With functions to manage special orders, club repairs, demo and rental sets, staff scheduling and customer profiling, the Golf Shop product combines numerous features that enable golf retailers to deliver greater customer value, save time and create more revenue.

Saving time, creating more revenue and delivering exceptional value comes from all four corners of the golf operation.

For the retail side of your facility, we’ve just launched the solution to transform your business: Golf Shop. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/iMa6mHZwFR

— Golf Genius EMEA (@golfgenius_emea) November 3, 2022

“We recognise that golf professionals and specialist retailers are always looking for a concise and efficient service to run their shop operations, so we came up with a solution,” commented Craig Higgs, Managing Director for Golf Genius International.

“We pride ourselves on listening to our customer’s needs and Golf Shop is a bi-product of this approach; it’s there to help manage the workload of staff, streamline retail communications and provide PGA Professionals with useful information about their customers.”

Thanks to Golf Shop’s member surveys and profiling features, PGA Professionals and staff can build data-led insights into the shopping behaviours of members and customers, allowing them to tailor the products and services they market to golfers.

Each function is hosted on the Golf Shop app, which provides staff with a more versatile form of tracking retail activity in a user-friendly manner, regardless of their location.

Golf Shop has proven hugely successful since breaking into the US retail market, with many facilities praising the value it offers their operations, including Valhalla Golf Club: “Golf Shop has helped us differentiate our operation and stay successful by helping us provide excellent, personalised customer service,” said Kyle Cramer, Valhalla Golf Club’s Head PGA Professional.

“The product enables our staff to better serve the Valhalla membership. We especially like the automated notifications feature because it keeps members informed and they appreciate getting updates.”

To find out more about Golf Shop and how it can benefit your business, you can book a free product demonstration with Golf Genius here

Find out more at GolfGenius.com and get in touch at intlsales@golfgenius.com to get your Golf Genius account.

ESET is a CPG Business Partner and member of the Business Club by CPG – Find out more here

Is your business a serial shredder, tending not to think about what personal data is thrown in the waste? Have you ever thought what a cybercriminal could do after simply going through your rubbish? Now that online ordering of golf clubs, apparel and other goods and services in golf is becoming a regular way of life, the scope to be throwing away sensitive information is massive, and criminals are well aware of this treasure trove of information right on your kerbside.

Like most people around the world, since COVID-19 I started to become very good friends with my local delivery drivers as the number of items I received in the post and by a delivery service dramatically increased. From groceries to everyday supplies, my wife and I really started to buy virtually everything online.

Online shopping has come a long way in the past few years and there isn’t much that can go wrong when using reputable websites and shops with great reviews, right? Well, I’m afraid I’m about to draw your attention to yet another potential problem you need to be aware of and remain cautious.

READ ALSO: On course for a good hacking 

Your personal data is extremely sought after by malicious actors and it needs to remain private, or at least as private as you can make it. You need to be very careful of how you dispose of any sensitive data, since you never know who might just end up looking at it, including what you’ve bought online and other details that are on the paperwork that may be cast into the recycling.

I recently received a parcel and to my absolute astonishment my phone number was on the outside of the parcel, something I hadn’t seen before. Not only might this be a data protection faux pas; I wondered if cybercriminals could take advantage of this and what they could possibly achieve by joining the dots with the criminal underworld and previous data breaches and scrapes. After all, when Facebook admitted earlier this year that 533 million phone numbers were now searchable on the internet with corresponding email addresses, I thought this was potentially rather damaging.

But what about what is inside the envelopes and parcels and what if any of these contents head to the recycling bin? Assuming intercepting items in the postal and delivery services is difficult without an insider, I fear that many people may in fact just throw away parcel notes and addresses rather than destroy them with a shredder. It is my assumption that even if some people own a shredder, they may primarily use it for financial information and other extremely important documents that are no longer required, instead of using it on envelopes too.

I even hold up my hand as I was previously only shredding apparently sensitive and private information on paper, but then at the same time folding up and placing any cardboard parcels in the recycling pile – often with my address still clearly visible – but now this could contain my phone number, or maybe even an email address?

This parcel with my phone number clearly visible on it came from an eBay seller but it got me thinking about other documents that I receive now on a daily basis. Other receipts I looked at in my house from other eBay users have sometimes included my email address. Looking at some other receipts of mine – a few, including from a few independent online shops and a major shoe company – included my email address and phone number.

None of my Amazon parcels from the Amazon warehouse have ever included any more personal information in the paperwork other than name and address but one from an Amazon seller did send my email address written on the paperwork inside the envelope.

With the agreement of my friend James, who is both a good friend and also one of the school dads, I decided to test another recycling bin to see how much information I could piece together on him and his family. James happily allowed me to pilfer through his recycling bin the day before it was left at the kerb, with two weeks’ worth of paper and card in it. In 30 minutes of rummaging I found his or his wife’s name and address 24 times, email address three times and phone number twice. I was even able to profile them and piece together what they were into purchasing – something marketeers and advertisers are really struggling with at the moment due to GDPR – but it soon dawned on me that most people’s bins still remain hackers’ treasure troves!

Trash talk

Your paper and card waste can be worth rather a lot of money to cybercriminals due to the amount of sensitive information and what they can do with further tricks into manipulating people with this information. For example, with your phone number and the receipt of what you have just bought, they could potentially call or text you with an update on the product purchased and request you to visit a website that could then entice you to hand over more information such as a password or payment card details. There is the potential of them being able to then access your shopping accounts and purchase items from any stored cards or, worse still, attempt identity theft.

How else can you stay safe when shopping online?

• Shred and destroy any personal data before you place it in the trash and don’t forget to check the envelopes/parcels.
• Use unique, complex passwords and change them if they become compromised.
• Use multi-factor authentication on all accounts.

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Unlike its publicity-courting cousin, running, walking is rarely associated with leadership and success. There are relatively few examples of Fortune 500 CEOs ‘powering through’ a 20k stroll on their way to work, nor prime-time comedians ‘sauntering’ through the Sahara Desert for their latest charity/publicity drive. Walking is an also-ran in more ways than one.

And yet, a quick flick through the history books reveals enough famous walkers to more than rival their more fleet-footed counterparts.

From Beethoven to Steve Jobs and the Queen, walking has helped many a historic heavyweight to achieve success in their chosen field, even if they haven’t yet felt the need to brag about it to their favourite financial journal.

As scientists will attest, walking offers an array of benefits for regular practitioners.  Aside from the obvious physical perks of regular exercise, there are the various mental benefits to consider.

Walkers tend to enjoy lower stress levels, as well as increased cognitive function.  To add to this, a recent study by Stanford University found moving around led to an increase in creativity in 81% of participants who had previously been seated.

The only area where walking really falls short (aside from the crummy PR team behind it) is the obvious time commitment involved.  This may explain why it’s rarely the activity of choice among time-pressured modern professionals.

The flipside to this is that, contrary to more aerobically challenging activities, it can be crow-barred relatively easily into the working day.  As well as being the perfect option for a reinvigorating, yet sweat-free lunch break, it is a great way to put a new angle on interviews, one-on-one meetings, and brainstorming sessions.

The most potent pro-ambulatory argument, however, is perhaps the fact that walking is what we humans are originally designed to do.  Not pounding the pavement clad in lycra or expensive running shoes, or – worse still – wedged in behind a computer screen for 10 hours straight.

Walking may not win you any awards in the image stakes, but your body (and possibly career) will thank you for it.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: LinkedIn; Design School; Inc.com

Regardless of our sector, discipline or team size we all have attended or have held a meeting at some point in our working lives. They are a core part of our working and organisational culture that open the doors to create new ideas, collaborate with each other and solve issues to real-world and working problems.

Unfortunately, this has been impacted heavily by the current global issues we are facing, which have forcibly created remote working environments for us all and detached ourselves from one another considerably [and it is also worth assuming that this is a situation we will find ourselves in for the foreseeable future].

So, taking all this in, how can we adapt ourselves and our way of working [in this case, the way we meet] to overcome current difficulties? What is the most productive form of meeting virtually? Is there even a ‘most productive’ form of meeting virtually that currently exists? A few thoughts to consider…but here are some ideas, collated from the CPG’s recent experiences and a wider look at the area.

1. Setup is Important

Unfortunately when we say ‘setup’, we are not talking about stance, ball position, grip or posture here…

To give a very brief explanation [because we highlighted this in our other recent blog for hosting webinars], we need to decide on the platform that we meet on – Zoom and Skype were good places to start.

Then, devising goals for the meeting are still an important part of meetings, albeit pretty different to a webinar. Once these are established, you can devise a reasonable structure to the meeting that considers:

• What are the key topics / proposals / ideas up for discussion?
• Who is best placed to lead each of the above?
• Who is best placed to coordinate the entire meeting, and the above two points?
• How long do you have?
• Do you provide much scope for open-ended discussion?

Just as an example for our own way of working – we have a weekly ‘Catch-Up meeting’, held on a Thursday for approximately an hour. This follows an approximate 50/50 structure where for the first half a set agenda is followed based on various things and points to tackle that we work through. This is then followed by the final half where each team member provides an update on their own work in a more open-ended discussion.

It has worked really well for the past six months, and has provided that much needed, regular information and connection with colleagues to function as a team, combined with the day-to-day frequent individual contact that takes place.

2. Create a Network of Meeting Bubbles

There needs to be an acceptance that it is going to be pretty difficult to get through as much as you would normally do in person and as a group. Practically, it is impossible – connectivity issues often persist and there are those amusingly-awkward time delays where we realise we have both spoken at the same time and then decide to wait for one another to speak. These are simply unavoidable elements of online meetings.

Therefore it is important to use a ‘whole-team’ meeting as one to catch up and provide overview to the current ongoings and developments, not necessarily as a time to solve every issue that the organisation is facing. By having smaller ‘bubbles’ [excuse the COVID-19 buzzword], we can collaborate more effectively with one, two or three members of our team outside the normal meeting space.

For example, there are regular Communication and Events catch-ups during the week with specific team members to solve issues and work through various documents and content together. We can then go away on our own and action these points, and then report this work to everybody at the team meeting later.

