Review: Using HUDDLE For Collaboration

I recently discovered a new tool for personal or business collaboration: HUDDLE.

Huddle is useful for online collaboration, project management, and document sharing using social networking principles.

The online collaboration tool Huddle offer you the ability to:
1. Organize a group or team more easily.
2. Brainstorm via the use of white boards (just as we would off-line).
3. Create, capture, and edit documents and valuable files.
4. Communicate effectively across teams. This includes leaving messages, and getting/giving approval for various tasts and projects.
5. Manage to-do lists.
6. Network more effectively off of your social networking platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn (the two I'm using the most, besides MySpace).

Huddle is an effectively simple online tool to help you maximize your interactions with projects and teams. Although Huddle offers each team member the ability to manage projects, easily share and store files (even really large ones) online, quickly create or edit Word and Excel documents online, have group discussions, and more. What I love about Huddle is the "white board" sharing space and ease of use. This makes so much more sense to me than Google Groups' reply to all function that is frequently misused by my band members. Huddle may also be used as a client extranet - something I'll be exploring for ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

For my work with ARRiiVE and AspireNow, where I publish information frequently, my team now posts their work for review on Huddle, where I can edit, suggest changes, and approve projects. I can connect freelancers to my core team and manage the entire edition from a single spot - critical for a small business like ARRiiVE and AspireNow.

I've been using Basecamp, but feel that Huddle offers more functionality for the money. As both a Facebook and LinkedIn user, I'd like to drive more functionality out of my networks. Huddle's add-on extension applications for those social network platforms just might be the ticket to accomplish that objective.

For my new SLOJazzFest.org charity, we can use Huddle to share plans, documents and photography with our partners, suppliers and agencies. We can brainstorm new ideas on a whiteboard and get everyone involved. I like that I can control the group by assigning user priveleges and track their actions. We'll eliminate wasting time, too.

I intend to use Huddle for ARRiiVE, AspireNow, and SLOJazzFest.org... maybe even band stuff, although I use GoogleGroups and MySpace for the band, now.

Are you using Huddle? How is it working for you?
________________________________________

Copyright © 1999-2009 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

Like it? Share on del.icio.us or Stumble Upon!

How To Build Success In A New Year From Day 1

Want to get your New Year off to a good start?

I'll give you a simple way to build success in a New Year from Day 1:

Take the one project you feel is MOST IMPORTANT to your personal or company success and do it right now. If at all possible try to finish the project in one day.

If the project is too big to complete in one day, complete it in as short of time possible:

two days
one week
two weeks
one month
one quarter

But get it DONE. If it is the project most important to your success, you ought to do it first.

After you've completed it, write me back and let me know how completing that project impacted your year, okay?

BONUS: If you were holding a party for 100 CEO's in a major city (SF, NY, etc.) and had a budget of $1,000 or less, what would you do to make the event memorable?

Idea 1: Have everyone dress up in funny colors or polka dots. People remember events where they dress unusual.

Idea 2: Hire a cartoonist to write cartoons depicting conversations and random happenings at the event. Later, post the cartoons into a slide show so they can laugh at what happened, or get inspired by the ideas shared.

Idea 3: Hold the event somewhere unusual: a beach, a park, a theater.

Idea 4: Expand upon idea 2 - have someone video the event. Have another artist paint what happens. Raffle off the painting to go to the cause you select, but video the painting, video the cartooning, and video any other music (bands might play free if you held a contest first giving them desirable publicity).

Idea 5: Have someone dress up as the ego, another as the super-ego, and another as the ID. Each has to play their part when they converse.

Idea 6: Perform a skit: the CEO has to be janitor. The HR person the employee who is under performing, the sales superstar is HR, the customer service agent is the salesperson, the administrator the CEO, the janitor the graphic designer, and so on. Have them take on their roles with a Mad Lib about a company and act or play it out.

Idea 7: Suggest a potluck with a dish they've never cooked before, from a country they are not from. Then everyone will experience how hard it is to cross cultural lines but make a sincere effort to partake as they eat their food.

These are just a few ideas... what ideas do you have to contribute?
________________________________________

Copyright © 1999-2009 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

Like it? Share on del.icio.us or Stumble Upon!

Are You Getting Referrals? - Sales Tip

DUDE! Have you heard about ARRiiVE Business Solutions?

If you're trying to sell a product or service, you're usually going to find yourself prospecting for new business. If you've sold for any amount of time, you probably know the #1 most useful way to get new business is word-of-mouth.

Of course, a customer might, out of the goodness of their heart, refer a prospect to you. However, in my experience, I find that people are much likely to give us a referral if we ask for it.

ASK FOR REFERRALS

Are you asking for referrals for your business? If not, you might be selling yourself short! Ask for referrals, with each and every customer.

You might ask me: "Scott, when is the best time to ask for a referral?"

Answer: Strike while the fire is hot! You always want to ask for a referral during or immediately after your customer signed-up with you. Why? Because this is usually when they are the most excited about your service. The other time to ask them for referral is just after you receive a payment for services. Obviously, if they paid you, they're satisfied, too. So, use these two key times to ask for your referrals.

