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| photo by wikipedia.com |
My friend at Paychex Inc. sent me this beautiful yet very informative infographic on Improving Workforce Productivity accessed 11/25/2014. (Having trouble viewing infographic? Follow this direct link via Paychex, Inc.
Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Improve Workforce Productivity an Infographic from Paychex
My friend at Paychex Inc. sent me this beautiful yet very informative infographic on Improving Workforce Productivity accessed 11/25/2014. (Having trouble viewing infographic? Follow this direct link via Paychex, Inc.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
How to Influence and Persuade
Came across this wonderful and insightful article at Influence at Work.
accessed via http://www.influenceatwork.com/potential-or-reality-when-it-comes-to-influencing-others-whats-more-persuasive/ 11/25/2014 10:40 PM
Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcela-palma/12239559196/
Potential or Reality! When it Comes to Influencing Others, What’s More Persuasive?
Tuesday, 20 November, 2012
By: Steve Martin, CMCT
Whether you are looking to position your company as the obvious choice for that lucrative new contract or to position yourself as the obvious choice for that new promotion an important part of your influence strategy will be to highlight your previous experiences and past accomplishments. The skills you have developed and the successes you have achieved can serve as important pointers serving to persuade future customers and employers alike to choose your organization or you.
But when it comes to convincing others, doesn’t prospect beat precedent? And as a result won’t people be more persuaded by your potential to deliver for them in the future rather than the success you have had delivering for others in the past.
When it comes to the business of influencing others, where should you focus most of your attention – describing the realities of your past, or communicating your potential to deliver in the future?
In a quick (and admittedly very unscientific) survey that I conducted with some folks in the office, a clear answer to this question emerged. Focus on your past success and achievements. At first glance this intuitively seems to make sense. Actual achievements are surely more compelling than the potential to achieve in the future for one very good reason. They have already been achieved. They are concrete. They leave no room for doubt.
Therefore, all other things being equal, it is more likely that the award winning company with many years experience will be more likely to secure that lucrative new contract compared to the less experienced company that merely has the potential to win future awards. Similarly, it is likely that the candidate who has already achieved notable success will be more attractive to a prospective employer than one who only has the potential to succeed.
Of course this isn’t always the case. Examples abound of budding sports stars that negotiate eye-watering sums of money on the basis of their future potential. Former American Football Quarterback JaMarcus Russell was The Oakland Raiders’ first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, landing a contract worth an astounding $61million. Clearly, the Raiders saw such potential in Russell that they were persuaded to pay top dollar for his services despite that potential, never translating into reality.
The persuasive pull of potential isn’t just limited to the domain of sports – it happens in business too. Many of us will recall examples where the inexperienced but promising candidate landed that promotion over a more experienced one. And pretty much everybody who has worked in a business development or sales role will, at some time, have lost a deal to a supplier that, at least on paper, didn’t match your level of experience and past achievements.
In a new set of studies soon to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Stanford University Professor Zak Tormala and his colleagues sought to find out why, when making decisions, people often find potential more compelling than reality.
In one of their studies, participants were asked to evaluate two applicants who had applied for a senior position in the banking division of a large company. Each of the candidates’ backgrounds and qualifications were identical with one key exception. The first applicant, let’s call him Candidate A, had gained 2 years’ relevant industry experience and also scored highly on a Leadership Assessment test. The second applicant (Candidate B) had gained little experience but did score highly on a Leadership Potential test. The results of the study showed that those shown information about the Candidate B’s potential rated that applicant as more successful and a better leader than those shown information about what Candidate A had achieved.
In an attempt to test this preference for potential in a more consumer based environment, another study was conducted with users of a social media website. In the study Facebook users were shown a series of quotes about a comedian. Half were shown quotes highlighting the comedian’s potential. They read comments such as “This guy could become the next big thing” or “Next year everyone could be talking about this comedian.” The other half were shown quotes that focused attention on the comedian’s actual achievements. “Critics say he has become the next big thing” or “Everyone is talking about this guy.”
As was the case with the recruitment study, Facebook users registered much greater interest (measured by click-rates) and liking (measured by fan-rates) in the comedian when quotes about his potential were advertised demonstrating general preference for information about potential compared to information about reality.
Summing up their findings Tormala and his team came to the conclusion that whilst potential achievements will undoubtedly be more uncertain than actual achievements, uncertainty does have a tendency to arouse more interest.
