The importance of grammar and punctuation

Last week I met someone from The Queen's English Society, a group of people brought together by their real desire to ensure that the proper use of the English language is upheld. I appreciated their cause but not because I believe that everyone should know their prepositions from their dangling participles, but because we all make basic grammar and punctuation mistakes on a daily basis that actually change the meaning of what we are reading, writing or saying.

In this blog post I just wanted to share with you some of my favourite images that show these atrocities in action! (all just a little bit of fun!)

20:60:20 - The engagement rule

Last year I had the pleasure of working with a pair of engagement consultants who gave me and the rest of the senior management team some great advice and tips on how to engage our employees effectively.

The concept of the 20:60:20 rule was one that I had seen prior to this meeting but they approached it very differently to how I had seen it used before.

Explanation of the traditional 20:60:20

• The Top 20% comprised of strong performers
• The Middle 60% comprised of average performers
• The Bottom 20% comprised of weak performers

Simply you leave the top 20% to their own devices, giving them opportunity for autonomy, the middle 60% you concentrate most of your time on, developing the potential and the bottom 20% you need to manage most vigorously.

Explanation of the engagement 20:60:20

·       The Top 20% comprised of strongly engaged employees

·       The Middle 60% comprised of averagely engaged employees

·       The Bottom 20% comprised of disengaged employees

When I first saw this model I was convinced that you should spend trying to increase engagement, specifically in the bottom 20% as I have always believed that disengaged employees may often have a reason for this caused by the company (eg. been passed over for promotion, doesn’t feel they are trusted, is never offered more autonomy etc) but I was told that this was the wrong way to look at it. Over the past year or so I have come to agree with the engagement model and I wanted to share their advice with you.

Please note: The top 20% are not necessarily the “best” at their jobs, but they are the people that most demonstrate your company values. This is important because skills can be learnt, whereas high performers with attitude problems are hard to change and can cause friction across the business.

The top 20% should be given the most opportunities and attention. These people will act in the best interests of the company, so give them the autonomy to get the job done. Challenge them and grow them. This group should be offered development opportunities first.

The middle 60% should be given training opportunities to develop the basics but development opportunities will always be offered to the top 20% first. This group should be encouraged but main focus should always remain on the top 20%. This 60% will see the benefit of showing themselves as more engaged with the business (eg. loyalty, extra effort, company-wide thinking) and will often mimic the behaviour of the top 20%.

The bottom 20% should basically be ignored. Obviously from a functional capacity they will receive job training but they do not get access to the extra development offered to those in the top 20%. This group will make one of two choices, decide that they want the opportunities and therefore change their behaviour or they will leave the company.  

As this process continues to work, your bottom 20% will move up to the level of the bottom of your 60%. You will always recruit people who are the same or better than your top 20%, this means that you will constantly be moving employees up.

I am not suggesting that you have a list of which employees lie in which group, this would be pointless because it can change frequently. It is more a litmus test that says that we pay most attention to those who most demonstrate the company’s culture and reward them for their behaviour.

The one thing that they said that really stuck with me was:

“If you focus all of your attention on the bottom 20%, the whiners and moaners, everyone else in the company will see which way you are looking (backwards) and start to follow, if you are always looking forwards that’s where they will all aim”.

Anyone who has worked with horses will know, you can lead a horse without a head collar or rope, if you walk with your eyes forward they will come. The moment you turn round and try to coax him, the horse will be confused because you are facing backwards and trying to control. This works the same way with people – face forward, take them with you and they will follow.

How to get your boss to agree to a Christmas Party next year!

With the Christmas decorations hanging lopsided and mince pie foil cases well and truly emptied, I wanted to examine the benefits, or perhaps just perceived benefits, of the “Work Christmas Party”.

This annual event used to be something of a “given” in most companies, prior to the 2008 economic slump. In fact it was seen as a great way of showing gratitude, albeit in a very expensive way, to employees at the end of the year. Since the economy became more turbulent, companies have been reassessing these ‘luxuries’ and many have chosen to cut back, with some deciding that it is inappropriate to have a Christmas party.

But what positive or negative impact can a work Christmas party have? Is it worth the money or just another way of ending up with inter-team trysts, blushing cheeks for the month of January and a sore company bank balance?

I think I may be slightly biased. For the last two years I have been involved with the running and execution of the Christmas ‘do’ at the companies I have worked for and each time I have had a blast, as have my colleagues. However, the real question is, does the company get enough bang for their buck?