________________________________________________

New ARRiiVE Business Solutions SPECIAL PROMOTION:

Get a Salesconx account set-up that will help you drive business to your website, or get paid for connecting people you know with the needs of others.

Just visit this link and they'll get you started.
_____________________________________________________

Now, if you're asking for referrals but still struggling with getting as many warm leads as you'd like to see, there may be an additional way you can grow your prospecting list: offer a GIFT to get a referral.

USE GIFTS TO GET MORE REFERRALS

The following examples all are used by various companies as gifts:

1. Credits towards services you offer.
2. Cash - my web hosting company for ARRiiVE.com, 1and1.com, offers a cash payment for other webmasters/sites referred to 1and1 domain, hosting, and other web services.
3. Gift Certificate. For example, "Refer three people and get a $15 certificate towards your next order")
4. A Free Vacation. Worldmark by Wyndham and other companies offer a free vacation if you win a contest for referring people to take a tour through their program. I can hook you up if you want a tour of that nature as I have many friends at Wyndham.
5. White Paper download. IBM offers many high-quality "white papers" or position papers on a variety of topics. It took me all of 60 seconds to find one related to the book I'm writing: Transforming The Workforce by IBM. If you want to learn more cutting-edge ways to transform a global team, email me for more details on my book, solution, and upcoming software tool.

Many webmasters know that Amazon offers clients between 4 - 15% in referral fees which may be rendered in gift certificate form, cash, or purchases through the Amazon Store. So, you can combine strategies to get referrals, too.

The point is to get creative in your effort to gain referrals and grow your prospect or leads list. I like Worldmark's idea of having an "Owner Party Weekend" where owners can invite friends to a party and get a "super-charged" experience. They have some cool things, like an Elton John Concert and the Red Piano at Caesar's coupled with a stay at their resort. What better way to get involved, right?

Just 10% more business can mean a lot of money:

One company I recently consulted with claimed they helped their customer gain over $6,000,000 in additional business through an increase of just 9% from their referral program.

Need help? Get a proven process:

Through ARRiiVE.com, I offer a service helping organizations of medium size set up their own referral program. I use a simple process:

1. Gather email, offer gift or coupon.
2. Offer referral payment for providing email of client's friend/associate.
3. Gift client who refers a potential new client or submits a repeat order through the coupon.

It's simple and easy to use, and my automated system costs as little as just $30 per promotion per month up to over $249 per month, depending upon your needs. If you need assistance in setting up your referral program, contact ARRiiVE, we can help you set up your program. We offer a free 10-day trial, so you have nothing to lose when you try it out.

I'm considering things for my clients to bring a guest, such as a cruise on the Papagallo II, Wine-Tasting and Talk, and other things that sound fun to me. Maybe I can help you with something similar, too?!

Share this article with a friend and forward this link!

OR share the radio broadcast - bonus affiliate ideas:

Executive Team Building - Don't Waste Their Time

In team-building exercises for executives, one of the biggest challenges is not in planning the event itself, but in properly structuring the activities and putting thought into how to facilitate your event.

It is not enough to plan a date to meet, invite your leadership team, schedule an outside expert, and then figure you'll discuss key strategic subjects and expect anything useful to result.

You can all go play golf together and you might get a little better at golf. Or, you can spend three days rafting down rivers and you might eventually get better at rafting down rivers!

When planning executive team building, more attention is often paid to the executive retreat location, the recreational activities and food choices than the substance and exercises to create results to the team's challenges.

Facilitated exercises must be more than justification for expenditures. They must be the core of the event!

If your company spends for a luxury venue but fails to set objectives, goes soft on facilitation, and dedicates only three hours or a half day for the key exercises, then I'd argue that you're really not doing the executive retreat to accomplish anything other than having fun together. There's nothing wrong with having fun - we all need to have fun as leaders in business just as in other parts of life.

But take the extra steps to ensure your executive retreat is planned properly, executed flawlessly, and thoroughly debriefed, and you'll likely learn a lasting result that can be developed further each year you get the team together.

If you're seeking a resource for your executive event, consider utilizing my friend Andrew Long's company, Critical Path Finders, to help you plan and facilitate your retreat. He's got the right perspective and does an excellent job!
_______________________________________

Copyright © 1999-2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

Podcasting as COLLABORATION or BLOG TOOL?

Have you used Podcasting Tools as a COLLABORATION TOOL? Podcasting tools can also be used much like a BLOG! Also, you can MAKE MONEY from broadcasts!

I've been using TalkShoe over the past six months to experiment ways to host my radio shows at AspireNow.com and ARRiiVE.com. I've discovered that Talkshoe can be used for more than just radio:

1. Site introduction files: example - visit http://www.aspirenow.com/, and click on the intro file at the top.
   
2. Conference Calls: Talkshoe gives you the ability to record a conference call (hidden or public) and invite MANY users on the line - for free!
   
3. Audio programs. I'm now converting some of my radio shows at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/37798 and http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/37792 into CD programs.
   
4. Training and audio webinars. I use Talkshoe for my training programs http://www.howbloggersmakemoney.com/, http://www.coldtogold.com/ and other sites.
   
