Archives for February 2015
A Reflection of George Washingtonâs Leadership Traits
Happy President's Day. Days like today make me ultra reflective. To some, it may seem like a completely ridiculous day that serves no meaning at all, but a hiccup in the banking and mail systems for the day. To some, today may be a day of remembrance. For the complacent, today is just another day, and the extra 8 hours off today is a great way to start the week. Today, I want to reflect on the leadership traits of President George Washington.
- Visionary. Think about where we would be today if our Founding Fatherâs did not fight to create, protect,
and maintain our liberties. The American Revolution was necessary. Through the keen, specific, and end-in-sight dedication, our Founding Fathers preserved. That perseverance and vision for a nation that was created to establish the structure, boundaries, and safeguards to enable the pursuit of life, liberty, and justice. George Washington shared that vision, he fought for that vision, and he carried out that vision throughout his Presidency. - Dedicated.Leadership cannot flip-flop on issues. Dedicated consistency and follow-through establishes rapport and builds trust. People need a leader that illustrates those factors and can steadfastly move forward
even in times of disbelief. This dedication shows purpose, motivation, and direction of cause, and within the scope of this article, a country. George Washington shared his dedication through his words, but more importantly his actions. He did not flip-flop on the issues so near and dear to our country. He simply
dedicated his life to fighting for a cause and building a country that would aid the benevolent opportunities for citizens of the United States of America. - Trenches. True leadership should not ask a man or woman to do something he or she would not be willing to do him or herself. To do the grunt work, to move forward when everything may be indicating otherwise, and to carry out what actions that need to happen. George Washington illustrated this behavior on and off of the battlefield, and throughout his presidency. As such, his behavior created a beloved persona, which again helped him as a leader and President.
- Humility. Staying humble in times of growth and power can be a stretch for some. However, one of the most poetic qualities of leadership is that of humility. The ability to connect with compassion the relatedness between everyone and everything and to exhibit gratitude toward all that has contributed. This aids in the level-headedness that aids in trust, rapport, and respect of peers, people, and society. George Washington provided such humility throughout his career as President.
In essence, Presidentâs Day can serve as a day of remembrance. It helps one to reflect on the qualities of leadership
that have led our great country and continues to lead our great country. It may even help us to identify the qualities that have strengthened our nation, and reflect on our qualities as professionals and owners of organizations. Are we doing enough? How can we improve our leadership skills? Take the time to think of what our nation has gone through – the good, bad, and everything in between. Think of the leadership that has led us through those times. Think of the qualities and attributes that contributed to those times, and ask yourself, what can you do to improve your leadership skills and outcomes. See where that takes you.
Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC
Katie Doseck, PhD MBA | Chief Visionary & Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve. I catapulted my experience with extensive education, trainings, and personal coaching; earning a PhD in Organizational Management with a specialization in Human Resource Management, MBA in Organizational Leadership, and BA in Law & Liberal Arts. Subject Matter Expert (SME) areas: Human Resource Management, Employment Law, Organizational Change, Change Management, Resource Planning, Strategic Planning, Talent Management, Selling & Sales Management, Training & Development, Decision Making Models, Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Motivation. Dr. Doseck is based out of Logan, Utah.
Constructive Criticism Can Strengthen Your Work Relationships
We always are told that âhonesty is the best policy,â and yet when it comes to the business world, we so often try to shy away from the truth in hopes of preserving our relationships with our colleagues and employees. However, there is a lot of reason to believe that constructive criticism can actually strengthen your work relationships if you handle it in the right way.
There are numerous options to offer criticism that youâll encounter on an almost daily basis. You may need to give a performance review of an employee, or you could be discussing the details of a business strategy that you and your colleagues have been working on that you feel has a couple potential flaws.
Itâs understandable to think that people might overreact if you donât always tell them how great they are, but the truth is that people want to know the truth, no matter how initially difficult it might be. Honest and direct feedback is not only rejuvenating for both parties, but it also provides a lot more room for growth.
This isnât to say that you should be tactless in the way that you truthfully deliver your criticism. Here are some guidelines that can help you to determine whether you are offering your criticism in an effective, constructive way:
1. Your criticisms are coming from a place of objectivity. Subjective criticism can lead to hurt feelings, or a âthatâs your opinionâ response.
