Written by Susan James, co-founder, self-discovery trainer and coach at Self Discovery Life Mastery. Susan James will be among the experts featured during EO 24/7, a weeklong virtual learning event during which we reimagine what it means to be truly significant in this ever-changing world as entrepreneurs, leaders and individuals. EO 24/7 will take place 18–23 November 2019. Registration is free. Learn more and register today. The world is changing … and changing fast! For many years, up until about 100 years ago, many people were living in the Agricultural Age, on farms working the land, and implementing skills that had been handed down for generations. In the early 1900s, as the Industrial and Mechanical Age developed, it was a necessity for many to develop a completely new set of skills to survive as the world changed. As the world moved into the Technology Age in the 1970s and 80s, the value to society of those who invented and developed technical and computer skills began to increase. Most recently we have been in the Information Age. Most people have so much information and multiple choices to make—from the minute they get up in the morning until they go to bed. These can be as fundamental as deciding what to wear or where to eat—or as significant as deciding whose name to put on a ballot when voting for a president, or as a CEO making decisions that affect thousands of people. Every day more and more people are overwhelmed, anxious, sick and stressed. Many are unable to create their ideal relationships or experience harmony with their families. Others have just run out of tools and don’t know how to relax and unwind. They aren’t happy with their career and can’t focus on what they are doing, are unclear about their vision and are unable to fulfill their potential and purpose. They are not enjoying their life, and it is certainly not what they “expected.” So as the Information Age ends, we are moving into the Consciousness Age, or Golden Age. As humanity has evolved through these different ages, it has always been the pioneers who have led the way—whether it be in discovering America’s Wild West, inventing automobiles or creating the computer hardware and software companies that now play such a vital part in today’s world. The Self Discovery Group and the Self Discovery Trainers are the Pioneers of Today. The future necessitates a new strategy to develop self- and life-mastery, and that is exactly what the Self Discovery Techniques provide. They are very simple and highly effective skills that empower a person with a set of tools so they can manage themselves and their life! The five components of the Self Discovery Techniques are:
While everybody has a different personal experience as they progress through the Self Discovery Process, they all experience the following:
We believe that True Success in Life = Well-being + Effectiveness. The Self Discovery Techniques are a revolutionary strategy to accelerate the self-mastery process! This article originally appeared on the blog of Self Discovery Life Mastery. The post Skills of the Future that Guarantee Success! appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2Wr1ZAg
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Written by Justin Song, a senior research analyst at LendingTree where he has experience covering topics such as personal loans and small business lending. The average cost of starting a small business in the U.S. is about US$30,000—the same cost as a three-day medical stay. If you’re just getting started, you may view health insurance as an untenable expense and forgo it all together simply to avoid the monthly payment. However, this could ultimately be detrimental to your business if you wind up in the hospital. Not having health insurance could be the difference between sink or swim when it comes to your entrepreneurial dream. Here’s how you can look after your own health while also starting a business. 1. Don’t miss a health checkupYou might be tempted to skip routine checkups, especially if you’ve always had a clean bill of health. However, early detection is crucial in finding effective treatments for many health problems and could lower the overall cost of care to heal your condition. Stay on schedule for your yearly checkups and health screenings, such as Pap tests, mammograms and prostate checks. Try finding a doctor’s office that allows you to make appointments and changes online. Schedule visits when they’re least disruptive to your daily flow and add them to your calendar right away so you can plan around them. 2. Be proactiveProtect your health now by incorporating healthy habits into your lifestyle. While it might seem like a night of networking drinks is necessary, try switching that out for other networking activities: Join a gym, take up golf or tennis, or pursue whatever is popular in your industry. You might be surprised to see how many connections you can make while also doing something good for your mental and physical health. If you prefer to exercise alone, use the time to advance your learning. Listen to an educational podcast about your field or a business process you want to improve. 