Trent365

Are you having trouble monitoring and managing the performance of you people in the new era of Work From Home?

Many have.

Look a bit deeper.

There's a real good chance that this is nothing to do with being remote.

The real issue may well be that you just don't have great mechanisms in place for monitoring and managing performance at all. Regardless of where the people are.

Many companies have found out they simply have more people than they really need, even before you factor in any slow down in business.

Many have found they have compensation and reward systems that grant individual incentives based on team KPI's, for example.

The way we work is outdated. It was true before COVID-19. It's more true now.

You need to check out Brave New Work - https://www.bravenewwork.com/

Talk to Aaron Dignan or Sam Spurlin over at The Ready - https://www.theready.com/

It'll help.

#performancemanagement #remoteworking #organisationalchange

A random observation...

There are two types of game - Those That End & Those That Do Not.

Endless games like CandyCrush & BubbleShoot seem much harder to put down. They seem inherently more addictive.

Puzzle-type games, like Sudoku or Angry Birds, have an end. In fact, they usually have multiple ends or stages.

That makes them much easier to put down, walk away from and come back to later.

Wellness and Wellbeing is an endless game. It has no end.

So, if you're searching for a way to add gamification elements to your Wellness product or service, you should probably focus on the types of games that don't end.

They'll probably end up being more addictive too. And if you're pushing Wellness, that can't be a bad thing, right?

#gamification #wellness #personalitytypes

If you're selling a solution to a problem - which, let's face of it, most of us are in some way - you're selling the wrong thing.

People don't buy Solutions.

The buy the Fix.

Within reason, they often don't even don't even care how you arrived at the Fix. They just care that it fixes their problem.

It might seem like a subtle distinction, and maybe it is.

But when it comes to packaging and marketing your thing, it matters.

There's more to IKEA than meets the eye.

They've found a way to create a product that appeals simultaneously to different markets.

And I'm not talking about the geographical markets. That bit is relatively easy.

The one product is equally appealing to Do-It-Yourself market AND the Do-It-For-Me market.

And I swear they've made the build of their products just a little bit more complicated than it has to be. Again, to make it just that little bit more appealing to these very distinct user markets.

Genius I reckon!

#ikea #marketing #productdesign

Face Masks have become part of our daily dress code.

The folks at Reebok's European Innovation Lab, the Creation Centre, seem to think this might be the way it is for some time yet.

They've started to play around with some design concepts for Fitness Face Masks.

Most exciting is The Symbiosis Mask which would filter out dangerous particulate and purify the air being breathed in.

This is exciting news for the many millions of people around the world that live with terrible air quality.

Here's the article...

https://www.fastcompany.com/90507362/reeboks-fitness-masks-are-proof-were-living-in-a-dystopian-hellscape

Thanks to Julie Bach for the story!

#airpollution #airpurification #innovation

Consider this, rather than seeking change, what will really should be doing is finding a way to navigate that change.

Why?

Well, because by the time we seek change, it's already happening.

By continuing to seek change, we are able to give ourselves an excuse for not acting...because we're still waiting for the change to happen.

However, if we accept that the change is actually already in play, then there are no more excuses.

It's kinda empowering in a way.

#change #changeyourmindset #noexcuses

With all these new rules around social distancing, retail stores are limiting the number of shoppers inside the shop at any one time.

But of course retail footprints have been designed for a time when many people can move freely around the space.

That brings a massive disconnect between the current spaces and their current usage.

How can we re-imagine the retail experience for the New Normal?

What if we adapted the Sushi Train concept and applied it to retail stores?

Maybe the products could be the 'sushi' or maybe even the shoppers could be the 'sushi' in this scenario.

Sound crazy? Maybe it is. 

Then again, we are living in crazy times.

#retailexperience #retaildesign #retailinnovation

Ray Dalio is the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Capital.

Perhaps more importantly though, he is the author of Principles for Success.

There are many great insights in the book.

This particular one, around problem solving, really resonated with me.

Seeking a solution to a problem is really just a short term fix.

To really make the changes you need to make, you need to identify the root cause of the problems you encounter.

Here's the video presentation of Ray's book. Highly recommend that you take the 28 minutes and 46 seconds and watch this...

https://youtu.be/B9XGUpQZY38

#principles #achieveyourgoals #achievesuccess

As many businesses around the world are starting to re-open, or at least plan for that, COVID-19 guidelines are the first priority.

But it would be wise to re-think your entire work flow now too.

There may well be parts of your guest flow, your service flow, that aren't necessary to the overall experience or result.

If that's the case, maybe you should be removing it from the flow?

Much of our business processes will be more burdensome in a this New Normal.

So if you have unnecessary steps in place, chances are they too will become more burdensome to your customers or your staff.

#rethink #workflow #businessprocesses

I've said it before. I'll say it again.

People buy your story! 

That's what they resonate with. That's what hooks them. That's what keeps them loyal.

Now, more than ever, it matters.

As I see businesses opening up again, they're still missing it.

Unless you are selling a totally unique product or service, which most of us are not, your story is the only thing that truly differentiates you.

Just be careful not to include too much Doom & Gloom.

A little is fine, if that's your reality, but not too much. We've had enough of that.

#storytelling #brandstory #authenticity