The key premise from this is that it is more important than ever to trust one another, and understand that colleagues will be working with one another without direct knowledge or awareness they have been used to in an office. This can pose challenges with tracking work, but there is a growing body of research that supports remote-working environments to be more productive than the office scenario.

3. Maintain Colleague Engagement

The premise of chatting to colleagues through a laptop screen can quite easily encourage technological fatigue, loss of concentration and enthusiasm across the board. Online meetings certainly fill a sociological void, but they do not offer a complete solution to satisfying our innate need to interact face-to-face with others.

Therefore, encouraging greater interaction with one another is an important part of online meetings. This can be achieved through simple tasks such as group breathing exercises [check out Dr. Brian Hemming’s Webinar – 14min 30 secs for a good example on this], allocating time for a quick fire quiz, or allowing everybody to introduce themselves and discuss various non-work related topics that would normally form a natural part of general work chit-chat.

The most important part of this is for the meeting leader and moderator to be aware of the situation – that it is a team meeting and not just a presentation. By ensuring every person has their time to speak and become involved in discussions, they will not only be more engaged but will contribute positively to a more productive online team meeting.

4. Share notes

Once you have conducted your online meeting, the key final stage is to ensure everyone has the information they need from it. Sharing notes is often a lot easier in person because you can physically hand them agendas, outcomes and minutes as you see fit. Doing this over the internet is slightly trickier.

A platform to share notes is the best port of call. Outlook’s Planner function is a really easy way to do this. You can create various sub-topics for each meeting, based on the agenda set. In the CPG’s case, these sub-topics include tournaments, education, members, golf development etc. Then list all the key actions and tasks for each.

It is really easy to use, provides a ‘live’ access point for all colleagues to see and add notes to and ultimately keeps everybody you need to in the know about what is going on, or has gone on from various meetings.

If this is too much, creating a word document from the meeting that can be shared with everyone via email afterwards is a perhaps more laborious way of doing things, but nonetheless equally as effective…

Whilst COVID-19 has forced an inevitable online environment for the way most of us work, function and hold such forms of educational sessions, it is tough to tell what the future holds for webinars and their uses.

Some argue that companies will choose to stick with this virtual way of working meaning webinars will hold a crucial role moving forwards. Others argue that the latter simply cannot replace the classic lecture theatre, classroom or boardroom, and all of the social benefits that these spaces bring.

What is for certain however, is that most of you will have created, taken part in, or listened to an online webinar over recent weeks, which raises numerous questions: Did you find them useful? How engaging were they? How easy was the registration and joining process? Is there another way to host one?

The Confederation of Professional Golf [CPG] have been functioning in a virtual, flexible environment for almost six months now, pre-empting what most people are doing. Here is the CPG’s take on answering these questions, using our own recent experiences.

1. Pick a Platform, Any Platform…

First you need an appropriate platform and there are lots to choose from. Skype has been around for years and something most people are familiar with in some form. Whether that has been speaking to family overseas or catching up with friends from afar, it is a good starting point.

SKYPE

Pros of Skype:

• Hold video chats and make local, domestic, and international calls.
• Conduct both screen and document sharing with large files.
• It has a variety of interactive functions such as white-board, post a poll, and Q&A sessions.
• Free version available, which works well for smaller teams.
• Integrates with Microsoft Teams, which is a useful platform used by a lot of companies already.

Cons of Skype:

• A number of technical issues during calls, such as freezing, connectivity issues etc.
• There is not a large amount of support or help options in such circumstances.
• What if you are using something other than Microsoft Teams?

Overall though Skype is a good option. But how about Zoom? This seems to be a buzzword at the moment, so does it live up to expectations? Or is it merely a shadow of Skype culture?

ZOOM

Pros of Zoom:

• Conduct live video chat.
• Access to various meeting analytics.
• Easily screen-share during a call.
• Use the recording feature to save and document your sessions.
• Hold brainstorming sessions with Zoom’s on-screen whiteboard feature.
• Access in-depth support such as live help, online chat, phone support, FAQs, help articles, and video tutorials.
• Free (up to 100 participants and 40 minute calls).
• A relatively easy registration-creation process.

Cons of Zoom:

• If you host more than 100 participants regularly, you will have to pay (Starts from $14.99 a month…)
• Picture quality is sometimes an issue.

Both are great platforms with some minor hiccups and glitches but overall they do what they say and will be great options for your next online webinar. Think about what you want, factor in your budget and how much support and guidance you want from each service and it should help you make your decision.

2. Identify Your Goals and Structure The Webinar…

This is a relatively straight-froward, self-policing matter. Ask yourself these questions: what is the main point of the webinar – Is it to inform? Create a discussion? Find answers? Provide answers? Will you require a presentation to achieve the answer to these questions? Who’s presenting? How long for?

Once you have done that, you can start to formulate a plan as to how you want the webinar to go. In the recent CPG Masterclass Series – a two-month programme of online webinars – we primarily focused on a presentation model. If we were to answer those questions it would have looked like this:

• Is it to inform? Yes
• Create a discussion? Not primarily, but we can if necessary.
• Find answers? No
• Provide answers? Yes
• Requires a presentation? Yes
• Who’s presenting? External speakers
• How long for? Short bursts of information

Now we have a basis to form our structure. Generally, we followed a presentation-style webinar, whereby the external speaker presented on a certain topic for 20-25 minutes, to provide expertise and knowledge about it and then the listeners could ask questions at the end, and spark a discussion if warranted.

By answering these goals, you can create an effective webinar template.

3. Communicate Clearly…

This is key to delivering an effective, highly-sought after webinar. If your participants do not even know about it, how can they join? Promoting your webinar is therefore important but must be done in the right way.

Think about the channels you use (social media, email, website, blog) and tailor the message to each. Coincidently, we held our own CPG Masterclass Series webinar on just that very premise here. Once you have drafted out some promotional posts (remembering to include the sign-up link in every single one!), get posting.

Then you need to think about the user-registration journey. How do you simplify the process of registering for a webinar? If it is complicated, people just will not join or be interested. Zoom’s registering system is very straightforward – it creates a registration link which takes you to a separate landing page, you fill in a few of your basic details and you receive an automated email to say you have registered along with the timings and access link (the host also receives an email to say they have received a registrant – important data!).

People’s time is precious. Pitch to them what your webinar is about, why it is of use to them and then once you have grabbed their attention ensure they don’t fall at the last registration hurdle.

4. Don’t be Camera Shy, do be Camera Conscious

Once you have completed all of the above and have created a webinar with registered participants, you need to think about how you deliver the actual webinar itself effectively. This is not as complicated as it needs to be, it just needs a little bit of confidence and preparation from you or the presenter beforehand.

Do you stay on camera? Do you turn it off? Personally, we like to stay on camera…the current circumstances have already limited our social contact considerably and whilst Zoom is a good substitute to meet, do you really want to alienate your registrants even further by not showing your face on camera? Its a tricky one but I think your attendees would appreciate seeing who they are listening to.

On a final note if you do choose to go onto camera, ensure you have considered yourself and your surroundings. As we have all seen, there have been some terrible (albeit amusing) examples in the past of meetings being interrupted by children, slightly inappropriate photos in the house or somebody not wearing appropriate office clothing! Whilst you might be at home, preparing the environment you are in appropriately has never been more important.

On a final note, make sure you have as much fun and confidence as possible whilst planning, organising and holding your webinar!

Despite the obvious and well-documented challenges this has posed to industries, in particular golf, PGA Professionals have adapted to an incredibly difficult situation admirably. You only have to spend a few minutes on social media to see their drive and determination across the world to maintain both their golf games and enthusiasm, conducted under a cloud of doubt and uncertainty as to when they will return to work and the course.

Your clients and customers will no doubt also be itching to get back onto the course, back to playing in weekly club competitions, back to hitting balls on the range and back to having lessons with you. So how, despite having limited ability to interact directly with them, can you continue to build and maintain a rapport? How can you use this time to increase your relevance and prepare your business for when the play button on society is hit?

Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool and something you or your employers will have been possibly engaging with or utilising in some form already. Established mainstream channels such as Facebook and Twitter provide solid bases to create exposure and generate valuable conversations with your existing clients and potential customers, providing it is done in the right way for you and your business.

Don’t stick to just Facebook and Twitter however. LinkedIn provides a professional platform to collaborate with other businesses. Instagram is a fantastic channel for golf clubs to visually present their business – clubs are utilising closed courses to generate fantastic on-the-ground and aerial drone footage, undisturbed, that can be uploaded across instagram, websites and for future content purposes.

There is no doubt other channels such as TikTok [a video streaming site that’s use has surged very recently] will continue to be popularised as tastes and trends change. Keeping an eye on these, learning how to use them and applying them correctly might help you to digitally converse with new audiences and develop your social reach.

Vlogging

At face value, vlogging [creating video content around topics and instructional areas] seems complex. This previous article helps to simplify and break down first of all what video blogging is, how to actually create a great vlog, and then how to effectively deliver it to your audience.

In essence, it requires a small space to be able to explain and demonstrate a shot [if it is a coaching vlog], a camera or smartphone to record yourself and ultimately, oodles of energy and enthusiasm. For sure, it can be daunting to even the most confident of people to film themselves talking but remember that it is you and your knowledge that customers come for week-in, week-out. The only difference is that you are creating that conversation with them through a screen now instead.

Email Marketing and Weekly Check-ups

Remaining relevant is a constant battle we as PGA Professionals face in even more certain trading conditions. Ever-growing competition from clubs, teaching academies and driving ranges keep each and every one of us on our toes to ensure we innovate and improve, so that our clients continue to demand the products and services we offer.

Therefore, in the absence of clubs, teaching academies and facilities, and in fact any form of consumer demand during this crisis, relevancy is ironically, almost irrelevant to a degree.

Front page headlines, news articles and press conferences around the world thoroughly document the challenges and threats of COVID-19, and are obsessively occupying the front of everybody’s minds right now – for good and obvious reasons. So how do you replace, or at the very least, remind people that there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to their golf games, their golf club and their favourite past time?