5. There may be even more uses for Talkshoe I haven't yet thought up - did I miss any?

Get your own Talkshoe set-up by visiting: www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/userCreate1.jsp?affiliateId=57383

Talkshoe also pays you to broadcast. They pay a little for the first and tenth shows, a percentage of show traffic, and also a percentage of show traffic that sign up under your affiliate. If you more details on the money, I'll be posting tomorrow on the subject.

Last, your Talkshoe titles WILL appear high rank in Google search engines and draw traffic to both your show page and referenced sites in show descriptions. Again, long-tails lead to happy trails!

__________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

More useful than a cup of espresso: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.

The REAL Value of Online Networking

I've been using social networks in an avid way since about 1997. The first site to intice me to use a social network for business was Ryze. Ryze was really booming in San Francisco in 2002, then sort of tuckered out, although every now and again I find someone new getting active there. I was involved during the year that we had these cool business mixers, followed by a party. I was into that. Some business people were turned off by the alcohol, the loud music, and such, but I thought it was all part of the fun. I met several of my best friends through the Ryze mixers in San Francisco.

You'll notice that I'm not talking about the online activity nearly as much as the FACE-TO-FACE activity that resulted out of Ryze. Because, that is truly the value of an online network: it leads you to face-to-face networking.

FACT: The best online networks increase your face-to-face networks.

So, look for this in your network.

In fact, now that I think about it, AOL chat rooms that were popular in the late 1990's were about this, too. You'd connect online, then meet in person. I'm sure most who read this will remember the movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan called You've Got Mail, which introduced the concept of online dating to the masses. Again, they met online, but then took it into real life. That's the way a good social network ought to function. I met a former band-mate, Dino, through those AOL Chat rooms. I also got connected with American Cancer Society events, and met a few other people, too.

A couple of years ago, I built a profile on LinkedIn. But I didn't push it, because I felt it a bit limiting. And, here is where I must lament the value of LinkedIn versus my latest craze: Plaxo. The problem with LinkedIn, in my opinion, is that the system is too closed. I can only email. I don't see a full stream of what people are doing, and it is difficult to navigate. Also, I can't even email half the people without having to pay $30/month fees (or higher). That can get costly. Is LinkedIn worth my cable bill? Frankly, I'm not sure. Since LinkedIn displays your career time line like an online resume, I'd say it is great for recruiters. For everyone else, it's mostly a time-suck. Yes, I use it, but I'm not nearly as active as when I first joined. When I use LinkedIn now, I always include my phone number and invite a call. I just want my connections to be real life connections.

Better online networking:

Now, on the contrary, the new Plaxo, with their Pulse streams, have made it easier to network, view your contact's phone number, email, websites, and so forth. If I want their resume, I can always ask for it. Five people in the last week have called me from my Plaxo networks, in desire to KNOW me. That rocks. Yes, Plaxo sucks time, too. But, the difference is that I'm building a vast global network of people interested in the same things I want to build through my groups function. Not only that, but because I moderate the group, I can control postings. If people get off-topic, their post is deleted. Repeat violators are tossed from my group. I know: I'm harsh. But I hate SPAM. The groups are great, though, because you can connect with like-minded people.

Spam in online networking is a problem, but I get surprised when people report my AspireNow newsletter as SPAM. Why would they do that? After all, they have to double-opt-in to join! This simple fact alone means that my emails are SPAM compliant, not to mention that I run them through Constant Contact, which also enables me to follow the rules. People are so touchy about SPAM - but with good reason. REAL SPAM, is the type where people post to every group a feed about their MLM (Multi-level marketing business), or some other venture, that often appears totally unrelated to the group(s) they posted into. At Plaxo, I detest SPAM, and will quickly rebuke those who violate it in my groups. At the same time, this doesn't negate the power of the group.

An example of online networking results:

For example, this morning I met three new people who are interested in my latest programs, www.howbloggersmakemoney.com and www.coldtogold.com. I would not have met these people had I not been active in Plaxo.

Another example of the power of Internet networking, is how people have involved me in their technology. Today, somone posted an inquiry in my group. I read the post. At first, I thought it had nothing to do with Advanced Collaboration, then I realized it had EVERYTHING to do with Advanced Collaboration. Since I'm building a software program under the veil of http://www.semanticcollaboration.com/, I'm deeply interested in posts like the Wikinomics: the future of social networking.

If you're seeking ways to boost your own social networking, check out Plaxo, and also drive your network back into real-time. No, they're not paying me to plug them. I just like their site. But take the online networking into the real world. Pick up a phone, call the person. Schedule a meeting if you live close to each other. That way, you'll really reap the value of your online networks.
__________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

More useful than a cup of espresso: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.

What Is Collaboration?

People are so junked-up on new catch phrases in business. It seems like "collaboration" caught on as the big buzz back in the late 1990's, but it's re-emerging as something of interest. Why?

Because people will always find collaboration useful when they are building anything new.

Collaboration has been around since the dawn of time. In fact, I think of the Tower of Babel, the story in the Bible, where people from all over the world got together to create this massive tower touching the heavens. If you want to build massive projects, or communicate across various cultures, collaboration seems to be the key to making it happen faster, and more impressively. This may not always be a good thing, but we can hope to make it so. The Wikipedia definition of "Collaboration" drills deeper into the meaning of these teams:

"Collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require decentralization. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources."

