Balance on the organizational Structure

What is balance?

Balance is a very hard topic on the professional field; it is not making everyone happy, is about being just and wisely distributes the power on the company to get equilibrium.

Balance is a very ambiguous topic on the professional field.
The goal is not to make everyone happy, is about being just and wisely distributes the power on the company to get equilibrium.

Balance on the organizational Structure

Old business structures were rigid, centering the power on the top of the structure and distributing less power to the people below.
This old perception of the organization’s structure might have been useful in the past, but is becoming obsolete when adapting into today’s worlds speed.

The old days when the CEO has all the control in the company’s decision are over.

It has to be! It’s impossible to work like that. Business are interconnected between each other, so having the thumbs up in any decision by the same person is impossible and of course, not useful.









 It is why the distribution of power and decision-making has changed, companies like Zara have created interesting structures where store managers work as small CEO for their own store. They are in charge of asking for the type of
clothes that fit the customer that attend to that kind of store. This is brilliant, because they are the ones that know better their customers and they have the power to make changes.






At the same time companies with Matrix structure have been successful. This type of companies has the opportunity for departments to make their work independent but connected at the same time. Therefore they are flexible fast and they can easily shift when the situations requires.






What happens when this is not well applied?

I worked in a company with a weird structure. It was like having 4 companies inside the same one.
They had the HR department, Media buying, Creative, Legal and 4 different marketing departments. The strange thing in this situation is that all marketing departments were doing the same!
The story is that it was a very successful (private) company and when the founder retired he left the company to his 4 sons. So everyone could have his own team and department.


Personally I didn’t like this division because the company was working in silos. Some people could ask you, do you know Michael from Marketing? Or talking about a project or brand that you didn’t even has idea that was part of the company
There was a harsh internal competition between marketing teams, the one with the best performance had the biggest budget. This made an non-healthy competition.


From my point of view if they have good people and many recourse it could have been better to divide that time into different kind of Marketing (Digital, street, direct etc).

What I learned from my difficult negotiation!

What I learned from my difficult negotiation!

In real life as in business we have hundreds of conversations with many different people every day!

It’s true that in all of them, there is always going to exist a little tendency to prove our point of view, even in trite conversations as who the best football player is, or which restaurant is better.

The clue in this topic is to learn and apply.

Remember the time you asked your boss for increase in your salary?

I bet you didn’t sleep in a night before, just thinking, what should I tell him/her?

The truth is since that moment you started implementing a strategy.

First, you get the big picture, how should I approach her/him?

Should I tell an excuse, what are her/him motivations?

All of this brought you to your second step, uncover and collaborate. By this point you already know your boss's motivation and concerns; you also know how to get into his/her mind and to how sell your petition the best way.

In other words, this rise would help us both because of…

Your next move (Third)is Elicit Buy-in; this is when persuasion comes in handy. I most know that by this point, you started talking about the lovely benefits of having a better-paid employee, using all the studies that agree that there is a strong correlation between payment, happiness and performance. 

I hope that by know you have a strong relationship with you supervisor; it’s the time to build an increase in trust,

After the famous phrase

 Let me see what can I do for you..

This is the perfect time to show them who you are and that you really deserve that rise.

The week after your crucial conversation, I can assure you were impatient but it was the time to finally focus on the process, give all you have and work harder than ever. By this time you have to calm down and focus on the results that highlight.

After on week of uncertainty, come the crucial moment.

You're working as any other day and the phone rings, you pick it up without reading who is calling and…

Hello?

Hi Alejandro, (it’s your boss)

Hey, how are you Michael, how can I Help you?

Could you come into my office?

How not to be a “bad” boss ?

First we have to define what a boss is, strict, bland, moody, abusive, etc

Many people have problems dealing with their bosses for many reasons, but in my point of view the one that influences the most is the poor communication that cause misunderstandings.

Bosses expect to get something specific that is enclose in their brains, (it’s impossible to read their mind) therefore, the results are not accurate with what they where thinking. It’s really important to be clear and explain it very well before.

Another important issue is that many people suffer from Positional Power; this makes them arrogant, excluding them to be able to accept criticism. This lack of self-awareness is very common; being on an upper position can make people become bias and blind to some important facts.

Usually these types of people apply a coercive style as a way to rule. This is the famous way of “Do what I say” that some times can evolve into a psychopathology, using fear tactics to intimidate their employees as a way to improve their performance.