Does this mean that when it comes to decision making, people actually believe potential to be a more reliable decision trigger than reality? Certainly not. But given that potential is considered more arousing it could lead to people paying greater attention to it which may result in it having a bigger impact. In fact the study authors go on to make this exact point suggesting that if supporting information is provided immediately after attention is focused on potential (e.g. a testimonial from a trusted source, a high leadership score or some other type of persuasive message), people’s likelihood to develop a more favorable attitude or impression to what is being offered is increased.
So if you are applying for that promotion (or providing an endorsement for someone who is) then the science is suggesting that you would be more effective by first highlighting the future potential you (or the person you are endorsing) will bring to the role rather than immediately leading with prior experience. Doing so could increase the chances that you will capture a recruiters’ interest meaning that the subsequent information you convey about actual achievements and experience will more likely be attended to.is considered more arousing it could lead to people paying greater attention to it which may result in it having a bigger impact. In fact the study authors go on to make this exact point suggesting that if supporting information is provided immediately after attention is focused on potential (e.g. a testimonial from a trusted source, a high leadership score or some other type of persuasive message), people’s likelihood to develop a more favorable attitude or impression to what is being offered is increased.
Similarly if you want to increase the chances that your products and services appear more attractive to future clients and consumers it would be wise to consider how to position messages in a way that first focuses a client’s or consumer’s attention on the potential future benefits that your proposal offers to them as opposed to what has been previously achieved.
Questions for discussion:
What examples do you have where potential has swayed a decision over reality?
What other areas could this preference for potential ‘potentially’ be employed?
Source:
Tormala, Z. L., Jia, J. S., & Norton, M. I. (2012). The Preference for Potential. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1037/a0029227
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Inside Influence Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Shelly Michalk
accessed via http://www.influenceatwork.com/potential-or-reality-when-it-comes-to-influencing-others-whats-more-persuasive/ 11/25/2014 10:40 PM
accessed via http://www.influenceatwork.com/potential-or-reality-when-it-comes-to-influencing-others-whats-more-persuasive/ 11/25/2014 10:40 PM
Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcela-palma/12239559196/
Potential or Reality! When it Comes to Influencing Others, What’s More Persuasive?
Tuesday, 20 November, 2012
By: Steve Martin, CMCT
Whether you are looking to position your company as the obvious choice for that lucrative new contract or to position yourself as the obvious choice for that new promotion an important part of your influence strategy will be to highlight your previous experiences and past accomplishments. The skills you have developed and the successes you have achieved can serve as important pointers serving to persuade future customers and employers alike to choose your organization or you.
But when it comes to convincing others, doesn’t prospect beat precedent? And as a result won’t people be more persuaded by your potential to deliver for them in the future rather than the success you have had delivering for others in the past.
When it comes to the business of influencing others, where should you focus most of your attention – describing the realities of your past, or communicating your potential to deliver in the future?
In a quick (and admittedly very unscientific) survey that I conducted with some folks in the office, a clear answer to this question emerged. Focus on your past success and achievements. At first glance this intuitively seems to make sense. Actual achievements are surely more compelling than the potential to achieve in the future for one very good reason. They have already been achieved. They are concrete. They leave no room for doubt.
Therefore, all other things being equal, it is more likely that the award winning company with many years experience will be more likely to secure that lucrative new contract compared to the less experienced company that merely has the potential to win future awards. Similarly, it is likely that the candidate who has already achieved notable success will be more attractive to a prospective employer than one who only has the potential to succeed.
Of course this isn’t always the case. Examples abound of budding sports stars that negotiate eye-watering sums of money on the basis of their future potential. Former American Football Quarterback JaMarcus Russell was The Oakland Raiders’ first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, landing a contract worth an astounding $61million. Clearly, the Raiders saw such potential in Russell that they were persuaded to pay top dollar for his services despite that potential, never translating into reality.
The persuasive pull of potential isn’t just limited to the domain of sports – it happens in business too. Many of us will recall examples where the inexperienced but promising candidate landed that promotion over a more experienced one. And pretty much everybody who has worked in a business development or sales role will, at some time, have lost a deal to a supplier that, at least on paper, didn’t match your level of experience and past achievements.
In a new set of studies soon to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Stanford University Professor Zak Tormala and his colleagues sought to find out why, when making decisions, people often find potential more compelling than reality.