Let's look closer at Collaboration. Collaboration may not require decentralization, but to maximize it, a paradigm-shift to a new model of organizational structure is suggested.

Collaboration is another word for teamwork, in a sense. But moreover, a certain type of teamwork can accomplish almost any goal, and seemingly more effectively than people could do on their own, by utilizing the knowledge, talents, and resources of the collective group experience towards a common purpose.

I've been investigating the structure of teams for about ten years now. The most common structure of teams is to build the team from the top-down. This reminds me of the old playground system where two "popular" students pick other favorite students to be on their team from the kids standing there thinking "pick me, pick me!" Why teachers ever thought this was a good idea was beyond me. If you were picked first, you figured you were popular, while if you were picked last, you didn't even want to play (mostly due to the emotional damage to your self-confidence). But, this is exactly what business leaders, organization leaders, and education leaders are still doing to this day:

1. The people at the top of the pyramid get paid the most and have the highest and most "important" rank. 2. The people at the top pick the people under them, and so on, until you get to the ranks of sales, customer service, admin, and the mail room. And it all usually ends up in the mail room, doesn't it? Want to find out the health of a company, start there before reading the annual report. Anyway, looking at the top, everyone else in the pyramid has to answer to their direction, and either "get in-line" with the program or get out. It's not a very empowering situation, unless you're at the top. And, even if you're at the top, the experience is a bit like the Lord of the Flies, as described in the classic by William Golding, where the lieutenants often seek to tear down the chief at their first opportunity in their own greedy thirst for supposed power. As the cliche goes, "it is lonely at the top."

The situation in schools, businesses, and government organizations is much like that of this quote by Shakespeare, within King Lear - "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods, — They kill us for their sport". (King Lear Act IV, Scene 1[1]). Isn't that how it feels when we're in a top-down organization?

I recall watching a political debate last week, the concept of "merit pay" for teachers being discussed. My parents, who were both teachers, were watching this debate with me. My mother said, "they were discussing this merit pay thing thirty years ago. It isn't a good idea. The teachers that kiss-ass the most would be the ones promoted to higher pay and administrative positions." Well, that's kind of what happens now, anyway, but it would just make it worse by putting money behind it, wouldn't it?

I've been evaluating a new approach: the concept of turning top-down systems inside-out(SM). I believe that if our spiritual strength is at our core, then that is how an organization ought to be structured. Everything goes out from there. Plus, this allows more natural concentric circles of movement to occur. Jobs become less about the functional descriptions and more about organically and properly distributed use of talent.

I just stumbled across a book that is discussing exactly this situation in schools, called Deep Change: Professional Development from the Inside Out By Angela B. Peery. In this book, Peery makes arguments that all the pressures to "horizontal-ize" teaching methods have come "top-down" or "outside-in" when the profession of teaching is an "inside-out" affair. Is it any different for any OTHER job? It is for me. I've always felt that if I'm not SPIRITUALLY motivated, I'm not that into it. More than that, if it isn't FUN, I'm really not that into it, no matter how much they're paying me.

In a quote from page 15 from this Deep Change book, the author quotes Ann Twigg, a teacher struggling with the movement to standardize teaching. Twigg, who is described as an "exemplary, passionate teacher in her 17th year of teaching," shows uncharacteristic dissatisfaction from the teaching community:

"I'm still tremendously frustrated by my feelings about standardized testing. . . sometimes the angry feelings turn into apathetic shrugs: I never thought I wouldn't care about what I am doing. I've been waking up prior to the alarm, but not wanting to get out of bed just because I don't want to face another day at school. Who wants a teacher with these feelings? I wouldn't. Of course, my teacher self takes over by the time I arrive in the parking lot, and I give it my all. And sometimes I'm not satisfied with that! Where's the fun?"

How poignant.

I felt the same way in my final days at EMC2. I remember feeling, "where's the fun?" I remember feeling distrust in the system and in the organization who employed me. After all, this is the same company that, according to my former CEO at Data General prior to the merger, had promised to keep the company intact, keep the same teams, and move forward with the Data General company as a positive move. Two months later, my entire line of command was eliminated in ONE DAY. I remember not wanting to be there anymore. Those feelings cannot help but overtake us at some point and affect the quality of our work.

It seems that a pressure is mounting from top-down organizations to continue to cling to a broken system. But there is another pressure mounting within these organizations that is aching to be set-free.

It is the system, not the person, who is at fault in the modern organization. Moving into a post-modern organizational era, life has become more chaotic, more unpredictable. The expansive movements of open-source, grass-roots, and global dynamics are making it difficult even for the shadow leaders to control what is really happening. Why?

We've moved into an information era. From the industrial age to an information-age, the shift has occurred to an era where simply "producing something" is no longer the primary goal. It is now about how we share ideas, and how we share what we've produced; with "share" being the operative word. And that is where the model is breaking down.

