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Day: February 18, 2020

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Growth Personal Development

Producing Blogs with Teamwork

In a small company, all employees may share responsibility for contributing blog content. In larger companies, there may be an expectation of content contributions from various teams. In either situation, the production of blog content can be a team effort.

Do Employees Read the Blog?

This should be the first and most important responsibility regarding the blog. Each employee needs to get a feel for the content and how well it expresses the company’s mission statement.

Encourage employees to make notes on what they do and don’t like about the blog. These observations are as important as what random readers may post in response to a blog post.

Create a Blog Team

If your company is large enough, it may make sense to ask for volunteers from each team to meet regularly and form a blog team. Each member will bring the particular focus of his or her team. This also provides the blog team members with the opportunity to have a better understanding of what goes on in different areas of the company.

For a smaller company, perhaps all employees should discuss the blog as part of the company meetings.

If there is no mission statement for the blog, I would recommend going back to the drawing board and creating one. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Brainstorming a mission statement can be an effective collaborative effort for a team.

One thing that can really bring a blog together in a cohesive way is to create an editorial calendar of topics. Do keep this benchmark in mind: the overall content of a blog should be no more than 20% sales oriented. That means you need to provide 80% interesting content. Ideally, the sales-oriented material should also be interesting and not stick out like an advertisement.

You can organize your calendar by seasons, holidays, or any series of themes that make sense. Every member of the team should be responsible for coming up with ideas.

If the blog is oriented to your industry, it should have stories that affect that industry.

Don’t neglect the personal touch. Customers want to see the people behind the company.  If an employee in your company just returned from a photo safari in Africa, that might make an interesting post. Ask yourself if a story is likely to appeal to a general audience.

In general, it’s probably best to avoid listing marriages and births. However, if an employee in your company has received a significant award for an act of courage or good citizenship, do report it. Any employee news that demonstrates the diversity or civic involvement of the company is worth reporting.

Inspiring quotations always make an interesting blog post if they’re not overdone. Have a collection available. Look at quote sites, like seachquotes.com and others.

Meet to Evaluate the Blog

This is crucial. Everyone who participates in working on the blog should be reading the comments carefully—and, of course, responding thoughtfully.

Working from internal and external sources of feedback, the people on the team can figure out if they’re on track, especially if they’re fulfilling the blog’s mission statement. If they need to correct course, they can have a brainstorming session about how to accomplish this.

The most important thing is to keep the spirit of this discussion collaborative and cooperative.

A company blog is one of the faces the business shows the world. When the work on it is well organized with a team approach, it can also help to bring the diverse elements of the organization together.

Pat Iyer is a C Suite Network Contributor, one of the original 100 contributors. She has written over a thousand blogs since 2009. As an author, editor and ghostwriter, Pat helps her clients share their brilliance without having to do all of the work. Reach her at WritingToGetBusiness.com.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Personal Development

Revving Change in the On-Demand Transportation Economy

Bill George witnessed a lot of change during his many decades in the ground transportation industry—he’s owned cab companies since 1984. But now, George is the one driving the change.

From the printing press to the iPod to Reese’s peanut butter cups, some of the best “new” inventions combine already-existing products or ideas. And that’s just what George did. He capitalized on shifting consumer expectations by combining the best taxi service model with the best technology. The result? A new hybrid brand of on-demand transportation called zTrip.

It would be an understatement to say George has ridden it to success. The “new face of taxi,” zTrip is now the country’s largest private passenger ground transportation company, operating in cities across the U.S. as well as through affiliates worldwide.

On the latest episode of my Talking Business Now podcast, George shares how his father encouraged him to bring new ideas to the table as they worked together—although George admits it sometimes led to some “knock-down-drag-out fights.”

He also draws on the lessons he learned from selling two businesses—and then buying one of them back. “There’s buyers and there’s sellers,” he said. “And as a seller, my advice to every entrepreneur is get enough money to happily walk away, because there’s a good chance you won’t be happy when someone else takes over this thing you’ve created.”