In one of their studies, participants were asked to evaluate two applicants who had applied for a senior position in the banking division of a large company. Each of the candidates’ backgrounds and qualifications were identical with one key exception. The first applicant, let’s call him Candidate A, had gained 2 years’ relevant industry experience and also scored highly on a Leadership Assessment test. The second applicant (Candidate B) had gained little experience but did score highly on a Leadership Potential test. The results of the study showed that those shown information about the Candidate B’s potential rated that applicant as more successful and a better leader than those shown information about what Candidate A had achieved.
In an attempt to test this preference for potential in a more consumer based environment, another study was conducted with users of a social media website. In the study Facebook users were shown a series of quotes about a comedian. Half were shown quotes highlighting the comedian’s potential. They read comments such as “This guy could become the next big thing” or “Next year everyone could be talking about this comedian.” The other half were shown quotes that focused attention on the comedian’s actual achievements. “Critics say he has become the next big thing” or “Everyone is talking about this guy.”
As was the case with the recruitment study, Facebook users registered much greater interest (measured by click-rates) and liking (measured by fan-rates) in the comedian when quotes about his potential were advertised demonstrating general preference for information about potential compared to information about reality.
Summing up their findings Tormala and his team came to the conclusion that whilst potential achievements will undoubtedly be more uncertain than actual achievements, uncertainty does have a tendency to arouse more interest.
Does this mean that when it comes to decision making, people actually believe potential to be a more reliable decision trigger than reality? Certainly not. But given that potential is considered more arousing it could lead to people paying greater attention to it which may result in it having a bigger impact. In fact the study authors go on to make this exact point suggesting that if supporting information is provided immediately after attention is focused on potential (e.g. a testimonial from a trusted source, a high leadership score or some other type of persuasive message), people’s likelihood to develop a more favorable attitude or impression to what is being offered is increased.
So if you are applying for that promotion (or providing an endorsement for someone who is) then the science is suggesting that you would be more effective by first highlighting the future potential you (or the person you are endorsing) will bring to the role rather than immediately leading with prior experience. Doing so could increase the chances that you will capture a recruiters’ interest meaning that the subsequent information you convey about actual achievements and experience will more likely be attended to.is considered more arousing it could lead to people paying greater attention to it which may result in it having a bigger impact. In fact the study authors go on to make this exact point suggesting that if supporting information is provided immediately after attention is focused on potential (e.g. a testimonial from a trusted source, a high leadership score or some other type of persuasive message), people’s likelihood to develop a more favorable attitude or impression to what is being offered is increased.
Similarly if you want to increase the chances that your products and services appear more attractive to future clients and consumers it would be wise to consider how to position messages in a way that first focuses a client’s or consumer’s attention on the potential future benefits that your proposal offers to them as opposed to what has been previously achieved.
Questions for discussion:
What examples do you have where potential has swayed a decision over reality?
What other areas could this preference for potential ‘potentially’ be employed?
Source:
Tormala, Z. L., Jia, J. S., & Norton, M. I. (2012). The Preference for Potential. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1037/a0029227
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Inside Influence Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Shelly Michalk
accessed via http://www.influenceatwork.com/potential-or-reality-when-it-comes-to-influencing-others-whats-more-persuasive/ 11/25/2014 10:40 PM
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Exploring KickStarter: My Finds
To learn more, watch this video.
Accessed at KickStarter
11/11/2014
Attributes:The Final Gift by P.S. I Love You via Kickstarter.com
Kickstarter.com logo by authormedia.com
Shelly Michalk
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Entrepreneurship | Small Business Resource
One of the best blogs I've read about Small Business and Entrepreneurship
What others are saying about Virtual Assistants
Benefits of Using A Virtual Assistant
- VAs offer flexibility – they are available outside of normal hours, have no minimum hour commitment and are only paid for the hours they work.
- VAs have a vested interest in the success of your business, so client confidentiality is paramount and they will treat your business as their own.
- VAs allow you to use the same highly skilled, professional every time you outsource work.
- You get more time to do what you do best, while leaving the admin to someone else.
- Your work will be completed to perfection and delivered on time – or ahead of time.
- No recruitment or agency fees incurred.
- Your VA will work closely with you to achieve seamless perfection of your projects – no one will ever know it wasn’t completed in-house!
- No HR headaches like tax, national insurance or employee benefits.
- Employees and temps are paid by you for coffee breaks, toilet visits and time taken for personal calls and issues.
- VAs work from their own offices so you won’t have to organize workspace or equipment for them.