Pyramid models are excellent for creating marching orders and going off and executing them. Notice my words: they sound like words you'd hear in the military. Because that is how a pyramid feels: like you've been stripped of your individual rights and made to conform to a system for a common purpose. And, last I checked, the military isn't really described by most people as spiritually empowering, or even as fun. But, within the traditional pyramid, sharing isn't a primary directive. And, the nature of rungs in the ladder, along with functional hierarchy, and pay systems that support this pyramid, all reinforce the mistrust in whether sharing is wise or a good idea. Certainly, more than one executive has had an idea stolen by a peer, in order for that peer to get ahead in the system. Other creative-types get stagnated, frustrated, and leave to try to find something better elsewhere (often only to get more frustrated with the next pyramid-system organization). And, this is also why so many women are leaving to start their own companies. Believe me, most women agree that the system is broken. And, this is another reason why we must embrace a new system: women in the workplace need to be women and not have to act like men to get along in that workplace.

Isn't about time someone stood up and talked about the elephant standing in the corner of the room? Forcing women to work a male-dominant model (pyramid) is not healthy to women. Women need a new model, based upon a structure that integrates male and female energy.

This is why it is time for a change. The change we need is to move from top-down to inside-out. I've created a model that makes it easier to facilitate this transition. It takes more than HUMAN RESOURCE buy-in to initiate this process. Sales, Customer Service, or Operational groups can start the movement. But, the core executive must buy-in, too. Truly, it requires an executive approach, as well as human-resource approach, if the organization is to succeed in completing the paradigm shift.

Why is this change a paradigm shift?

Think about it: while trying to write about the change, I am temped to write, "it requires a top executive buy-in..." See the problem? If I wrote, "It requires an inside-out buy-in from the executive to the functional roles of HR, Operations, Marketing, to the outer fringes of Sales, Customer Services, and even the Mail Room, to succeed," that requires you to RE-ORIENT your mental picture, and how you perceive the organization. Literally, this perspective reorientation turns the organization from top-down to inside-out.

So, if you're an advanced, cutting-edge thinker, and you agree with me that "yes, we need this type of model in our organization," then why not engage me to help you implement it? I'd love to help. It is my calling in life to advise world leaders how to create more spiritually aware, more productive and powerful organizations, through facilitating this paradigm shift. I'm working on software to help implement this type of change, and other tools to make it easier for organizations to implement.

Collaboration is a buzz that becomes more important when we find ways to strengthen the circle that swirls through the post-modern organization. Work is becoming defined less and less from a functional role and more and more into ways to harness our talents and resources. This is what I've meant about empowering the individual, and empowering the organization. It truly is an exciting era. We can define how to make this new model even more powerful in the days ahead. The choice is ours to accept the old, outdated model of the pyramid, or to embrace turning the top-down inside-out with the Diamond-Circle Model (TM), and truly build more collaborative, productive, and powerful organizations.
___________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

More useful than a cup of espresso: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.

Everybody Wins - The Game

Join Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions, today at 2:00 P.M. PST for a special interview with Carmen Lynne, creator of EverybodyWINS (www.EverybodyWinsTheGame.com), on the ARRiiVE: Innovations in Business Online Radio Show.

Carmen ran one of the most successful dance studios in Southern California during the swing revival in the 1990's, and is currently a master hypnotherapist operating out of Redondo Beach, CA. Carmen is a graduate of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Tarzana, the only nationally accredited school for hypnosis in the USA, and she graduated with honors and the Director's Special Award for outstanding achievement in clinical practice.

She is also the inventor of the first socially conscious board game, EVERYBODY WINS.

We'll be discussing the purpose of the game, how groups can facilitate teamwork and collaboration through the interplay of a fun game, and other concepts like cooperation v. competition, and more!

Visit: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=37798&cmd=tc

Dial: Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 and enter Talkcast ID: 37798. You might have to download the Talkshoe software first if you haven't yet listened to a talkshoe podcast or radio show prior to this show. This promises to be a very engaging and lively show. Call in with questions or simply listen in at your convenience.
__________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

More useful than a cup of espresso: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.

The Demise of the Dreaded Office Cubicle - Modern Approaches to Office Design

Cubicle offices are a downer, don't you agree? With wireless networking, we are now starting to see more and more the demise of the cubicle office environments.

In reading an article at Wired Magazine, entitled, "Sorriest Looking Cubicles" the thought occurred to me, "there are NO GOOD OFFICE CUBICLES. All cubicles SUCK! They are ALL sorry-looking!"

Picture (above) from Fotolia under license.

Have I struck a nerve?


Okay, for the C-level managers at companies like DELL, IBM, HP, Google, Time-Warner, AT&T, and just about every other major corporation in existence, they'll probably read this and go "oh my God, how can he say that?" because, you see, the top officers from most companies in the world (at least, the USA) WANT you to like working in cube farms. After all, it lowers their cost of office space. And, believe me, from an Human Resources and Facilities level, Sq. Foot per employee IS an important cost factor at most companies.



But, as both an employee, and as a manager, I've never liked cubicle environments. At least, not for salespeople and creative types. I've put together a list of the problems and possible remedies, here.


The top 7 reasons cubicle environments drain your productivity:



1. I can't hear myself think in a cube farm. Too many other people are talking around me, and their discussions are highly distracting to me working at optimum level. Yes, I'm auditory, and only about 20 - 30% of your workforce is auditory. But, that's 25% of your team who is impacted by the noise/disruption factor.

