Management | Warwick Merry CSP CVP

Archive For: Management

Be Easy to Try, Easy to Buy, Easy to Say Goodbye

There are so many barriers to success. Often we put them there ourselves. So how can you make it easy for others to Buy, Try or Say Goodbye?

Are you switching over to Virtual Events or Hybrid Events?
Is your Event likely to go Online?
Are you looking at a Plan B for your conference?

There are so many things that go into making a successful event. Ask any of the Eventprofs and PCO legends in your life and they will give you a huge list.

With the advent of COVID-19, so many of these events are going virtual or online and that just adds to the multitude of issues you need to consider. But there is one key thing you MUST get right.

That is, THE SOUND.

With the vast array of microphones that your speakers will be using, you need to make sure they work well. We can put up with dodgy video (in Australia I will often turn it off due to poor bandwidth) but the sound MUST be good.

Your laptop mic is not enough.

If you are a speaker and plan on doing more virtual work, spend the money and get some good sound gear. You won’t regret it and your audience will love you for it.

I am a big fan of the RODE products. The Wireless GO is a great option. It is wireless and gives you room to move. Often I use the RODE VideoMicMe as it is a shot gun mic and the less that one metre distances means the pick up is good, the background noise is minimised and I have freedom to move.

How good is your sound and audio?
Get in touch if you need some pointers or further help on your next online event.

“How can I get them to do what I want?”
“Why won’t they listen?
“But I already told them!”

I have heard managers and team leaders (and parents) say this on many occasions. Also Presidents of Associations, chairs of committee and sales people just trying to get across the message. Often the message is a good one (even a great one) but you just can’t get the response, excitement or engagement you want.

Usually this means it is not the message, but how you choose to get it across.

Years ago when I worked at the now defunct EDS, on several different occasions I got my annual pay rise by being stopped in the hallway by my manager and having them hand me a post it note with the new amount and percentage increase written on it.

Yeeeeaaaah…. that’s not the best way to do it.

So often people send emails or texts rather than having a conversation with the person. Phil Collins famously broke up with his ex-wife by sending her a fax. People tell their boss they can’t come into work because they are sick using some kind of messaging app.

THE MODALITY COUNTS!

Face to Face, Video Call, Phone Call, Text Message, Email or via a third party. Whatever your modality, it makes a difference.

If you are not getting your message across, if you are not inspiring the troops, if you are not connecting with others, if the kids seem out of control, maybe you should consider your modality as well as your message?

It’s not you, it is how you do it that makes all the difference.

Have You Got Enough Security?

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking past the Melbourne Convention and Entertainment Centre (or Jeff’s Shed as it’s known) and there was a melee in progress.

Horses, protesters, police and conference delegates were all in the fray. You can see some news coverage about it from SBS by clicking this link.

From my perspective, it did seem that both parties were too enthusiastic and unfortunate delegates got caught up in the cross fire. Some were pushed to the ground and others spat on by the protesters.

I am not deny the rights of the protesters to be there and I am not denying the right of the police to keep the peace. But what does need to be considered is the impact on the event.

While the event organisers considered their event a success (they were quoted by SBS as saying it was “business as usual for our 7,000 delegates”) it definitely attracted some unwelcome attention for them.

Let’s extrapolate that to your event.

You are after the Goldilocks level of security. Not too little, not too much but juuuust the right amount. As you can see in the video above, the level of police presence is intimidating. But it did seem to match the intimidation of the protestors.

If you are running an event that may need security, how do you measure the Goldilocks Amount?

Why does it feel like we are shutting down?

We seem to pay more attention to our phones than the people around us. Admit it, who do you connect with first thing in the morning? Is it your phone or your partner or your pet?

Countries are shutting down. The debacle that is Brexit, Trade wars between USA and the rest of the world, rising nationalism that seems to echo to the chant of “mine, mine, mine”, even today when I offered to contribute to a white paper being put together by a sister association, when they discovered I was from a different country, I was un-invited.

How did we get it so wrong?

At a time when we have less wars than ever before, more global trading than ever before, more immigration and global citizens than ever before, more global problems than ever before, why are we not connecting more?

It seems we have forgotten how to connect and maybe even play nicely with others.

On a recent power session I ran on How to Connect with People, some of the participants were amazed at the simplicity of how to connect. Basic things that they don’t do that they used to do.

