Creating a Top-Performing Team: Leadership Development for Tomorrow’s Corporations - Marcus Buckingham

Corporate America is in crisis. Consumer confidence is plummeting. Leaders are failing. In fact, more than 40 percent of new leaders fail within their first 18 months. Many companies, however, are also failing their leaders as they continue to invest in a broken leadership development model.

Billions of dollars are spent annually on leadership development programs – $171.5 billion by U.S. businesses in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the American Society for Training and Development. That’s an average of $1,228 per employee, but virtually all of this investment is spent on the same formulaic training model and black-and-white metrics. With their focus almost exclusively on classroom learning and lockstep generic curriculums, these dinosaurs of training simply don’t have what it takes to develop the next generation of leaders, managers and employees.

Globalization means the entire world is a competitor. The fast pace of technological change decrees organizations must keep innovating and learning, or they will die. These are not radical insights — but their effect is both radical and disruptive. Almost by definition, innovation is unique, particular and localized. Yet, a company must learn to scale innovation in order to thrive.

How can innovation be spread within your organization? The key is a new leadership development model. One that is scalable, but accommodates the uniqueness of each leader’s techniques; one that is stable enough to permit the training of hundreds at once, but dynamic enough to incorporate and distribute new practices and other innovations in real time. Is it possible? Yes.

Today’s Leadership Development: Google It

Steve Jobs rejected focus groups because he believed “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” In contrast, other leaders rely on input from the regular world. Sam Walton of Walmart, for example, used to visit his stores every Friday to see what customers were doing and what they wanted. He called it quick market intelligence. The takeaway? A technique that works for one person does not necessarily work for another.

It’s simple enough: people’s approach to work is as diverse as people themselves. We all know this. It’s the most cutting-edge companies that are embracing this diversity in the way they interact with their customers.

Google, for example, is formalizing and intensifying learning in a completely new way with GoogleEDU, its two-year-old, in-house leadership development and education program. While classroom-based, the sessions center on topics such as exerting influence in a company that prioritizes ideas over titles. The goal is targeted learning, from which its employees can identify more actionable goals. It’s individualized and customized.

Hampton-ality

Not all formalized leadership development takes place in classes. Facebook, Netflix and Amazon filter countless content options to fit individual tastes – and then deliver them via technology in real time. Service-focused hospitality giant Hilton takes a similar approach. Over the last several years, Hilton executive Phil Cordell has worked to embed and apply an algorithmic model of leadership development, propelling personalized learning throughout his organization.

Cordell and his team started by administering a situational judgment test — StandOut — to a select group from among the top 10 percent of Hilton’s general managers. Analysis of the results helped Cordell and his team learn about individual leadership techniques that fueled their success.

The techniques are as diverse as the leaders themselves. One uses a mascot to symbolize best practice behavior and attitudes among staff; another rewards employees with a bimonthly “paycheck lunch” during which she encourages team members to share stories and details of what they appreciate about one another. These techniques work spectacularly well for them — even though the same techniques wouldn’t work nearly as well for managers with different strengths. There are, however, some managers who could benefit from using some of these techniques, or who might be inspired to create another variation.

This is where the StandOut algorithm comes in: helping to target techniques to the right people. For Cordell and Hilton, the specially designed algorithm draws on a constantly growing database of concepts, innovations and practices associated with specific leadership styles, and pushes them out to managers of the same leadership style as a series of techniques they might try.

A cloud-based mobile application helps reinforce the knowledge and sustain learning throughout Hilton’s Hampton brand of 1,850 hotels. Twice a week, the tool delivers new techniques and tips from top performing general managers and other leaders.

To be effective, the leadership advice must be:

· Short – because the brain is built to pay more attention to short, frequent stimuli;

· Personalized – the algorithm ensures that most techniques a user receives come from leaders whose strengths match his, but occasionally the app delivers techniques from different strengths, adding an element of surprise;

· Interactive – with the option to “bank” select techniques, the managers can build their own vault of knowledge for later reference and use, adding detail to their leadership profiles.

The algorithmic approach to leadership development capitalizes on individual strengths and crowd-sourced advice available anywhere, anytime. And for a new generation of leaders raised on Google search-style personalization, it’s more critical than ever for organizations to up their ante and invest in development that is ongoing, always available, and geared to the strengths of each leader.

