Tag Archives: business

“How do you motivate team members to stay productive and motivated while working remotely?” ✏️

No Comments
laptop on a brown office desk
Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Pexels.com

“How do you motivate team members to stay productive and motivated while working remotely? ✏️”  I saw this writing prompt from my LinkedIn profile as I was going in to edit a few things. So let’s explore.

My mind filled with many answers to this question and I listed a few responses below.

  1. First, in my opinion the premise of the question is suspect.  The assumption of the question is that people aren’t motivated while working from home.  For many people, working from home is the ideal situation as it helps cut down on the costs associated with work; and helps mesh work into their lifestyle.  So I think corporations and management should keep that same energy that they had when asking people to work during the peak of the pandemic. Having said that –
  2. Management should approach the solution of working from home as an extension to working from the office — even if they never go back to the office again. Communicating with employees using various technologies like phone text, Zoom meetings, Google chat, WhatsApp, and even Skype –can increase  esprit de corps (spirit of the group) among team members.
  3. Assume the motivation is already there… until proven not to be.  Then use conflict/resolution strategies to find out what’s going on just as you would during a counseling session, or a one-on-one session, back in the office.
  4. Ensure everyone is familiar with, and skilled in, the use of applications and technologies being used by the organization. Sometimes, people need additional training when they start working solo, although still remaining part of the team. (Read that again.) Supervisors and management should get to know team members well enough to detect who is good with technology; and how to get those who are not, more comfortable with using it by providing additional training. This holds true in both “in-office” and “work from home” settings. Often, it is assumed people know how to do things that they may not know how to do proficiently. Increasing levels of proficiency in the use of available tools alone, can help improve productivity.
  5. Encourage participation in online group meetings to create synergy. For example, in the office, a  person could give great verbal input on projects –but could be lacking in details or follow up. Someone else would chime in or use their skill set to improve upon the idea.  That same synergy should carry over in a work-from-home environment too, instead of expecting the person with the idea to have all the answers.

These are only a few suggestions but I’m sure there are many other things leaders can take note of that happen in an office environment and use their creativity to implement those things for working at home. As a leader and manager of your team, ensuring the development and success of the team is vital.

Working Together

No Comments

photo of people near wooden table

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

“If we all worked together, something amazing could happen… probably.“

I’ve taken the first steps in making my blog a community resource and a place where startups can can get reasonable and cost effective supplemental marketing.  Some businesses have difficulty deciding whether or not they need a website.  But everyone could use some type of online presence.

I’ve added a directory similar to those in online newspaper sites.  The idea is to provide a cost effective way for businesses to be seen and heard while providing a variety of topics for people to browse and read about.  The ad space offered is more than a 2-line ad you’d fine in the classifieds section and could be developed as a mini-site for your business if you have no site of your own!  And even if you did have a site, you could use this space as a platform to point readers back to your site.

We have the space set up so that you can add your own content and manage it yourself, but if you need help, we’re always available!  As the site adds more visitors then that means more visibility for you and your organization or services!  Our site is different than a listing you would get on a Chamber of Commerce site, and we’re designed to fit in your marketing strategy.

You can check the site out at https://dhspeller.com.  We’re designed to be both desktop and mobile friendly.

Brand Authentically

No Comments

Image of a branding ad for a company that says they do everything good

I recently attended a panel event in which they were discussing branding. And the term “brand authentically” came to mind.  They did a great job talking about how important branding is–and in essence, is a way of setting a standard for your business.  It helps set the expectation of what your clients and customers should receive from you or your business. 

During the conversation, someone in the audience pointed out that they had an experience in which the outward appearance of the business was great, but the product or service received –not so great.  Which again made me think of the term, brand authentically. 

 It is my hope and belief that only a small percentage of businesses set out to scam people or do sub-par work.  Everyone else really wants to offer good products and services.  But sometimes, you can oversell what you do. Your intentions may be pure, but inadvertently, you may set yourself up for failure by setting expectations too high. 

Authentic branding is realistically assessing what you can achieve or offer considering resources, time and skills available to you. Remember, you want to do the best you can do. The only one you are truly in competition with is yourself. Maybe you are the best in the world at what you do. If so, great! Go on with your bad self and get that money! But if you have the slightest doubt that you are not, then set realistic goals and expectations so that you and your customers can walk away with an enjoyable experience. You can always work towards your goal of being the greatest. 

People can tell when you are over exaggerating. So, surprise them by slightly underselling. Let them be surprised in a good way with what they receive from you. In my opinion, that is the fastest way to get good word of mouth advertising, and your brand will authentically reflect you. 

Everything Is Going Back To Small Business and Sole Proprietorships

No Comments

Image of a business graph showing percentages

Image: From pressbooks.rampages.us

I think everything is going back to “small” small businesses and sole proprietorships. The economy is rebuilding itself in a different way.  Large businesses and their #Republican allies would have you believe that economic woes are due to Democrats, progressives and progressive policies.

Never mind the huge, two billion dollar giveaway the Republicans gave to corporations and continue to give nor the greed and grift of corporations of money that was supposed to ‘trickle’ down to workers and go back into the economy.  None of the policies were executed as they were intended so, we are now on a different path.

Nope I’m not an economist, nor a financial guru, but I have eyes.  And what I see is very interesting.  People see how the government has bailed out big business and banks time and time again.  But have not put the same effort into help regular people.  They have made it so that even though people can’t buy what they need, they’ve still made the ‘business’ whole–and prices keep going up and up and up… the gouge is in full effect.  The housing industry is out of control.  Corporations and companies are buying up the housing stock, so prices remain ridiculously high.  Oil companies and big pharma have their way with regulations so that they pretty much do what they want to do, and the people suffer.

This is the good news.  People are finding out what they can do without.  They are going back to some of the old ways of doing things, and working with some business allies (they are not all bad), they are forging a new way into the 21st Century.

Working, and now learning from home is becoming a normal activity.  With pandemics and climate change events happening more often, why wouldn’t they be?  Despite the threats from corporate overseers, people have chosen to stay at home, work from home and deal locally with small, new startup companies and neighbors, and those businesses who have the vision to see the changes that are coming.  What the government needs to do is, start supporting the people.  Get the money into their hands– as they should have been doing all along, and let them shape the economy in a way in which it serves us.

When people have money, they can locally create goods and services when large corporations declare bankruptcy or falter in some other way.  They can help regulate market prices and be instrumental in the growth of their own communities.  Especially black and underserved communities.  And this time, we demand the equality and judicial protections so that rogue citizens can’s just come in and disrupt and destroy thriving communities like they did with Tulsa or Rosewood as described in a BET article.  What I’m saying is, there is a lot that needs to be fixed in America, and we need to get to fixin’ it.

The only way we all are going to benefit from the new economy is if the government starts working for the people and not the corporations.  And when we use our power through Voting, and changing the election laws so that we can reign in our elected and appointed officials, we can aid the government in doing its job to serve the people.

This article can be much longer, but we’ll continue the conversation in another post. I’ll just leave you with this one thought– #VoteProgressive.

Emails: Let’s Talk About Them

No Comments

Let’s talk about emails.   Today, to start the new year off right, I had the bright idea of tackling my emails more vigorously.  Mind you, during down time over the holidays, I had already fought my way through 7,000 of the 20k sum I had just sitting in my Inbox(es); but now, I Read More