Archive for the
‘Productivity’ Category

Leadership development is important for every business. It improves productivity, innovation, employee engagement, and customer retention and reduces employee turnover. A structured leadership development plan highlights how a company intends to train and help employees hone their leadership skills. 

In most cases, leadership development occurs in a formal classroom setting. However, individual leadership development plans, such as reflective journaling, coaching, and constructive feedback, are also effective. Implementing a leadership development plan helps businesses avoid the leadership gap that occurs following the unavoidable retirement or step down of current leadership. 

Below are a few tips for creating a leadership development plan. 

  1. Evaluate your business goals and needs

Identifying business needs and goals is crucial to creating a leadership development plan. This essentially involves identifying leadership qualities that can benefit your organization. Knowing what type of leader your company needs should be a priority. You should ask yourself the following questions:

  • How many leaders does your company need?
  • Are there notable gaps that need improvement?
  • Which strategies work well for your company?
  • How will the new leaders commit to organizational goals?
  1. Consult your employees

Employees play a key role in determining the success and productivity of the company. Therefore, you should ask for their perspective on leadership. Ask them what they want or looking for in a leader. They can help you identify leadership strategies that are working or not working in your organization. Taking their input can help you design an effective leadership development plan. 

  1. Define the type of leaders your company needs 

You should also define the type of leaders your company requires. For this, consider reviewing key business objectives and how they can be achieved. Below are a few tips to consider:

  • Create a detailed list of the skills you expect to see in leaders that fit your company profile. 
  • If one of the departments requires better leadership, create a different profile for the department.
  • Assess your current level of leadership. Use emails, anonymous tips, and feedback from your employees. 
  • Create a list of employees who are talented enough and interested in management roles.
  1. Identify the best method of development 

As mentioned, leadership development was traditionally hinged on formal programs. While they are effective, you should consider other leadership training methods, such as mentorship programs, working groups, and task forces. You should also choose between conducting in-house training or hiring a third-party company. 

Conclusion

Around 77% of companies struggle with leadership gaps. This explains why 89% of company executives agree that strengthening leadership development should be a priority for most companies. Having a leadership training plan can help your company mold successful future managers.

There are indications that tech jobs have resumed the positive trajectory after slamming into reverse during the pandemic. Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate that over 12,900 tech opportunities were created as of last year September. Interestingly, the number of job seekers remains at an all-time high, making the job market competitive. As such, succeeding in your next tech interview requires that you stand out from other applicants. Below are a few tips.

1. Understand your CV

While it seems obvious, many people don’t understand their CVs deeply, especially after applying for hundreds of positions. Besides tailoring your CV to suit the advertised position, memorize the version of CV you sent before the interview. This reduces the chances of going blank during the interview. Below are a few things to do with your CV:

  • Read the job description carefully – highlight transferable skills if your skills don’t match those required.
  • Have proof of success stories, key results, and challenges you mentioned in your CV.

2. Learn about your Employer

Researching your employer before the interview is also crucial. Check their website, social media, and featured stories in local and national media. For established tech companies, know the basics, such as their share prices, senior leaders, and company deliverables to customers, before sitting for the interview.

3. Show you are Always Learning

Tech is always evolving. Therefore, you shouldn’t stop learning after mastering a skill. If your specialty involves software, processes, and algorithms, show what you’ve been doing to keep up to date. If you recently completed a project that can help your employer, bring it up.

4. Prepare for Common Tech Interview Questions

Employers often use the interview process to learn more about applicants and their technical skills. Therefore, you should prepare extensively and expect tough questions. Simple questions, such as “why do you want to join this company? What are you looking for in this career move, and what qualities do you bring to this role” help potential employers gauge your suitability for the role.

You should also expect specific questions about your applied role. For instance, what experience do you have with specific technologies, or which problems have you solved using a specific technology? Depending on the vacant role, questions in the last stage become more complex. For instance, developers may be asked how to maintain a code base. Most employers also give candidates technical tasks to complete during the interview.

Conclusion

As you prepare for the interview, remember that new opportunities often come through professional connections and referrals. 30% of job candidates find opportunities from their networks. Therefore, you should keep expanding your network with professional peers and others.

The brewer of Miller and Coors wants customers to tune in to their newsroom, and they’re paying big bucks to see that it gets done.

A new alliance between the brewer and online giant AOL is the latest example of how far content marketing strategists are willing to go to ensure their brand message reaches the ideal consumer audience.

mobileadsThe creation of customized brand content continues to flourish on the Web, embraced by marketing pros thinking outside the box to get the attention of consumers in an ad-laden market. The trend for this type of brand marketing — custom content, native advertising, brand content, sponsored content — continues to move upward.

Native advertising on social media channels is projected to jump from $3.1 billion this year to $5 billion in 2017. Increased mobile access to social media, content portals, news  properties, video-sharing sites and streaming services has fueled much of the growth, according to emarketer.com.

The potential to get the brand message out to a lucrative market, while maintaining ownership of the “editorial” content, has companies moving to create entire divisions to develop the marketing editorial content and even distribute it through media channels.

The Wall Street Journal recently introduced sponsored content to its website produced by its in-house custom content division. The Washington Post began selling native ads last year for its site, and Gannett-owned USA Today is exploring the use of native advertising content.

The deal between brewer MillerCoors and AOL is worth an estimated $5 million, according to MediaPost.com, citing sources. As part of an integrated strategy, AOL will produce about 350 pieces of original content that will plug Miller Lite, Coors Lite, Blue Moon ale, or Redd’s Apple Ale. The content will focus on males in the millennial demographic, among the most mobile-device and social-media savvy of consumers.

That content, to be called the “Brew Pub Newsroom,” will appear on AOL properties including the Huffington Post, HuffPost Live and Mandatory.com. Miller Lite will also sponsor a video content segment on HuffPost Live targeted at male millennials.

 

 

 

Good content to establish a corporate presence or brand is not only important, it’s essential to a business.

mobilemarketingThe Custom Content Council says six in 10 consumers value custom content enough that they feel better about a company that delivers the content, and they are also more likely to buy from that company. Seven in 10 consumers say they prefer to learn about a company through a collection of articles rather than in an ad, according to the council.

It is one of the interesting statistics about content marketing to keep in mind.

Here are a few more from InboundWriter.com’s blog:

  • When it comes to custom Web content, 90 percent of consumers find it useful.
  • Business-to-business companies with blogs generate 67 percent more leads per month on average.
  • Interesting content is one of the main reasons people follow brands on social media, which reach eight out of 10 people who are on the Web and account for 23 percent of all time spent online.

Well developed, researched and created content that can expand a brand’s reach and hit the target audience is more essential than ever to a business. It’s why more are embracing content marketing as a strategy.

20131114-094440.jpgThe mobile industry is booming, and it’s not just the sale of phones. Thousands of products have been created as accessories to smartphones like phone cases, mobile payment processors, camera lenses, even power bags that help keep your device charged so you can utilize all those great features.

One item we LOVE is the Photojojo Ten-Digit Touchscreen Gloves. These gloves let you use your smartphone in the cold!

Touchscreen gloves have been around for awhile now, but in addition to fingertips that let you type, these Photojojo gloves have grips on the palms that let you hang on to your precious phone. Plus, they’re thick and warm-great for the winter.

Buy the Photojojo Ten-digit Touchscreen gloves for $30 here.

For nine other options for touchscreen gloves, check out this Mashable article.

Smart shoppers know that you can save more and earn value rewards by using store loyalty cards, but no one wants to carry a wallet full of them.  CardStar, the free app for Android & iOS, allows you quickly and easily store cards for hundreds of retailers, libraries, gyms, and more.