3. Protect your mental healthAccording to the World Economic Forum, founders are twice as likely to suffer from depression and three times more likely to suffer from substance abuse. Working on your own business can be isolating, but there are strategies you can implement to ease the burden. For starters, automate as many of your business processes as possible. Worried your business results might take a hit if you don’t do everything manually? Don’t stress; the data proves the opposite. This case study, for example, shows business owners can recover up to 58 percent of sales from abandoned shopping carts when they use automated methods. Sounds like a win-win, right? 4. Get covered for emergenciesIn worst-case scenarios, like a car accident or cancer diagnosis, you won’t want to pay for your medical care with your emergency savings—at the expense of your business pursuits. Even though health care coverage seems like a hefty expense, several affordable health insurance solutions can save you in the long run. 5. Develop a routineDo you regularly find ways to get less sleep? Is your entrepreneurial lifestyle so erratic that you never have time to cook your own food? Challenges like these are common to many entrepreneurs, but a key to long-term health as a business owner is having the discipline to create a healthy routine and stick to it. Yes, that probably means getting enough sleep each night and eating foods that make your body happy. Stay Healthy From the Start(up)You already know that entrepreneurship is all about hustling and working hard, but it doesn’t have to be at the expense of your health. Take the time to invest in your well-being, and you’ll see the dividends for years to come. The post Health and Hustle Don’t Have to Be at Odds appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2MU9cFR Chip Dodd joined EO Southeast Virginia in 2013. He is currently the president and CEO of Support Services of Virginia, a mid-sized company that provides Intellectual and Developmental Disability Waiver services, supports and housing in community-based integrated settings across Virginia, USA. He is also a keynote speaker and considers himself a “fun-loving outdoorsy person with too many hobbies to count.” In the past five years, one hobby, in particular, has hooked his attention and driven his leadership skills to new levels: adventure racing. Adventure racing, also called expedition racing, is considered the toughest endurance sport in the world. It’s a racing series that spans the globe and pits athletes against themselves in some of the most rigorous landscapes on the planet. Teams feature four members—at least one man and one woman—that race nonstop across hundreds of kilometers, with no GPS devices and no marked route. We asked Dodd to discuss his passion for this extreme hobby and how it informs his professional endeavors. How did you become involved in adventure racing?My EO forum mate Rich Braun wanted to do a race and needed a teammate. He had done one race before more than 10 years prior, but he had his eyes on a 24-hour race called the Shenandoah Epic. It pressed all my fun buttons at the same time and I was hooked. That was around five years ago. How does being an entrepreneur empower you to participate in these exciting races?Adventure racing and being an entrepreneur have many parallels. In my presentations, I explain that each race is like taking a company from an idea to exit. All the components are there: Setting a big goal, building a team, training, visualizing the race, executing the race, managing limited resources, logistics, knowing which KPIs to measure, overcoming unforeseen setbacks, solving complex problems, adapting and pivoting, knowing when and when not to quit and, best of all, celebrating the finish. EO helped me get off the treadmill so I could follow my passion. It also taught me the skills needed to lead one of the top adventure race teams in the country. (Currently, we are ranked eighth in the US in the elite co-ed division). Now expedition-length adventure races teach me the more advanced skills I need to take my company to the next level. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself and your team from adventure racing?That the human body is 10X more capable than most people think. Of course, you have to be mentally strong enough not to give up and tolerate long periods of discomfort. Up until my most recent Africa race, I had no clue that it was possible to race for 128 hours with less than 2 hours of sleep per night—all while navigating by map and compass, which requires solving complex puzzles the whole way. Most think racing in these conditions would be miserable. In reality, I was in tears on the last day of Africa because I didn’t want it to end. It is where I truly feel alive and at my best. A perfect example of “flow.” Coming back to reality is depressing, so I have to quickly put another big race on the calendar to look forward to. This also helps me stay motivated and focused at work so I can continue