First, you need a client database to be able to activate and engage with.

Second, you need an hour or two each week to set aside and create some engaging forms of online communication. This can be as basic as a generic text message such as the one below, or a multispread newsletter that covers what you, a PGA Professional who is eager to maintain their own golf games has been up to, simple step-by-step coaching tips or generic thoughts on the game’s current trends, and why you are looking forward to making this summer the best yet for everyone. You will find people have more time on their hands right now, so engaging them with longer pieces of content should be really useful and effective!

…”Hi [first name]!

How are you? Have you managed to get any form of golf practice in on the garden? 

If you are limited for space and time, try setting up some simple putting drills in your front living room, or a chipping net with some foam balls to keep the your game ticking over. It won’t be long before we are through these current difficulties and back out onto the golf course and I am really looking forward to seeing you back!

If you would like some more tips and drills to practice at home, or anything else, I am here to help.

[Your name]”…

Thirdly, you need to deliver the content. If you have a large database of text messages to send, you could generalise the message to apply to a large group. You could then create a themed WhatsApp group that includes various sections of your client base, such as parents of respective golf classes to send info through and maintain their engagement.

However you do it and whatever you write, if you maintain the thought of ‘I am here and available for when we return to normal life’ at the front of your mind, your message will remain relevant, be well received and at the very least, replace a negative with a positive for your clients.

Final Thoughts

We are all involved in a current national and international effort to defeat this virus, and I first and foremost wish you all and your loved ones good health throughout this challenging period.

Right now we have a duty to follow and enact upon the strict social measures delivered by our respective governing authorities. The quicker we do this, the quicker we get through it and the quicker we can walk back out onto the golf course.

However, I urge you to use this enforced downtime to engage and re-engage with your customers and clients as much as possible. The optimist in me believes a booming feel-good factor of festivities and consumer spending is an inevitability once our lives and liberties are re-instilled. By using this time effectively, you can position yourselves effectively to take advantage of expected surges in demand and make up for any bump your business is currently experiencing.

But this is set to become the new norm for many – short-term for most but may even become more of a long-term solution for others as well considering the current Coronavirus [COVID-19] circumstances we all face (especially as working from home may enable better working than ever in some cases).

The CPG network is a wide one across 31 countries with over 12,500 PGA Professionals. Of those 31 PGAs then a number already work remotely, or at least are able to relatively normally under the current circumstances, whilst others are working out how to be effective given their new situation.

For the vast majority of the 12.5k+ PGA Professionals, and all PGA Professionals in those countries where the virus restriction measures have taken hold, then this is will be a different and possibly unnerving experience.

The following are just a few useful links and resources that can hopefully a) help you to work and be productive at home, and b) utilise the time proactively to develop yourself and your business/organisation. None of this situation is ideal, but, as we are often told in golf, we must focus on the positives.

WORKING FROM HOME PRODUCTIVELY:

Communicating From a Distance: How to Ensure Remote Working Works Best For Your Organisation | Thomas International

The great team at Thomas International explain how “…a greater understanding of how you, your managers, colleagues and teams prefer to communicate can help with the transition to a greater degree of remote working than your business may currently be comfortable supporting…”

Read More – https://cp.golf/33SUzto

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Three Secrets to Effective Remote Working For Your Employees | Thomas International

The Thomas International folk follow up with a 3-point plan to ensure working remotely is as effective for the people in your organisation as possible.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2UMKUjN

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Coronavirus and Remote Working – A Practical Guide | Medium.com

iubenda have had remote workers since 2011 – here Andrea Giannangelo explains how to organise teams, use software tools, provide clear guidelines, and keep workers healthy and engaged.

Read More – https://cp.golf/3dy3GnA

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Online Business Tools to Work From Home | JotForm.com

JotForm, an online form building tool, give examples of tools for project management, remote document access, video conferencing, internal communications, and online payments, along with how JotForm itself is useful when working from home.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2UJQvHO

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Why Working From Home is Good For Business | Ted.com

Matt Mullenweg uses just 4.5 minutes to explain how useful working from home can be and how he does it effectively.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2ykPdvh

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New to Working from Home? Here Are Some Tips to Help You Meet Like a Pro | Zoom.us

Using Zoom for video calls, meetings, etc. is a must – engagement is key to keep workers up to speed and involved (although Skype, WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc. of course have their uses too). This guide from Zoom shows how to get set-up and then use Zoom effectively in your organisation.

Read More – https://cp.golf/3atTVoF

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USING YOUR TIME TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR BUSINESS:

ed.TED.com – Online Lesson Building

TEDed offers a fantastic service [FOR FREE] where you can build an online lesson around any TED or YouTube video. You can add notes and questions to help guide a student through the lesson and all you have to do is share a link/URL with the student for them to take part (no registration necessary). A great way of engaging students no matter where you are.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2xvLlai

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TED.com – Ideas Worth Sharing

TED’s main video service contains hundreds if not thousands of TED Talk videos of 18 minutes or less that allow people to get their ideas across. Whatever subject you can think of then it’s likely there is a video on there about it. Great for developing your own thoughts and ideas.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2vZ0bpj

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How to Stay Active While You’re Home – SportEngland.org

Developing yourself is not just about being mentaller active – when working from home (especially in cases where social distancing/self-isolation is in place) then you need to stay as physically active as possible. Sport England have brought together useful tops and advice on staying as healthy as possible when at home both for adults and for kids.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2Uq4L9A

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Work Smarter Playlist – TED.com

This playlist brings together a series of TED Talk videos that offers unconventional advice on working more effectively.

Read More – https://cp.golf/3bCie40

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Work Happier Playlist – TED.com

This TED Talk playlist looks at how being happier at work actually comes from focusing on the happiness part rather than the work part.

Read More – https://cp.golf/2JoyhGj

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LinkedIn Learning – LinkedIn.com/learning

LinkedIn’s Learning service offers a huge number of online courses that can help develop your skills in a variety of areas. You can enrol in various courses and then once complete add certifications to your LinkedIn profile.

Read More – https://cp.golf/3asCmoN

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Working From Home Learning Path – LinkedIn Learning

During this time when more and more people are having to work from home then LinkedIn Learning have opened up their ‘Remote Working: Setting Yourself and Your Teams Up for Success‘ course, including time management, productivity tips, video conferencing, and more.

Read More – https://cp.golf/39q1n2F

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p.s. The real working from hero tip is to make sure you choose the right snacks. Shoutout to gingerbread men and blueberries.

Graphic Designed by macrovector / Freepik

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There is a well-known phrase: ‘people leave managers, not companies’. Ensuring your organisation is made up of leaders with the right characteristics, level of self-awareness, potential and ability is fundamental in fostering an environment of high engagement and high performance, both of which are key drivers of business success.

Leadership goes beyond the successful delivery of projects or achievement of strategic targets; it’s about engaging your people on the journey towards realising a vision. We surveyed over 200 HR and business professionals on their views on leadership, engagement and talent, and a host of recommended actions from industry experts that you can implement in your own organisations.

This whitepaper aims to reflect on the relationship between leadership and engagement, covering the following themes:

• The role of leaders in driving engagement and performance through team values
• Psychological methods of defining talent and measuring potential
• The impact of employee engagement upon performance

Click Here to Download the Free Whitepaper [ThomasInternational.net]

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Reuben Conibear

Reuben has worked in the Marketing team at Thomas for just over 3 and half years. As Marketing Executive, Reuben’s core focus is to ensure a high quality experience for Thomas customers at all times. In his spare time, Reuben enjoys kayaking, bouldering and spending time with his friends and family.

At present, there is a significant focus on the financial penalties that a business could incur should they have a data protection breach.

GDPR, what is it?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on 25th May 2018. The legislation will impact on any golf and leisure business that is either based in, or do business in, the EU. Citizens will have great individual rights and controls, including rights to access, correction and deletion of personal data.

Do You Know What Personal Data your Golf Business collects?

One very early myth to bust is the belief that the GDPR does not apply to your golf club. If you collect, store and move personal information on members (including children), employees, patrons or suppliers in membership database(s), booking management systems, HR database(s) and paper; finance and accounting systems; health records (on employees and members), marketing systems (Customer Relationship Management system) and CCTV or other digital imagery, the regulation applies to you.

Who Should be Involved?

As you will have gathered already, implementing GDPR compliance cannot simply be the responsibility of IT or HR, it needs to be an organisational approach, one that has the full support of the management team, golf club committee and all levels of Directorship.

Where should I start?

A good first step is to complete the Information Commissioner’s Office online GDPR self-assessment (https://eur.pe/2r5wNXU). This will provide you a clear overview of what tasks you need to complete before 25th May 2018.

What other steps should I consider?

• Conduct a Data Protection audit to determine what personal data is held by your organisation and identify where it is located, justify your reason for holding it, how long you hold it for and how you would permanently delete the record.
• Raising awareness across the business and training your staff should be high up on your list of priorities. Consider engaging expert help and then start to develop processes and procedures which will ensure that your business is managing and protecting personal data according to the requirements of the regulation.

But should I quickly get my current customers to “opt-in” again so I’m compliant?

Stop!

There certainly is a lot of ‘hype’ surrounding GDPR and lots of advice coming from many different sources. What this appears to have created is almost a panic amongst some golf club’s – mostly surrounding their current database of customers and prospects. Group emails are flying out in an attempt to gain “consent” to communicate using this medium by asking customers to “opt-in”.

One club recently went through this very process and reduced their database by 99% – yes, only 1% of customers re-confirmed their consent to be sent emails from the club. However, it’s highly unlikely that 99% of customers were simply not interested in the club any more. It’s more likely that a high percentage just didn’t respond and that could be for any number of reasons, nothing to do with their desire to cease communications with the club via email.

Hopefully, seeking “Consent” in this way doesn’t amount to commercial suicide for some clubs – because in many cases it may not be necessary. The new legislation offers potential alternatives, including a legal basis for continuing to email customers called “Legitimate Interests”. The legislation goes further to even highlight some examples of what this may be, and Direct Marketing is listed.