Marcus Buckingham is founder of The Marcus Buckingham Company, creator of the StandOutM tool, and the author of seven bestselling books, including his latest book “StandOut”. He is an expert in strengths-based leadership. via chiefexecutive.net

Since 1987 we've helped organizations create competitive advantage to bring about fundamental change, put their competitors into a reactive position, cause their partners and suppliers to make adjustments, and deliver so much value to their customers that their market share grows larger still.  See how.

Why are Chinese consumers crazy for Apple?

 Chinese consumers are hungry for foreign brands but for Apple products, in particular, the demand is insatiable. What explains China’s love affair with Apple?

On January 13, Apple launched its latest smartphone—the iPhone 4S—in China. Hundreds of customers had queued overnight outside Apple's flagship store in Sanlitun in Beijing. That morning, the store failed to open on schedule, and soon after, Apple officially announced that the company would suspend all iPhone 4S sales at its Beijing and Shanghai retail stores. The crowd exploded. Some even threw eggs at the store’s exterior.

Apple defended its actions saying they wanted to protect the safety of consumers and employees. Among the hundreds gathered outside were gangs of scalpers (resellers of products at a price higher than the established value) that had hired a large number of workers and students to stand in line for them. For scalpers, the immense popularity of the iPhone in China means profits of around 500 yuan [approx. US$80] for each resold new phone. They were well-organised: One gang had red ribbon wrapped around their arms; another wore yellow hats. Conflict between different gangs of scalpers erupted and the police were forced to intervene. To ensure safety and to control the situation, Apple decided to suspend all sales of the new iPhone.

What explains this Chinese craze for Apple? Some go so far as to describe Chinese consumers as disciples of an “Apple Cult” and the late Steve Jobs as its leader. While this analogy is not very appropriate, it does figuratively highlight the irrationality of Chinese consumer attitudes towards Apple products. Apple has consistently managed to create a frenzy in China each time it launches a new product, unmatched elsewhere in the world. In fact, many buyers lining up at Apple stores around the world are from China itself—they just couldn’t wait for the new product to be launched later at home.

Some of the extreme demand may be attributed to Apple’s successful marketing strategy that intentionally caps supply thereby creating a thirst for the product. But this isn’t unlike Apple’s marketing strategy in other parts of the world. So what really differentiates the Chinese consumer? The fact that there is a large group of scalpers specialising in and profiting from Apple products, and that Chinese consumers are more than willing to pay a premium, begs the question.

What I see in China is a large group of consumers increasingly indulging in their thirst for and worship of luxury goods. It’s as if they’ve been brainwashed. Chinese consumers have become the world’s most ardent worshipers of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Bentley, Cartier and Hermès. They are willing to queue up around the world not only for Apple products but also for these other luxury products. In 2009, for instance, Chinese customers snapped up nearly a third of the luxury goods sold in the United Kingdom and 60 percent of luxury products sold in France.

As for Apple, a large number of ordinary Chinese consumers obviously consider the iPhone a luxury item although whether a price tag of about 5000 yuan [approx. US$800] is steep enough to be considered a luxury item is debatable. This mindset among the average Chinese consumer is understandable when you consider that an iPhone is the least expensive purchase that can bring them closer to experiencing high society, and is also most cost-effective in terms of satisfying vanity.

There will always be young people that advocate vanity and that are obsessed with fashion in every society, in every country, and across every generation. It’s not that big of a deal that China has the largest group of Apple fans or “fetishists” in the world. In any case, an Apple fetish is no less holy than the worship of God or other idols if we ignore concepts such as hedonism or distorted social values. The “fetishism” could be merely reflecting a reality: people are collectively turning themselves into Apple believers in a society where faith has been largely absent. The article was first published at Harvard Business Review China in January 2012 and translated from Chinese by Aileen Huang. 

via knowledge.insead.edu

 

Using your sales force to jump-start growth: Innovation

There’s a reason it’s called a sales force. Here are four innovative ways companies can use their sales reps to drive growth.

 

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There’s no escaping the impact of the sales force on your company’s growth trajectory. This is the frontline group best placed to gain an intimate understanding of existing customers, to observe the forces at work in an industry, and to identify potential new business. During the past year, we interviewed about 100 sales executives around the world, across a range of industries, to identify the critical elements that distinguish true sales leaders from also-rans. This article highlights four intriguing ideas the executives described for leveraging the sales force to jump-start growth. Together, these suggestions offer practical insights for sales groups, as well as a starting point for discussions among CEOs and other senior managers hoping to get more from sales and marketing investments.