The answer is obviously variable. To get a return the event must be planned to specifically aid the team in some way. For example, rather than just having food and drinks in a stuffy restaurant where someone is definitely going to end up cornered on a table with the bore from legal, why not involve an element of team building and relationship building. If possible, try to avoid sit down meals; people are far more likely to mix if they are standing rather than static at a table.

Treasure hunts or team competitions can be organised cheaply with a little DIY and are great at creating a competitive spirit that helps to bond teams. Charity events can also give the team a good feeling of festive spirit, perhaps the team could help to box gifts for the less fortunate or visit a local hospital as a team to give presents to the sick.

Most importantly, make sure you mix people up; don’t let everyone stay in their cliques. Creating stronger relationships between colleagues and across the business is paramount to a more effective working environment which in turn can increase productivity and therefore the bottom line. A great Christmas Party will keep an excitement alive for the coming months but it shouldn't be a one-off. Continue to get the team involved in the team-building events throughout the year (although perhaps with a little less alcohol involved!)

One important point to remember is that not all Christmas events need to be expensive. This year we had a budget of £25 per head for a team of 40 and with this we managed to spend a successful day in teams on a treasure hunt in St. Pauls (bought from the internet for £29.99) followed by food and drinks in a wonderful bar in Clapham Junction (The Plough – if anyone is interested). You can also find things to do for free or even ask your colleagues to chip in a small amount of money towards part of the evening. As a prize for the winning team, I bought flashing Christmas hats, presented them with a certificate and managed to convince the bar to give us a bottle of prosecco on the house. The prize may sound small but the winning team proudly showed off their hats and certificate.

Quite simply…

As long as the event is engaging, builds relationships and allows people to let off a little steam – most will be happy, engaged and it will have a positive impact. I say most because it is inevitable that you will have at least one person that thinks they could have done better or does not want to be involved. My opinion on this matter is – who cares?? I always follow the 20:60:20 rule. Concentrate on the top 20. The middle 60 will follow because they want to get the same attention as those at the top. The bottom 20 will either eventually see that everyone in the top 80 is having such a great time that they want to be involved or they will leave.

Don’t waste your time on the moaners!

I think that Christmas events are a fantastic way to creatively engage your people, whilst recognising them for their hard work. Many companies have decided that a Christmas Party is just too expensive at the moment when cuts are being made, but they don’t have to be expensive. Employees know that gone are the days of the big, expensive, all-company parties in a posh hotel. Why not get their input on how you can DIY the Christmas Party – I bet they would have some great ideas!!!

What did you do for your Christmas Party this year? Was it any good, how would you have made it better?

The art of blogging

Well, I certainly outdid myself this time ... I have not written a blog post in over 2 months! One of the first rules of the blogging world is to make sure you communicate regularly and consistently with your audience. This way you keep them engaged with new content and they know when to expect your next post.

I think we can all agree that I haven’t done this very well.

I could sprout the million and one reasons that I have been feeding to myself about why I am not writing regular posts but it still doesn’t give us the solution that a blog is successful. So in this post I thought I would write 10 key tips for maintaining a blog and the things that I wish I had been told before I set mine up! This is very much a case of “do what I say, not what I do”, so please do bear with me.

1. Choosing the platform – There are lots of blogging platforms out there (eg. Wordpress, Tumblr, TypePad and Blogger) and choosing which one to use can be confusing. Unless you have very specific ideas about functionality, most blogging platforms will do what you need. You can find a number of helpful video tutorials online
   
2. Find your niche – As mentioned above, when you start a blog you need to provide regular content. Make sure you find a theme/area of real interest where you are going to be able to share your opinion passionately. Try to think of an angle that makes your blog different to everyone else's
   
3. Get ahead of the game - Before you even launch your blog, make sure you have already written 4-6 posts or so that you can release them at regular intervals in the first few weeks. This will give you time to plan your next posts and also make sure that you start yourself on a path of regular and consistent contact from the very beginning
   
4. Plan your content – Dream big and don’t leave your content to chance. Good ideas will not generally come to you on the spot, so make sure you note down any ideas that cross your mind. Spend a few minutes every day thinking about potential topics and content
   
5. Choose your objectives – Some people write blogs just for themselves (and maybe friends) but if you want your blog to gain a good level of readership traffic you will need to think about how you market yourself and your page. Start chatting with other bloggers and leaving useful comments on other blogs (with some link to your blog's theme) and show yourself as a thought leader - this will help to draw traffic to your blog. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is always really helpful and you can find many self-learning resources online
   
6. Encourage interaction – Sometimes blogging can feel like a one-way conversation ... but it shouldn’t be. Encourage feedback and opinions to be shared, whether through the comments box or by having guest bloggers. NB: Blogger annoyingly only allows users with a gmail account to post a comment!
   
