Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Old verse new

There are many business out there where the people who own them are use to being employees themselves.  They see an opportunity and grab it. Organise 'all' the paper work, go through things with a fine tooth comb, purchase the business and then work their tails off to get it running smoothly.

Then comes the crash.  Things just are not progressing.  They loose hope and their cash as the "today's" real world closes in. What they are set to loose is not only the hard earned cash but the time and effort, they have put in, the knowledge they have gained and worst of all all that 'ownership' and identity of who and what they are now, were, compared to what they will be if they do not do something real.

By real I mean simple acknowledge that they were good at what they do.  Their understanding has been acknowledged with the pay check they took home and invested.  However, do they alone have all the talents needed to move forward and keep their business in line?

NO is the easy answer.

At this point I am going to explain something between the old and the new.  Marketing has two aspects.  The outbound and the inbound. Or put it another way the tangible and intangable.

  • Outbound marketing: 
    • Cash and direct leads from cold calling, 
    • trade shows,
    •  direct mail,
    •  advertising,
    •  promotions.
  • Inbound marketing:
    •  Internet blogging, 
    • social media,
    •  emailing, 
    • social mediaising, 
    • S.E.O.
The trick is meshing these two concepts together because when you go into these business the owners are familiar with the Outbound marketing concepts. So familiar that they are stuck going around in a mess of frustrated circles.  The new fagled ones are for 'the kids who do not know the stuff' the owners have gone through. Meanwhile this outdated view is not only a generation gap but something like a knowledge chasm. Since the owners are so busy literally digging themselves into an early grave the 'employees' will assist them to.  After all the owners have set the precedent to all their good employees - follow the leadership at the helm and do what the owners are showing the employees to do- or we sink.

To turn the all this around the incoming consults needs to work with the outbound marketing strategies while bring in the 'new' Inbound marketing strategy concepts. Selling these systems to the employees while wholesale marketing them owners and upper management staff .  Talk about a double edged sword. Meanwhile filling in the leaks
Good luck.



Sunday, December 4, 2011

Just Sleeping on it.

There are few jobs where a lowering of social conscience is not accompanied by a lowering ethics.
Sharlyn Lauby writes a great short post that raises Sleep Deprivation and Ethics issues. Wikipedia states that sleep depreciation "adversely affects the brain and cognitive function."  While there is definite regonition that sleep deprecations is an impairment of ability factor and Amnesty International lists sleep as a form of torture just who is responsible for putting the pressure on, effectively Bulling someone into constantly being on the go while they are on call or actively meant to be in a working situation.

Think of being in a position where you initially stand your ground. You turn off both the machinery you operate and then yourself in order to get that nights sleep. Refreshed both you and the consumers can now use the machinery safety being a priority.  Then something alters.  You take on that extra job just to help out.  Some one wants a day off so you cover.  Gradually what was not normal before has become normal now. Just when the pre training takes precedence over an incident is up to not only the individual but the communities culture the individual enters into. Hence the reason why business are subjected to stronger law suits than the employee.  That is if the employee can obtain and pay for good council while paying the 'lawyers' waiting game. Often setting out of court then finding the life quality has diminished further as they are now known as whistle blowers.

At this point subjective behaviour steps in. Steven Brown states that: ...." the person's subjectivity as such constitutes an actual event which exists in it's own right and is measurable in it's own terms..." Behaviour and impairments being similar to the excess blood alcohol levels sometimes a break down of personal wellness is the trigger.

Through out our lives various behaviour programming occurs. Think about a foreigner to the cultural community you are in.  Say a foot baller attending a boxing match. Or a Vegan attending an event where sitting down to a roast meat meal or eggs and bacon breakfast is obligatory. What do they do? What would you do as the host, the guest next door or even the vegan themselves? Subliminal triggers are released causing judgement decisions to occur relating to the social conventions and poor risk analysis of the guest, the other guests, and the host.

Think of the professional people transporting driver who by convention must drive on the correct side of the road. The brain goes into overload a mini sleep occurs. Hopefully waking up before the accident happens.  Gets a fright . Adrenalin pumps into the system.  They get home and thank their lucky stars and God for another chance to see daylight, kiss their families and play with the dogs.  Then one day something else happens.  This time they realise that through lack of sleep, both drivers are needing an adrenalin fix to keep going. While one person is not transporting the other has picked up clients.  Really dangerous situation.  STOP.  Where are the ethics here?  Besides leaving what do they do, who can they report too?

The eventual effect of being lulled into these situations are depression, anxiety and stress conditions accompanied by guilt should injury or death occur to others. In these situations "...sleep deprecation has the same hazardous effects as being drunk. People who drove after being awake for 17 - 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol limit of 0.05percent."

Does ethics have a tangible as well as an intangible price tag.  The answer is yes.

Grab a concept.