So what does a good boss have to do, other than being well prepared, knowing their business and having good communication skills?

A good boss has to be a good leader, that involves being flexible agile and adaptable.

I remember I had a great boss that was like a chameleon; he could easily adapt to clients, talking his or her own language and get their specific needs. At the same time he knew how to differently connect with every one of his team members. It is important to mention that he used a coaching style, but when things were drastic, he could easily adapt to become a pacesetter.

Know your employees

It is so important to know your employees, know the human not only the professional, thus, you can easily motivate them in a better way.

  

Why is change so hard?

 A simple question, 

Why change is so hard? 

 

We have problems when it refer to changing, change our usual soda brand, change our couple, change our daily route or changing or even change what we are going to have for breakfast.

Probably the best answers are:

Routine: We are used to something, so either we are in our comfort zone or we just apply what has worked in the past.

Fear: Humans tend to develop fear towards what is unknown for them. 

So if changing is difficult for a single person, now imagine changing a whole company.

Old companies developed a rigid structure, when leaders get old they become stubborn. That stubbornness prohibits companies to change and adapt to today’s demands.

I wouldn’t call it lack of leadership; it is a clear lack of vision, and fear to change

Why would I change if always have worked this way?

One of the most common problems in today’s leadership positions.

In my personal experience, I worked for a strong marketing firm. This company had controlled and managed very important brands for a long time. Having a strong connection with the TV emporium, helped them to managed and create a very strong business.

The digital era arrives into the marketing field and the company was in a huge dilemma. Clearly, all analysts agree that TV (as we know it) is losing strength. The company clung to their old business model.

Why should I change, if this has always worked?

The results are clear; slowly they started losing business. Now, they are in a critical position, if they don’t shift their strategy their business will sink.

But this is not the only problem, the structure inside is so old, it is a good example of old "Cohesive style". You can clearly see that the HR department is a mess, they still using old bureaucratic manners.

This is a clear example of a young people company, managed by old leaders.

Either they adapt or I don't foresee success.

            

Why social justice matters (in business…and in life)?

What is justice?

There are many definitions for this term; it is highly polemic, because what is just for some people won’t be fair for others.  So the question I want to answer to start this blog is; a how fair is social justice, without being biased?

Social Justice is a state or doctrine of egalitarianism (Equality)

The fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice. See also civil rights.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-justice.html#ixzz2gh7trlRE

Social Justice is extremely important, but in my personal opinion still is a utopia.

Companies are more aware of this issue nowadays and are trying hard to be equal, fair and promote equality. They claim to be Work place Diversity oriented and they state that there is not discrimination of any kind. What happens in real life is that when they realize that their company is compose in the majority for white people, they start looking for people from different races (minorities) to fill their spots.

 blog.diversitynursing.com

The truth is that they create a smokescreen to cover their lack of diversity and avoid problems. It is the same vicious circle, now they don’t care if the new applicants are skilled; they just look for a different person to fill their “Minority space”

Another issue worth talking is the “influences or recommendations”. Companies’ claims that this is over, and they will select the best candidate. However, this is not true, never have been and probably never will. Particularly talking about  private companies.

In my personal experience, I remember that at my work, a commercial director position was opened. There were two natural candidates (brand managers) that had developed an excellent work in the past. The board decided to have a third candidate (external). The 3 candidates went through the process and at the end the external candidate won the position, regardless the expertise and knowledge of the 2 other managers.

The new commercial director took her new position, after some time we realized that was one of the best friends of CMO. Time is wise and demonstrated that this was a totally biased decision. Her lack of management skills, absence of experience and stubbornness, plunged the whole department. This was a really bad decision and she was relocated from her position after a year of work.

I think we all are a little biased, sometimes is not because we want, it is because what we have learned and how the system has shaped us. At the same time, we like to use our influences to get a better job. We find the ways to get related to influential people to achieve our personal goals.

 It is highly important to be aware of this, and when the time comes to be in charge, try to leave apart relations, friendship, so we could choose wisely without being biased. One more thing, always give credit to the people that deserve it, this will drive you to an stability and will help to move forward the whole team.

What’s Leadership?

What is Leadership?

The concept of leadership has changed through the years, it has become more elaborate, adapting to the necessities of the culture and the time we are living.

According to the merriam-webster dictionary leadership is :

lead·er·ship

: a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc.

: the time when a person holds the position of leader

: the power or ability to lead other people

In my opinion is a broad and shallow definition about a powerful concept that has ruled the story of humanity.