7. Track your stats – Keep an eye on your analytics, it will help you to understand what your readers are interested in and allow you to provide them with more of what they are interested in
   
8. Be personal – Humans are a nosey bunch and we love to find out personal things about people. It may be nerve-wracking but the more personal and human elements you add to your posts the more likely people are to come back to read more
   
9. Get social – Don’t neglect your other social media accounts. Use twitter, facebook and LinkedIn (to name but a few) to direct people to your blog and also to start conversations around the topics you are discussing on your blog
   
10. Keep it professional – No matter how informal your blog is, make sure you grammar and spell check before posting. Remember that your blog will become like an online reference for you to future employers. Silly things like bad grammar and an obvious lack of attention to detail will cost you dearly!

As I said before, do what I say and not what I do. Following the above tips will not automatically give you a high traffic blog but it will certainly help your chances!

So ....... anyone want to add their opinion and comment on this blog? :P Any extra tips or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated.

                              

Why do we have such a problem with presenting well?

Today I attended a large employee benefits conference in London. Unfortunately the organisers had made a few errors, such as an inefficient queuing system that made the sessions start late, conference rooms that were badly soundproofed and a lack of microphones to capture the questions from the audience.

Despite this, I was excited to listen to the presentations and hopefully maximise my day out. Overall it was an interesting day but I couldn’t help muttering inside my head about some of the poor presentation slides and skills that some of the speakers graced us with (however I do want to say that there were some very good speakers too!).

One of the presenters showed us their company’s history as a timeline. However, on this one slide there was at least 200wds of text! Although they had tried to break the text up with images and coloured text boxes it was still completely incomprehensible and ultimately just detracted from the message they were trying to get across to the audience. Most people know not to read off the screen but that doesn’t mean you can just write everything that you don’t say!

The second issue was more to do with the actual speakers. Now I don’t want to be precious but having been a member of toastmasters, I am used to counting “ums”, “ahs” and other crutch words ... and I had a field day today. I understand that many of the presenters were chosen more for their knowledge of employee benefits rather than their presentation skills but I was still disappointed. The problem is that these crutch words interrupt the flow of speech and are often very distracting (particularly for someone who is trained to pick them out!).

Today has prompted me to write a quick blog post about the things we should think about when presenting. I am not going to talk too much about how we speak when presenting as I covered this in a previous post. However, here are a few pointers when putting together presentation slides (whether using powerpoint, prezi, HTML5 etc).

1. Your slides should not be the main focus – you are! Use it to add (not detract) to what you are saying and don't hide behind your presentation!
   
2.  Use images! People find it difficult to read something on a screen whilst listening to what someone is saying – we are not very good at processing two bits of information at the same time
   
3. Key points only – when you use words on a slide it should be to illustrate key points or facts and it should be short and snappy
   
4. Keep your words to a minimum. You should really have no more than 33 words on a slide (and it will be better with less!)
   
5. Make two versions. When talking to people about presentations they often tell me that the reason they put so much information on them is so that people can refer back to them at a later date and fully understand what was being said. If this is the case, do two versions; one for the actual presentation and one as a reminder of what was said
   
6.  You don’t have to use powerpoint. Visual aids are used to add to a speech and sometimes powerpoint can be very restrictive. When we present we want to have a conversation with an audience and human conversation is not structured as rigidly as the traditional format of a powerpoint 

An example of a bad slide

The role of social media in customer communications

In the last couple of weeks I have become rather obsessed with my twitter account and not because I want to tell people what I have just consumed for breakfast.

Last week on the way to work I realised that I had forgotten my annual season ticket (a piece of paper worth over £2000!!) and had to buy a return ticket. I didn’t mind doing this as I knew that I had read on the train provider’s website that they would refund in full the first ticket bought in the case of forgetting my annual season ticket.

To be honest I forgot about the ticket for a few days and then turned up at Clapham Junction station at the customer service to request a refund. The abrupt lady at the desk told me that I couldn’t get a refund from here and I must go back to the place where I purchased the ticket and discuss it with them there. I was a little annoyed but it made sense as I presumed they had to keep track of it somewhere. The following morning in Dorking I repeated my story to the customer service desk. I was unhelpfully told that I would need to produce my actual ticket as well as my receipt in order to receive a refund. I have to admit that I sarcastically asked whether he meant the ticket that had been “swallowed” by the ticket barriers in order to allow me to exit the station. He told me that I should not have used the tickets at the barrier! (Still trying to understand the idiocy of this comment!)