Look over the horizon

The sudden arrival of a truly disruptive technology—one that upends markets in ways few anticipate—presents obvious challenges to industry incumbents. Yet it’s also a huge growth opportunity. One supplier of parts to high-tech manufacturers has created a team of “speculative market analysts” to better identify the emergence of disruptive technologies and to predict their business implications. The team helps the company to position itself as a supplier that’s ahead of the curve and to enjoy superior sales growth while competitors scramble to catch up.

The full-time team cuts across all business units and draws on a variety of internal and external sources: the sales force provides insights into the technology initiatives of the company’s customers while continually pressing them for feedback about its shortcomings and the efforts of competitors. In addition, the team closely scrutinizes all reports from competitors and customers—easier said than done, given the sheer volume of market information emanating from countries such as China. It even fosters close ties with venture capital firms and provides up-and-coming companies with funding and “sweat equity” to convert innovative concepts into realities. Together, these efforts have helped the company’s sales force to get ahead of recent major disruptive trends, including the boom in tablet devices and e-readers, as well as the growing fields of LED lighting and solar technology. What’s more, the team’s efforts are generating an estimated annual return on investment that exceeds 12 percent.

Hunt and farm

It’s easy for organizations to fall into the habit of seeking sales growth only through existing customers. Even though the sales force is typically best placed to find and approach potential clients, individual reps may shun the uncomfortable task of cold-calling in favor of selling to customers they know well. Yet there’s only so much each customer can buy, so finding new business is critical for growth.

One large distributor of auto parts tried tackling this problem by separating these activities. Its sales leader designated some reps as “hunters,” who focused exclusively on finding new prospects, while “farmer” reps concentrated on existing customers. The model succeeded initially but later foundered as hunters became discouraged by the time and effort required for their relatively scant wins, as well as the perception that they were second-class citizens compared with farmers.

As attrition rates among hunter reps grew, the sales leader changed tack. To demonstrate the importance of finding new customers, he designated one day a month as a “hunting day,” whenall reps would exclusively chase new prospects. The rest of the time, they could focus largely on existing customers. The result was astounding: in a single day, the company signed up as many new customers as it normally did in two months. Setting aside one day a month for hunting new business is now an ingrained part of the company’s sales practices.

Motivate with more than money

The basic remuneration model for sales reps is simple: a base salary offers security; commissions and bonuses provide incentives to perform. Most companies work endlessly to optimize the balance. Yet what if money isn’t the thing that actually matters most? One financial-services company tried all manner of compensation plans before determining that while carrots and sticks did influence the sales performance of its financial advisers and sales managers, the results were short-lived.

As the company explored alternatives, its sales leader observed something important: the most successful advisers often spoke passionately about the sense of fulfillment that came from helping clients realize their dreams. Fundamentally, that was why these men and women had become financial advisers. The realization that money was just one of the factors driving performance prompted the sales leader to work with managers and individual advisers to develop specific goals that would help the advisers feel they had genuinely helped customers. Maybe it was prioritizing quality over quantity by working more intensely with fewer clients. Perhaps advisers needed a wider range of financial products to ensure that they had all possible options to meet their clients’ investment goals. At the same time, the company identified and laid out steps for overcoming potential bottlenecks, such as a lack of coaching, training, financial-management tools, or appropriate products.

The company knows that money remains critical to its sales team but now recognizes the benefits of identifying other, deeper motivations. The attrition rate among financial advisers has fallen sharply, and they not only have become more successful at winning business but also have found that clients are entrusting more of their wealth with the company. These goals have been met with no increase in the compensation of advisers.

Boost sales without slashing prices

Companies experiencing flat or declining sales often elect to cut prices to spur demand. Yet sometimes, averages lie: a decline across a market doesn’t mean that all market segments are weakening. A North American logistics company learned this lesson the hard way when it empowered sales reps to lower prices to meet management’s goal of boosting volumes. Because the price guidelines were set without taking into account the competitive dynamics of each specific market segment, only some reps recouped the cost of the price cuts with higher volumes. The company’s overall competitive position deteriorated.

Top management decided to recalibrate its approach. The characteristics of each of the company’s various market segments varied wildly. Some were growing fast in the wake of continuing property construction, population influxes, and investment; others were flat-lining. The sales reps got new price and volume targets based on each segment’s characteristics. These targets incorporated metrics such as the economic growth rate in geographies where particular industries were heavy users of the company’s services, the strength of the company’s operational assets relative to those of its competitors, and whether the company was losing or gaining customers at accelerating or decelerating rates.