To re-connect on a global level, why not connect more on a personal level. Look up from your phone, your desk, your immediate concerns and go and connect with others. Prospects, customers, colleagues, friends, family and also your pets.

You will be better for it!

If you want to get access to the How to Connect session, head here.

I am just back from the dentist. I go every six months. Usually it is quite uneventful. I get told I don’t floss enough (it’s now at the point I tell my dentist I am not flossing enough so she doesn’t have to tell me). She scrapes, cleans, polishes my teeth and says, “see you in 6 months”.

Easy!

Every now and again there is something new. This time she told me to get a specific tooth brush as it will protect my gums more. Sometimes I have an x-ray. Every couple of years there maybe a filling or an extraction (I miss my wisdom teeth!) It doesn’t take much and it minimises the chance of something major going wrong.

Leadership and Management are the same, particularly with the level of change that currently exists.

So often supervisors and leaders get promoted to the position but “forget” the regular check up. Decay in the form of poor behaviours or old techniques can settle in and end up undermining you completely.

People join a company but leave a manager.

You owe it to your team and yourself to get your six month check up. It could be a conversation with a coach or mentor. It may be formal study or a short course. It may be continual reading of articles and books. It could be active involvement in your professional association and their activities.

How are you giving yourself a check up? Let me know if you need help.

Plus don’t forget to have a regular dental check up. Got to love a big smile!

Engage by Being Bolder

Too often people play it safe and communicate using “corporate speak” or what others actually refer to as “bulls#!t bingo.”

If this is you, STOP IT!

We have retreated to the safety of the comfort zone. Too many leaders forgot how to lead and are merely managing and in the process, losing great people.

It is time to get real. This include being respectful in your language, but let go of the flowery things you “should say” as say what you need to in your own language.

Be Bolder. Stand up for yourself and let go of the fear of saying the wrong thing. If you say the wrong thing, apologise and learn from it. People will understand.

Don’t let the fear of saying the wrong thing stop you from saying anything.

So… now … what was that you were saying?

Top 10 Technology Tools to Tame Your Troubles

This is the view from my seat as I type todays post. In it is so much technology that I would have only dreamed about in the past.

My good friend and speaker buddy, Dave Staughton asked me a couple of weeks ago, what are the top 10 technologies that I use in my business. I could only narrow it down to 19 – some of them I use constantly and others intermittently.

Here is the list for you: (Click on the heading for more details. No affiliate links just more info!)

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones.

I use these every time I fly, for making phone calls (did you know they have a mic in them and are great for phone calls?), in co-working spaces and in cafes. I have the old version with the cable, and still I am a huge fan.

Zoom.us

This software is GOLD! From recording podcasts, meetings, connecting with absent friends/family, webinars, integrating with Facebook, it is fabulous. Starting price is…. FREE! I am fortunate, my professional association, Professional Speakers Australia is currently finalising a deal so it’s members get a substantial discount.

Rode Video Mic Me shotgun mic

I bought this to use with my phone but then set it up so that it records into the computer. A discreet microphone so that when I do webinars and online work, you don’t see a microphone but you hear it’s impact. (It is the small mic resting on the red handled prop in the picture)

Shure SM58 mic

That is the big mic on the boom arm. While it is not the ideal mic for recording podcasts (loving the look of the new Rode PodMic) this one makes my voice sound smoother and deeper. Just what I want for my recordings. I had the mic from my singing work so thought I may as well use the good gear I already have before I head out to buy something else.

Zoom H4n Digital Recorder

I have a few of the Zoom Recorders. Originally I bought them for my choir performances but this H4n is brilliant for recording face to face podcast interviews and also for recording my speaking performances.

Smart Phone

I mean, who hasn’t got one nowadays. Even the biggest luddites are conforming. Even though it is mainly used to watch cat videos, there is so much that it can do.

Video editor (I use iMovie)

On both the phone and the computer, this software is easy to use and does amazing things.

Sound Editor (I use Garage Band but have a hot spot for Adobe Audition)

Same, same as for the Video Editor comments.

Canva

Such an intuitive service. Easy to create some amazing graphics, slides, posters, marketing collateral and so on.

DropBox

I barely know it’s there yet it automatically backs everything up, including my photos from my smart phone. I could smash my phone and my computer right now, go out and buy another one and within an hour or less I would be good to go without losing any of my data, images, video or anything else I hold dear.