If you would like to learn more about GDPR or want to train your staff on their responsibilities to the new legislation, Promote Training, in partnership with data-specialists Databasix, has launched two new courses that will help achieve this.

• GDPR in Golf
• GDPR for Staff

Promote Training are also offering ‘Confederation of Professional Golf’ readers a limited-time-only offer of 20% off these two GDPR courses. Use the coupon code “CPG1” during the online checkout. (Offer expires 31st May 2018)

Find out more www.promotetraining.co.uk/fundamental-principles-data-protection.

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As Thomas International continues to roll out the High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI) worldwide, a vast amount of data is being collected and analysed alongside a great deal of data about workplace and leadership outcomes.

These results were presented in a symposium at the 2018 International Test Commission Conference in Montreal [read more about it here]. This represents one of the largest HPTI studies done to date, including nearly 10,000 participants.

One of the defining features of the HPTI is it’s optimal trait levels for leadership. The HPTI goes beyond identifying personality traits and provides clear guidelines for identifying high potential leaders based on their personality traits. The recent studies confirm and reinforce the importance of personality traits for leadership.

The Process

Good scientific research involves thorough testing to build on theories and collect large amounts of data. This helps to confirm findings and improve the knowledge and understanding of the topic under investigation. Thomas International have been testing and validating the HPTI with workers around the world to ensure HPTI results and reports are valid, reliable and useful in workplaces around the world.

This process ensures the HPTI is a scientifically validated tool, and allows the continuous development of additional knowledge and resources to improve the utility of the HPTI in practice.

One of the papers presented at the 2018 International Test Commission Conference in Montreal looked at the results from a study of nearly 10,000 participants. Alongside the HPTI, various workplace outcome variables were also examined. The results demonstrated that the theoretical underpinnings and psychometric properties of the HPTI are valid and useful for North American populations.

Key Findings

First, the items and personality traits tested by the HPTI can be used in workplaces in North America. This research also involves a localisation process for the HPTI, so population norms and optimal levels of traits tailored to North American workers, leaders and businesses.

Second, this is the largest study to date examining HPTI traits at different levels of leadership. The results show very significant differences in HPTI traits at the different levels of leadership. The results confirm the importance of HPTI traits for leadership, and show the importance of HPTI traits increases with leadership seniority.

The chart below show increasing levels of each personality trait in each leadership category. This is a clear pattern which shows how important optimal HPTI trait levels are in leadership, and senior leadership in particular.

The results also show a greater spread between some traits. For example, those not in leadership tend to have average Ambiguity Approach levels. Senior leaders show substantially higher Ambiguity Approach which is essential for the level of complexity and uncertainty they face in their work.

Competitiveness, on the other hand, shows a relatively narrow spread. Although Competitiveness rises slightly higher at more senior levels of leadership, the differences are relatively modest. This is consistent with previous findings that extreme levels of competitiveness can be counterproductive in leadership positions.

Overall, this clearly shows the importance of HPTI traits in leadership and highlights that the HPTI traits are even more important in senior leadership. As HPTI research is conducted around the world, the research results clearly and consistently demonstrate how important HPTI traits are for leadership potential.

Implications for Business

HPTI personality traits are incredibly useful in assessing high potential at work for three reasons (discussed in more detail in High Potential: How to spot, manage and develop talented people at work).

1. Personality is stable

Personality traits are relatively stable from early adulthood into later life. It is a consistent pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving. This means personality is a very useful early indicator of potential at work.

2. Personality is rooted in the brain and biology

Personality comes from neurological processes and structures. That means personality is essentially hardwired in the brain, and very difficult to change except in cases of extreme psychological intervention. Unlike factors such as motivation which can change day-to-day or year-to-year, personality is a useful long-term predictor of both performance and potential.

3. Personality traits interact

Personality traits do not exist in isolation. The traits interact to form a whole, overall personality structure. Having high or low levels of one particular trait will influence how all other traits are experienced and expressed. This means it is important to look at all the HPTI personality traits in combination. The research described earlier in this article reinforces how important all of the HPTI traits are for overall leadership potential.

Getting a full picture of a person’s personality traits provides important information about making decisions related to identifying, managing and developing high potential at work.

Read more about each of the 6 traits of high potential in leadership and how the HPTI can support you in recruiting and developing your (future) leaders.

To find out more about the real-life applications of the HPTI, please get in contact on info@thomas.co.uk or call us on +44(0)1628 475 366.

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Ian MacRae

Ian has been an organisational psychology consultant for over a decade and is the director and co-founder of High Potential Psychology Ltd. He is the co-author of High Potential: How to Spot Manage and Develop Talented People at Work and the High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI), a measure of leadership potential, which is available to Thomas clients.

When team members work well together, there is little they cannot accomplish. Looking at the bigger picture when it comes to your teams, such as their behavioural and emotional preferences and the impact they have on each other, can greatly increase your chances of developing a high performing team.

Patrick Wright from the Rugby Business Network (RBN) uses Thomas assessments to do just that. Thomas tools allow them to gain a deeper understanding of an individual’s preferences, something the RBN have used to develop athlete performance, enhance transition programmes and ultimately deliver results.

Developing self-awareness in the USA 7’s Rugby team

Mike Friday, Head Coach of the USA 7’s Rugby team, has been working with Patrick at the RBN to embed Thomas assessments into the team’s training programme in the lead up to the Rio Olympic Games, in order to improve consistency in performance through greater self-awareness amongst team members.

As a high performance sporting team where effective communication is crucial to successful performance, the team needed to develop their understanding of each other. As a result, they implemented Thomas’ Personal Profile Analysis (PPA) to identify their strengths, limitations, motivators and communication preferences; helping team members and coaches to tailor communications to individuals, so as not to misinterpret them and stifle learning.

The PPA compatibility report was also used between players, coaching staff and the management team. The reports uncovered a number of potential challenges to effective team relationships, which allowed them to put timely strategies and development plans in place to help individuals to modify their behaviour to the preferences of others.

The players also noticed an immediate impact after implementing Thomas assessments. Madison Hughes, player and captain of the USA 7’s Rugby team comments, “The Thomas PPA helped the team take a different perspective on communication with each other. In particular, it helped us realise the different ways people see things and therefore that with each individual, different approaches are necessary.

Mike concludes, “it has been very insightful working with Thomas International. It has encouraged open communication within the squad and has created a foundation for us to create winning performances on the pitch and to be a more united squad off the pitch. I would highly recommend teams looking to find the edge in high performance to explore this approach.”

For more information, visit ThomasInternational.net.

Photos provided by Mike Lee/KLCFotos

What this example demonstrates is the power – and danger – of negative thinking. Research into negative thoughts has shown how they lead us to dissociate from the outside world and turn our focus to one thing only: the thing that is making us feel angry, scared or bad about ourselves. As a result, we stagnate.

Positive thoughts have the opposite effect, opening our minds to see a whole range of possibilities and therefore welcoming new ideas and perceptions. Barbara Fredrickson, a professor at the University of North Carolina and researcher of positive emotions, believes thinking positively can even have long-term benefits. In her ‘broaden and build’ theory she describes how the broadening of our sense of what is possible generated by positive thoughts can lead us to develop new skills and so progress in life.

For some of us, looking at things from the bright side is something that comes easily; others find it harder. That doesn’t mean all hope is lost, though: thinking positively is something that you can train yourself to do.

First of all, you’ll need to start making a conscious effort to not give in to negative thoughts. Recognise when you start dwelling on the bleaker side of things and put a stop to it by asking yourself what you could do to make the situation better. Then start setting actionable goals for yourself – reaching them will empower you.

The next step is to foster positive thoughts. Easier said than done? Not necessarily. While positive thinking creates positive emotions, this process also works the other way around. This means that doing things you love, that bring you joy, can help you to think more positively. Think, for example, of a time where you engaged with something you are passionate about: perhaps you went to a concert or saw a film you really loved. Did you feel inspired afterwards? Perhaps it even led you to actively pursue a goal related to that passion?

Or you can try something new. Meditation has been proven to help cultivate positive thoughts, while a study published in the Journal of Research in Personality showed that writing about positive experiences can have the same effect.

Thinking positively means getting out of your head and looking for solutions. It’s something you may have to practise to get better at, but ultimately it can open doors that you may otherwise have walked right past.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Huffington Post; National Centre for Biotechnical Information

Composite Graphic Credit: iconicbestiary / Freepik

With Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia on the rise, ‘brain-training’ is very much in vogue among retirees and younger whippersnappers alike. As game developers have been quick to appreciate, preserving healthy cognitive function means maintaining sharpness across all the right areas, from memory and recall to problem solving and planning. There’s enough there for a bi-annual upgrade and then some.

Video games aside, there are plenty of equally as efficient but less costly ways to keep your grey matter firing on all cylinders. Here are some top tips for successful cerebral conservation:

1. Learn something new

Be it the cello, Ancient Greek or Chinese calligraphy, teaching yourself a new skill is a great way to keep the old brain cells ticking over. A recent study of retirees showed that a challenging mental activity one a week reduced the risk of dementia by 7%.

2. Get physical

Work the rest of your body while you’re at it. Research suggests that 30 minutes of exercise three times each week can reduce dementia by 40% and cognitive impairment by 60%. The secondary benefits should also be obvious.

3. Food for thought

You don’t need a PHD in nutrition to know some foods are better for the brain than others. Indulge in vegetables, nuts and fish – staples of the Mediterranean diet that promote blood-flow to the brain. Drink plenty of water and stay off the junk food!

4. Take a load off

From catching enough ‘Z’s each night to meditative techniques, giving your brain some much-needed down time is essential in reducing wear and tear. It will also help you maintain skills such as problem solving, concentration and memory. Aim for 7.5 to 8.5 hours a night for optimum brain function.

Whether happily retired or gainfully employed, whatever your age, looking after the stuff upstairs should be a top priority. The good news is that keeping your neurotransmitters nimble needn’t cost the earth and can slot fairly easily into your day-to-day lifestyle.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Forbes; NPR.com; Time

With job security and a standard career path less and less attainable across many industries, a capacity to handle uncertainty and adversity has never been more important (or in demand).

