Let's face it, with the current situation it's hard to know what day it is, and with the random weather even what time of year it is :D With that in mind my idea is to bring an adaptation of Secret Santa to our now much more frequent virtual meetings. If you don't what Secret Santa is; it is a simple idea where you take the names of all your team members and randomly give each team member one name (making sure they don't receive their own). Each team member must then buy that person a gift up to the value of a predefined budget. Gifts are then left in a secure location with the name of the recipient but not the name of the giver; this is to keep the gift-givers anonymity. This means that each team member receives one gift and there is a high chance of hilarity when the gifts are opened. Knowing how much fun Secret Santa can be, I decided to put a spin on the idea and spice up our now more frequent virtual meetings. I initially did this with friends and the outcome was so good that I am confident that with a little bit of buy-in from your team members your next meeting could be one that is talked about for years to come. The idea is simple: Just like with Secret Santa, each person is given the name of another team member; but instead of a random gift, they are tasked to order the person lunch. Simply agree to a budget between you and then order the food online to be delivered to the secret recipient. Each team member will then receive a surprise meal to enjoy during the meeting :D In the spirit of niceness, it is worthwhile finding out peoples dislikes, allergies, or dietary requirements before placing any orders to ensure everyone receives a meal that they will like. If the sharing of your team members home address is not acceptable to all, get the team manager (who will most likely have all the addresses already) to place the orders the team’s behalf. Now sit back, warm up your appetite, and let your meeting 2.0 begin. bon appétit
Make working from home and enjoyable and productive experience
Trend /trɛnd/ noun plural noun: trends 1. a general direction in which something is developing or changing. "an upward trend in sales and profit margins"
As companies grow so does their data. In fact most of us have more data than we know what to do with. I am sure many of you prepare or receive detailed daily, weekly, monthly reports, with lots of lovely tables and graphs and comments. And I am sure many of them either get skimmed or ignored completely. Far too many reports are created for the sake of creating a report and add no value. In fact the time taken to create the report could have been used to generate real value for your company. The simplification and reduction of reports, could not only save your company time and money but it could also lead to happier employees. Sharing what the reports are used for and what was achieved using the data collected, can give employees a feeling or purpose, boosting moral and reduce attrition rates. I challenge each and everyone of you to read the reports you receive and think to yourself, what does this report tell me, and is it really necessary? And before requesting a report, try setting clear goals as to what you want to achieve with the data, and share the goals with the person making the report. Remembering even more importantly to share the outcome with them when you have achieved your goal. I finish off by sharing a great talk about algorithms and can we really trust the data we are given? by Cathy O'Neil. Algorithms decide who gets a loan, who gets a job interview, who gets insurance and much more -- but they don't automatically make things fair, and they're often far from scientific. Mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil coined a term for algorithms that are secret, important and harmful: "weapons of math destruction." Learn more about the hidden agendas behind these supposedly objective formulas and why we need to start building better ones.
Many companies focus on what they have to offer Customers now, and do not consider what it is that Customers will want in the future. With 9 billion potential new Customers by 2050, companies should be looking to innovate in order to stay relevant. Think back to the companies your parents dealt with.... I doubt many are still around today. Once beloved household names, such as Woolworths, Pan Am, Rumbelows, Tandy, Dixons, MFI, Blockbuster, and many more; are no-longer with us. Their failure to adapt, meant new cutting-edge Companies quickly pushed them out of business. In terms of Fortune 500 companies, only 60 of the original firms listed in 1955 remain today. No matter how much your Customers love you; they will leave your company if you do not stay relevant. Take a step back and think how you could innovate, and don’t worry of another company has already come along with something better than you are currently offering. Being first to the market does not always mean it is the best product or solution. In fact, almost 50% of first-movers fail. Take stock of what your new and current competitors are doing, what new technologies are challenging your revenue; and see how you can adapt your business model to keep up with the ever changing world.
On the way to work stopped to let a man cross the road, and as he did he danced along to the music drifting out of my open window! That simple interaction with a fellow human brought smiles to both our faces :) It's important to remember that it's sometimes the little things that can bring the most joy. So let’s try to make the world a happier place to live in. I challenge you to make at least one stranger smile today! Smile :))