This granular view of each sales territory led to new sales approaches. In higher-growth markets with limited competition, sales reps aggressively sought new business and raised prices where possible. In declining markets with stiffer competition, reps were authorized to cut prices to prevent customers from defecting. This market-by-market roadmap allowed the company not only to reverse several years of declining market share but also to secure an overall average price increase of 3 percent. via Mckinsey Quarterly

About the Authors

Maryanne Hancock is a principal in McKinsey’s Atlanta office, Homayoun Hatami is a principal in the Paris office, and Sunil Rayan is an associate principal in the New York office.

 

 

Is Your Company Fit for Growth?

Illustration by Paul Wearing

Is your company fit for growth? Many companies today are not. The way they manage costs and deploy their most strategic resources is preventing the expansion they need. But they don’t realize it — at least not yet.

To be sure, many of those companies are in better financial shape today than they’ve been in for a long time. Having implemented cost-cutting and austerity programs during the recession, they have relatively healthy balance sheets and sizable reserves of working capital. They have strengthened their ability to weather downturns and improved their productivity in ways that could potentially last for years. All these restructuring actions were required for survival between 2008 and 2011.

But as they shift their focus from the cost side of the ledger to the revenue side, searching for ways to move beyond cost cutting — entering new markets, commercializing innovative products and services, offering more compelling customer value propositions — these companies are strategically and financially out of shape. They have not made the hard choices involved in channeling investments to the capabilities that are needed most, and deemphasizing or eliminating their other expenses.

How can you tell if your company is fit for growth? Here is a simple, three-question diagnostic:

• Do you have clear priorities, focused on strategic growth, that drive your investments?
• Do your costs line up with those priorities? In other words, do you deploy your resources toward them efficiently and effectively?
• Is your organization set up to enable you to achieve those priorities?

The easiest way to answer these questions is to imagine the opposite.

If you do not have clear growth priorities, there are several warning signs. You have so many initiatives that you can’t remember them all. Your executives go to multiple meetings on unrelated topics every day. Asked to name the most important capabilities your company has (the things it does well) or how they relate to your strategic objectives, different leaders give different answers. Your best people are working on so many programs and projects, they are burning out. Meanwhile, you are underinvesting in some areas — which might include parts of R&D, market development, and customer experience — where you could potentially build a distinctive edge against your competitors.

If your costs are not deployed appropriately, that’s also painfully apparent — especially in the amount you spend on nonessentials. Staffing levels in different parts of the organization are out of sync; for instance, you might have twice as many finance people counting the money as salespeople bringing it in. Your highest-priority initiatives falter because their investments do not get sufficient attention, while legacy programs with very little impact continue to be funded. Every function pursues an agenda of professional excellence, striving to be “best in class,” no matter what the cost. Each department’s annual budget is calculated as “last year’s, plus 3 percent.” Every once in a while, in moments of high pressure, you institute across-the-board cost-cutting programs that force the businesses to temporarily reduce overhead, but everyone knows that it won’t make any long-term difference.

If you don’t have a well-designed organization, that is evident as well. You are not nimble enough to move quickly, or aligned enough to work in harmony. It takes a week to get a sales quote approved, while your competition wins the business. Information is not readily available to the people who need it. Managers oversee fewer than four employees, on average, and get far too involved in their subordinates’ work. Incentives (such as bonuses and rankings) motivate people in ways that actually undermine the behaviors needed to achieve the company’s stated growth priorities — for instance, people put internal reports ahead of customer responsiveness. You have “shadow” HR, finance, and IT staffs popping up in places outside your shared-services organization. Since most suggestions are rejected, people become afraid to take calculated risks — and that derails the most innovative growth- or savings-oriented ideas. via strategy-business.com

________________________________________________________________________

Hire Jim Woods to Speak to or Advise Your Organization

Innovation, Growth, & Hypercompetition Consultant/Speaker/Business Coach

 Website: InnoThink Group

Request a consultation: Office: +1 719.649.4118 or complete our form.  

 

Innothink Group is a strategic management, innovation and business coaching consultancy. 

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients.   

We provide broad ranging advice covering innovation, commoditization, competitive advantage, business policy and strategy, as well as global strategy and implementation. 

How to Instantly Become More Confident

Second guessing yourself is a common practice. We walk with our head. Haltingly speak in meetings only to extend more praises to others than to ourselves. We give everyone the benefit of the doubt except the one person needing it most: us. 