Although George’s innovations have disrupted the on-demand transportation industry, he’s built his company on solid, proven business principles. Tune in for George’s insights on:

  • Leveraging the disruption your competitors create.
  • How to carve out a niche and define customers.
  • Working with family—including the thunder, wonder and blunder theory of multi-generational family businesses.
Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Do You Know How To Overcome Abusive Gauntlet Attacks” – Negotiation Insight

“You can be put upon by abusive behavior in the time it takes a snake to strike. To avert such gauntlets, know the snake you’re dealing with and where it may lay in wait for you.” – Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

(Click to get the book)

 

“Do You Know How To Overcome Abusive Gauntlet Attacks”

 

Two people were sitting across from one another at the negotiation table.  And one said to the other as he stood to leave, that’s the best damn offer you’re going to get from me. My supporters and I will ruin you if you don’t take my deal.

Such occurrences can happen in any environment. And the gauntlet tossed before you can come in ever-increasing degrees. Some can be chilling and fraught with an abusive tinge, while others may have a tint of seduction attached to them. There are a lot of variables to consider. So, what might you do in that situation?

 

Point of Challenge

Someone has served you (i.e., offered a challenge)! Now what? How should you handle the test before you? Should you back away, readily accept it, or is there something else you might do? The answer to how you should proceed is, it depends.

When confronted with a challenge, some people shrink, and others rise to the occasion. The pending point as to the direction you choose is dependent on your personality and the form of the challenge that’s before you. Some points you might consider are:

 

Assessment

  • Ask yourself, what’s the intention of the challenger? There’s always a source of motivation behind the actions of people. Even when a person says they don’t know why they’re doing something, they’re motivated and moved to take action by some stimuli. Thus, if you can identify what that source is, you’ll have a more significant understanding of what’s motivating them to adopt the action they’re perpetrating against you.

 

  • Another question to pose is, who do the person’s actions serve, himself, or a more substantial body? An additional point to consider is what forces are behind the perpetrator’s actions against you. And assess if those actions are born out of folly, or do they possess a more sinister intent. That assessment will not only give you insight per how you might refute his actions. It’ll also indicate the forces aligned against you.

 

  • There’s something else to consider. And that is, is this person being used as a puppet by a puppeteer that wishes to remain anonymous? If so, you may have a more significant challenge than you initially assessed. If you believe that to be true, dig hard and deep to uncover who and what that source might be. You can’t determine the best action to take if you’re not aware of who or what is confronting you.

 

Possible Responses

  • Opponents’ strong points – When considering someone’s capabilities, related to them putting forth a challenge, I suggest you start by evaluating their strong points. The reasoning is, if you know the degree of their strength, you’ll have a better understanding of the resources they might marshal against you. You should consider that support, the quickness at which they can gather those forces, along with the potency of them. With that judgment completed, you’ll have greater insight per what powers you might want to assemble to combat him and his allies’.

 

  • Opponents weak points – Sometimes, a challenger will issue you a summons in an attempt to enhance his persona. It can be something akin to an attempt to dethrone the one that sits atop of the preverbal pile, you. Thus, again, you should identify the motivation that’s causing this person to engage you. You should also not dismiss that individual type out of hand. Because they can possess a hidden danger in the form of being or doing something irrational – something you don’t anticipate. And sometimes, dismissing them may be perceived as mockery, which would serve to heighten their attempts to dethrone you.

 

In either case, try not to over or underestimate the forces against you. The more accurate you are per your assessment, the higher the possibility you’ll have of competing against it successfully.

 

Response Timing

Depending on a situation, if you don’t perceive it to be dire, you can take a wait-and-see position. This approach will allow time to point the direction the challenge might take. If you adopt this strategy, be sure to monitor it regularly. You don’t want it to become dire due to your lack of attentiveness.

On the other hand, if the challenge requires an immediate response, consider where a hasty action might take you and how quickly you can marshal the forces needed to support your efforts. That means, measure how you’ll respond before doing so. Don’t initiate a massive undertaking when a smaller one might suffice.

The degree of your response will carry with it your perception of the seriousness of the gauntlet. Thus, your comeback should be one that meets your objectives without signaling any angst that might be associated with it. Too strong of a rebuttal will indicate just that, there was angst in your calculation, which might give the perpetrator more incentive to become more dogmatic with his challenges. Correctly apply the right force, and you’re more than likely to subdue his efforts without further recourse from him.

 

Reflection

Avoiding an abusive situation can be a daunting gauntlet to overcome. But, it doesn’t have to be if you adhere to the suggestions mentioned. If you choose to adopt the recommendations, you’ll increase your odds of quietly admonishing your foe without riling him or his supporters. And everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here https://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

 

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