Honorable Mentions

Send Pepper (Part of Ontraport) – for CRM and Newsletters
HostGator for hosting all my websites and podcast
Laptop for doing all the work on (I use a Mac but the next one probably won’t be a Mac)
LinkedIn for networking
Green Screen and Box Lights (so much more video nowadays, so these are essential)
Selfie stick/tripod
Pen and Paper (Sometimes, you have to go old school!)
G Suite for email, calendar, docs, sheets, etc
The DPA Headset mic that I talked about here.

What about you? What are your favourite technologies that help make your life easier?

Are You The Conductor of Your Own Destiny?

Maybe “Destiny” is a bit too full on for this time of day, conductor of your own life is a bit full on too. Maybe conductor of your coming year or the coming months is more appropriate.

Whatever you find more palatable, the question is, are you in control?

Not complete control because there is so much that happens that is outside your control that happens that you have to deal with.

Ok, I have worked it out. Here it is. Are you willing to take responsibility for the actions that need to be taken to get the results you are after?

This is more than simply saying to yourself, “Yes of course!”

It is continually stepping up and being willing to make tough decisions and uncomfortable actions.
It is exerting your influence on others (both subtly and blatantly) to get the outcomes you are working towards.
It is training other people to do the jobs they should know how to do themselves anyway but doing it in a patient and caring manner.
It is being willing to put your hand up even when you don’t want to because you know it’s needed.
It is stepping outside your own desires and looking at what is best for the team and taking the appropriate action.
It is being willing to make a fool of yourself and not caring what others think.
It is putting suggestions forward and when they are knocked back, going with the group consensus anyway.
It is getting there early when you would rather stay in bed.
It is going above and beyond to make sure the entire experience is great for everyone and not just you.
It is asking the hard questions to those who don’t always like it.
It is having fun when things are getting a bit too serious.
It is tapping in to the synergy of everyone in the room and making sure everyone knows the part they play.
It is taking a little more than your fair share of the blame and a little less than your fair share of the credit.
It is doing what you don’t want to do when you know it has to be done.
It is shining the light on those that deserve it.
It is keeping things running on time and on budget even though that can sometimes hurt.
It is picking yourself up, cracking a joke and then continuing to move forward when things don’t work out.
It is counting on the team around you and letting go of the control.
It is passing on the baton and training your own replacement (even though you love your job).
It is leaving when it’s time.

Spider Man’s Uncle Ben said to him. “With great power comes great responsibility.” I find the reverse is true also.

“With Great Responsibility comes Great Power.”

The more willing you are to take responsibility for a situation, a position, a life, the more power you have over it.

The Conductor is the most powerful person in the entire orchestra. Are you ready for Great Power?

Are you ready to be the Conductor of your own Destiny?

PS If you are looking to have more power over your next event, be it a conference, a departmental meeting or an internal company event, starting Feb 6th, I will be running live on line sessions on how to be a master event host. It is an eight week course with a stack of additional resources. Check GetMoreMCSuccess.com for more details.

How You Can Tell If Your Event Is A Success

Too often we focus on the cash flow or the ROI of an event when we are measuring success and not the ROO and ROE. Whether this event is a corporate conference, a party with friends or your child’s next birthday party, the intent of this is the same.

Don’t get me wrong, a financial analysis (Return on Investment ROI) of your event is imperative, but it is not the only thing. You have to look at your Return on Objectives (ROO) and Return on Energy (ROE) as well.

ROO is important as once we know our objectives, it will change the focus of the event and what we do at it and with our attendees.
ROE is so important as we only have a certain amount of energy to contribute so we want to put that energy in the right spots.

The problem with this is that most events do not have well considered Objectives or they are not measured appropriately. All too often people write of the cost as a “Branding effort” without even attempting to measure how it impacts the brand.

For your next event you need to ask yourself some key questions:

How will we determine if this event is successful?
How will we measure it?
What systems do we need to put in place today to help measure it?

Sometimes your measure of success is long term and you can be willing to make a financial loss in the short term for a much greater return down the track.

Whatever you decide, you have to measure it. As the old saying goes, “What get’s measured, get’s improved.”

How is Your Underlying Structure or Strategy?

After 8 years of talking about it, we are finally getting a deck!