After a frustrating 5 minute conversation about how I would not be receiving the refund I was entitled to, I left feeling let down and quite frankly, annoyed. It was at this point I turned to my twitter account to tweet my annoyance at the situation directly to Southern trains head office. I have used this tactic a few times and tend to get a fairly swift response and so I wasn’t surprised when I got a public message within 3 minutes asking me for further details.

I don’t know whether it is the fact that social media customer service teams are often a dedicated resource or whether it is because companies are more aware of the impact public negative feedback can have but I always seem to solve issues with companies quicker if I do it online in a public forum.

Within 5 minutes of tweeting I had been sent a PO BOX address in Bristol that I could send my receipt to and expect to receive a full refund ... something that one of the face-to-face customer service team should have been able to tell me. It would have saved a lot of huffing, puffing and frustration.

On the other hand I recently read a story about someone who received instructions from a company’s social media team that referred them to another part of the business ... that then did not deliver and the person felt even more let down and frustrated then before. There is also the worry that twitter's ability to give instantaneous responses could potentially be harmful if those using it are not properly briefed or trained.

I am interested to hear what your opinion is on the place of social media within customer service communications? Is it revolutionising our customer solution strategies or is it just making it more complicated with the potential to easily damage their organisation’s reputation?

I would be interested to know your thoughts. 

Taking engagement to a higher level

Apologies for being so slow in putting up my latest blog post! I have had a crazy 4 weeks getting really stuck in to my new job, finding a new kickboxing club and meeting up with friends. However, I promise to face my blog with renewed vigour now!

After a number of posts about communication failures, I thought I would make the tone more positive in a post-celebration of the fantastic London 2012 Olympic Games (and hopefully Paralympics too)!

We talk about employee engagement as the ultimate goal for organisations wishing to raise productivity and consequently the bottom line. Often though we are not actually sure what engagement looks like or what we have to do to achieve it. To me, engagement is epitomised by the connection that people have with an organisation and the extent to which their own personal goals are aligned with that of the wider “vision” or goal.

During the Olympics I believe that I saw true engagement in action and I was thrilled to be in London whilst it took place. The dedication and passion of the 70,000 Olympic volunteers (aka Game Makers) has absolutely astounded me. I was lucky enough to attend two Olympic events and as cheesy as it sounds, it was the volunteers (including the armed services and police) that made the day for me. Smiles all round, well timed jokes and helpful directions were the norm and everyone, from the coveted positions of athletic guides to the volunteer cleaners, was welcoming and certainly shared their excitement at being part of this momentous event.

So how exactly is it that LOCOG, the organisers of the London Olympics, managed to have such an engaged workforce? Now I know some of the cynical of you will be thinking that it can’t have been that hard considering that these people chose to give up their time and work at the games for free. However, you forget that these people were often travelling long journeys to arrive at the venues and had long hours to work, something that would test anyone.

I believe that the reason that the Games Makers were so engaged was that they were able to align their own personal goals with that of the wider vision, “to set new standards, creating positive, lasting change for the environment and communities” and “to inspire a generation”. LOCOG demonstrated to volunteers the impact that each and every one of them would have on achieving the overall goal.

Turning this back to the corporate world, I think it is safe to say that companies that manage to show employees how their day-to-day work counts towards the bigger picture can often be the most successful. It is not just the “Innocent” and “Save the Children” brands of this world that can inspire their employees. Every single company has the opportunity of including their staff in the future of their business and they also have the moral responsibility to inspire them too. It may be harder to convince critics that you can ‘inspire’ those in the less ‘glamorous’ roles within a company ... and I would agree. However, it is definitely not impossible. Autonomy is the key. Allowing employees to take responsibility, be accountable and share their knowledge and opinions is an important part of engagement.

There is the story of Kennedy visiting NASA in 1962 to take a tour and meet the people. Whilst walking through the building he stopped to talk to a janitor and asked him what he did at NASA. The janitor proudly told Kennedy, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon, Mr. President” - A wonderful sentiment.

We can all work to achieve this level of engagement amongst employees – it is possible but be aware that once you begin on this journey you can’t leave it by the wayside. In fact, it is better not to start at all (raising the hopes of your workforce) then to do it in half measures. This is not to say that you shouldn’t try, but you need to be committed.

To business owners I say, invest in your people. Inspire them, nurture them and invite them to ‘buy-in’ in your business, just as you have.

To those who have not quite made the top yet, demonstrate your interest in the bigger picture, encourage your business leaders to listen and as you move up the ranks, help to inspire those following you.

Companies that engage their staff not only end up having the best pick of future talent, but they also open access to innovation, continuous improvement and importantly, increased productivity!

If that isn’t worth your time and effort – what is??