Such is the case that many employers will try to find out about your resilience through interview questions on how you’ve handled stress, pressure and failure in the past. Additionally, job hunting itself can be an incredibly demoralising experience if you let it. Focussing on building your resilience can make all the difference to your inner confidence and success rate across many areas in your life.

This might be easier said than done though – to achieve resilience means possessing the right blend of self-awareness and inner strength, and the flexibility to adapt to changes in circumstances and surroundings. It’s rather like a palm tree: a strong, firmly rooted base supporting an element that’s far more flexible and able to cope with being blown around by different winds.

Here are three key building blocks that can help you towards developing a resilient professional persona:

1. Positivity

Having a positive view of yourself and the world around you is the basis for developing resilience. Pay attention to the messages you send yourself throughout the day. If you find yourself making negative assumptions about yourself or anything around you, consciously switch to a positive thought. With practice this should become automatic. That will keep you grounded, rooted like a tree, and give you the stability you need for a positive mindset.

2. Commitment

Get to know yourself and recognise what is important to you. Have a clear idea of your future aspirations and where you want to go in your career. You need to be willing to commit to your goals and invest in making them happen. Knowing what is important to you and being committed to your goals strengthens you in your core. Don’t forget however, that even the best-laid plans can sometimes go off course or need to be abandoned altogether. Make like a palm tree and allow yourself flexibility to go with the flow when things don’t go to plan.

3. Control

Control means being aware of the situations or areas in your life you can influence as well as recognising those that you can’t. Being able to distinguish between the two will allow you to focus your energy on the things that are most important or achievable. It will give you the flexibility to prioritise your goals and adapt to different circumstances.

Remember that in order to be resilient you also need to be healthy in mind and body so pay attention to your general well-being, take proper breaks, eat well, and look after the relationships that support you. When it comes to resilience it’s about knowing that you can’t stop the waves, but that you can certainly learn how to surf them.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

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Read the entire story behind this here from James Clear.

Will’s first suggestion – The Ivy Lee Method

1. At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks.
2. Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.
3. When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
4. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
5. Repeat this process every working day.

Read the entire story behind this here from James Clear.

The biggest killer of everyone’s day is opening up emails first things in the morning.

Everyone is always asking “how” questions. What really matters is the “why”.

Take some time to improve your business / sales skills if it’s something you struggle with and go outside of the typical education / certifications. Give yourself permission to try some new ideas out with the framing of an experiment or challenge.

3 Morning Questions:

• What happened yesterday?
• How do I feel about that?
• What am I working on today

Will’s past episodes on coaching programs:

Group Coaching Q&A part 1
Group Coaching Q&A part 2
Working with Groups

Links / Resources

Charles M. Schwab productivity story – Ivy Lee Method
2017 Coaching Workshop in Orlando
Will’s Consulting Company RGX
BJ Fogg – Tiny Habits

We all do. It’s the way our brains work. We look for patterns, use our previous experience and rely on what we already know works. It’s an efficient way to work…most of the time.

Sometimes however, we need to trip our brains up and remind them to look beyond the obvious patterns, outside of what we already know works and not expect one situation to turn out pretty much like the last one. If we don’t occasionally abandon our preconceptions there is a chance we may miss opportunities or changes in customer needs or market demands.

For example, what’s your first answer to this question?

Johnny’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?

Most people will reply June. Be honest. Did you? Of course if you re-read the question you’ll realise the answer is Johnny. But how many times do you make assumptions (that fit a known pattern) like this at work?

Try these three:

1. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
2. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
3. If you were running a race and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?

You know by now that these are trick questions so it’s unlikely you assumed the first answer you thought of was correct i.e. K2, 24 cubic metres, 1st place, for example. That’s the first step in realising that what your brain expects to see may not, in fact, be the right answer.

Think about the words that are used: ‘before Mount Everest was DISCOVERED’; ‘How much dirt in the HOLE?’ The third one may require you to actual visualise yourself overtaking the person in SECOND place.

You may face questions like these at an interview because the hiring manager wants to see if you can think calmly, logically and perhaps differently from other people. They may want to see if you will take the time to read the question a little more carefully and think long enough before blurting out the first answer that comes into your head.

There are loads of these questions online to try and even if you’re not going for an interview, it’s good to tease your brain occasionally and get it to look at things differently. These questions are designed to challenge your critical thinking abilities, and to test specific skills like creativity and logic. The more you practise, the better equipped you will be to deal with and find solutions for tricky questions and situations that might come up at work.

P.S. The answers are Mount Everest – it was still there before it was discovered; None – because it’s a hole – and 2nd place – you’re still behind the person in first.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Forbes; The Muse

Being mentally strong is one of those personal attributes that everyone could benefit from. Since we all encounter personal challenges and difficulties in our life, the ability to stay psychologically strong is invaluable. But is mental strength something we are just born with? Or can it be developed? Luckily, there are ways to enhance and amplify mental toughness. Here are six of the best.

1. Stay on target.

A major component of mental strength is the capacity to focus in on the pursuit of long-term goals. People who are mentally weak allow the minor hindrances of life to distract them from their objectives, which inevitably leads to underachievement. Surviving the inevitable setbacks and disappointments of life requires focusing on larger goals and plans.

2. Look at adversity as an opportunity.

Tough times aren’t necessarily a bad thing–in fact, they can often be a positive. That’s because you only really learn and grow through overcoming difficulties. The simple act of embracing a challenge can be a massive psychological step forward. Such a change in attitude can alter your whole outlook on life, helping to increase your mental fortitude.

3. Focus only on what you can control (my favorite).

Worry and fear are the enemies of mental stability and strength. While fear and worry may be impossible to totally avoid, many people bring trouble upon themselves by obsessing over things they cannot really control. For example, worrying about how a project will be received once it is submitted is pointless and accomplishes nothing. Focusing on whatever task is at hand–and letting the rest take care of itself–is simply smarter.

4. Develop resiliency.

No matter how much the perfectionists among us might wish otherwise, no individual can completely avoid setbacks and failure. In fact, what’s far more important than avoiding error is developing the mental strength required to bounce back quickly from a mistake. Learning how to get back on your feet, without spending any time malingering or feeling sorry for yourself, is essential. This is the entrepreneur’s armor.

5. Don’t spend too much time thinking about what other people think.

While everyone should be able to accept constructive criticism and other kinds of helpful input, there’s a definite limit to how much attention should be paid to the opinions of others. Ultimately, other people are responsible for their opinions, not you–and there is no point in dwelling on something that isn’t your responsibility.

6.Strive to be emotionally even-keeled.

Getting either too high or too low emotionally is almost always a barrier to true mental strength, something I’m especially guilty of. However, being out of control emotionally makes it impossible to proceed forward in a rational, constructive way. Those who experience excessive emotional turbulence have a hard time dealing with life’s problems. That’s why the ability to keep control of powerful, disruptive feelings is such a crucial aspect of mental discipline.

Whether it’s in sports, career, or another of life’s competitive arenas, mental strength is often more important to success than natural ability. Fortunately, psychological strength is not an innate talent but rather a trait that can be acquired. With the recommendations above, almost everyone should be able to enhance their mental strength.

Tom Popomaronis is a serial entrepreneur, an e-commerce expert, and a proud Baltimore native. He has been recognized for technology and startup leadership by Fast Company, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, and Forbes. Tom was also named “40 under 40” by the Baltimore Business Journal in 2014.

@tpopomaronis

‘Are you getting by, or are you getting better?’  This is a question that we have heard a mentor pose to clients on several occasions.

It’s a seemingly simple question that is inherently complex and thus very difficult to answer.  Why? You have to answer it yourself through reflection. While it’s often uncomfortable to look at oneself from the perspective of the third person (nobody wants to see what they don’t want to), or to question and think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it– it’s an essential and enlightening process.  It brings us full circle and cuts to the essence of why we are all here: we don’t know what we don’t know– and we have a strong desire to change that.  We are infinitely curious.

Despite the fact that we haven’t been writing, we’ve still been learning – quite a bit, in fact.  How? Reflection.

Reflection is the primary means through which we grow and evolve. Our practice is informed by our experience, and we need to invest the time and energy to look at said experience with a critical eye.  A thorough examination of our choices and behaviors helps us identify and reinforce the actions that correlate to success, and therefore the things we should keep doing, as well as the actions or choices that led to the opposite result.  As coaches, it is our job to evolve.  Given that 2017 is upon us, we want to dig a little deeper into this topic, and provide you with an example of the result of some of our own reflection, so that the entire coaching community (ok, we digress–any readers that have endured the prolonged break) can hit the ground running in the new year.

Dr. Wade Gilbert, a professor of Kinesiology at Fresno State University (and regular guest lecturer in Matt’s Coaching Effectiveness class at UBC), is one of the world’s leading experts on coaching science.  Much of his research focuses on how coaches develop their expertise.  Through his years of research, he’s identified that informal learning is a primary means through which expert coaches grow and develop.  Much of that informal learning is triggered internally, by reflection.  All coaches think about their experience, but only the experts try to understand why and how they can improve on it.  In other words, experts are curious about their performance, and have a desire to do it better.

We know that having experience and learning from that experience are catalysts for growth.  So, what are the mechanics of the process? How do you process that experience and make adjustments to your behavior?  How do you integrate it into what you do? While, we’re still trying to answer those questions ourselves, we have been following these two practices to help us get improve: Reflective practice and critical reflection.  Yes, they sound similar (which they are), but they are inherently different.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE V. CRITICAL REFLECTION

When we think about reflective practice and/or reflection, the image that comes to mind is a steady stream of thought on a car ride home.  These are the relatively short, internal conversations that we have with ourselves, daily, that don’t require significant effort.  They’re mental ‘notes’ that often focus on problems we encountered, or about things that went particularly well in a given instance.  Sometimes, these conversations lead us to discover a different way to go about addressing a situation.

Critical reflection, on the other hand, is much more significant.  These are the reflections that force you to take a step back and consider the beliefs that underpin your actions and behaviors. They often represent an internal inventory-taking of your coaching skills and beliefs, and facilitate a deeper dive into self-improvement, often involving interacting with third parties, and other members of your coaching network for answers.  These are critical, evolutionary moments that identify gaps and signal action towards closing them, ultimately leading to relatively permanent change in behavior.