2. It is impossible to have a focused high-level conversation from a cubicle environment. The CEO will tell the sales team: yes, sell high, sell wide, and you'll have better results selling. I agree. But HOW are your top salespeople (or bottom salespeople, who aspire to become top salespeople) going to get there when they can't focus or hear their conversations? I recall my earliest days selling at Businessland: when I had to make outgoing prospecting calls, I did them from the CONFERENCE ROOM. Why? Because people would walk by my cube and yell things, or conversations would make it hard to hear my critical selling conversations. The problem isn't just outgoing calls, though, as what can you do when a CEO or important prospect returns your call? When you're in a cube, the answer is NOTHING.

3. Privacy doesn't exist in cubicle environments. For people who like to operate in stealth mode, privacy is critical. This can be true for your key developers, idea people, and others who might need more security. There is no security in a cubicle environment.

4. Absence of life! I also can open my sliding window and smell the fresh air - something absent from most corporate environments. How many corporate cube farms have plants of any kind within them? You'll notice lots of cartoons, as employees fight to keep their sanity in a cube farm. I suggest planting more real plants in portable, potted containers.

5. Lack of natural light. Cubicles block natural light. False light has been proven to cause an increase in depression. Depressed employees are less productive. I guess people forget this common sense when planning their offices. How many offices have rows of fluorescent lighting overhead, the little square ceiling tiles that cover the acres of cabling running overhead, and below that is spaced the little crammed-in cubicles that people are supposed to gratefully spend all these hours slaving away for their company? I'll tell you the truth: MOST OF THEM. It's disgusting, how few companies have made the small investment into natural lighting. In my home office, I have installed natural lighting wherever possible, and use my blinds from windows that face the ocean to control my lighting throughout the day. Now, while today is foggy, most days are sunny. I happen to LOVE the sun! How about you?



6. Class-system enforced through square-footage. If the CEO has the large corner office with the conference room, administrator, and special teleconferencing system installed, and you're in a 4x6 cubicle, with one little area for your books, a picture frame, and two filing cabinets, what does this say about your position versus the CEO's position? While I agree that the CEO may have different needs and different visitors to their office, nevertheless there ought to be an office for salespeople and creative types, too. If you want to create a paradigm-shift in how you structure your company, and go from top-down to inside-out (see the Diamond-Circle model I've created and offer consulting to implement), well, you can't do it if you're stuck in the old class systems.



7. A door gives privacy, security, comfort. Cubicles have no door! Talk about the perennial open-door policy. In evaluating every company I worked where I made sales, I experienced my greatest success when I had an office with a door that closed and windows to the outside world. When I didn't have the door and windows, I maintained my success by spending 8 - 12 hours per week working from my home office, even before it was widely accepted to do so.



So, these are the top reasons why cube farms drain productivity.



However, with the advent of "wireless" technology, there is good news for office workers:


According to an article from GovTech.com: The American worker hasn't had much to celebrate lately. Wages and salaries are declining, benefits are getting the ax, unions are struggling. But there's one workplace development likely to bring joy to more than a few: The demise of the dreaded office cubicle.

What's happening in office spaces is actually a bit encouraging: major corporations, like Capital One, Google, and others, are leading a revolution in office-space design. Spaces are becoming more open, more collaborative, even, dare I say it: more ALIVE.


Do you want suggestions for ways to improve your corporate environment?


1. Drop the walls. In environments where people NEED to communicate fast and need the interaction, consider lowering the cubicle walls. This creates a natural space where people can interact together. Another way to deal with walls are to create louvred walls, that can be raised or lowered depending upon the circumstance. According to the GovTech article, employees at CapitalOne found they had 87% more productivity when they dropped the walls. Instead of emailing back and forth, they could simply talk to each other. Certain environments - especially customer support and call center types of environments, thrive with an open room format.


2. Build different offices. Where you have salespeople and creative people who need to be most effective, offer more space for these people to get quality work done. I suggest a small office for a desk, two chairs, a filing cabinet, and a bookcase, at minimum, for basic offices, then a series of conference rooms that facilitate collaboration. Offer employees the ability to book conference rooms for various team activities and customer-related activities. Create entire centers to spark creativity and design collaboration with customers into your environment.


3. Create revolving-offices. Offer "revolving offices" for people who come and go from remote locations and home-office environments. Just make sure you have the correct number of offices to people. The only way you can know this is to measure the amount of people, the number of hours, and divide by offices. In fact, you might go a step-further and load balance, depending upon PEAK usage.



4. Offer creative "home-office" options. I've always liked having an office to go to, but I also love working from home, because it is the quietest place to work, in my experience. I get the most done there, and can complete most of my tasks in that time, alone, when working for a company. Now that I run my own operation, I still love working from a home-office. This is a good option for companies, because they save a considerable amount on square-footage. Just make sure you create the revolving office for people to work out of when they DO come in to the office.



5. Bring in more "home-style" furniture. I remember visiting Google's office headquarters in 2002. It seemed innovative at the time to see lava lamps and bean bag chairs in Google's corporate headquarters. But, really, I think this is how offices used to be, way back. They got away from it, with cube farms. An office will make you more relaxed and comfortable (read: more productive) if you have more natural furniture to work from. Make sure you have some "comfort" pieces around the office, and make sure your chairs support healthy posture.