2. You are giving feedback that is clear and easily understandable so that you are not sending a confusing message.
3. You are speaking respectfully and in a way that will ensure that the person to whom you are speaking will pay attention and take what you say seriously.
4. You have an action plan in place that will help you to move forward from the problem once you have brought it up with your colleague.
5. You have a way to track your progress after the conversation to ensure that you are meeting the tenets of that action plan.
6. You leave the door open for future conversations and communication.
7. You end the conversation on a note of encouragement and affirmation.
If you follow those steps when dealing with criticism in the workplace, youâll find that you will create a much more open office space in terms of your communication channels, and you will build trust with your coworkers and employees.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
What is Your Customer Value Optimization Strategy?
Wow! Next week CEO, Christine Kelly is going to the Traffic & Conversion Summit 2015 in San Diego, CA. In preparation for this amazing learning and development session, Viral Solutions is aiming to provide relevant, real-time, and rockstar information to help you and your team nail your digital marketing efforts. To aid in this experience, this post is designed to help you understand the foundation of digital marketing, Â customer value optimization. As such, the remainder of this post will discuss what, why, how, and when aspects of customer value optimization.
What is customer value optimization? Customer value optimization (CVO) is what you do to provide specific value to your customers, and the method by which of delivering that value in the most effective manner. Basically, you're in the business of solving a problem(s). Your ability of solving problems is your value. Ask yourself how well you, your team, and/or organization solves problems? What do you do that makes your method of solving a problem different than others? What is it? How does that method fit with your product or service market? Does it scream “awesome”? Do customers even know the process or unique selling position of why your product or service solves their problem(s) better? This is where customer value optimization is designed to help you align your “magic” with the “problem” and create the greatest value for customers.
What is your unique selling position? How does this create customer value?
Why does customer value optimization matter? If there is a gap between what you do, why you do it, and how your solution is better for the customer, then there is a disconnect of understanding between you and prospective customers. An unnecessary disconnect. You are in the driver's seat of creating your customer value optimization. You message matters. It is the footprint that you leave about your problem solving capabilities and/or whatever type of product or service you provide that solves a want, need, or problem. If a customer cannot get the gist of what makes your business better than the other option, they're never going to know, and if a competitor does it better, the competitor is going to have better results. This is a wasted opportunity to neglect fine tuning this process for your company. So, ask yourself how well do you deliver customer value? Perhaps, ask your customers about that as well via a survey or some other form of communication. You could use that data to identify outliners and common reasons why customers chose your organization. This may help you to wrap your head around “why” people choose your organization, especially, if you're unsure about your exact customer value why people choose your firm. This will help you to know “why” your current customers buy. Likewise, if you track your opportunities, it may be helpful to reach out and identify “why not” . This will also provide you with information to help you truly identify your customer value and connect the actual delivery of that value. This matters because it helps to confirm or disconfirm what you say is your customer value and the actual delivery. Talk is cheap. Action is real. The ability to connect the value and action, helps you to truly see if the foundation of customer value optimization is superior or inferior.
How can customer value optimization be delivered? The Digital Marketer noted that the first step is to identify the product or service market. Which
How do you deliver your customer value digitally? Customer value optimization is critical to the future success of your business.
requires understanding your USP as identified in the previous sections. That way when you position your product, service, and/or organization, your message strategy is presented to the right audience. Next, you need to identify how you will actually deliver that message. This is also referred to as selecting your traffic source, i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, SEO, Email Marketing, Blogging, Adwords, or Social Media. Next, you need to craft your lead magnet for each of your selected traffic sources. What lead magnet? Yes. What is it that you put in front of your audience to get action? Do you have any lead magnets? Yes? How are they working? No? Why not? In addition to your lead magnet, have you create a strategic action plan that fits with your audience, i.e. trip wires, follow-up series, offering core product(s), and profit maximizer? Do you have a strategic digital return blueprint that brings your audience back to you? These questions are all areas to consider within your own digital marketing strategy. Perhaps, you have all of those areas and they are rocking out completely and making it rain for your organization. Or perhaps, that strategy is in need of improvement because your digital marketing outcome is in a drought.
When to start your customer value optimization?