to chase my passion. What’s been your biggest failure in a race situation, and what lessons did you learn from it?Here’s one that was the most painful and avoidable: I attempted the 24-hour Shenandoah Epic solo. Although I trained hard, I did not train on elevation. Toward the end of the race, my IT band (the tendon that runs down the length of your outer thigh) failed and I could barely walk. I was on Massanutten Ridge in Virginia and had over 10 miles to hike to the next transition area (TA). Other than 911, I had no easy way out. For over seven hours I limped from the ridge down to the TA in extreme pain. On the steep sections, the only way I could keep going was to walk backward to relieve the stress on my IT. This was the only time I have ever given up and had the race director transport me to the finish. Giving up will haunt me forever—and it was completely avoidable. If I had a team, I would have let them down. Now that I train properly, my knees don’t give me any trouble. Paraphrasing a military expression, “train like you race.” Does adventure racing make you a better leader?Leading an adventure race team requires the same skills that we are supposed to use in our businesses but they are 100 times more critical on these routes. As I mentioned earlier, these races are like taking a company from beginning to end in a very compressed period of time. You have to be hyper-aware of every conversation and every emotion. You’re reading body language, empathizing, encouraging, managing frustration, asking for help, offering help, etc. Everyone is super tired, physically exhausted, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sore, cramping, hungry, thirsty and missing their family. Under these conditions, we do not have time to make mistakes, bicker, hold a grudge or play the normal games people play. We have to execute the race and manage our selves in such a way that we operate like a well-oiled machine. There is an old saying that “a team is only as fast as its slowest member” but that is not the case in AR or business. I like to think “a team is only as fast as they can get their slowest member to go.” We all need to know when to ask for help and when to offer it. Working together as a unit is how my adventure race and work teams have been successful all these years. Practicing these skills in races helps me avoid many pitfalls at the office. What would you share with other people considering entering a race?Start with a race under 12 hours. On the first few races, team up with an experienced racer and navigator because getting lost is soul-crushing. Watch adventure race videos on YouTube to get familiar with how races flow. Acquire the proper gear. Train with the exact same gear on the same conditions you foresee in the race. Practice navigation at local orienteering meets. Exercise by trail running or mountain biking on rugged terrain with elevation almost every day. Blend in paddling a couple of times a week. Train with a loaded pack. Train in all weather conditions. Experiment with different foods and beverages to sort out any digestive issues. Also, get to know other racers and learn from them. Check out the resources on the Adventure Racing Cooperative website and join the Adventure Racing Discussion Group on Facebook. Listen to the TA#1 Podcast on Podomatic. If you want to be successful at racing for over 30 hours, expedition racing needs to become a lifestyle. Understand that adventure racing is not for everyone. You have to be a special kind of person to enjoy pushing your limits to this extreme. The first adventure race that Chip Dodd championed was also a MyEO event. MyEO is a platform that allows EO members to connect based on their passions and pastimes. It is also one of the most popular benefits of EO membership. Dodd is currently serving his first year on the MyEO Committee as the Experts Lead for the Americas. The post How Extreme Adventure Racing Informs Entrepreneurship appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2We3jq0 “As soon as we control where awareness goes we control where energy flows. Dandapani, a Hindu priest, entrepreneur and former monk, is a highly rated speaker at multiple EO chapter learning events where he teaches entrepreneurs how to focus their minds to achieve greater success. In Part 1 of our interview, Dandapani discusses the benefits of a strong ability to focus and how to develop that skill. In Part 2, we asked Dandapani about his struggles as an entrepreneur and new parent and the dangers of having too much drive. Here’s what he shared: Why is focus your focus?First, let me clarify that I use the words “focus” and “concentration” interchangeably to convey the same meaning. Focus is critical for entrepreneurs—for everyone—because it enables us to solve problems. We all face personal, professional and even global challenges. One way to solve them is to be able to concentrate on a problem long enough to find a solution. If you can’t stay focused, how will you ever discover a solution? I work with entrepreneurs around the world. Productivity and efficiency