Fighting Isolation

Isolation: one of the fastest growing reasons for decreasing productivity in the workplace. There is a growing amount of abundant literature on the fact that people these days feel lonely. 

We can blame the digital era or remote work all we want, but really what it comes down to is this: we can work among dozens of people all day long and still feel completely isolated. It has nothing to do with frequency of interaction and it has everything to do with emotional connection. 

If you've ever been the person who has felt that you’re not heard, valued, or needed,  you're not alone. A lot of people are feeling that way. 

A recent gallup poll shows that companies experience a 16% decrease in profitability because of these feelings of loneliness and isolation. 

Let's fight that by being really intentional to reach out to the people we work with to do two things:

1. Make sure they know they are valued

2. Hear what they have to say. Everyone wants to be heard. 

If you are in the South Florida area and looking for some more connections, check out the Business Lab. We would love to see you at our next event.

Sales

Typically, when we think of people in sales, we think of people who sell goods and services. In reality, we're all in sales. Most of us are selling our ideas and that's one of the hardest things to sell. 

Having to convince someone of something can be harder than selling them a product. How do we do that? We emotionally connect them to the outcome. And how do we do that? By not talking so much. That sounds strange, doesn't it?

We are trying to convince them of something... shouldn't we have to verbalize what we think? Yes and no. It's good to lay out what we want them to know and then to step back, ask some questions and let them process.

We never give people the time to process thoughts and ideas. The more questions we can ask them, the more emotionally connected they will be to the outcome and in turn, they will buy our ideas.

Head over to Apple podcast for more tips on sales and communications. 

Confidence

Today we are talking about confidence.

Recently, my friend invited me to a hip hop class. At first I was hesitant.  It’s been a minute since I got down with my bad self, but I went.  During the class,  I looked like a very middle-aged, uptight, robot woman...but,  by the second night I had let my hair down and I was going to town getting my groove on. 

It has since become one of the greatest highlights of my week. 

If I hadn't taken the chance and just tried it, I wouldn't have known how wonderful it is. I’m six months in now and I'm obsessed with this hip hop class because it’s loads of fun and a game-changing workout.

Again, I wouldn't know that and I wouldn't feel good about going and inviting my friends now if I hadn't tried it. 

Let's look at Nike for example. Nike isn't selling shoes. Nike is selling confidence. Their tagline is "Just do it" and who knew that the powers that be at Nike were "oh so wise," because that is what produces confidence: action.

It's better to be somewhat successful in something, then to not try it and live in the world of what if. That only produces stress and regret.

You take one little step, get out there and try something and you'll have huge momentum and excitement in your life. That's where you're going to find the confidence you need.

Need help taking that first step? We are here for you. Contact us today.

Celebrate

We recently went up to Atlanta for a trip and ended up at the Coke Museum. We were so excited.  We were going to go in, we were going to drink ourselves into a sugary oblivion and then spend lots of money at the gift store.

But, right when we walked in the front door we were hit by a mandatory Coca-Cola film. We were ready to party with some stomach ache-inducing beverages; we didn't want to watch a film.

We begrudgingly got the kids seated, and prepared for 10 minutes of eye-rolling 8 year olds (okay, and 37 years olds).  But, by the end of the four-minute film, I was sobbing my eyes out. 

How could a Coca-Cola film make me cry so much? It was this vignette of all these different life circumstances. 

There was a retirement party, a surprise for Grandma, a team of people who had made it to the top of the mountain... and there was one common theme among all of them.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Coca-Cola. It was that they had done this together, and there was a great celebration. I left there with mascara all over my face and my kids looking at me like I had six heads. 

I thought  - what if we did this more within our organizations? What if we stopped, put the brakes on the hamster wheel we're constantly running on and we celebrated our successes?

Every time my clients meet one of their goals I say "great, how are we celebrating?" The achievements that we have won't have the same impact if we don't stop and acknowledge them.

We need to be celebrating our achievements. We also need to be celebrating the achievements of others. 
So, go grab a coke and plan out how you can celebrate your next success.

If you need help building your company's culture, we are here to help.