Today. Even if your action is looking at your calendar and identifying a time that you can truly sit down, review, and analyze your digital marketing results. Think about your core unique selling position, your message of that value, the delivery of that message, the results of that message, and the overall experiences with your customers – do the experiences align with your USP and is it truly providing value to your customers? Yes. This takes time, money, and other resources, but you can do it. For more questions about creating this strategy, certainly feel free to reach out to our Viral Solutions team that can aid you in unlocking the “magic” of the current situation and aid you in building an effective digital marketing campaign that fits with providing customer value.
Katie Doseck PhD
Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC
Katie Doseck, PhD MBA | Chief Visionary & Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve. I catapulted my experience with extensive education, trainings, and personal coaching; earning a PhD in Organizational Management with a specialization in Human Resource Management, MBA in Organizational Leadership, and BA in Law & Liberal Arts. Subject Matter Expert (SME) areas: Human Resource Management, Employment Law, Organizational Change, Change Management, Resource Planning, Strategic Planning, Talent Management, Selling & Sales Management, Training & Development, Decision Making Models, Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Motivation. Dr. Doseck is based out of Logan, Utah.
Why Your Meetings Are Unproductive
Thereâs nothing worse than coming out of a long, boring meeting feeling like youâve accomplished nothing and have wasted a big portion of your day. But meetings donât have to be something to dread â if you are aware of why your meetings feel unproductive in the first place, you can take steps to remedy those issues and improve your efficiency.
Here are some of the most common reasons that meetings wind up feeling so unproductive:
- Insufficient planning. You need to have a set agenda to work through in order to ensure that your meeting progresses smoothly. Even if youâre trying to keep an informal atmosphere in
your meeting, an agenda will keep you on track and, when issued before the meeting begins, will let people know what they can prepare to discuss. Agendas will also help to trim down meeting length, because there are specific time-slots for each item and you donât have to waste time figuring out who should speak next. - No one in charge. You should always have one person designated as being the meetingâs facilitator. This person should be comfortable keeping people on task, cutting short off-topic conversations, encourage positive discussion and generally keeping the meeting on course.
- Lack of foresight. From time to time, you might have items on your meeting agenda that could provoke strong reactions from other people in the meeting. If you donât consider the way that people will react to these items, you will be woefully under-prepared in terms of how you will respond to that reaction. You may need to give a heads up to people who are more outspoken in your meetings to gauge how they will respond, so that everyone has a chance to prepare themselves and discuss the topic in a level-headed manner.
- Lack of follow-up. Even if your meeting runs extremely smoothly and seems to have a positive atmosphere, it will be rendered useless if you fail to follow up on the issues youâve discussed. Make sure people have carried over what youâve talked about in the meeting into their daily work.
Need more tips on running productive meetings? Work with the team at Viral Solutions today!
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
How to Keep the Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive in Your Company
One of the most thrilling aspects of starting a new business is the idea of venturing out into uncharted territory and taking risks that may or may not pay off. It's a scary yet exhilarating period of time for many business owners. But once you've achieved a certain level of success, it's easy to let that entrepreneurial excitement slip away, and when it does, you could lose some of the motivation that's kept you ticking to this point.
So how can you continue to act like an entrepreneur even when your company is already well established? Here are some tips that will help you to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive:
1) Let your desires run wild.
Every step you take with your business starts with an idea or desire. You need to be motivated to take the efforts to act on that desire. Let yourself get caught up in the wonder of what achieving this desire could do for your business. It's so easy to get caught in the trap of rejecting your own ideas before they've even left the brainstorming stage. You need to allow yourself to dream big before you can act big.
2) Approach investments like an entrepreneur.
If you've got the desire to take a big step with your company, approach that scenario like an entrepreneur would. Consider what you would like to invest to be able to make that possible. This is different than the usual entrepreneur mindset of “what can I afford to lose?” because you've 
already achieved a certain level of success, but it still has the same excitement and risk that entrepreneurs thrive on.
3) Put together a team to help you accomplish your goals.
Assembling your first ever team when you build your company is an exciting stage for any entrepreneur. When you're working on a major project within your company, putting together the project team can have that same sort of thrill. Evaluate who would be best suited to help out with the project, and recruit new employees when necessary.
4) Go for it!
When you've made the proper preparations, take action and let yourself become immersed in the excitement of the moment!
Just because you've now got a stable company doesn't mean you have to forgo all excitement and adventure. You can still be an entrepreneur within your own company. Contact us at Viral Solutions for more pointers.