are always high on their list of goals—but how can you be productive if you can’t focus? The skill of giving your undivided attention to the person or project at hand is a life-changer. Being able to highly concentrate enables you to be highly efficient. Entrepreneurs are in the business of solving problems. You need to be able to focus long enough on your product to delve deeply into it. The longer you can stay focused on a concept, problem or idea, the more you can discover about it. What is your biggest challenge as an entrepreneur?I am too driven. I need to be able to harness my drive and better manage my energy. Because that’s a topic that I teach, people quite often assume that I am a moral example of energy management. I’ve never claimed that! All I’ve said is that I’ve learned these tools, and I’ll share them with entrepreneurs to help them improve. You struggle with harnessing your drive?Yes, of course! If you don’t believe me, I’ll set up an interview with my wife and she’ll tell you all about it. Why is being extremely driven dangerous to an entrepreneur?Being extremely driven leads to grander ideas and grander visions. Sometimes that can be positive, but sometimes it’s negative. Drive consumes energy. You need a lot of energy to get behind a big drive. Where’s that energy coming from? The law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If I’m going to put a lot of energy into launching an app, for example, that energy comes from my wife, daughter, spiritual practices, friends and activities that I love doing. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re extremely driven, it’s a very dangerous thing because you’re taking energy from the people and activities that truly matter and putting it into your business. We’re all trying to find that ideal, proportionate investment of energy in our lives. I don’t use the word ‘balance’ because that makes us think 50/50, like a scale – and life is not a scale. You’re dividing 100 percent of your energy in some proportion between work, your spouse, kids, pets, friends and hobbies. How has parenthood affected your proportionate energy division?I have a 1-year-old daughter. One piece of advice: Never try to launch an app when you’ve just had a baby! Having a daughter has helped me become more focused than ever. I spend three to four hours with her each day—time that I previously put into my work. As a result, I have to be super critical of how I spend the rest of my energy. I don’t want to waste this time with her. It’s a precious gift – feeding her, playing with her, and taking her for walks. It’s non-negotiable. It’s made me super clear about how I spend my time, because I have much less time and energy for everything else. How does your message of focus differ from the mindfulness movement?It differs a lot. The Oxford dictionary defines mindfulness as “maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.” In other words, I can be mindful because I’m present on a moment-to-moment basis. And what’s the requirement for being present on a moment-to-moment basis? Focus! It seems like everyone is teaching mindfulness, but nobody is teaching the precursor to mindfulness: focus. Here’s the most important takeaway from that: You cannot “practice” mindfulness. Mindfulness is a state that comes as a byproduct of being focused. So, you don’t practice being mindful. You practice being focused and the byproduct is the state of mindfulness. That’s a message I want to get across. A lot of people try mindfulness and they never make progress because they’ve missed the first step. Concentration is the first step—everything else comes after it. Once people understand this, they can really begin to help themselves. Tell us about your app.It’s called Unwavering Focus. My wife and I feel that if we can give the gift of unwavering focus to as many people as possible throughout the world—the gift of understanding the mind and being able to concentrate—then they can solve problems in their lives and become better artists, better dancers, better scientists, better businesspeople, have better relationships―and life can improve. We priced the app very low―it’s US$20―so that as many people as possible around the world can afford it. It’s for people who are committed to learning how to focus and are willing to do the work. One unique aspect of our app is that after you purchase it, you don’t immediately have access to all of the content. My brain thinks in very structured, systematic processes. I’ve recorded 50 videos across the entire app, but the only way to progress from chapter one to chapter two is to do all of the work entailed in chapter one. Our whole idea is to educate people who are committed to increasing their ability to focus. We think that’s the key to helping more people worldwide begin to build an improved life. What’s your life’s purpose?My primary purpose in life is enlightenment. My sub-purpose is to impact as many lives as possible with the tools and teachings that I’ve learned as a monk. I spent 10 years of my life as a cloistered, celibate monk. I had no contact