A few ideas on how to obtain more of the things you want. Ask yourself: 

1. How would a supremely confident person stand?
2. How would a supremely confident person walk?
3. How would a supremely confident person sit and enter a room?
4. How would a supremely confident person inflect their voice?
5. Act as if you already p[possess the habit or behavior.
6. If you were absolutely confident what type of resume’ would you submit?
7. Associate with people who are confident. Watch how they do it.
8. Smile when needed with direct eye contact. This is born more out of self respect than intimidation. 

Lastly, when daydreaming, do so in color with emotion. The brain is very active during our daydreaming. The time when we co-create who we are. jim

Hire Jim Woods to Speak to Your Organization

Innovation, Growth, & Hypercompetition Consultant/Speaker/Business Coach

 Website: InnoThink Group

Request a consultation: Office: +1 719.649.4118 or complete our form.  

 

Innothink Group is a strategic management, innovation and business coaching consultancy. 

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients.   

We provide broad ranging advice covering innovation, commoditization, competitive advantage, business policy and strategy, as well as global strategy and implementation. 

3 Things Professional Women Should Stop Apologizing For | Fast Company

While chatting with a business colleague yesterday, she made a statement that I hear all too often from my female friends. As an independent contractor, her client asked her to do a significant amount of additional work that was not part of their original deal. Instead of asking for more compensation, she said she would probably just put in the extra hours, because she felt uncomfortable launching into the money conversation. In fact, she even apologized to me about how she hesitated with her client and was worried there would be repercussions.

Just recently, I finished the New York Times best seller, Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World by Lisa Bloom, an insightful read about how women are leading the charge in many areas, such as outperforming men for the first time ever in employment in urban areas, but still spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the "wrong" things. While the book centers on our obsession with pop culture and beauty, what I took away from it was the need for women to start saying "no" more and to stop apologizing for doing so.

"Women need to stop apologizing for routine workplace events," Bloom shared with me in an email. "Ladies, every time the word 'sorry' is about to fly out of your mouth, think: Have I actually done something wrong? Or has this just become a verbal tic?"

Here are three things that women often apologize for and what we can do to stop, today.

1.  Our financial expectations. Ever since women entered the workforce en masse, there have been reports revealing that we make less on average than our male counterparts. Although this gap is lessening, there is still much progress to be made. Yes, talking about money can be an uncomfortable endeavor. However, if you're armed with good ammunition to back up your demand, you'll feel more confident and ready to engage in that dialogue. In other words, be clear what you want, and don't leave until you get it (well, within reason). Moreover, when in contract negotiations for any job or project, engage an advisor so that you have a second set of eyes on the details and can work out what's acceptable and what's not with someone well-versed in the small print.

2.  Our physical appearance. Earlier this week I did a little tally of how long it took me to prepare for one of my other jobs, working as a national TV host on a business news network. The night before our shoot, I spent two hours with my clothing sponsor picking out my wardrobe for upcoming shoots. The next morning I spent two hours getting my hair done, two hours getting my nails done, and 30 minutes in makeup just before the show. Almost a full day, and I haven't even started my job, compared with my co-host, who literally grabbed a clean shirt and was ready to go (yes, he's male).  

While I understand that the demands of the broadcast business insofar as appearance are significant, that same pressure does exist in the average workplace and requires added time for women (time most of us don't have). I have heard women apologize countless times if they're not looking runway-ready at work, due to everything from pulling all-nighters to get a job done or battling sleep deprivation due to taking care of a sick child. Sure, it's important to look professional in the workplace, but it's time to lessen the pressure we put on ourselves to look perfect. Oh, and while I'm on this subject, let's try to band together a little more to support our female colleagues who might not always be in season with the latest fashion or who are not the perfect size 6 (or is it 4 now?). Instead, let's focus on what's important--what we achieve.

3.  Our professional accomplishments. "Women are trained to be sensitive to everyone's feelings, not to be selfish, and not to brag," Bloom explains to me when I ask about this culture of saying sorry. "These are good traits to have. Be we also need to understand that sometimes it's not appropriate to apologize--like when we haven't done anything wrong."