One of the key things about it is making sure we get the structure right. Granted, we want it to look good but if the support is not there or the layout isn’t in the right direction, it won’t get the results we are after. It won’t meet the purpose we need it for.

A concept I learnt from Paul McCarthy and Brad Tonini is the concept of “For What Purpose?”

The simple act of asking what is the purpose of this action, this idea, this building, this online course, this book – help dictates the strategy. Too often people believe the rubbish perpetuated by Hollywood Movies, “If you build it, they will come” (Spoiler – THEY WON’T!)

How is your strategy?

Does you have a well thought out plan of:

What you are trying to achieve
Who you are trying to achieve it for
Where you will be working on it
How you will achieve it
How you will celebrate when you achieve it

You have to get the strategy right for the results to follow. Let me know if you need any help.

The Power of “Yes and”

For over 10 years I have been studying, training and performing with Impro Melbourne. They are an amazingly talented bunch of people.

What they don’t know is that I have been using the principles of Impro with my coaching clients and in my consulting.

You see the underlying tenet of Impro is the concept of “Yes and”. What that means is that you treat the idea that your fellow performers have as the perfect idea for the moment – that is the Yes. Then you build on and add to that idea – which is of course, the And.

Even if your personally think the idea is rubbish, you hate it, oh my goodness why did they say/do that, you just go with it. You treat it like the perfect idea. Time and time again, what happens is that it evolves on the fly and becomes a fabulous scene.

As a manager, obviously sometimes your team are wrong. But when you point that out to them, you are shutting them down. Once they are shut down, they are less likely to make a suggestion or give a thought next time. Using “Yes, and” allows you to build on what they are saying and divert it away to are more valuable response AND they still feel like they contributed.

For example, if you are coming up with ideas on how to cut costs and one of your team says, “We could close the store earlier to save on staff costs.” Rather than saying, “No we can’t do that” you may respond, “I like what you are saying on saving staff costs. How about we focus on re-stocking during the early shift so we don’t need as many staff for the late shift?”

The person has given an idea, you have validated them and then tweaked it to come up with a workable possibility.

“Yes and” takes lots of practice to become a comfortable part of how you operate but the effort is so worth it.

Dear Reader, how will you use “Yes And” today?

PS Impro Melbourne have a great range of shows and training happening. Check them out here or check out your local Impro troop to fast track your “Yes And” skills.

Who’s a Good Boy?

I spent a bit of time over Easter installing some new redgum sleepers and creating a new garden bed in the front garden. (The plan is for a rosemary hedge so we have a little more privacy AND tasty goodness for when we cook lamb.)

Can I tell you how much physical work was involved? Plus, those sleepers are 3 metres long and very heavy to throw around, level out, concrete in and all the other fun stuff!

Here are a few more pics.

You know what I like the most about this kind of project? It is having my gorgeous wife admire the work done and show her appreciation. Basically, I am a big fluffy puppy wanting her to tell me what a good boy I am and what a good job I have done!

It is funny how one of the key things in the work place that gives great joy and reward to a person is Acknowledgement and Words of Praise, yet they are both incredibly rare. I have heard managers say, “I don’t need to tell them they do a good job, they get paid. That is enough. It is my responsibility to tell them when they have done a bad job, that’s when I give them feedback.”

Culturally when we give some one a compliment, they struggle to accept it.

Responses like “Don’t mention it”, “No worries”, “it’s all good”, “This old thing”, “I bought it at the op shop”, “it was nothing” are part of our every day vernacular.

Can I ask you to mention it?

Can I ask you to pay attention and praise those around you for doing what they would do anyway?

Can I ask you to acknowledge the effort of others?

Most people have a hidden sign saying, “Have I done a good job?”

It costs nothing but a small amount of time to give a compliment and acknowledge others and the payback is massive. Your team will feel closer, feel prouder and pay more attention to team goals.

So dear reader, in your life, who’s been a good boy or a good girl?

Your Systems Suck

Image: Shutterstock

I love systems in business. I am a huge fan of Michael Gerber’s system implementation ideas that he proposed in his book, The E-Myth revisited. The short summary of which is, “Systems run the business and People run the systems.”

But your systems suck! They suck if they are focussed on the wrong thing.

Let me tell you about the new cafe in our area.

After spending a colossal amount of money on shopfitting, the cafe at the bottom of the shopping centre near me has finally opened for business. Always one to support a new local, my gorgeous wife and I went there for lunch.