with friends or family. If I can share what I learned with people, and make it practical and simple to apply in their lives–that’s one of my big missions. The post Dandapani Discusses Focus, Harnessing Entrepreneurial Drive, Parenting and Purpose appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2P9WIvc Written by Jeff Shugart, retired senior executive. After 40 years of working, I was retired. I had always worked long hours in addition to traveling for work. While I was away, my wife handled all of the household chores, family activities and social connections. She made it look effortless, and I was happy to leave our family affairs in her capable hands. Weekends and downtime were usually filled with errands, household projects and going out, all according to her well-managed scheduled. Though I enjoyed it all, by the time I went back to work each Monday, the weekend had just flown by. I was constantly busy—no time for fun and games. Then, unexpectedly, my wife passed away. At the same time, my role at work was changing; it was the right time for an amicable exit. I had little time to consider what my new life would be like but, once I left, I discovered that taking a breath of fresh air felt better than good. It felt great! No more emails, conference calls, work texts or traveling for business. I suddenly had all the time in the world. For the first few weeks of retirement, the world seemed brighter and lighter. Everything felt new and fresh. Stress was a thing of the past. I finally had time to read the paper, finish the crossword puzzle, tackle a Sudoku or two. I even had time to pursue my own hobbies and interests. Except… There was nothing to pursue. All the activities and hobbies I’d always wanted to try had never become part of my life. Over the years, I’d pushed them aside. Other tasks were somehow always more important. Gradually, I’d lost interest or told myself I didn’t have time. Now, looking back, I saw how narrow my focus had been during my working years. Become More InterestingI thought of myself as a nice, fun guy, ready for a good time and hanging out with good people, though I was never much of a conversationalist. In the past, default conversation was about the job, long hours on the job or travel with the job. Though it had its limits and scored pretty low on the “interest-meter,” it was always a polite conversation. Now it was time for something new. I found that real, interesting conversations came easily after I left work. Simply sharing that I was no longer working seemed to spark dramatic interest. That one sentence garnered more attention and interest than I’d ever gotten from telling people about my long flight to China and how all airport hotels around the world look the same. While I liked the intensity of these new conversations, I quickly discovered I needed a way to keep the conversation going once it started. “So what are you doing? What are your hobbies? How are you spending your time? Don’t you miss work?” They were all valid questions, and I wanted to be able to answer them, not just for my friends, acquaintances and former colleagues, but because they were the same questions I’d been asking myself. I knew I did not want to go back to work, at least not in the traditional sense. I especially didn’t want to return to what I had been doing before I retired. But what did I want to do? What Do I Do Now? Make a List… Or TwoAfter discussing with friends, family, coaches and colleagues, I decided to make a list of everything I could think of to do. It sounded easy enough; I could do that. So I sat down, and I made a list. Actually, I made two: a to-do list and a bucket list. For weeks, I poured myself into those lists, putting down every item that came to mind, no matter how small, far-fetched, inane or dreamy. I didn’t judge; I just wrote. Soon, my lists had grown to include all the things I needed to do as well as everything I had ever wanted to do. Some items on the list originated from way back when I was a child. I was starting to have fun. Both of my lists were full of important things to do. A New Take on To-Do’sI’d used to-do lists while I was working, but the items on my retirement to-do list were far different. There were to-do’s that needed to be done on a daily basis, related to running the household, taking care of the family, and managing the day-to-day finances. Though I’d been in charge of handling our long-term investments (the easy job), my wife had the unenviable task of running everything else (while also working a full-time job). But taking over these necessary duties was on my to-do list, so I persevered. As time passed, I became more adept. Another major to-do was to make sure I maintained and grew my relationships with friends, family and my professional network. Achieving this goal meant getting active on social media, getting personally involved with my friends and, most importantly, taking the initiative to actually call people and talk to them. At first these things were difficult for me; my wife had been the person willing to get up and get things moving. I’d