The point we want to make is that over the last 6 months, we’ve been thrust into opportunities that have illuminated the shortcomings we have as coaches.  The fleeting thoughts about an occasion that didn’t go as planned are often more frustrating than productive.  Critical reflection elicits more intrigue than frustration, it actually moves the needle.  Through continued reflection – both in the daily and critical sense – we’ve given ourselves a chance to grow and improve.

ACTIONABLES

• Keep a journal. Logging your days and jotting down your thoughts helps you become aware of any patterns that exist.  The notes serve as an informational foundation for critical analysis and eventually, change.

• Budget time to be critical. Going deeper into your reflections to create understanding, and ultimately change, takes time and effort.  Ensure that you are setting aside time either monthly or quarterly, to be self-critical, such that you can get a plan in place to close any gaps that you perceive to be apparent.

• Be vulnerable. Seeing yourself in action is a great way to understand your behavior.  You’ll become aware of a number of great things, as identify a few areas to improve.  Also, it is OK to not know.  Seek the opinions of others, as it’ll help close your knowledge gaps and make you aware of new solutions.  Yes, it is an uncomfortable process, but very much worth it.

• Remain as objective as possible. It can be far too easy to grade your paper against unrealistic standards. This can be done with film (as you’ll see below), or through a trusted friend/advisor who is invested in your success.  360 degree reviews or anonymous surveys are also helpful tools that can inform you of blind sports in your practice.

AN EXAMPLE FROM MATT

One of my biggest challenges is staying sharp, mentally and physically, day in and day out.  I feel very strongly that my effectiveness, and behavior, is directly related to the amount of energy I have available.  Over the past few weeks, I felt ineffective, but couldn’t quite figure out why.  Physically, I felt fine. And mentally? I thought I was sharp.  Still, something was missing – I was getting by, not getting better.

In the offseason, we do a lot of instructing and a heavy emphasis is placed on refining techniques and building skills.  When doing a lot of ‘teaching’, I find it easy to get into a pattern that is very directive and very generous with the provision of feedback in an effort to guide the learner to the desired outcome as quickly as possible.  It is as if we work extra hard to reduce the amount of mental effort required on behalf of the learner such that we can make the learning process ‘easier’.  In attempting to accelerate and simplify the learning process by reducing the amount of cognitive energy invested by the learner, pre and post movement, we end up having the opposite effect; we severely limit their learning.  They end up relying on our guidance to make corrections rather than making adjustments based on their evaluation of both the intrinsic and extrinsic feedback they receive from the movement, relative to their kinesthetic concept of what they are trying to learn.

I felt ineffective because I had it backwards.  I became overly concerned with WHAT the athletes needed to do, and didn’t place enough energy into HOW those interventions were carried out.  As a result, what needed to happen (their learning), didn’t.

So, what did I do to make the corrections?

To start, I set different goals for the day.  The goals focused on the learning environment we created, as opposed to the specific content that was to be learned.  My aim was for the client to be more cognitively engaged than in sessions past.  My plan to achieve that goal was twofold.  First, I wanted to ensure that I was cultivating the athlete’s capacity to accurately detect error.  The goal was to provide them with the opportunity to contrast what they did vs. what they intended such that they could calibrate their sensory feedback accordingly.  Second, I aimed to optimize the provision of feedback, delaying it until after the athlete had the chance to evaluate their intrinsic feedback, as well as establishing a bandwidth, outside of which prescriptive feedback would be provided.

Next, I wore a GoPro and filmed the day to gauge how successful I was in executing my objectives.  I wanted to see what the environment was actually like.

Below is a video excerpt from a session where we worked with an athlete on developing their control over the speed of their putts.  As stated prior, my objective was to provide the client with a better learning environment; one that challenged them cognitively, technically, and physically.  I structured the activity with the end goal of expanding the capacity of the learner to accurately assess the result of their movement in the absence of feedback, and in improving their ability to detect, and correct, error.  I wanted to help them close the gap that existed between what they think happens, and what actually happens, when they act on a decision.  Check out a brief snippet of the video below to get a better idea for how I ended up delivering feedback in this session.

https://youtu.be/5VHR8Dl5BSg

Was it perfect? No.  But it doesn’t have to be.  I learned more through this critical reflection than I had an any number of traditional educational activities.

What will you do to generate a similar experience?

We’ll give you some time to reflect…

– COREY LUNDBERG & MATT WILSON

According to J.D. Power, 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media channel for customer service.

And when they do, they expect a fast response. Research cited by Jay Baer tells us that 42% of consumers expect a response with 60 minutes.

So, how’s your social media customer service?

For this post I was excited to research a set of 14 amazing examples of customer service using social media.

Let’s get started!

1. Samsung: A Unicycling Kangaroo and a Dragon Phone

As a loyal Samsung customer, Canadian Shane Bennett asked for a free unit of their latest, soon-to-launch phone. To sweeten his offer, he included a drawing of a roaring dragon.

Not surprisingly, Samsung said “no”. But to say thanks, they sent him their drawing of a unicycle-riding kangaroo.

Shane then shared both messages (and drawings) to Reddit where it went viral. In response, Samsung Canada sent him the phone he asked for – and customized it with his fire-breathing dragon artwork.

Takeaway: Have fun with customer interactions. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

2. Morton’s Steakhouse: Airport Delivery

While waiting for takeoff in Tampa, Florida, Peter Shankman jokingly asked Morton’s Steakhouse to deliver a porterhouse steak when he landed at Newark airport.

While departing the Newark airport to meet his driver, he was greeted by a Morton’s server with a 24 oz. Porterhouse steak, shrimp, potatoes, bread – the works. A full meal and no bill.

When you think of the logistics of pulling this off, it becomes even more impressive. The Community Manager needed to get approval and place the order. It needed to be prepared and then driven by the server to the airport, to the correct location and at the right time. All in less than three hours.

Some of the comments on Peter’s post suggest that this isn’t an anomaly. Another reader shares his experience of ordering a baked potato and getting a full steak meal – delivered and for free.

Takeaway: Do something unexpected for a loyal customer – when they want it most.

3. Gaylord Opryland: Sleep-Inducing Clock Radio

After numerous stays at Nashville’s Opryland Resort, Christina McMenemy wanted her own spa-sound clock radio that comes standard in each room. The sound helped her sleep better than ever, and she couldn’t find that model anywhere. So she asked the hotel for help finding it.

Turns out, that model was exclusive to the Gaylord hotels. She thought that was the end of it, and went to her conference.

Upon returning to her room that evening, she found a gift waiting: the spa clock and a handwritten card. The staff had given her the product she was unable to find. Not only did they make a long term customer very happy, they also received significant media coverage for their act of kindness.

Takeaway: Make customers happy one at a time.

A quick note on these first three examples

While it’s great to give away phones, steak dinners, and clock radios, this might not be sustainable customer service.

Why not? When other, loyal customers hear what these companies did, they might expect the same treatment. Can Morton’s deliver a free steak dinner to the airport for every customer who asks? Can Gaylord hotels give every loyal guest a free clock radio?

A more sustainable approach is to provide outstanding customer service on a daily basis. These next examples have lessons that can be implemented right away and on a consistent basis.

4. JetBlue: Feeling the Customer’s Pain

During a four-hour flight, Esaí Vélez’s seatback TV gave him nothing but static – while the rest of the passengers had normally functioning screens. How did he respond? He tweeted a complaint to JetBlue. Nothing inflammatory, but he was clearly disappointed.

How did JetBlue respond? While they could have made an excuse or even ignored his tweet, they didn’t. They took his side and empathized with him.

“Oh no! That’s not what we like to hear! Are all the TVs out on the plane or is it just yours?”

After he confirms that it was just his TV that was out, they respond:

“We always hate it when that happens. Send us a DM with your confirmation code to get you a credit for the non-working TV.”

Not only do they imagine his frustration, but they also offer him a credit for his trouble.

What was the result? Just 23 minutes after his complaint, he tweets: “One of the fastest and better Customer Service: @JetBlue! Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving”

Takeaway: Put yourself in your customer’s shoes when responding to complaints.

5. Delta Hotels: Room With an Ugly View

While attending the #PSEWEB conference in Vancouver, Mike McCready tweeted that, while he liked his room at the Delta, the view wasn’t so nice. He didn’t tag the hotel, and he wasn’t asking for anything.

Within an hour, Delta responded – offering a room with a better view. And when Mike returned to his room after the conference, he found a dish of sweets and a handwritten card from the staff at his hotel. It made such an impact that he wrote a post about it – the very same day.

Takeaway: Set up a social listening strategy to listen to all customer conversations.

6. Waterstones: Man Locked in London Bookstore

While every customer comment is important, some are going to be a little more urgent than others. Like locking a customer in your store.

This happened to David Willis last year at Waterstones Trafalgar Square store. He tweeted:

Not surprisingly, this tweet went viral, with 16,000+ retweets and 12,000+ likes. Because someone was monitoring Waterstones Twitter account, they were able to tweet 80 minutes later that they had freed their previously captive customer. Imagine how this could have turned out, if Waterstones customer service had stopped listening for the day.

Takeaway: Always listen to customer conversations.

7. Contextly: Customer Onboarding

Before I do business with a new company, I like to see if anyone is listening. It gives me confidence that they’ll be there if I have a problem or question.

When I was looking for a premium related-content service, I signed up for a free trial account with Contextly. The process was smooth, and I was excited about the app, so I tweeted about it. They responded with a positive, helpful tweet.

As a result, I’m confident that they are interested in me and will help me if I have a question with the app.

Takeaway: Use social media to streamline customer onboarding.

8. Xbox Support: Elite Tweet Fleet

Back in 2010, Xbox added a dedicated Twitter account. Since then, their Elite Tweet Fleet has posted more than two million support tweets. In fact, when I visited their account page, they were averaging two tweets per minute! And they have a team of 27 support experts.

