussed and explored at the AEA annual conference. The burning question remains: How on earth do you measure media impact at the local level? While measuring media impact doesn’t require magical things like unicorns, it really does help to have a full understanding the nature of media data. This can be difficult for evaluators who were trained in the cause-effect quasi-experimental method. It was quite difficult for me at first too. Lesson Learned: Get comfortable with the fact you have no control.  That’s correct. In most cases your media impact data will have been collected via interactions with self-selected participants. This is a different type of research than the typical recruited market research panel. So you will have very little control over who the participants are. Even if you are using data from a proprietary source such as Nielsen or Rentrak, you still have no control of their panel of participants, data imputation, and analysis of the data before it arrives in your office. Lesson Learned: Get comfortable with "squishy" data.  Social media data seems straight forward. Someone clicks on a link in your tweet and you can see the number of link clicks. The question is, can you tell how many link clicks resulted in views of the linked digital media: a page view, story read, or video viewed? Hot Tip: Learn how to use campaign tracking with URL tags.  Most web analytics can handle some form of URL tagging. It is the easiest way to track clicks on links on social media, in e-newsletters, blogs, and even on other websites. If you use Google Analytics, you can find directions here. Lesson Learned: Look at the big media picture.  Bringing all your media data together seems like a strange thing to do. In reality, it is no different than using a mixed methods approach. Analyze the data separately and together. Look for patterns. Visualize it. The results may not be straight forward. Lesson Learned: Assume nothing.  Media data is inherently full of bias. Always be aware of your own bias as you analyze and report on media data. Recognize the limits of your data and analysis. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Overview You are using SharePoint 2013 (SP 2013) or Office 365 (O365). You are planning to implement the Branding and customizations to your site. In this blog I will introduce how to use Design Manager, its limitations and workarounds. Visual appeal is the foremost requirement to attract visitors to content. Though the SP 2013 or the O365 provide OOTB options to choose from to creatively design the sites, custom design can also be done using Design Manager. Design Manager is a publishing feature that is available in publishing sites in both SharePoint Server 2013 and Office 365. A Design Manager is used to brand the website in Office 365. Branding packages can also be created and branding can be applied to new or existing Site Collections. The process is extremely useful when multiple site collections need to be branded alike. The design package is a .wsp file that is created through the Design Manager, and it comprises of a few files. The packaging process exports files from various lists and libraries to form the complete package. While importing to a site collection, these files are distributed to different locations based on file types. Ensure that you have a minimum of Designer permission in order to start using the Design Manager. Creation of Design Package from a Branded Site Collection Assuming that a reference branded site collection exists, follow the following steps to brand other site collections. Go to Site Settings -> Design Package Click on Create Design Package, specify a Design Name and  Create Once the package is created, a confirmation message is displayed with Message "Your Package is ready Click here to download" Click on Click here to download to download the package to a local drive Import Design Package into New Site Collection Now that a design package is created, this package can be imported to any unbranded site collection and branding can then be applied there. The following steps guide through the branding process on the destination site collection: Go to Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Import Design Package Browse to the downloaded branded package on the location machine and Import Note: The branding package import process may take a few minutes and the end of the process is indicated with a notification message. Branding Components & its limitation With the import of the design package, all branding components are added to the destination site collection. Below is a list of the added components: Site Assets - All site images that were used as a part of branding, are added here Theme file - The .spcolor file is added to the library Themes /15 Master Page - The .master (Master page) added to the Master Page Gallery Export Location Exported Assets Document libraries Master Pages Gallery Themes Gallery Style Library Site Assets Library Lists Design Gallery Composed looks Apart from importing the branding components we notice below limitations as well on the Site: Solution Gallery - Design Package Solution is added to the Solution Gallery as "System Account" not by the actual User Importing the Design Package, we don’t see anything as Feature in the Site Collection Features or Site Features. Site Logo - Even though it’s part of the branding change will not get updated as we import. Work around - Change Title, Description and Logo manually after the package is imported. Change the Look - Though it is expected that the new theme appears as an option here, but it exists only in the Composed Looks library since the .preview file does not come as a part of the design package Workaround - Add .preview file of the specific master page Design Packages on Root Site Vs Sub Site: Design Packages of sub sites cannot be created Design Package gets created only at the root site Design Package gets imported only at the root site Limitation on the size of the Design Package - A Design Package of size greater than 50MB cannot be created, and there’s no workaround for this!