- By using an SVA Approved virtual assistant you can be assured of the very best standard of customer service and professionalism.
- VAs come in all different guises – there will be one out there that suits you and your business perfectly!
Friday, June 25, 2010
FOCUS on the BEST Companies to Work For
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| English: The logo for Apple Computer, now Apple Inc.. The design of the logo started in 1977 designed by Rob Janoff with the rainbow color theme used until 1999 when Apple stopped using the rainbow color theme and used a few different color themes for the same design. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Focus is open for business
For the past several months, we’ve been quietly working to build Focus into a place where any business can find the expertise they need to make better decisions. Now, we’re ready to be a little more public about what we’ve been up to.
The most important thing to understand about Focus is that we believe that the expertise traditionally reserved for Fortune 500 companies should be made available to everyone. The internet, or more specifically the “business internet”, provides us with a platform to do exactly that. We’ve made tremendous progress towards our goal – to date, Focus has provided over one million business professionals with access to primary research, personalized analyst support, and a thriving community of business and technology experts. The research, analyst support, and expert network provided on Focus are all free and available to anyone who wants help making better business decisions.
The response to Focus has been nothing short of phenomenal. Hundreds of thousands of businesses now depend on Focus to make better decisions every month and the community has contributed over 30,000 research briefs and answers in response to the needs of professionals on the site. Not bad for a site that is still in its infancy.
If you’re new to Focus, have a look around. Whether it’s a lively Q&A debate on whether the Apple iPad will have any relevance for business, a topical research brief such as Call Center Metrics that Matter, or world class research like our ERP Vendor Comparison Guide, you should find something that will help you make a better business decision. And if you have ideas on how we can improve the site, feel free to reach out to me here.
Copied from Focus 6/25/2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Business Development « Son of Five Rivers Blog
From: sonoffiverivers.wordpress.com 4/18/2010
Mission statements to me are like greeting cards from my lawyer who just signs his name underneath the generic message. It seems like an unneeded formality where no real thought or meaning was put behind it. Mission Statements just come across more as great vision statements rather than actually being mission driven. This crazy language is stamped all over the place, from business plans to brochures and websites. If it’s any consolation to people in the private sector, I’ve spent the last three years working for a non-profit organization (NGO) doing economic revitalization and I’ve noticed that NGO’s might just be the biggest culprits of bad Mission Statements. Most seem cheesy and sometimes just plain difficult to really comprehend.November 5, 2009 Posted by Son of Five Rivers | Business, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Great Ideas | How to writing a Mission Statement that Works, writing a Mission Statement that Works | No Comments Yet
It’s always difficult for me to think of bright intelligent people come up with such dry material. Have a look and compare the following 4 examples directly below and then compare it to the other examples further down to get gist of what I’m getting at.
Two are from real organizations and two are made up from the comic site Dilbert.com
“It is our job to continually foster world-class infrastructures as well as to quickly create principle-centered sources to meet our customer’s needs.”
“Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance-based infrastructures.”
“To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities.” Numbers 1 & 2 are from the Dilbert website. Numbers 3 is the mission statement of the NGO the United Way, and number 4 believe it or not used to belong to the beloved Enron.
“Respect, integrity, communication, and excellence.”
Now have a look at the phrase “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) which is a very interesting theory form the book Built to Last.
BHAG: “Clear and compelling it serves as a unifying focal point of effort, often creating immense team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal …. A BHAG should not be a sure bet… but the organization must believe ‘we can do it anyway.”
Now check these so out:Microsoft: “A computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software.” The guys don’t want to just sell computer software, they wants their software on every computer, in every home. (I run Ubuntu an open source operating system based on a Linux platform so it’ll never really happen… we all know someone with a Mac computer as well. But its a nice goal for Microsoft to set as it easily and simply defines the standards and objectives for everyone in the organization)
BHAG’s can be used for products as well, like Amazons Kindle: “Every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.” Amazon not only wants you help you buy any book, it wants to help you do it in less than a minute.
Google’s mission statement is to “organize the world’s information” That’s as big as a Big Hairy Audacious Goal can get!
Google’s unofficial one is to “do no evil.” That’s just cool!
Even if you’re a grass routes organization starting out of someones living room, its important to have “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” (BHAG). It helps everyone know your groups direction and purpose. As the strategic planners and thinkers you have the important duty of laying a solid foundation for the future of the organization and guiding principles for any new faces joining the team.
Son of Five Rivers.
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