Any company that assigns a dedicated Twitter account (and 27 people to manage it) is amazing to me. Check out some of their interactions:

• The support team addressed an issue with a user and then initiated a follow-up message nine days later. This is outstanding, given the volume of users they interact with on an hourly basis.
• This user tweeted a thank-you message about a replacement Xbox.
• One follower tweeted a custom greeting card, entitled: “To my good friends: Xbox.”

Takeaway: Be committed to your social media customer service.

9. Nike: Respond Kindly to Confused Customers

Nike Support is one of the strongest customer service accounts on Twitter. They feature a dedicated Twitter account, support seven days a week and in seven languages (English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, German & Japanese.)

An example of their approach is here in this customer interaction: A customer contacts them to ask for help finding an order number. Although the question was unclear Nike’s customer support made the customer feel cared for. And when the customer realized they had the information all along, their response is super supportive.

Takeaway: Be kind, even when it’s not your fault.

10. Seamless: Pay Attention to Every Comment

Seamless is an online service for ordering food from local restaurants. Food orders are full of variables and when you add in time frame and delivery – it has the potential to be a nightmare. To manage customer service, they have an active Twitter account where customers can share their love and voice their complaints.

In a recent comment, a customer tells Seamless that on his recent order he received white rice, instead of brown. He wasn’t upset – he said: “Don’t mind terribly, just FYI.”

In response, Seamless asks for the order number so they can check into it. In response, the customer tweets:

Takeaway: Pay attention to all customer service issues. Passive complaints that are left unaddressed can easily cause a rift between the vendor and customer.

11. My Starbucks Idea: Listen and Harvest Ideas

As a way to listen to customers – and get tons of great new ideas – Starbucks created My Starbucks Idea. To date, customers have submitted more than 210,000 unique ideas. To support this program, they have a dedicated Twitter account. It is a great place for users to share their observations and coffee wishes.

A couple of the recent ideas include solar cell equipped umbrellas for device charging and morning coffee delivery (looks like it’s going to happen).

Takeaway: Make it easy for customers to tell you what they want. Listen to everyone and implement the winning ideas.

12. Sainsburys: Fishy Exchange

Sainsbury’s is one of the largest supermarkets in the UK. They’ve got a pretty active Twitter feed with lots of customer questions about products and sale prices. The tone of the account is helpful and positive.

There are lots of good examples of interactions. But none better than Fishy Sainsburys. This fishy exchange took place over a three hour period, between David (Sainsbury’s Twitter manager) and Marty (a customer). The puns will make you groan – many made me laugh out loud. Remember, this interaction was not a marketing play but a real conversation between the company and a customer.

Takeaway: Let your customer service team have fun.

13. Hubspot: Every Day of the Year

Holidays can be challenging times for customer service. When customer service closes for the observance of a holiday in one country, users from other countries will still have questions.

This recently happened with a HubSpot customer in London. She had workflow issues and couldn’t contact anyone at the US-based call center because it was closed for American Thanksgiving. When she took her concern to Twitter, she found a customer service representative in Ireland.

Like many companies in this list, HubSpot has a dedicated customer service Twitter account. To manage international schedules and time zones, they have two Dublin-based representatives and another three in Cambridge, MA.

Takeaway: Be available for your customers.

14. Buffer: Personal and Kind

If you take a quick look at Buffer’s Tweets & replies feed you’ll see how engaging their customer service is. Responses are personal and friendly. And they are usually signed by the team member you’re chatting with.

For example, my wife has been impressed that when she mentions them in a tweet, they acknowledge it, even using her name in their response.

Takeaway: Treat each person with respect. Use your name (and theirs) when interacting with customers online.

What we can learn from these customer service examples

Here are some key takeaways:

1. Choose a primary channel for customer service (many use Twitter) and assign staff to manage it.
2. Decide on your schedule of availability (set hours and days) and post it on your profile.
3. Have each tweet/post signed by the person who sent it. This is done well by Xbox Support, Sainsbury’s, and Buffer.
4. Remember that customers might contact you any number of ways – not necessarily on the channel you chose. Make sure you monitor other social channels for questions and conversations about your brand.
5. Establish a tone for your social media conversations. Generally speaking, you’ll want first to empathize with your customers problem. Stephen Covey said it best: “Seek first to understand…”

I recommend following a few of these companies on Twitter. Watch how they handle customer complaints and comments. I’ve learned so much doing this.

What to do next: Review these points with your customer service team. Decide which apply to your business right now and assign a team member to implement them.

Over to you

Have you had an amazing customer service experience via social media? How are you using social media to provide customer service? I would love to hear both in the comments!

However decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

These are some of the things you should do if you want to achieve your goals:

1. Be specific when you set your goals

Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Having a goal to ‘lose some weight’ is not nearly as helpful as ‘lose 5 pounds’ because you know exactly what you’re aiming for. Giving yourself specific actions, such as ‘be in bed by 10pm on weeknights’ to reach your goal of ‘sleep more’ is useful too. It leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you’ve actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals

How many new year’s resolutions did you break and then ‘not have time’ to go through with them? Change is never very convenient in a busy life, but studies have shown that if you plan when you’re going to take action to achieve a goal your chances of actually achieving that goal increases by about 300%! Seize the moment by deciding when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., “If it’s Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I’ll work out for 30 minutes before work.”)

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go

Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress, if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don’t know how well you are doing, you can’t adjust your behaviour or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist

Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence so don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach it. Do engage in lots of positive thinking, but make sure you’re prepared for the journey ahead. By thinking ‘it’s just going to happen’ (studies have shown) you are significantly increasing your chance of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good

Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed and that no matter what we do, we won’t improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong; abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in their stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Be determined

Those that have a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty achieve more in their lifetime than those that don’t. If you believe that you just don’t have the innate abilities that successful people do then you are wrong: effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will help you see yourself and your goals more clearly and give you the determination you need.

You are more capable than you think of achieving your goals. It just takes preparation, perspective and a willingness to act along with a huge dollop of self-belief. So start believing.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Abintegro.com

This doesn’t mean there isn’t potential for confusion and dissatisfaction, however, and so excellent project management is needed. Here are our top tips for making all those disparate circadian rhythms work in unison.

1. Plan accordingly

Clear communication is one of the pillars of successful teamwork, but what happens when opportunity for regular discussion is limited? One solution is to try to have individuals or teams in separate locations work on self-contained activities. This means assigning clearly defined responsibilities prior to the project’s get-go.

2. Have a common clock

Switching between different time zones in your correspondence is a sure-fire path to confusion. Agree on a master time zone for everyone to work from (e.g. Central European Time) and stick to it. Some people still like to note their colleague’s local time alongside the master, which is fine as long as you get the time difference right. Use a reliable site like timeanddate.com to avoid slip-ups.

3. Be reasonable

5 a.m. briefings or midnight emails are likely to grate if experienced repeatedly so make sure communication and deadlines are organised on a fair and/or alternating basis. If a meeting or call needs to be at a set time each week, make sure it’s arranged for a time that’s mutually acceptable, even if that means some people having to divert from their usual routine.

4. Use it to your advantage

If managed well, dovetailing between different time zones can be an effective strategy for stretching out the workday. For example a team working on a draft or project outline in London are well placed to hand over to someone five hours behind in New York for reviewing or final touches. Again, it all rests on strong planning and organisation.

While splitting teams or organisation between time zones may feel like a challenge at times, remember there is help at hand. From DropBox, to Google Plus, Skype and various project management tools, there is technology out there designed specifically for this type of work environment, so don’t be afraid to use it.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Forbes; The Guardian; LinkedIn

A study by the Institute of Psychiatry for Hewlett Packard found that constant distractions resulted in a 10-point drop in the IQ of workers. That’s twice the impact of marijuana!

According to another study of Microsoft workers it took them 10 minutes to deal with a distraction, caused by an alert, and then another 10-15 minutes to get back into their primary task. Many workers also used the alert of an incoming message as an opportunity not only to check their messages, but then to look at several other applications, which sometimes resulted in a two-hour gap before the primary task was resumed.

Sound familiar?

How often do you get to the end of the day having achieved a tiny percentage of what you set out to do because you’ve been ‘multitasking’ all day? Did you realise that the effect on your mind of these constant distractions is equivalent to missing a night’s sleep? So to top a frustrating day’s worth of unproductiveness you’re probably damaging your brain cells too.

If you recognise that maybe you’re just a bit addicted to the beep, then you can deal with it. Switch the sound off, cover your phone up or just use good old fashioned will power and finish what you’re doing before you check your messages. It’s probably just an email offering you 10% off your next airport transfer anyway.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: HBR; Microsoft; BBC

You’ll notice that I made the title of this post sound quite impressive (at least I hope I did!).

But the great thing about this story is that anyone can have such an impressive outcome, and it’s not at all as daunting as it might sound.

In fact, all these outcomes came from doing small things every day over a long period.

I’m a big fan of working smarter, not harder and finding small ways to make my work more efficient. As Buffer’s first Content Crafter about two years ago, I got the chance to explore these topics quite a lot.

Now I’m excited to be back to show you exactly how I came by these wins in 2015.

• From a habit of practicing French for just 5 minutes a day, I can now read, write, and speak basic French.
• From a habit of reading just a page every night, I managed to increase my reading list by five times over the past couple of years.

Basically, I used small, everyday habits to build up into big, long-term outcomes.

There are four principles I try to stick by whenever I’m building a new habit. Through everything I’ve tried, these are the principles that seem to work every time.

1. Start small: Repeat a tiny habit daily

When I first started focusing on building more healthy habits a few years ago, one of the biggest mistakes I made was to ask too much of myself.

I would go from reading hardly ever to attempting to read one book per week. Or from getting up at 9 a.m. most days to trying to roll out of bed before 6 a.m. every morning.

The distance between where I was starting and where I wanted to be was so great that I would fail a lot. And each failure made it harder to succeed the next day.

At their heart, as James Clear explains, habits are about routines.

And what I really needed was small wins and visible progress to help me create new routines I could keep at every day.

Finally, I came across this idea of starting small. The point is to focus on repeating the habit every day, but not worrying about how effective that habit is. In other words, quantity first; quality later.