6. Consider collaborative spaces. How do kids collaborate? In a play room? At recess? Around conference tables? Why not create similar work environments for your teams?


Additional ideas include the following:



7. Convert fluorescent lighting to natural lighting.


8. Install skylights.


9. Create an outdoor workstation environment as much as possible.


10. Offer more security for employees (lockers, files, etc.).


11. Bring in more natural plants that can live in limited lighting environments.


12. Take brainstorming sessions to a remote environment. Create brainstorming session areas within your office space, if possible.

It is important to take into consideration HOW your team works. Do you need some people left alone? Do you want others collaborating? Do you want some alone sometimes, collaborating other times? You'll need a variety of spaces to accommodate each of these needs.



The cubicle, to me, offers the least attractive office-space option. It isn't very flexible, it is loud, and yet you can't collaborate easily with anyone. If you haven't done it yet, consider dropping the cubicles out of your office environment, create more open space, more "alive" space, and more flexible office space, and see if you don't discover a boost in productivity.



If you have additional ideas on ways organizations can improve work conditions, please contribute your comments (below).


________________________________


Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.


For more information, contact info (at) ARRiiVE (dot) com, visit ARRiiVE.com, or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. References in this article to an article © 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via Newscom. No violation of trademark or copyright intended. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

FEEDS & SPEEDS: you need to SUBSCRIBE HERE to get fed more on articles like this.

Want To Stop Getting Treated Like A Number?

1324FU#4. Is that how your company sees you?

This article is aimed at employees, as well as employers, to help do something about employees getting treated like a number, rather than a fully-functional, smart, loving, spiritually-based human being. I'm writing this to share that I've been there and I care about changing how business is conducted in the world around me. Here's the burning question nagging at me:

Have you ever worked for a company and felt like you were just a number to them?

Examples of how companies make employees feel like a number include:

1. Your ideas are put-down, stolen, or put aside by management.
2. The company only utilizes you for one core function (sales, HR, engineering, operations, administration, etc.) when you have more expertise and many more talents to contribute. Why can't they see you for who you really are?
3. All the company ever asks you about is numbers.
4. In an annual employee review (if you ever got one), your general contributions were overlooked. Instead, "highlights" focused on how you could improve numbers.

I could go on. I've had each of these things happen to me as an employee. Frankly, it's one of the reasons why being your own boss is pretty cool. Of course, on the flip side, there's the numbers. Being your own boss is great, but you have to make money and often deal with the pressure of bootstrapping to be able to sustain being the boss. So, maybe you're not as excited as others about taking the path of the entrepreneur. And, you know what? That's okay. Entrepreneurialism isn't for everyone. If that's you, what can you do?

QUESTION: How do you make a difference in getting the company you work for now to treat you more as a valuable PERSON than a NUMBER?

ANSWER: By suggesting innovative structure and value of contributions through collaborative teams.

One need I've determined is that we need to build databases of our strengths, and then build teams based around those strengths.

Another problem I've magnified is that top-down management is going to become more and more archaic as people start to grasp the concept of SQ (Spiritual Quotient) in the workplace. When I founded AspireNow in 1999, I was a pioneer in the concept that we are spiritual beings AT WORK and not just AT CHURCH or in our spiritual discipline.

SQ Matters, as much as EQ matters, as much as IQ matters. In fact, to me, SQ means more. Why? Because when CEO's talk about how they made their greatest decisions, most of them will talk about a "gut feel" above the numbers. The numbers mattered, but the GUT mattered more. Q: What is our gut? A: Our body's physical tie to our spirit. We come into the world through our belly button.

A formula to help overturn being treated like a number is to suggest to managers implementing the following mantra in the workplace:

Success = IQ + EQ + SQ.

If our SQ (Spirit) is most important, then we ought to build organizations similar to how we, ourselves, are organized. Gut (spiritual core) in the middle, Heart near the gut, eyes and ears (field, sales, customer service, website, etc.) touching prospects, arms and legs touching customers, and so forth. In other words, we need to build organizations that are INSIDE-OUT, rather than TOP-DOWN. And, sometimes, people who are NOT the C-Level are the heart and soul of a company. Those people ought to be tapped as part of the SQ collaborative team, to make sure more opportunities and challenges are discovered and addressed most efficiently.

I am bringing a model to organizations to help them implement INSIDE-OUT Structure and help create collaborative organizations that recognize the ability to move, shift, and go to the hot-hand in order to capitalize on opportunities and the challenges facing the organization. This type of model will turn Top-Down problems over and demonstrate added value in structuring to capitalize on cross-functional skill sets.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

I believe the time is now to get the word out. If you agree, share this article with as many people as you can - especially those in Human Resources and Upper Management. Let them know they'll have MORE success by being real than by treating you like a number.

Once more people see the light, the shift will take form just as the as the snowball gains momentum down the hill until this concept hits critical mass.

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions and host of the ARRiiVE: Innovations In Business radio talk-show. ARRiiVE helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com.