When I was starting my career as a television journalist in my 20s, I'll never forget an experience I had with my male boss. I rushed into his office to share with him that I just got asked to be a national technology expert on a popular news program. He looked up at me and said, "Fantastic, it's just a matter of time before you'll be on the cover of Playboy!" I kid you not. Instead of standing up for myself, I shrunk into myself and tried to battle his sarcasm with a muted apology about how this was a big deal because I'm from a small town, worked really hard, and such an offer meant a lot to me. Ugh, if only I could turn back time and take Bloom's advice, "In the workplace we need to take responsibility for our mistakes, sure, but also for our successes," she says. "Many women can do the former but not the latter."

Read more Work Flow advice from Amber Mac. 

Watch 30 Second MBA

For more bite-sized bits of wisdom on leadership and strategies for success, explore our ongoing video series: 30 Second MBA.

You'll find advice from Sheryl Sandberg, Beth Comstock and other inspirational female leaders.

[Image: Flickr user TheeErin]

via fastcompany.com

Hire Jim Woods to Speak to Your Organization

Innovation, Growth, & Hypercompetition Consultant/Speaker/Business Coach

 Website: InnoThink Group

Request a consultation: Office: +1 719.649.4118 or complete our form.  

 

Innothink Group is a strategic management, innovation and business coaching consultancy. 

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients.   

We provide broad ranging advice covering innovation, commoditization, competitive advantage, business policy and strategy, as well as global strategy and implementation. 

Seven Powerful Ways to Gain More Confidence in Your Creative Work | Lateral Action

One of the biggest problems creative people face isn’t a lack of time or money. It’s a lack of confidence.

If you love writing, drawing, composing, designing, or any other creative activity, you might have started out doing it simply for the pleasure of creating. Once you start looking beyond that – to building an audience, and even making money from your art – a lack of confidence can be crippling.

Low confidence might be pretty obvious, when you keep thinking “I’m not good enough” or “No-one will want to read/view/listen to this”. But it might also feel like a deep-seated Resistance to create, or constant procrastination when it comes to putting your work out there in the world.

I work with a lot of writers, both in one-to-one and group situations. Some of those writers have huge amounts of talent … but very little confidence. I always want to wave a magic wand and open their eyes to their own skills and abilities. Sadly, I can’t do that for them, or for you. But I can offer you seven powerful ways to grow your confidence.

Photo by Yuri Arcurs via BigStock

 

1. Show your work to a professional

This might seem like a scary one to start off with … but it’s one of the best ways I know to get a reality check on your writing. If you’ve got any sort of contact with professionals in your field, find someone (preferably someone known for their kindness rather than their brutal put-downs!) and ask them to take a look at a small piece of your work. Ask for their honest opinion. Is it at a publishable or produceable standard? Do they see any key strengths in the work – or any weaknesses that could be improved?

You’re unlikely to get feedback telling you that your work is pure brilliance. But you may be surprised to find it’s better than you think. And hopefully you’ll get some suggestions for areas that need a little more development: this helps build your confidence by giving you clear and specific ways to grow.

2. Enter competitions

Whatever your preferred medium – words, pixels, paint, notes – you’ll find plenty of competitions to enter. Even if you don’t get as far as the short-list, simply the act of entering can help build your confidence: you’ll have a clear deadline and, often, some sort of subject matter to help you think inside the box.

If you do manage to get placed in a competition, it’s a huge confidence boost. You might not walk away with first prize – but a second or third prize, or your name on the shortlist, is a clear indication that your work has real merit.

3. Don’t rush your process

If you’re pressuring yourself to get your creative work out there as quickly as possible, then you may be uncomfortably aware that it’s not as good as it could be. Perhaps you’ve had some disappointing feedback, or you simply feel that you’re not very proud of your work.

Taking a little extra time at each stage of the process means you’ll at least be able to have confidence that you’ve done a good job. That might mean allowing more time for planning or research at the start of a new project – especially if you tend to jump at new ideas, only to give up when they prove more difficult than you expected. It could mean giving yourself time to create plenty of rough sketches of a planned painting, or to edit your first few drafts of a short story.

4. Get paid for creative work

Although money might not be your first goal as an artist, getting paid for your work can give you real confidence. Even if you’re not getting paid for your ‘real’ creative project – so you’re writing magazine articles, say, instead of a novel – you’ll still know that your fundamental skills are good enough that someone wants to pay you for them.

There are all sorts of different ways to get paid for something you’ve created. You could work as a freelancer, producing designs or jingles or articles to order. You could create a micro-product to sell online. You could run an event, and sell tickets. Don’t fall for the lie that ‘there’s no money in art’ – find a way to make it work.