  On July 29, @shrmnextchat chatted with Dan Cross @CrossOverHR about How HR Can Build a Dream Team. In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat:   [View the story "#Nextchat RECAP: How HR Can Build a Dream Team" on Storify]  ...

The Art of Asking Sales Questions to Engage Prospects "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." — Benjamin Franklin Salespeople who call on prospects or clients without well-researched, well-prepared sales questions are likely to walk away knowing little more than when they began. The four main objectives in any initial sales dialogue should be these: To establish yourself as a credible professional and partner by being prepared and thoughtful in the sales questions that you ask To seek to understand the prospect’s current situation, which includes an effort to validate what you’ve researched or the assumptions that you’ve made To uncover a broader and deeper range of information, from strategic objectives to immediate business needs To seed new ideas to either influence or disrupt the prospect’s current thinking With those four objectives firmly in mind, your next step is to develop a series of open-ended questions that you will ask to engage clients in a meaningful dialogue. Sequence your sales questions to create a flow. Forget about yes-or-no sales questions. Don’t provide multiple-choice answers. You want each question to elicit a thoughtful answer from the prospect’s or client’s point of view. What is the initiative we’re here to talk about today? What is the driving force behind this initiative? Why is now the right time for this initiative? How will you recognize or define success? Just as important as specific sales questions are the skills of listening and pacing. It can be tempting to fire off questions, one after another. But for the prospect facing a barrage of questions, the conversation can seem more like an interrogation. The best approach is a conversational one. Ask a question. Listen for the answer. Acknowledge what the prospect says, and check your understanding of the answer. Then, ask a follow-up question. You want the discussion to be free-flowing and enjoyable, not a checklist to march through until each question is asked and answered. Another element to consider is structure. You want to start with a high-level perspective of the situation and then drill down into various aspects: 30,000-ft. view: Tell me about the initiative that we’re here to talk about today. Current strategy: How have you been addressing this issue? Cultural aspects: What changes do you want to see in your organization? What do you want your people to be doing differently? Influencing ideas: Have you thought about this aspect? It’s something we’ve helped other clients address with XYZ. Decision criteria: What is your time frame for getting started? What does your decision-making process look like and who will be involved? Special circumstances: What sensitivities do I need to be aware of? Must-ask question: What have I not asked that I need to know? Whenever a prospect or client agrees to take your call or a meeting, go in prepared. You need a developed questioning strategy with supportive, engaging, and open-ended questions. At Richardson, we believe that the sale is made in the dialogue and that you want to start a dialogue that uncovers the information you need while positioning yourself as a partner and value-added resource in the process. The most important thing to remember about sales questions is this: Don’t wing it. The other party will quickly see through your lack of preparation and feel less valued as a client. If the sales opportunity is one you want to win (and aren’t they all?), then don’t waste the prospect’s time or your own. Go into each meeting prepared to engage the other party, and then begin the very human task of establishing a meaningful relationship. Learn more about Richardson’s Consultative Selling Sales Training Solutions. The post The Art of Asking Sales Questions to Engage Prospects appeared first on Richardson Sales Enablement Blog.

Steve Bruce, Delivery Manager I'm Steve Bruce, one of the Delivery Managers in the DWP Transformation Hub in Leeds. I joined DWP in September last year as a delivery manager and, with my background in managing a digital portfolio, I soon found myself being given responsibility for managing the delivery of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) digital service. As I’d previously been a project manager overseeing a suite of digital projects, I was excited by having the chance to make a real difference with the PIP service and a little hesitant about getting my hands dirty in a new way of working. One of the Delivery Manager's roles is to keep the team agile. I thought I’d be fine with that. I’d done the training, got my qualification as scrum master. I was even fortunate enough to be part of DWP's Digital Academy which gives its graduates a thorough grounding in various aspects of agile digital delivery. What I soon learnt was that being a Delivery Manager didn’t just mean turning up and facilitating a bunch of ceremonies and monitoring velocity, it is also about good team dynamics and a commitment to learning and improving. My role as Delivery Manager As Delivery Manager it’s my job to set the pace and keep it going. I am the interface with the business and act as something of a buffer - keeping the demands of the department off the shoulders of the team, so they can continue to work unhindered. I provide transparency to senior managers and a lengthy list of stakeholders, keeping them abreast of the latest progress in terms of the critical path, the finance picture, management of risks and issues, and escalating blockers where necessary. Our