How To Build More Creative Collaborative Teams

There are ways to spur creativity amongst your teams. In fact, to spur creativity within your company, building COLLABORATION is critical.

A common myth amongst leaders is that competition fuels creativity. In fact, according to Teresa Amabile, who heads the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and one of the country's foremost explorers of business innovation, the opposite is more true: collaboration fuels creativity. It makes sense: people stop SHARING when they are competing. So, first of all, build COLLABORATIVE TEAMS to foster more creativity in your work environment.

Creative collaboration is a process to combine various team elements to facilitate the creative process and come up with better product ideas, strong service solutions, new sales techniques, and more. How do you do it?

Well, here is a list of 7 ways we suggest you can expand upon creative collaboration:

1. Opposites Attract. Hire people with opposing ways to looking at problems. Combine a "big picture" thinker with someone who processes "linear" thoughts. Combine the rational person with the abstract thinker. You may not have them agreeing on everything, but they'll come up with some interesting combinations.

2. Aliens Among Us. One of the beautiful things about the United States of America that I love most is the cultural diversity. While this is more obvious in major metropolitan cities than rural areas, nevertheless there is a wide diversity to choose from when making hiring decisions. My feeling: find people who come from different cultures, different backgrounds, and combine them to get more creative ideas. Asians think differently, in general, than Latin Americans. People from Russian think differently than people from France. Find people from different cultures, and rather the using that alien nature to divide, use it to find new explorations in service, product, and diversity.

3. Gender Bender. The most boring team I ever worked on was within a company where the management hadn't hired any women. I like women. I find their thoughts, ideas, and ways of thinking refreshing and even sometimes challenging. That's a good thing on collaborative teams. The movie "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt highlighted how entire marketing programs created by men have been dumped in favor of the way a woman might think, in order to embrace women. Embrace gender differences. It spurs more creativity.

4. Go Outside. Creativity is a two-step process that starts with collaboration. Start with a discussion with your team, your business partners, and people who can benefit the process you're trying to create. If you're finding elements of your team are competing, replace them with people who collaborate. Build upon the collaboration you start with. But beyond that, involve people who aren't normally on your teams. If you're in operations, bring in salespeople. Or, go an extra step, and invite customers and prospects to your planning meetings. You might be surprised by the refreshing ideas that occur - not to mention the empathy you'll gain from customers understanding the insights into what you're doing to meet their needs.

5. Plan Less, Do More. I'm not saying don't plan. I'm just saying plan only 10% of the time you spend on a project. Spend the other 90% doing. There are so many people who get stuck planning, and re-evaluating that they never do anything. In one job I found that for three months I was strategizing on the next way I was going to get my business. In the meantime, my co-worker signed $400,000 of business in accounts I'd previously called upon. Ouch. Get out of the office, drive out there and do what you need to do. If you want creativity, you can plan for so much, brainstorm to get things moving, then put things in action and find out if they work. It's the only way to know if you've got anything real.

6. Design Innovation. I once heard someone say that innovation happens spontaneously. Well, yes, this is true. However, innovation often comes from a spark from something someone has seen before. How do you handle a blank sheet of paper? In writing music, I find that usually, I'll start with something that feels good to me. Maybe a hook for a melody idea, or a rhythm on piano or bass. Perhaps I'll have a rhythm pattern on drums. But, I'll start with something. Do I want the song to feel Calypso? Do I want it to feel Gospel? I'll pick a genre, then try to create towards that. Some companies PLAN for innovation. Do you? Build elements that spur people to think in new ways in your own innovation teams. Is it round? Maybe square would be better. Is it red? Try making it yellow or blue. Is it faster? Maybe slower is more useful.

7. Remove Deadlines. People often think they work better under deadlines. Well, this isn't true. Just make sure people do something every time they meet to keep the idea moving forward. But deadlines don't spur creativity, they stifle it. Ever wonder why a musician can create a great CD, then once they are signed to a label, they must produce three albums in four years, and their music slips? It's because they're on a deadline. They HAVE to create. Someone is coming out with a new program enabling you to text in orders to restaurants to have your coffee or food ready when you get there. For people who like things fast, right? Well, for people who like to take their time with things, tea is better. Get your creative team in the tea modality and out of Starbucks modality. Take time with things that matter, such as creating.

You may find more ways to build creative collaborative teams in your own organization. But, for starters, try these:

1. Pair opposites together.
2. Pair different cultures, different ideas.
3. Put both genders together to spur creativity between the sexes.
4. Go outside your typical team and include outsiders.
5. Plan less. Do more. Plan no more than 10%, spend the other 90% doing.
6. Build innovation into your design. Plan ways to help spur innovation. Create tools, decorate walls, tear down closed spaces, or create labs where design or creative thought can more easily occur.
7. Remove deadlines. Give people the freedom to create within a structured environment on their own time.

According to David Kelley, IDEO CEO, "The more you experiment, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you create." So make the effort to experiment with your teams. You just might be rewarded.

This article is by Scott Andrews, CEO and principal business advisor at ARRiiVE Business Solutions, helps executives build creative, empowered, and productive teams. Learn more about Scott's dynamic SEMANTIC COLLABORATION and CREATIVE COLLABORATION models and tools at http://www.ARRiiVE.com.