Consider your companies views regarding the Internet, it's usage, leverage, belief and ethic systems all ready in place.

Before you charge on ahead, going where angels fear to tread, have a good understanding of exactly what the combination of the companies strategies and objects exactly are. Then look again the vision and mission statements just to be sure you are working within these guidelines. Study carefully the social media policy... or lack of one.

You know the what, the  where's and how too. This knowledge is of great worth to any company that uses it. However, by the 'self-value' not being understood even by yourself the effect lessons the other values - that your hard earned skills, certificates and experiences have all cost you to get.  Put your price on them. Work at not lowering what you have going for you.

I say this, as when you charge on ahead, out of this realm and falling into a danger zone of having no support, you will be overused, unsupported and frustrated... just to name a few.  There goes both your anxiety and stress levels off the measurable chart, taking with it your health and sapping your energy poor time management. Especially since there are so many variables to put into place [sites to use, information, research to gather, writers and other multimedia and techno savvy people to train and work as a team] just so the first post can flutter onto a web page.

If you are already heading this way... STOP. Sit back and reassess what and where you currently are.  Why you were heading that way?  Begin thinking out of the box just to get another point of view. Remember and action that fact that you are not a prisoner of work but a Person of Worth  [P.O.W]

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Food for thought... who am I


You may know me.
I’m your constant companion.
I’m your greatest helper.
I’m your heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am at your command.
Half the tasks you do can be turned over to me.
I’m able to do them quickly, and
I’m able to do them the same every time.

I’m easily managed... all you have to do is to be firm, with me.
Show me exactly how you want it done-
after a few lessons, I’ll do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men and women,
And, of course, servant of all the failures as well.
I've made all the great individuals who have ever been great.
And I’ve made all the losers, too.
I work with all the precision of a computer
and the intelligence of a human being.
You may run me for profit, or you may run me to ruin.
It makes no difference to me.

Make me a strong part of your life.
Be easy with me and I will destroy you.
Be firm with me and I’ll put the world at your feet.

Who am I? I am HABIT.

(Author unknown)


Balance and realine - a training gaol

When people are in a situation where their 'daily lives' are influenced strongly by an increasingly self feeding circular stress / anxiety and depression cycle the influencing factors spiral. Often not seen until the inevitable happens where something goes and breaks down.  Now added guilt factors step in. Businesses loose well trained and valuable members of their work force when the people realise that they do not even like what they do any more.  The fun has gone out of their lives. Added work loads now pile up onto other people [more stress for them] and the training department keeps employed as long as the business can pay them to keep going.

 Implemented 'stress load recognition" steps built into any ongoing training program  become doubly important as they are a set of tools for all transitional from within the the work place, the community and the family life.  That people have the belief the attitude of 'burring the heads in the sand' will make it go away. Thus they are not involved or responsible is an abuse by all to actively ignore what is going on will not make it go away.  Instead the abuses are intensified as they are magnified. Like a pebble skimming the water something eventually impacts with something else then eventually sinks.

Walking the double edged sword of having to psych ones self up to take an active part in a job completion task often is of assistance.  Being able to hop from one side to the other, do the job and being able to effectively be efficient at fully leaving the situation behind is the aim of initial training and then constantly updating that training.

 Effectively the person is spring boarding into the jobs starting point through putting on a ' practised uniform'.  Think of an emergency worker. Sometime through their training they are shown how to cut off from being themselves, flick into work mode, do the job and come back into themselves. For years nurses went to their place of work. In the locker room they changes out of their civvies and into the uniform.  There were often others around letting off steam, offering a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. The head nurses would be warned about trouble brewing and deal with the issues.  In today's world debriefing has overtaken part of this return transition process. Expert help from a neutral person outside of the circle of events that actually were occurring. Alternatively time out camps where returned solders can go in order to hole up. Take the time and eventually come back into their world reality.

These scenarios illustrate strategic release times when and where ordinary human beings are out their doing what they are trained or allowed to do sometime during their life. Not implementing the Occupational Health and Safety steps now incorporated within 'set out pathway to recovery' finds those behind the system guilty of work place abuse issues even years after the activities or events triggered a release of the 'adrenaline rush' triggered to cope with the work experiences.

When people are unable to make the full jump between the analogy of the double edged sword mentioned above they gradually reach breaking point. Often unseen by themselves as what was 'norm' has now been overtaken by this new norm. Incorporated into any training program a series of 'just have fun activities' that include the families, refresh the person and are their without competitiveness factors interrupting is a must.

By building into the awesome responsibility of  the "..too succeed or not to succeed" part of human nature fun training activities that release the reassure, reconnect both ourselves and the others around us with 'fresh air and balance' the training team supports further cohesive actions, goal attainments and reignition while allowing the persons involved chances to balance, realine and become whole once again.