show and tells are used to demonstrate how our designs have been led by user research and iterated accordingly. Discovery: we secured the right skills and direction The PIP digital service was just about to enter discovery so as well as making sure we were making all the necessary research and really understanding  user needs, I had to look ahead, commission the team that would get us  successfully through alpha and ideally into beta. Although I was familiar with a devops arrangement, I was a bit of a newbie when it came to figuring out what skills and expertise I’d need. Java devs? Sure. WebOps? Yep. Need ‘em. Business analysts and researchers? Certainly. But when it came to technical architects, quality assurers, content designers and front end designers and developers, I needed some help. Thankfully some of the people from the Government Digital Service (GDS) had my back. Some sound advice and a certain degree of pragmatism saw me working with our HR department to bring in the right level of expertise at the right time, and we were right back on track. I worked with our business analysts and researchers to get under the skin of why the user would need such a digital service - one of the key outputs of discovery - and worked to challenge the current offline process. Taking a two-step offline model and looking to develop a seamless, intuitive online service from the start throws up opportunities to remove duplication in process steps which would annoy and frustrate our users. Alpha: we proved that the concept would work With the right level of support we moved into our alpha phase - which probably turned out to be the trickiest period of all. As Delivery Manager, I planned and facilitated a two-week inception. What’s inception? Well it’s no good if your partners, senior managers and stakeholders each have a different perception of what you’re trying to do and why. What’s the scope of the service? What’s the Minimum Viable Product? What is most important? Quality? Budget? Security? What are the legitimate policy constraints? Do we really need to meet those security standards? Inception brings all the right people into the room and gives you the opportunity to gain a common understanding and answer all those questions once and for all. The alpha phase is all about proving that the concept will work. And that’s what we set out to do. As Delivery Manager this is where I really started to earn my crust. The team was forming, but it hadn’t yet gelled. Working with the product manager we started to get the team really focused on what we wanted to learn, what outcomes we wanted, and how we were going to get there. For me, the role was to keep the team agile and keep the user at the centre of everything we did. User research and testing assumptions The key of course is regular user research and testing what we built with users. Within a couple of sprints of the alpha we had a prototype which we had put in front of users. And insight is dynamite. We were able to find out if users understood what we looking for with the level of questions. Did they understand what would be asked of them to complete the user journey? Could the users tell their story to us? Could they complete an end to end journey? Meeting with your users regularly is key, as our user researcher Simon Hurst’s blog illustrates. Our first sprints The first few sprints were a learning experience. How would we know how much work the team could handle? How much effort would it take to get the technical environments set up and working? How would I get the sprint rhythm right given we needed to act upon the user insight and iterate the prototype and get it back out in front of users as quickly as possible? The answer of course is that you learn through doing. The first few sprints needed patience and a steady nerve to discard what wasn’t working and try new things. This includes how we work together and, as we got to know each other, our planning sessions have become more valuable, we get better results and we are able to get through them quicker. Agile ceremonies brought the team together The agile ceremonies were soon bedding in, but more importantly everyone knew why we were doing them. The morning stand ups have become crucial. Even with a large team they rarely go over 15 minutes and now each team member can see how they’re contributing towards our sprint goals. Our business analyst, developer and quality assurer get together regularly throughout a sprint as a "3 Amigos" session to flesh out the next set of user stories, so our backlog is sufficiently refined to take into sprint planning for it to run like clockwork. The retrospectives aren’t seen as a chore, but rather an opportunity to speak out in a safe environment and discuss with the team what’s working well, what isn’t and what we should do more of, or stop entirely. It’s my job to not only facilitate these ceremonies, but to make sure that they continue to add value for the team. From alpha to beta The PIP digital service recently passed the GDS alpha service assessment. Moving into beta brought a greater sense of urgency and desire to develop a digital service that puts the user at its heart. After all we’re in full production mode now. The gloves are off. The user is waiting and expecting. There’s a growing community of Delivery Managers in DWP, and we meet weekly to share good practice and help each other out - whether it’s sharing resources or overcoming shared obstacles. We’re all in it together. Some may have more experience than others. But everyone’s view is respected and valued. I may know the priorities for the following day, but I can guarantee that a new challenge will rise to test me. And that’s why I love being a Delivery Manager in DWP.