5. Take a course or class

Although I’ve had a lot of writing-related education over the past few years (including formal degrees and more informal courses), I still attend conferences and classes on a regular basis, particularly for my fiction-writing. Yes, I’m now pretty confident with all the fundamentals – like creating engaging characters, writing dialogue, and setting a scene – but I find that it’s often good to have a reminder of the things that I should know but occasionally forget.

If you want to learn something new in your field, or if you just want a bit more reassurance that you do already know the basics, a course or class should help. That doesn’t need to be anything expensive or time consuming: you might be able to find a simple day course or a series of evening classes in your area, or you could look for an online program to join.

6. Track your progress

When you’re in the trenches with your creative work, it can be hard to think back or think ahead. In the moment, you might be struggling with an aspect of your work-in-progress – and you may fear that you’ll never get it right.

By tracking your progress over time, you can easily look back and see how far you’ve come. You might want to list specific achievements, especially any “firsts” – like the first time you entered a competition, or the first time you showed your work to someone who wasn’t a family member or close friend. You could also record your feelings at different stages of a project (you might realise, for instance, that you inevitably go through a period of doubt at the almost mid-way stage, before everything gets much easier).

7. Push yourself to try new things

Finally, keep on trying new things. Yes, this can be terrifying – but successfully getting through a new challenge is a great way to grow your skills and your confidence. You won’t be perfect first time (no-one is), but you probably will realise that it wasn’t as bad as you were expecting.

This could mean trying a new area within your current field of creative work (perhaps writing poetry as well as short stories) or it could mean experimenting with a new form of creativity. I’ve started working with video and audio in my online teaching materials; it was really tough at first, but now I feel much more confident with using new mediums, and I also know that if I can get through the initial discomfort and fear, things will always get easier.

I know that none of these tips are easy. If there was a quick, painless fix for lack of confidence, none of us would have any problems! But by taking a step forward – even when it’s scary – you will find that you gain the confidence you need to progress with your creative work.

Over to you

Which of these tips resonate most strongly for you?

What has given your creative confidence the biggest boost to date?

Any other tips you’d like to share?

About the Author: Ali Luke is currently on a virtual book tour for her novel Lycopolis, a fast-paced supernatural thriller centred on a group of online roleplayers who summon a demon into their game … and into the world. Described by readers as “a fast and furious, addictive piece of escapism” and “absolutely gripping”, Lycopolis is available in print and ebook form. Find out more at Lycopolis.co.uk.

--> via lateralaction.com

Hire Jim Woods To Speak to Your Organization

CEO & President 

Innovation, Growth, & Hypercompetition Consultant/Speaker/Business Coach

 Website: InnoThink Group

Request a consultation: Office: +1 719.649.4118 or complete our form.  

 

Innothink Group is a strategic management, innovation and business coaching consultancy. 

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients.   

We provide broad ranging advice covering innovation, commoditization, competitive advantage, business policy and strategy, as well as global strategy and implementation. 

We help clients to: 

·                      Build strategic supremacy through disruption and dominance

·                     Predict customers’ emerging needs and translate them into a breakthrough value proposition.

·                     Establish new rules of the game to challenge evolution

·                     Define a clear role for innovation based on understanding its hypercompetitive contribution.

·                     Exploit competitor’s weaknesses

·                     Build rapid short term advantages for long term profitability.

·                     Tackle the challenges of collaboration, both internal and external, as a driver of innovation.

·                     Reduce costs by increasing innovation and competitive advantage into the core of your business

·                     We provide continuous innovation and competitive advantage support

 

13-Year-Old Develops A Fool-Proof Cure For Hiccups - PSFK

13-year-old Mallory Kievman from Manchester, Connecticut will soon be leading a team of MBA students from the University of Connecticut as she launches her inventive product for stopping hiccups: Hiccupops. Mallory’s lollipops, which she developed in her kitchen, are made with apple cider vinegar and sugar. She told the New York Times:

It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc. It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup.

Hiccupops won prizes for innovation and patentability at the Connecticut Invention Convention, an annual competition for kids, where a patent was filed on Mallory’s behalf. She has also presented the product at a state economic summit and networking group Xcellr8 Innovation Cell.

This summer, the University of Connecticut’s Innovation Accelerator will be sending Mallory a group of graduate business students to help launch Hiccupops nationwide. She hopes her product will soon be found in school nurses’ offices and drugstores across the country.

