Online meetings are...something else

Nowadays, with the presence of computers and phones with cameras, one can have meetings almost anywhere. The need to commute to have meetings have been significantly reduced, and if used properly, online meetings can be a real productivity booster.

That being said, there needs to be some other things that can be said about online meetings. Some of these comments may appear to be funny to some, but taken for what they are worth, they are quite serious. In many cases, they can make or break your career as an online service provider.

Here are some situations worthy of consideration when participating in online meetings:

• Get into your role - attending a meeting laying in your bed is just bad news, especially when you're tired from a really cramped schedule. You are unable to competently function and more often than not, the meeting would either be filled with unexplained silences or the buzz of something sounding like a lumberyard in full swing will come over the mic if you are not muted and fell asleep. It is better to get up and go to a chair where you can be upright and alert. 
• This caught a computer techie who was unaware that their camera was on. Their top half was dressed for the meeting, not the bottom part as we found when they got up to retrieve a document. Their camera was still on, and the rest of the participants could not unsee what they witnessed. 
• Choose your neighbourhood carefully - one would expect that you've paid so much for your home that you should be able to at least have a meeting there in the privacy of your dwelling. Consider the time of day and the factors over which you have no control. Children that are not yours can be boisterous, and dogs you don't own can bark incessantly. Both of which are uncomfortable for the other participants to have to endure. Sometimes you may have to consider finding a meeting area outside of your home. 
• Know your technology - it is evolving so quickly that many of us are still learning how to use it. However, the meeting room is not the place to have the tutorial going for yourself to learn. Gain your competence ahead of time, so that you're in control of the environment if you're the host. 
• Be presentable - it comes back to not knowing if your camera is on or not. Be well-groomed and not unkempt. Though others in attendance may be kind not to say anything, beware of the customer that doesn't complain, they don't come back. 
• Govern your language/behaviour - swearing under your breath in unacceptable, especially if your mic is on and you're wearing a headset. This extends to eating/drinking during the call. It will be picked up with these sensitive bits of equipment. 
• Know how to share your screen to demonstrate a point is key. Ensure that all of your open tabs only show content appropriate for the meeting you are in. Sometimes online service providers may work for competing entities especially in this day with so many SMEs. 

So the next time you're planning an online meeting, take note of what was considered above. Ensure you are in a location with great bandwidth. Ensure that your background is suitable to be viewed, and have a great meeting. 

SMEs, in particular, are vulnerable

If we are going to be a country that looks at SMEs as a way of growing our economy, there is a serious need to not only put protection in place for SMEs but help them to understand that there are predators.

These predators will think nothing, when they are pouncing on your business, of the sacrifices and commitments that you made to grow your business from an idea to operation. They will look at your vulnerabilities and seek to exploit them. Even in instances when those opportunities are not clear for them to take advantage of you, they will still try to see how far they will get.

If you are seeking to get into business or grow an existing one. There are some elements that you mut appreciate when functioning within any given market place. Understanding why our business environment is the way it is:

Rules and Regulations

They are instituted for a reason. Many times, though we may not appreciate it at the time, they protect the SME from acts of ignorance. When you are in business, even with the presence of a team, there are many elements pertaining to business that you will not now. If you are a startup then this is even worse e.g. being a good plumber doesn't mean you'll run a good plumbing business.

• There are many elements that you'll be shielded from when you were an employee within a larger organisation. Other departments comprising of various team member performed certain roles enabling you to do what you do best. You were able to focus on your specialised tasks with little concern for how other elements of the business ran to create an atmosphere of stability. You worked without having to collect the money done for the work, performing the accounting functions, which then ultimately resulted in you being paid. You never had to consider marketing the entity, handling staffing situations, coping with financial issues, manoeuvring the legalities; all of these functions were covered by others in various departments. As an SME, its just you that has to deal with all these and more issues.

Communication

There are many people working in organisations that are poor at sharing information with the team internally. Too many people working within organisations are hearing about internally planned events, promotions, and other bits of information via the public media first. How can those in positions of responsibility then expect adequate representation? Your team members should be ambassadors for your organisation, not refugees from the public scrutiny that they will experience. 