If you’ve read "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell, then you know his research indicates first impressions are intuitive, powerful, and made in a matter of seconds. There are many books and articles that share how to make a memorable and positive first impression. Yet, when it comes to customer service, first impressions are only half of the story. A good first impression can be completely undone by a bad last impression. YOUR SERVICE SHOULD NOT EVAPORATE Let’s say you go to your favorite restaurant, and they greet you warmly and seat you right away at your preferred table. The wait staff is attentive. The food tastes great. But when it comes time to pay your check, you can’t find your server anywhere. You try to catch the eye of any employee, and you still can’t get service. Although you may feel compassion for your poor waiter or waitress—who you imagine must be trapped under a boulder somewhere struggling to break free—you begin to consider billing the restaurant for your sitter’s overtime. In this scenario, even though your meal was good, your last impression—the interminable wait for your check—will probably color your whole dining experience. You will also most likely hesitate to give the restaurant your business in the future. In customer service, a last impression is equally as memorable as a first impression. THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD GOODBYE The Three Steps of Service— a warm and sincere greeting, meeting the guest’s needs, and a fond farewell—are part of the Gold Standards at The Ritz-Carlton. Diana Oreck, vice president of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center points out that, "The arrival and the departure bookend a customer’s experience. The last few moments can reinforce everything that went before—good or bad." If your customer had any challenges with your service or product, a bad good-bye only compounds the problem. For example, if your customer experienced several defects, and then receives a bill that is inaccurate, you’ve verified his or her belief that your organization is substandard from beginning to end. On the other hand, if your client has experienced short-comings in your products or services, a fond farewell can help save the entire experience. It can also redeem a marginal customer experience and elevate it into something memorable. You can achieve this by recognizing the customers’ past difficulties, resolving any outstanding issues, and by expressing sincerity, kindness and gratitude to your customers. Your clients have many choices,, and just because they did business with you today, does not mean that they will return tomorrow. The fond farewell is an opportunity to let your customers know how much you appreciate their business. THINK RELATIONSHIP—NOT TRANSACTION Often, companies and organizations neglect making a sense of departure special because they already have their money, and their transaction is complete. Customer experience transcends transactions. Your relationship—your genuine care for your customer—shouldn’t stop when money has changed hands. The way to cultivate customer loyalty is to continually embrace the customer relationship. When you express sincere and genuine care for your customers—that extends from a warm greeting to a fond farewell—you’re not only making lasting impressions, but also creating positive ambassadors for your brand. ∞ The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center is offering "Legendary Service at The Ritz-Carlton" on Monday, November 4 in Atlanta, GA. This one-day class shares the basics of how to create a service culture that not only improves your customer experience, but also plays a role in the foundation of your company.

You don’t have to be a superhero to provide a great customer experience. It’s not about leaping over buildings and making huge gestures. As you’ll see in the story below, service becomes legendary as you listen to your customers and look for creative ways to meet their needs. A large group was staying at the The Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street on the Club Lounge. For many of these guests, this was their first visit to China. They were curious about Chinese culture and seemed particularly intrigued by some of the food offerings in the Club Lounge. One morning, while eating breakfast, they kept commenting on the fried dumplings, asking questions like "How do you make Chinese dumplings?" and "What’s the filling inside these dumplings?" TURNING CURIOSITY INTO A CLASS The Guest Recognition Manager answered their questions, but then came up with a unique idea. She thought it would be fun to organize a home-style dumpling class. The Club team could take the guests through the entire process step-by-step, from kneading the dough, to preparing the filling, to sautéing the dumplings, and of course, to sampling them! The Guest Recognition Manager shared her idea with her team, and they immediately got to work to make it happen. The Guest Recognition Manager sent out invitations to all the guests, and the next day nearly a dozen guests sent their confirmations. The Chinese kitchen also provided support by supplying the equipment and preparing the dumpling filling and dough. A lady and gentleman from The Ritz-Carlton Sales team also volunteered to assist with the dumpling class. A TEAM EFFORT On Friday, the day of the big event, the Club team set up a special cocktail reception for the guests with a presentation of wine, champagne, beer and soft drinks. Then, at 6 p.m., all of the ingredients were ready for the class. The Guest Recognition Manager and a member of the Sales team walked the guests through the process, and the guests all got to work making their own special dumplings. Other Ladies and Gentlemen stepped in to serve the guests, take photos and make the evening a success. The group guests had a fantastic time. One of them commented that it was not only a fun evening, but also a successful team builder for her group: "I’m very appreciative of what you did. It’s amazing, and it helped me to build my team." Others mentioned that they’d now be able to make a dumpling at home. ∞ The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center offers a one day class called: "‘Radar On-Antenna Up’: The Ritz-Carlton Way of Fulfilling Unexpressed Wishes and Needs." There is no greater experience in service delivery than to surprise and delight a customer, and this program shows how the Ladies and Gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton take service excellence to the highest levels every day.