A mature woman who looked like the owner seated us, was very friendly and put us in a booth near the back, overriding the reserved sign. We guessed she was the owner as she joked about how it wasn’t reserved if she was seating us there.

She took our drinks order and left us with the menu. All pretty good and what any typical customer would expect so far.

A different waiter came up after a few minutes and asked did we want to order drinks. We had ordered but he didn’t know that, and it is not unusual for this to happen. So far all good.

Then we asked to order our meals. His response was, “I can’t take your order. I will get someone to take your food order.”

OK – that was a little weird. Maybe he was new, didn’t know how to order food yet or something else. Certainly the food order person would be right over.

A couple of minutes later a waitress brought over our drinks. Yay! We had a little joke with her and then said, can we order some food. Guess what she said …. “I can’t take your order. I will get someone to take your food order.”

You have got to be kidding me! Ah well. Maybe she is new too. The cafe hasn’t been open long.

After a couple of minutes a third waitress (fourth if you count the boss who seated us) came over and asked, “are you ready to order?”

We ordered, ate, did the crossword and had an amazing conversation that you would surely be jealous of if you saw a picture of it on Facebook or Instagram!! (Ok, it was just your typical couple chat in a cafe)

As we left, the person who I paid, who looked like the other co-owner as he wasn’t wearing a uniform like the others and was a mature man, asked, “How was everything?”

I couldn’t let the opportunity pass. I told him it was a little weird that when we ordered, two staff members were unable to take our food order. Were they new or something?

Here is what he said, “No it’s not weird. Maybe they are new but we don’t want the kitchen to get slammed, specially when it gets busy. If it gets too busy wait staff can make mistakes so only two people on the floor can take food orders. It’s not weird.”

So their systems exist for them and not for their customers. The fact that their customer (me) is saying that it is weird because I didn’t know what is going on meant nothing. This is all about making their kitchen process smoother.

The fact that he didn’t really care what I thought or said was also a bit strange. If you don’t care then don’t ask.

Your systems suck. They are not about making the customer experience better they are about trying to control the flow in the kitchen at the expense of the customer experience.

If your kitchen is getting slammed then look at your ordering or kitchen process. Surely it can’t be that hard?

What it means for us is that we have lost all interest in returning to that cafe. We had noticed the private table out the back and I had made comments on how it may be good for a family function or for a small client get together.

Not now because their systems suck.

What about you? Have you designed processes to make your life better or easier at the expense of your customer?

Quite simply, do your systems suck?

Plan Backwards

Image: Shutterstock

The year has started and no doubt you have some plans in mind. You may have even done some formal planning. I have found the best way to make your plans actually happen is to plan backwards.

This method applies whether you are planning an event, a project, a sales target, or simply planning to by a house.

Dr Stephen Covey has as one of the seven habits of highly effective people to “Begin with the End In Mind.”

For us this means looking at what do we want to achieve and by when. For example, maybe you want to achieve $200,000 in sales this year. That is the goal, the target, the thing that keeps you inspired. I would be using language about that. “Project 200k”, tracking for 200k or something to ensure it keeps top of mind.

The next step is to work backwards. If you are wanting $200k this year then how much is that per month? Let’s face it, Jan and Dec are hard to get anything done (well Jan has already gone!) so you are looking at $20k of sales each month.

So let’s break that down even further by continuing to work backwards.

What is your average sale size?
How many proposals do you need to make a sale?
How many meetings do you need to get a request for proposal?
How many sales calls do you need for a meeting?

This will then set your daily plan for you and you will always know what to do.

For example, let’s assuming the following.

Your average sales size is $5,000. You historically send out three proposals to make a sale. You need two meetings to get a request for a proposal and make five sales calls to get a meeting request.

Working backwards, to reach $200,000 you need 40 sales of $5,000. Based on ten months this is four sales a month.

Each sale need three proposals, so that is 12 proposals a month or 3 a week. To get a proposal request, you need two meetings so that is six meetings a week. Each meeting takes five sales calls so that is 30 sales calls a week or six calls a day.

What this means is that to reach $200,000 you need to consistently make six phone calls a day.

This process works for all kinds of planning. If you are yet to plan your goals for the year, I strongly suggest you plan them backwards. If you do that, you can almost guarantee you will achieve the outcome you are after.

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