always been comfortable in the background. But as I stepped out of my comfort zone, I realized people were really glad to hear from me and see me. I’d initially thought of it as a boring chore list, but it turned out my to-do list was a very rewarding and fulfilling list of activities. Dream Big, Play HardThe “bucket list” was for my dreams and visions. As I made my list, I dreamed big. I wrote it all down, even the things that seemed distant or impossible. Even I admit there are some pretty far-out items on my bucket list. But in just one year, with a little thought, planning and drive, I’m crossing things off the list. Even one of those “wild” items has been accomplished. As a kid, I always wanted to go to a World Series baseball game to see my favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. So I added it to the bucket list. While my team had been in the World Series in recent years, I’d never had the time to see them. I actually thought the team’s glory days were over, and it would be years before they would return to the Series again, if ever. But I put it on the list anyway. Then I started watching the baseball season. Wouldn’t you know it? The Red Sox were in first place and they stayed there throughout the season and the postseason. They ended up in the World Series. I could have made excuses again. It would have been easy to say the tickets cost too much or the weather was too cold, but it was on the list, so I did it. The Red Sox won that game and went on to win the series. Thanks to my bucket list, I was part of it. “That was easy!” I thought. “What’s next on the list?!” Keep the Momentum GoingI began to notice my lists greatly intrigued people. But the real fun came from working my way through the lists and participating in unusual and exciting activities. Rather than the same old business-oriented conversations I’d always had, working on my lists took me on new adventures, some small and some larger. I also discovered that other people, whether working or retired, found the activities I was pursuing very interesting. My exploits and adventures with cooking classes, guitar lessons, traveling for fun, attending the World Series, movie acting, taking educational seminars on history or finance, and volunteering in my community all brought me a wealth of experience, interesting facts and stories to share. More importantly, as I shared my lists and adventures, the conversations I had with others began to expand my awareness of “what is out there.” Not only did these connections provide me with new ideas to add to my lists, but I also noticed the conversation never really lagged. When I shared, others wanted to share in return. And, as a result, I found others more interesting, too. Armed with my arsenal of ideas, lists and adventures, I have become more confident engaging with others. Rather than “reporting the weather,” I’m on the lookout for new things to learn and do. Along the way, I’ve learned that I’m not the only one who wants to talk about interesting things. Others want to listen, learn and contribute, too. By providing them with an opportunity to do just that, I inevitably become more interesting—not only to them, but also to myself. Now… what’s next on the list? Jeff Shugart, retired senior executive, discovered his passion for writing after 40 years of executive leadership. Moving on from the world of strategic planning, business development and operational excellence, Jeff decided it was time to pursue his dream: To write his own version of the “great American novel,” a memoir-style account of his successes, failures and lessons learned along the way. His stories and articles highlight the life and lifestyle of a retired executive, proving at every turn retirement is far from the end of the road. Rather, it’s a brand-new start. The post The Secret to Become More Interesting Is… Making a List? appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2MQD7gU Robert Glazer is a member of EO Boston and the CEO of Acceleration Partners, a leading independent affiliate management agency with 160 employees. The company was honored with Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognizing the Best Places to Work in 2019. The Employees’ Choice Awards program relies solely on the input of employees, who elect to provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and companies via Glassdoor. We recently asked Bob Glazer about the award and what contributes to making a “Best Place to Work.”What is most striking about the Glassdoor acknowledgment is that it comes from employees. Can you tell us what it means to you?We love hearing from our employees and really value their feedback which makes this acknowledgment all the more special. This honor affirms the company culture we’ve created and is made possible by our team that works day in and day out to make Acceleration Partners an amazing place to work. In too many growing organizations, growth and financial success come at the cost of culture and employee satisfaction. Can you identify a few keys to balancing both aspects of a business?