Operations 

There is a need to marry responsibility with authority, currently, they are unequally yoked. In too many organisations, many are required to undertake responsibility without the authority to implement and stand by the decisions made without fear of penalty from others within the organisation. This is not a reality for any one sector but is quite widespread throughout many sectors and organisations. The lack of connection between responsibility and authority may have hindered the growth of many entities. Some of the areas impacted within the organisation include marketing, sales, decision making by line staff, supervisors and even some managers. There is a tendency to pass the buck, or as is said in some circles; the can is kicked down the road for someone else to handle.

Conclusion

Beyond the hosting of programs for SMEs there is a need to provide tangible guidance by way of mentorship programs and consultation programs that enable these entities to have teams of experts to guida them properly through all the challenges that the leadership of SMEs would face. By definition, there are no real large businesses within Barbados nor the wider Caribbean. Hence, we need to pull the business education out of the classroom and exam centres and into the mainstream of business.

SMEs need to understand how to adequately use shares - ordinary and preferred to promote growth. They neey to understand that insurance can be used to support their investments. Borrowing mechanisms need to move beyond commercial loans to include bonds, and empower our societies to truly understand the functions and benefits of crowdfunding. We need to do better since SMEs are still particularly vulnerable to so many threats within the global arena. 

Appreciative Inquiry and Organisational Change

This video is chocked full of information. Put the time aside to delve into its contents. It just may prove helpful.

A functional team is developed, it's not automatic

What are we teaching in our various organizations? Are we empowering the capacity for growth among those with whom we interact? Our personal biases, hangups and other negative fabrications of our minds should have no room in a progressive environment.

This old saying often regurgitated without thought is:
"If you want to do something well, then do it yourself"

This is one of the biggest hindrances to success. If you require help, then take the time to outline exactly what help you need and by when. Acknowledge that hidden agendas have no place in the progression of an organization who is already challenged with the situations that they face in the mainstream reason they came together in the first place.

If you have the necessary structure in place with the correct checks and balances, then the reduction of people pushing adverse agendas is significantly reduced, and you should get on with the business at hand.

What go you started, won't keep you going. You need to be able to scale up, and trust others to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.

If you really want to test your leadership ability; volunteer. It's an environment where you ability to rally everyone to support a common cause it key. It is having systems of accountability where people know what they're supposed to do and how their contribution helps in moving the organization towards its goals.

Look at the above video again and engage in some introspection. The serious questions that you ask yourselves may bear some revelation that you may not like the answers, however now you know the answers they can be addressed.

Remember, a functional team is developed, it's not automatic.

Are we serious about our marketing? Here are 6 lessons.

You may wonder why I have such a topic for this post, but just Friday, March 15, 2019, in the evening an observation prompted me to put this post up. It is not intended to get the representative in trouble, but more importantly, reinforce the need for companies to be diligent about what they do with regards to representation within the market.

I happened to visit Pricesmart, Barbados when I encountered this product. Left to my own interpretation about what the product's benefits are I am yet to hear the voice of the lass who tossed it into not only my shopping cart but also those of others who happened to be going through the aisle.

Clearly, she came to the end of her shift as she just walked off after throwing her 3 pointers from quite the distance. This was done without a greeting or even an inquiry as to if I/we wanted the product.

Thanks for the free sample, but there are ways that things are done and this is not what I know product sampling to be. Surely the company paying for this product to be marketed had no intention of having their product represented this way. Then again, maybe they did since clearly no due diligence was done to find out if the marketing company had a track record of presenting products properly to the general public. It seems like they hired the cheapest company to get the product out.

Approaching the cashier, I had to indicate that this product does not have any pricing and described how it reached my cart. The cashier assured me it was a sample and nothing would happen when clearing security to go to my vehicle.

Here are some 6 lessons:

1. When marketing your businesses, the cheapest option is not always the best. 
2. You need to train your representatives on the presentation of the products they will be showing. 
3. The representatives need to be courteous even when their shift comes to an end. 
4. She did not know if I was a mystery shopper for the same/other brands or even for Pricesmart itself. (easily she could lose her job in an already tough job market) 
5. Your representatives need to know how to competently handle objections raised by potential customers. 
6. You never know who is a blogger. 

