Management Blog

Tips to encourage customer spending

With consumer sentiment falling over the last few months it's time for retailers to take a proactive approach to engaging customers, a recent Smart Company post argues.

With the help of retail guru Brian Walker and sales expert Sue Barrett, the article suggests the retail sector should avoid a business as usual approach and start thinking differently.

Accordingly, the following tips are offered to encourage consumer spending:

• Be essential - focus on promoting products that cash-strapped customers consider to be 'essential items'
• Foster loyalty - collect customer data at the point of purchase and offer exclusive offers to loyal customers
• Aim for transparency - be upfront about prices and forget the outdated model of requiring customers to haggle for the 'real price'
• That's entertainment - offer customers a reason to return to a retail environment though engaging design, service or selling style

The value of making emotion-free gut decisions

The new book Strategic decisions: When can you trust your gut? by Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein argues that gut instinct should be followed, but only when a series of key questions are answered.

A recent McKinsey Quarterly review of the new book claims executives need to be wary of a range of emotional tags that can highjack or bias gut feelings.

To avoid falling into this trap it's suggested a series of key questions are considered before a course of action is followed. In summary these include:

• Was good feedback received in past situations? Feedback from others can ensure your memory of past situations isn't tainted
• Are emotions in check? Emotional connections to a topic can bias judgement
• Are personal interests playing a role? To be objective it's important to recognise personal interests before making a decision

It's suggested most professionals are bound to fail at least one of these four tests at some point when making a decision based on intuition.

To remedy this situation three ways to strengthened decision making are offered: strong governance, such as input from a boss; additional experience and data; or more dialogue and challenge.

India's hidden hotbeds of innovation

India is a hotbed of grassroots innovation, according to global strategy academic Anil Gupta. He uses this TED Talk to explain how a bottom up approach innovation is transforming the Indian economy.

Accommodating grandparents at work

The Federal Government and seniors groups have started to prepare for an increasing number of grandparents being part of the contemporary workforce, The Courier-Mail reports.

According to the article, National Seniors Australia has been working with the Federal Government to develop a number of grandparent-friendly policies.

In fact, it's even suggested that a range of workforce related grandparent-friendly policies will be rolled out by major political parties prior to this year's federal election.

One of the first of these policies is the Federal Government's announcement of grandparent carers leave, which would provide an 18-week parent-leave payment in exceptional circumstances.

Seniors groups claim support provisions are needed as older Australians are increasingly being called on to look after their children's children at short notice.

Jargon watch - look who's hom-ing

A British study suggests an increasing number of workers are 'hom-ing', i.e. checking personal email, using social media and shopping online while at work, SmartCompany reports.

According to the study, which was completed by software security firm Clearswift, employees are bringing their online personal lives into the workplace because of the pressure to work longer hours.

It's claimed workers aged between 25 and 35 are most likely to be part of the trend, with 57 per cent saying they use social media, shop and check personal emails while on the job.

Hom-ing does however have an upside for managers. Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they make up the time they spend on personal online activities by working through lunch or staying back.   

Commentators say the trend is not going away in a hurry with technological advances further blurring the lines between work and home, and many employers offering greater workplace flexibility.

The good and bad news about anger

New research out of Spain indicates that getting angry can result in lower stress levels, The Age reports.

According to the study, anger increases blood flow and as a result stimulates the brain's left hemisphere, the section that's connected to positive feelings and happiness.

It's claimed the findings disprove the age-old belief that it is better for a person to hold back their anger instead of letting real feelings show.

But it's not all good news for those wishing to 'let it all out'; researchers claim anger can have its downslides including an increase in heart rates and blood pressure.

What makes a good boss great?

The Harvard Business Review recently took on the challenge of identifying the common traits possessed by bosses who can transform a workplace with the power of their beliefs.

Based on as much evidence-based criteria as possible author Robert I Sutton determined a series of key believes shared by great bosses. In summary, here are just a few:

• Great bosses have the ability to find the middle ground between being too assertive and not assertive enough
• Ambitions and goals are important, but small wins that enable a manager's people to make progress every day are more important
• Successful bosses are confident enough to convince people they are in charge, but humble enough to admit they are wrong
• Great bosses realise that it's important to eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive

More attributes can be found here.

Solving your email inbox issues

very professional has experienced the horror of returning to a computer after a couple of hours to find an inbox overflowing with hundreds of unread emails.

The next time this happens Forbes suggests you follow a simple but effective few guidelines that can make the process of email communication a less onerous one.

In summary, the magazine's tips for a stress free relationship with your inbox include:

• Delete everything you won't need again, e.g. newsletters, one word replies and, of course, spam
• File any emails that require a response in a to-do list folder that sits outside your inbox
• Immediately complete any to-dos that can be handled in two minutes or less
• Aim for an empty inbox and remind yourself that it's for temporary storage only

Persuasion made easy

The 'science' of persuasion can help professionals improve their career trajectories, be exceptional networkers and increase their overall influence in the workplace.

But do some people have it while others simply aren't natural born persuaders?

Fortunately the ability to persuade others can be honed, a recent Guardian article argues.

Here are four tips that can help build your sphere of influence:

1. Be a giver - helping a colleague or manager without prompting can result in them to assisting you down the track

2. Talk about weaknesses - research suggests job applicants who admit to a weakness are more likely to appear credible

3. Offer testimonials - collect testimonials and recommendations from others and present these to hiring managers

4. Look for commonalities - highlighting similarities can help build a rapport that makes a person naturally more persuasive

Curious about how persuasive you are? Take the test here.

Trend watch - The freedom to fail

Organisations shouldn't be afraid of failure, they should be focused on developing organisational processes that are resilient enough to withstand thwarted success, a recent Time article argues.

This video featuring US business journalist Megan McArdle explains why 'the freedom to fail' should be embraced.