Acceleration Partners’ core values drive our company culture; they help determine who we hire, who we partner with, and how we conduct our daily business. In combination with our strong set of core values, we offer employees flexibility to pursue both meaningful work and the people and activities they find fulfilling in their personal lives. With 160 remote workers around the world, we’ve made work-life integration a priority. We believe this is key to creating a high-performing and relationship-oriented workforce that is motivated both inside and outside of work. It’s a framework we call Capacity Building. Can you identify the essential ingredients for being a “Best Place to Work”?First and foremost, what makes Acceleration Partners a best place to work great is our people. They truly exemplify our culture and are a big reason why people are drawn to work here. One of the most important aspects of our culture is authenticity. In far too many companies today, there is a disconnect between what is talked about and the reality of their day to day work and that starts with the leader. We try to create alignment between what we think, what we say, and what we do at Acceleration Partners and find people who share our values and vision. We have a differentiated point of view and realize that we can’t be all things to all people. The people who love working here feel that alignment and integrity. Acceleration Partners is not for everyone, but I think anyone who realized it wasn’t the right choice would say that we are consistent and it just wasn’t the right place for them. I actually hope that why people love Acceleration Partners or find it not a fit are actually one and the same. What kind of organizational structures or programs do you have in place to support employee satisfaction and culture?One of our key cultural programs is our annual Acceleration Partners Summit, a four-day event filled with learning, socializing, team building activities and celebration for all we’ve accomplished as individuals and as a company throughout the year. Prior to the last two Summits, we asked employees about their dreams and goals. I read every submission and surprised a group of people each year by making those dreams come true. These included making a financial contribution to a team member’s family to help him and his spouse realize their dream of adopting a child to reconnecting a team member living in London with a close cousin who had moved to Australia by flying her over to the UK for a visit. How do you measure employee engagement or satisfaction?Every week we send out a question to team members via TINYpulse to receive anonymous feedback on a variety of topics. TINYpulse makes it easy to assess how our team feels about everything from their job and team members to what they’d like to see from the company’s leadership team as well as express any concerns they might have. This allows our leadership team to be in touch with the pulse of the organization and stay abreast of any issues. We also measure an annual employee net promoter score and host regular town halls and team meetings where we ask for questions and feedback. Because the Glassdoor award comes from employees’ reviews, we also asked Acceleration Partners’ staff to share what makes the company a great place to work.“Acceleration Partners has a positive and collaborative work environment. Leadership is transparent and trusts its employees. There is a great amount of flexibility and great work-life balance.” “The organization is growing exponentially and there’s a lot of opportunity for advancement and growth within positions. You’re encouraged to challenge yourself daily and be uncomfortable at times, knowing these challenges are helping you excel. I’ve discovered a passion that I didn’t know I had and would not have been given the opportunity to discover if it had not been for my position here.” “Transparent leadership, strong work/life integration, a trustworthy community who care about your career growth.” “Acceleration Partners is led by an honest and transparent leadership team, held together by awesome and amazingly talented people, and offers a flexible as well as an empowering work environment.” “It is truly an honor to work with a leader whose vision is to not only encourage and inspire the digital marketing industry to be performance-based but who also wants to change the work-life paradigm so employees can feel fulfilled both inside and outside of work.” The post How Do You Create a Best Place to Work? appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/31hawGV A version of this article appeared originally on the blog of Bluetrain, Inc., founded by Bryan Smith. Smith is a member of EO Edmonton. Plan, implement and maintain. These three steps apply to almost any aspect of a business, but they are often overlooked in web analytics. In an increasingly online world, websites are key to running a successful business. Ask yourself if your website is doing what you intended it to do. Can you even determine that with the analytics you have? Web analytics are technology solutions that enable you to collect and report data on how your customers interact with your website. This information can be used to analyze and improve how your website is helping you meet your business goals. Businesses put hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into building sites they think are amazing, but they often don’t put enough resources into ongoing tracking to find out if their site actually works. Are they getting the key outcomes they wanted from that massive undertaking? Here are three steps to drive better business decisions through web analytics and reporting: 1. Plan web analyticsPlanning is a key part of any business, and web analytics tools are invaluable for making business decisions. As you design or redesign your website, build an analytics plan that will give you insights into your business performance and inform your decision making. Look at what your current site tracks as a baseline, and then determine if that information is helping you meet your business goals. Decide what additional or other data you need to measure—and how you want to see it on your reports. There are great dashboard reporting tools available that allow you and your stakeholders to easily understand the analytics data. Then you can select a web analytics tool that measures everything you want to track, is compatible with your technology and software and falls within your budget. 