Management Blog

Analysing the silent language of leaders

When it comes to successful leadership it's not just what senior executives say that matters, it's also how they say it.

In this BNET video Carol Kinsey Goman, author of The Silent Language of Leadership explains why understanding body language can translate to successful leadership.

Article round-up from @aimqld - 23-27 April

Twitter speedlinks from last week on @aimqld:

7 Key Trends in Innovation (via BIA) http://bit.ly/iI6e96

The New Rules of Building Customer Loyalty (via Inc.) http://t.co/5ZIIqiX

Build Your Networks Before You Need Them (via Brass Tack Thinking) http://bit.ly/mifPhA

Creating Moments of Inspiration to Influence a Corporate Culture (via InnovationManagement) http://bit.ly/kAxbCV

What's Your Better Business Reality? (via The Daily Blur) http://bit.ly/lYg4EZ

Career Secrets from the Insiders (via Alexandra Levit) http://bit.ly/ivJNId

New Job? 8 Tips For Your First Day (via CBS Money Watch) http://bit.ly/ljrrP7

How Do You Turn Talent Into Performance? (via Professional Studio 365) http://bit.ly/k8xq4m

The iPad Impact: 5 Effects on Work and Leisure (via Newly Corporate) http://bit.ly/jL3gRz

Tips for Dealing With a Micromanager and Other Workplace Pains (via On the Job) http://bit.ly/kv6sTK

Focus on Your Employees, Key to Workplace Culture Success (via Talentculture) http://bit.ly/jiiakJ

Thanking: The Simplest Personal Branding Tactic (via Personal Branding Blog) http://bit.ly/lIbfrH

The Muscles for Creativity (via Smile Like You Mean It) http://bit.ly/kqrSGd

A Presenter's Guide to Remembering What to Say (via HBR) http://bit.ly/jajmnh

Separating private and work social networking

In order to avoid the pressures of an 'always on' career, professionals need to avoid mixing personal and work related social media, this Fast Company article advises.

Author Amber Mac notes that while a total separation between work and private use of social media is hard to achieve, professionals can achieve a better work/life balance by considering these options:

1. Use some social networks to communicate with friends and others to stay in touch to clients, colleagues and professional contacts

2. Create a Facebook Page (basically a brand page) for professional networking and connect with friends via your regular Facebook profile

3. Consider using Twitter as your only professional networking tool and keep all others for private networking

4. Tinkering with Facebook's privacy settings can ensure anyone who is a client or colleague only sees sections of your profile

5. Don't use social networks for anything to do with your private life, possibly a good idea as anything shared goes into the public domain

Separating private and work social networking

In order to avoid the pressures of an 'always on' career, professionals need to avoid mixing personal and work related social media, this Fast Company article advises.

Author Amber Mac notes that while a total separation between work and private use of social media is hard to achieve, professionals can achieve a better work/life balance by considering these options:

1. Use some social networks to communicate with friends and others to stay in touch to clients, colleagues and professional contacts

2. Create a Facebook Page (basically a brand page) for professional networking and connect with friends via your regular Facebook profile

3. Consider using Twitter as your only professional networking tool and keep all others for private networking

4. Tinkering with Facebook's privacy settings can ensure anyone who is a client or colleague only sees sections of your profile

5. Don't use social networks for anything to do with your private life, possibly a good idea as anything shared goes into the public domain

Creating superfan advocates

The world's most successful brands don't just foster a sense of loyalty amongst their customer base, they manage to create powerful 'superfan' advocates.

According to this Harvard Business Review post, advocacy is stronger than satisfaction or loyalty because it's built on three key relationship attributes:

• Support – superfans will stay with a brand even during difficult periods and correct the inaccurate brand perceptions of others
• Sharing – these advocates will share their brand experiences widely and offer unsolicited feedback on service and quality
• Emotion – superfans have a sense of ownership and treat the brand as part of their inner circle of relationships

According to the post, the best way to encourage superfans is to offer a number of engagement opportunities, such as participation in a community of fellow brand advocates.

It's claimed loyalty matters, but: "Forward-thinking companies will be the ones that identify and work with their customer advocates to genuinely build the brand, the customer base, and the bottom line."

Smile: it's good for you

After reviewing a number of studies on the science of smiling CEO Ron Gutman suggests the humble smile can have a measurable effect on well-being.

In this TED Talk, Gutman makes a compelling case for frowning less and smiling more. The talk also serves up some interesting facts: for example, did you know all babies smile while in the womb?