In the article, "Praise is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall," Clifford Nass, professor of communication at Stanford University, points out that "almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail." If you work in a service industry, you’ve probably experienced a customer’s long-term memory when it comes to mistakes or deficiencies. This is why it’s important not only to rectify any problems, but to make sure your client doesn’t have lingering feelings towards your brand. Debi Howard, Manager of Corporate Guest Relations at The Ritz-Carlton, shares that her primary objective, as well as that of her customer care team, is to restore brand loyalty and "create guests for life." Ms. Howard views each situation as an opportunity to turn "Lemons into Lemonade" and most importantly "WOW" the guest. Despite managing all customer complaints worldwide, Ms. Howard has a very positive outlook on her role. ENGAGEMENT, ENGAGEMENT, ENGAGEMENT She feels that customer engagement is one of the most important defenses and offenses when it comes to problem resolution. If the staff is communicating with customers and showing genuine care, then customers are more likely to be understanding about any breakdowns. For example, if guests arrive at The Ritz-Carlton and discover their room isn’t ready yet, this can be an unfortunate beginning to their customer experience. However, if the staff immediately engages with the guests, keeps the guests informed, and treats the guests with genuine care, this can mitigate the guests’ frustrations. One of the service values at The Ritz-Carlton is: Service Value #6 "I own and immediately resolve guests problems." It’s important to handle all challenges as quickly as possible. Unresolved customer issues can be like weeds in a garden—they grow, spread rapidly, and become even more difficult to extinguish. GENUINE LISTENING AND CONNECTION Ms. Howard believes that true service comes from the heart. When handling customer issues, she advises her staff to keep an open mind and never to judge. She also counsels that feelings are facts, and you should always be respectful of the customers’ feelings. Customers should feel heard and cared for, but this doesn’t mean that you should try to rectify a problem by giving away the entire store. Ms. Howard suggests that your resolution should mirror the problem. One of the many keys to successful problem solving is to identify the problem, listen, and build a strong relationship with the customer. Ms. Howard’s customer care team is spread out across the world, but they keep in close contact. These close-knit relationships enable a high-level of teamwork and camaraderie. Ms. Howard is not just solving customer issues; she’s fostering personalized service, building strong relationships and creating exceptional memories. Most importantly, she—along with her team—are achieving the ultimate goal of preserving and cultivating brand loyalty. ∞ The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center is offering a one day class called: "Legendary Service at The Ritz-Carlton" on Monday, November 4 at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead in Atlanta, GA. Learn the basics of how to create a service culture that not only improves your customer experience, but also plays a role in the foundation of your company.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, it seems like a good time to start handing out some thank-you notes. Do you have a co-worker who helped you with a project? Or perhaps you’ve noticed your boss burning the midnight oil? Why not take a moment to show a little appreciation to your colleagues and supervisors? According to the article "New Employee Study Shows Recognition Matters More Than Money," 83% of respondents felt recognition for their efforts was more fulfilling than any rewards or gifts. When employees are praised for their good work, they are inspired to keep up the good work and often try even harder. RECOGNITION AS PART OF YOUR CULTURE The ladies and gentlemen at The Ritz-Carlton—also known as the employees—give "First Class" cards to each other to recognize good work. "First Class" cards are immediate, specific, individualized recognition. They are typically given from any employee to any other employee, group of employees or department for exemplary or outstanding actions that go above and beyond expectations and standards. "First Class" cards are blank 4 x 5 cards with "First Class" and the company logo printed at the top. Employees can then add a handwritten note expressing gratitude. The cards are often decorated with stickers and colorful designs to make them more festive and fun. But what makes "First Class" cards truly special is the personal, genuine recognition. A former manager at The Ritz-Carlton had an employee who kept all of her "First Class" cards. The cards covered two walls in her office area. The manager explained that when you walked into her office, you knew right away that you were talking to an exceptional employee. You also knew that this employee valued her "First Class" cards. Her two walls of recognition were a constant visual reminder that when she performed at her very best, her good work was noticed and appreciated. MAKE IT PERSONAL Thanking an employee with a retail gift card is a nice gesture, but it’s not as personal as a thank-you note. A retail gift card can be quickly spent and forgotten—while a hand-written card can be treasured throughout a career. Writing a thank-you note may not seem like the highest priority when you’re facing day-to-day deadlines, but gratitude and recognition produce engaged employees who are inspired to try their very best. As the American writer William Arthur Ward put it: "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." Let’s embrace this season of Thanksgiving by giving the gift of recognition and acknowledging the great work of a colleague. ∞