2. Set up analytics and reportingOnce you have a plan in place and have selected your tool, you can set up the web reporting tools to meet your business intelligence information needs. Perhaps you want to filter out the website visitors that come from within your organization. Maybe it’s important to see data visualizations on specific audiences, such as urban versus rural. You might want to highlight specific conversion goals. For example, if you have 50 PDFs on a website, but only one of those is an application form, that’s probably the one you’ll want to measure your success by. Keep in mind that information about the other downloads might be helpful for understanding how people use the website. Your own website data is valuable, but the power of dashboarding is the ability to bring in external data sources. For example, if your business activity is influenced by weather, you can bring in weather data to see how it aligns with the trends in your website activity. Your dashboards and reports should be more than just statistics. They need to provide business insights and metrics that align with your company’s goals and objectives. They need to be scalable and flexible so that you can use them as business dashboards, marketing dashboards or even executive dashboards. 3. Commit to ongoing web analyticsAnalytics is not a “set it and forget it” process. It takes some commitment to maintain a data-driven approach, but the benefits to your business are worth it. Get into a regular rhythm of reviewing and analyzing the reports to get the best value from your investment. Regular reviews are particularly helpful in identifying business issues earlier. As your business evolves, you’ll probably want to adjust the data you’re collecting. Dump metrics that don’t add value and focus on the ones that inform your business, your key performance indicators (KPIs). Take advantage of these powerful tools to get intelligence on new marketing campaigns or track the influence of new business channels. If you prefer to make your business decisions based on solid data, a well-planned web analytics structure is worth the time spent building and maintaining it. Bryan Smith joined EO in 2016. He is the president of Bluetrain, Inc., a digital marketing firm based in Alberta, Canada. The post 3 Steps to Getting the Most from Your Web Analytics appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2VHxLIR By Kevin Bonfield, founder and managing partner at Concentre and a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in Dallas, Texas. Your leadership team is truly the driving force of any change you want to bring to your organization. Leading change, thus, requires knowing how to get your executive team and managers on board. It’s easy to underestimate the number of changes that will happen to our leadership or executive team when we begin a transformation journey. When it comes to implementing major change I often see over half the leadership team turnover during the next two to three years. So, if we know that there are going to be changes, how can we take a proactive view of getting the right people in the right seat? This is the first step towards building the team you need to be successful. Assessing the Team: Bringing RealismLet’s start by understanding that assessing your team requires a degree of art and, where possible, can involve getting more than one perspective. That said, it is only when we assess with a level of realism that we can begin to take the appropriate actions. Underestimating and overestimating both lead to problematic outcomes—either that we underestimate or overestimate the depth and breadth of changes that are required. This is where a Team Assessor can help you. The Team Assessor evaluates your change team on two dimensions:
A number of factors should go into the assessment of your leadership team’s capability and readiness to lead the change, including:
By assigning a rank between 1 and 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest, for each person’s capability and readiness for change, then plotting each person’s position on a table, you will have a clear view in which you can assess your team. For example: On the Capability to Lead Change dimension, those with the highest capability should be placed on the upper half of the table, those with the lowest capability should be placed on the lower half of the table. On the Readiness to Lead Change dimension, those with the highest readiness should be on the right side of the table, those with the lowest readiness should be on the left side of the table. Do the relative placements—each leadership member relative to each other—make sense? Did the results come out as you expected? Defining ActionsThe assessment places members of the leadership team into four quadrants:
As stated above, this assessment requires a degree of art. As a result, some team members will be placed closer to the edges of the “Driver” box (team members who both have the capability and readiness to lead the change). Where there is proximity, I have found that the best course of action is to assume that they can be “Drivers” and give them an appropriate assignment to test your assumption. Some of the best change leaders I have seen just needed that opportunity to prove themselves. From here, determine which actions you are going to take and how you want to sequence them:
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