Conan's guide to creativity

As one of the world's favourite comedians, Conan O'Brien, knows a thing or two about making people laugh.

But as this Fast Company cover story suggests the skill behind O'Brien's humour owes less to pure genius than it does to a well-crafted creative process.

To help professionals learn from O'Brien's approach to new ideas, an audio clip of Fast Company's interview with the comedian can be found here. The following quotes have been taken from the interview.

It's all in the preparation:

"My formula has always been I'm big on preparing. Prepare like crazy. But then just as you're heading out, half an hour beforehand, forget all of it. It's there. It's in your reptile brain."

Have fun with it:

"One of the qualities people like about what we're doing is that it can feel very loose. That's the biggest comment I get from everybody on this new show: You look like you've having so much fun."

What O'Brien has learned from CEOs:       

"I'm learning that not everything is in my control. I heard once years ago, they did a study and they found that really successful CEOs are good at knowing what's in their control and what's not in their control."

His motivational talk to staff:       

"The thing I keep telling them is the only way we can screw this up is by not being bold enough. There is nothing to lose ... if we think it's funny let's just try and make it happen."

Article round-up from @aimqld - 16-20 April

Twitter speedlinks from last week on @aimqld:

5 Ways to Tell Whether You're Really in Touch (via SmartBlog on Leadership) http://t.co/rde1z7N

Video: How to Handle Constant Interruptions (via BNET) http://t.co/NASSMrm

8 Pointers for Building Corporate and Personal Strategies for Social Media (via Stefan Lindegaard) http://t.co/kGL2j6G

Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg on Leadership as 'the Norm, Not the Exception' (via Knowledge@Wharton) http://t.co/7QOLIva

20 Qualities of an Innovator (via The Heart of Innovation) http://bit.ly/ijrZR8

Evolving Workplace Productivity: 5 Workstyle Tips From Start-Ups (via 99%) http://t.co/W0pNqfT

Team Leadership in Action (via Lessons of Experience) http://t.co/PT6h8Lq

Guiding Rookies: 3 Steps to Doing it Well (via You're Not the Boss of Me) http://t.co/F5pgUzD

How Corporate Culture Ignites Results (via Working Resources Blog) http://bit.ly/ixG0B7

7 Strategies For Running Your Business While Pursuing Your Passions (via 24/7 Innovation) http://bit.ly/iwBcuB

Great Leaders Get Regular Reality Checks (via ThoughtLEADERS Blog) http://bit.ly/mIPoRA

10 Ways to Show Respect: Master the Art of Conversation (via Lead Change Group) http://bit.ly/mSkfck

Leadership from the Inside Out (via LeaderTalk) http://bit.ly/k4QFb4

Are Your People Dependent on You or Independent of You? (via Dynamic Business) http://bit.ly/jnbQTt

The Risks of Quantification (via HBR) http://bit.ly/lDhMKo

Corporate Culture: Harmonize, Don't Homogenize (via BusinessWeek) http://buswk.co/jgSBZA

New Rules for the Job Interview (via Time) http://ti.me/lls6ro

Find Your 4 Voices For Innovative and Creative Problem Solving (via Management is a Journey Blog) http://bit.ly/jSbGVo

Quit Sending Mixed Signals (via @artpetty) http://bit.ly/jmfF0v

Leadership Style Mistakes Made by New Leaders (via LeadershipExpert) http://bit.ly/jqC5t1

How to Make a Mind Map for Maximum Productivity (via Time Management Ninja) http://bit.ly/lojWyo

Sleep matters for managers

Long hours and a lack of sleep can do an executive's career more harm than good, according to Margaret Heffernan author of the new biz-lit title Willful Blindness.

In this BNET video, Heffernan explains the importance of paying careful attention to sleep patterns.

Banning the internet decreases productivity: study

The process of prohibiting employees from surfing the web on company time can reduce organisational productivity, a new US study has found.  

In a world first study, Harvard Business School researchers argue that banning web use can cause workers to become distracted as a result of the energy spent resisting the temptation to go online.

The researchers also found that productivity dropped when their subjects knew about a funny video but were unable to watch it; by comparison subjects who watched the video were more productive.

The researchers ultimately warn managers that internet prohibition "could be especially critical in jobs where small mistakes could mean a big difference in performance." 

An interesting finding, one that raises the question of whether banning a few sites, such as Facebook or real estate sites, also has the same effect as a total ban.