A great example is flossing. Say you want to floss every night, but you haven’t flossed for years. If you take up flossing out of the blue and expect to spend 10 minutes doing it every night, you probably won’t last more than a week. It’s a very big ask.

But starting small is so effective, it’s almost like a super power. Here’s how it would work for flossing: you take the tiniest part of the habit you can work with—in this case, it would be to floss just one tooth. It’s still considered flossing, but you won’t make huge leaps in dental hygiene this way.

But here’s where it gets powerful: at first, you focus on just flossing one tooth every night. And you stick with it for more than a week. Then, more than two. Then three, four weeks. You can stick with this habit because it’s so easy. There’s barely any effort involved with flossing one tooth, so it’s hard to make an excuse not to do it. And once it’s become easy and automatic to floss one tooth, you start flossing two.

For a while, you floss two teeth every night. Then, you increase to three. And slowly you work your way up, never taking such a big leap that it becomes a chore.

By starting small you focus on making the behavior automatic, before you worry about making the behavior big enough that it produces a useful outcome.

As Scott H. Young says, we tend to overestimate how much we can get done—especially when we’re stepping into the unknown. Scott suggests planning as if you can only commit 20% of the time and energy you’d like to, in order to be more realistic.

Here’s how I applied the “start small” process to my habits in 2015:

Reading: One page a night

I started by reading just one page of a book every night before bed. Often I would read more, but if all I could manage was one page, I would count that as a win.

Later, when the habit was already strong, I would put on a timer and read for 15 minutes, and eventually I was reading for 30 minutes before bed and another 30 minutes most mornings.

Just starting with one page added up: In 2013 I read 7 books. In 2014, 22. In 2015, 33. That’s almost five times what I read in 2013.

I worked on this habit over about a year and a half. That probably sounds like a long time, but it only seems that way in retrospect.

When I’m working my habit, all I think about is how much I need to read today to count a win. It’s always a small, daily effort that I focus on. But when I look back on my progress, I realise what big achievements those daily habits have developed into.

French: One lesson every morning

I had dabbled in French with before, but I wasn’t very good at sticking with it. When I decided I really wanted to improve my French, I started by building a habit of doing just one Duolingo lesson every morning while I drank my coffee. (If you haven’t tried it, Duolingo is a free web and mobile app to help you learn lots of languages.)

One lesson takes around five minutes, so it’s a tiny commitment, and quite easy to do when I’m sitting around drinking coffee anyway. Eventually I started doing more than one lesson—two, three, sometimes even four or five, if I was enjoying it.

I did as many as I felt like, but I always did at least one.

Only one lesson was required to check off that habit for the day, so it was easy to stick to, even when I didn’t feel like doing any more than that. These days I also use Babbel (a paid web and mobile app for language learning) to get a better idea of the grammatical rules and structures of French, and I’ve finished the whole French section in Duolingo.

According to Duo, that means I know about 41% of French! That’s a big achievement from just five minutes a day!

2. Focus on one habit at a time

One of the hardest things for me when it comes to building new habits is to not take on too many at once. I always have such grand plans for the things I want to get better at, and so much enthusiasm when I first start out, that I want to build several habits at once.

Every time I’ve tried that approach, I end up failing. Usually a few of the habits don’t stick, but sometimes none of them do. It’s just too much to focus on at once—a bit like multitasking, where your brain has to switch contexts constantly, because you really can’t focus on multiple things at once.

So my new rule is to work on just one habit at a time. Only when that habit is so automatic I can do it every day easily do I start on a new habit.

With the example above, I was reading every night before I started focusing on French. And I was easily doing a French lesson every day before I started focusing on getting up early.

Sometimes building a habit can take a long time. Getting up early was one I really struggled to do consistently. I spent around four months focused on that same habit: trying different approaches, tracking my progress, and reporting in to friends who helped keep me accountable. I was determined to make it a consistent habit, but that meant not building any other habits for months.

These days I’m glad I committed to building that habit for so long, because I get up early almost every day without even trying. It didn’t come easy, but it was worth the effort.

How long it takes you to build a habit will vary, so four months might be longer or shorter than you need. We often hear the idea that it takes 21 days to build a habit, but studies have shown we all take different lengths of time to build new habits. In one study, the average time it took to build a new habit was 66 days—about two months.

The lesson I’ve learned is to treat each habit differently, depending on how hard you find it to stick to consistently, but also to focus on just one habit at a time so it gets your full attention and energy.

3. Remove barriers: Have everything you need at hand

I find it much easier to complete my habits when the equipment I need is at hand. For instance, having my phone in my hand already while drinking coffee made it easier to build a habit of doing a quick French lesson at that time. Reading a page of a book every night became a lot easier when I kept the book by my bed.

Malcolm Gladwell calls this the tipping point. It’s that small change that tips you over from making excuses to taking action. One great example of the power of a tipping point comes from a study of tetanus education at a university. The study tested whether trying to induce higher levels of fear about tetanus would encourage more students to get vaccinated against it. The fear level of the education program didn’t seem to make any difference, but one surprising change did: adding a map of the university campus showing the health center and the times vaccinations were available increased the vaccination rate from 3% to 28%.

The tipping point is that tiny change that makes it easy enough to take action that you’ll actually follow through. I like to think of it as removing any barriers that make it easy to not follow through on my habits.

One habit I want to build in 2016 is to play piano more often. Right now I play whenever the mood strikes me, which isn’t often enough to get a lot better. But I have noticed that I tend to play more often when the piano is easily accessible. Right now it’s in a corner of our lounge/dining/kitchen area, so I can easily sit down and play a little while waiting for something to cook or when I visit the kitchen for an afternoon snack.

Another habit I want to focus on this year is exercising more regularly. I’ve noticed that once I put on my exercise clothes, it’s pretty much certain that I’ll go outside for a run, but until those clothes are on it’s a lot easier to think of excuses for not going out. Getting out my exercise clothes the night before and putting them on quickly in the morning before I can think of excuses tends to help me get out the door faster. This is something I plan to do more regularly when I’m focusing on building this habit.

4. Stack habits: Build new routines onto existing ones

One of my favorite ways to build new habits is to stack them onto existing habits. This builds up several habits into a routine, and each habit acts as a trigger for the next one.

The cool part about this is you already have lots of habits you probably don’t realise. Brushing your teeth before bed, getting out of bed in the morning, making coffee at the same time every day—these are all existing habits. So long as you do something at the same time every day without thinking about it, it’s a habit you can stack others onto.

If you do your new habit after completing an existing one, you can rely on the strength of your existing habit to help keep your new habit on track. For example, when I get out of bed, the first thing I do is go downstairs to make a coffee. When my coffee is made, I start my French lesson. My existing habit of making coffee acts as a trigger to complete my French lesson.

And when I go to bed at night, I open the book sitting by my bed. Getting into bed and seeing the book act as a trigger to do my nightly reading.

Research has shown a cue to work on your new habit may be the most effective way to ensure you stick to the habit long-term. When you stack habits, you use the existing ones as cues for each new habit you want to build.

Over time you can keep stacking new habits onto your existing ones to take advantage of automatic behaviors you’re already doing.

Building new habits has become something of a hobby for me. It’s exciting to think of all the skills I can gain and improve over time, just by building tiny habits that I repeat every day. It makes huge accomplishments seem much more achievable.

If you’d like to learn more about how I build habits that help me work smarter, not harder, you can sign up for my course, Productive Habits.

P.S. Get all our posts on workplace culture, productivity, transparency and more in your email.  Sign up now.

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Written by Belle Beth Cooper (@bellebcooper)

Belle Beth Cooper was the first Content Crafter at Buffer. She’s the co-founder of Melbourne startup Hello Code, an iOS developer, and a writer.

This is something Tribal Media‘s Mel Kirk faces on a daily basis as her business goes through rapid expansion, and being a self-confessed geek, Mel understands how technology can help people in any business, so we asked her to share some of her favourite digital tools that she uses on a daily basis to ensure she stays ahead of the game…

Google Drive

This allows me to collaborate on documents with my team, which is great as it’s updated in real-time and because it’s saved on the cloud can be accessed on any device in any location, which really speeds up the process when multiple people are working on one document.

Google.com/Drive

Feedly

A great tool for consuming content from your favorite news sites and blogs, particularly with the recent death of Google Reader. With the ability to read articles offline, this is really handy for catching up on news during the morning commute.

Feedly.com/Drive

Tweetdeck

Handy for managing multiple social media presences from one location, scheduling future updates, but also keeping on top of mentions of brands/organisations that you manage.

Tweetdeck.com

Pocket

A beautifully designed bookmarking service that allows you to save articles offline to go back to read at a later date.

GetPocket.com

Salesforce

We use this to manage all of our contacts, as it can be accessed by any member of the team, is automatically updated and allows us to save every piece of correspondence that we have with our contacts. In turn this means that any one of the team can pick up a conversation with a contact should someone be out of the office sick, for example. What’s great is that it’s also stored in the cloud and therefore accessible from any location.

Salesforce.com

Storify

The best tool out there for collating tweets, blog posts, Instagram pictures, YouTube videos etc. into one simple story. We use this to showcase our work and the coverage that we’ve gained for our clients/campaigns all in one place, and then we can access and share it to anyone at any time.

Storify.com

Pinterest

We use this less conventionally than most. We use this as a way of visualising campaign ideas, especially creating mood boards for events. This makes it much easier for our clients to imagine what could be produced and takes less time and effort than a traditional mood board.

Pinterest.com

Evernote

This has a few uses – you can save articles or links for viewing on any device at any time a bit like Pocket, but it also lets you save notes, images, and almost anything else to different notebooks based on personal or business use, or for different projects or subject matter. I know the Confederation of Professional Golf team use this one a lot in their day-to-day work.

Evernote.com

EasilyDo

Great little iPhone app for putting all of your “handy stuff” together. It will proactively check traffic before you drive somewhere, warn you of bad weather, organise contacts, merge duplicates, file receipts, remind you of conference calls with all of the details – It’s like my digital PA!

EasilyDo.com