Hiccupops

Photo by Alex Brown

via psfk.com

Rethink Your Business Approach. Driving Top Line Growth through Effective Innovation 

Strategies defining business in the 20^th Century no longer work in meeting today’s challenges. Companies are reinventing how they respond to consumers, employees and suppliers. At InnoThink Group we help companies find new methods of increasing top line growth and achieving competitive advantage.  

With InnoThink Group as your innovation partner, your company will create and implement growth strategies that work. 

Innothink Group is a strategic management and innovation consultancy.

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients. 

We will enable you to: 

1. Effectively create an Innovation culture that drives top line growth
2. Total customer responsiveness
3. Develop creative leadership
4. Create uniqueness
5. Turn manufacturing into marketing weapons
6. Pursue fast paced innovations
7. Set qualitative innovation goals
8. Develop an inspiring vision
9. Create a sense of urgency
10. Demand total integrity
11. Exceed shareholder expectations
12. Increase top line growth

 For speaking, coaching or consulting inquiries complete the  contact form >>> or call719-649-4118.

Also: 

• Define an Innovation and Growth Strategy
• Build Innovation Capabilities 
• Learn to avoid commoditization
• Generate Customer Insights
• Blueprint Business Model
• Prototype and Model

Email: CEO Jim Woods

Call: +1 719- 649-4118

Infographic: In 80 Years, We Lost 93% Of Variety In Our Food Seeds

Seeds are tricky things. On one hand, we have the whole Omnivore’s Dilemma argument, that industrialized and genetically engineered food is probably bad. And on the other, we have strains of vegetables that can grow four times as much produce on the same plot of land as their heirloom counterparts--a successful, man-dictated genetics that we’ve actually been fueling for millennia. After all, we wouldn’t have the heirloom seeds of today if our grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather hadn’t saved the seeds from the sweetest watermelons or the most drought-resistant cantaloupes.

I don’t know that any of us can honestly assess the repercussions of our actions, but I do know one thing: This National Geographic infographic by John Tomanio is staggering. Using the metaphor of a tree, it charts the loss of U.S. seed variety from 1903 to 1983. And what you see is that we’ve lost about 93% of our unique seed strands behind some of the most popular produce. (Clever details: Where the root system should be strong, Tomanio has rendered a tree that looks like it could tip right out of the ground.)

In 1903, we had almost 500 varieties of lettuce. By 1983, we had just 36. Radishes, peas, and beets have fared no better. In fact, the most steadfast of the crops has been the tomato, which, probably due to the popularity of strange and tasty heirloom varieties, only lost about 80% of its seed diversity. It’s a shame to lose so many intricacies of nature’s tastiest gifts. But more worryingly, monocultures strip the land of nutrients: Where you once had self-sustaining harvest cycles, you get farm land denuded of nutrients that then needs copious chemical fertilizers to grow more food. And the crops themselves become vulnerable to plant diseases.

Still, a lot has changed in the public consciousness since 1983. Farmers markets aren’t just for hippies anymore--they’re lifestyle statements for everyone from young foodies to soccer moms. And as long as this trend stays alive, so too will many of the heirloom seed strands we have remaining.

[Image: NixPhotography/Shutterstock]

via fastcodesign.com

Rethink Your Business Approach. Driving Top Line Growth through Effective Innovation 

Strategies defining business in the 20^th Century no longer work in meeting today’s challenges. Companies are reinventing how they respond to consumers, employees and suppliers. At InnoThink Group we help companies find new methods of increasing top line growth and achieving competitive advantage.  

With InnoThink Group as your innovation partner, your company will create and implement growth strategies that work. 

Innothink Group is a strategic management and innovation consultancy.

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients. 

We will enable you to: 

1. Effectively create an Innovation culture that drives top line growth
2. Total customer responsiveness
3. Develop creative leadership
4. Create uniqueness
5. Turn manufacturing into marketing weapons
6. Pursue fast paced innovations
7. Set qualitative innovation goals
8. Develop an inspiring vision
9. Create a sense of urgency
10. Demand total integrity
11. Exceed shareholder expectations
12. Increase top line growth

 For speaking, coaching or consulting inquiries complete the  contact form >>> or call719-649-4118.

Also: 

• Define an Innovation and Growth Strategy
• Build Innovation Capabilities 
• Learn to avoid commoditization
• Generate Customer Insights
• Blueprint Business Model
• Prototype and Model

Email: CEO Jim Woods

Call: +1 719- 649-4118