Marketing dollars are expensive, and often businesses have to be creative in order to find funds for marketing in an already competitive environment. Many need to remember that they are not working for the company for whom they wear the uniform, but primarily they represent themselves and cannot afford to take a shoddy approach to their work. 

If your team needs to be trained, there are a multitude of trainers who can help you realize your objectives. Marketing organizations need to invest in their teams so they get the best representation. As I always say, think beyond the first sale. 

Check back often as we post things that we observe. That's what we can do in the islands. I hope that this article helps businesses become more aware of how little deviations in behaviour can help/hinder the development of your business. 

KEEP THEM POOR | This Is What The Richest Don't Want You To KNOW (an ill...

When you watch this video as I have, you tend to ask yourself. What if he was right, what am I doing to make a difference? What am I teaching letters when I stand before a group of entrepreneurs?

Every time I share with a group of people who are ambitious about beginning a business, I tend to be very direct with them. I don't sugarcoat anything and make any guarantees other than they have to put in the work, a lot of it, in order to see any kind of a reward.

Sure there are systems and models that can be taught to participants, but if they are unwilling for one reason or another to use them, then they have just attended another talk shop.

One person said to me that when they first entered a program where I taught, they didn't like me. I sounded too surefooted about what I said. They subsequently found out, that I have made more mistakes than many facilitators. That what I referenced during the program was things that I actually did, and therefore knew what would/wouldn't work.

My language isn't the cautious language of most facilitators. I have found that those who make the most strides in educating others are those who don't say what the participants want to hear, they say what needs to be told. It's not that I am harsh and uncaring, far from it; but I need to have participants take the information they are given seriously, and act upon what they've learned.

There was a time that I did a consultation, and the client said to me that I don't tell them what to do, but make them work by pulling the solution out of them. I believe that the aspect of discovery is greatest when this approach is taken since through the experience, they recognize for themselves that through the work, through the effort, they then know what will/will not work.

Robert Kiyosaki's video title shocked me when I first read it, I watched it out of sheer curiosity, and I found what the video presented to be memorable. Have a look for yourselves, and feel free to share what your thoughts were when you have finished. I can almost be sure that some learning would have taken place at one level or another, and you may just be willing to act on this information to ensure you are not being kept poor.

Has literacy been redefined

In all aspects of life, work and personal, it would appear that we have lost the ability to communicate what we mean in a way that we are understood by others.

At university, I learned a very important lesson in this regard. Many of us who ordinarily would get outstanding grades when we did accounts, struggled with financial management. It was so bad that it prompted the lecturer to have meetings with us to determine why this was so. The struggle was real.

During our first meeting, he asked me a series of questions. Among all the questions that we asked, he then gave instruction, "Show me how you read". At first, it seemed strange. How do you show someone how to read?

As I was observed reading, the lecturer then said to me that he saw where I was going wrong and showed me a technique for reading. Using this technique, it would feel as if the words were burned into my brain via a laser. More than that, I remembered what I had just read with clarity and understanding that I had not experienced in a lifetime.

It made me realize somethings:

• Reaching the university level does not mean you can read. 
• Being able to recognize and pronounce words is not reading, it goes much deeper into the comprehending of what was read and the interpretation of what is meant by the author communicating the message. 
• Over the years, I have realized that people who struggle with reading and ultimately self-expression quickly resort to violence as an outlet.

Can this be a reason why there is so much conflict within our society? Is this responsible for people resorting to violence as a solution since they cannot communicate effectively?

I remember taking a writing class with people who wrote novels and was told that I don't have what it takes to write novels, I'm more suited to business writing. A gentle let down if there's such a thing. Nonetheless, I persevered. My intent is not only to improve my writing, but my communicating on the whole. 

There are so many who have not grasped the rudiments of grammar, sentence structure and all the other linguistic techniques. There are so many publications saying what not to do, I read them since I believe that if you know the rules, then you know how to break them; did I write that? I really meant to apply them properly. 

Let's do better to see if we can enhance our literacy. Perhaps in doing so, we would improve our society as well. 

I welcome feedback. It helps with improving my skills. Why not jot me a note. Thanks for stopping by for the read.