There are 3 factors that influence a leading position

Leadership skills

Structure

Strategy

But how they work together?

For many years, strategy and structure has been considered a separately. The truth is that this is not the way it should be approach them.

Structure is composed for all the assets and elements that create an organization; people, culture, positions, equipment etc.  The strategy has to be fully integrated to the organizations to create a powerful force and thus achieve the better results.

Someone could have important leadership skills but it wont get far without a solid structure and a founded strategy.

Years ago, the common belief was that a leader was a kind of a “divine character”, always was the head of the organization, someone who dictated what to do and people listened and followed him.

Results have shown that leaders could be in any position and at everywhere.  A true leader knows how to inspire and motivate the ones that surrounds him. This person is the one that values the importance of the structure; manage a tailor strategy, always in favor of a common good.

A true leader recognizes the power of group work; he/she doesn’t pursue hs personal growth. He seeks to grow through the growth of the others.

A more accurate leader definitions are

"Leadership revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. A leader must be able to leverage more than his own capabilities. He must be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist.”

Bennis, W. ‘On Becoming a Leader’ Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing, (1989, p.139)

"Leadership is a development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organization the most important of which is people.”

Batten, J.D. ‘Tough-minded Leadership’ New York: AMACOM (1989 p. 35)

Source: http://adeoyemayowaleadership.blogspot.com/

Through this blog we will try to uncover the mysteries behind leadership and the unique skills that this outstanding persons possess.

If you want to know what makes a leader? Daniel Goleman can give us a better idea of what to expect.

5 points to consider on a digital marketing strategy

Preparing a digital strategy involves deep knowledge, an exhaustive research and extraordinary levels of passion.

It is highly important to know your customer, uncover their needs and fulfill their wants. This is not a simple task...

Nowadays marketing has evolved into a deeper relationship between the brand and the customer. The final goal is to create brand loyalty, create a tribe; through the development of an unforgettable experience.

But what’s Digital Marketing?

According to the University of Michigan, Digital Marketing is:

Where marketing meets the Internet and other forms of new media, such as cell phones and even video games. Digital marketing covers a wide range of activities such as: Social network marketing, Search engine optimization, Open source innovation, Collaborate with Viral marketing, Experiment based market research, Web analytics, etc.

According to Joanne Tombrakos, Digital Marketing is having continual, meaningful conversations using digital marketing tools with like minded people and/or costumers.

2 important definitions that give us the guideline to unwrap the top 5 points to consider where preparing a digital strategy.

Digital World is about 2 things; Engagement and Sharing

To be successful in this business, companies have to make consumers fall in love with them! A loyal costumer is more willing to tell others about the advantages of your product.

It is not about selling, it is about sharing. Sells will come consequently as a result of happy sharing customers.

No one would like to post in his or her wall the chemical properties of sodium bicarbonate!

But they will like to share the different uses and advantages of having it home.

Search to find (SEO+SEM=Fair fight)

No matter the size of your company, with the right use of the search engines, the difference between Dominos Pizza and the pizza parlor around the block have vanished.

Digital Marketing has created a threshold of niches, where small companies can go for the log tail. Thus, increment their business.

The Power of Data

We live in a new era where data plays an outstanding roll. Data is so powerful that some people say you can predict the future. Mmm I’m not sure about that!

The truth is that if we incorporate big data into a marketing plan, our opportunities to reach the people we want will become enormous.

Data are just numbers, so we shouldn’t forget that data without intuition is like a Ferrari without wheels.

Keep it simple and be fast

The digital era offers a wide gamut of opportunities; a blog can be a good way to communicate with your customers. It is the warm and friendly face of the company. It is important to keep it simple; messages tend to be more complex than ever, what tends to overwhelm the consumers.

Move fast; take advantage of what’s happening in the world, Newjacking is a great way to attack the info.

Write your love Story telling

Finally, the most important in my opinion is the story telling. A good storytelling engage customers and make them fall I love with the brand. It is important to maintain the same story and use the advantages of each platform to engage customers. There are not passive customers that just claim for a service or product. This must be a close relationship between the brand and the costumer.

Your customers are your main assets, make them fall in love!

The Complexity of simplicity!

Marketing experts had evolved into scientists; it is highly common to see more complicated messages that try to engage costumers into their stories. However, this elaboration instead of allure the consumers they just confuse them even more.

We live in 140-character world, with the attention span of a gold fish (9 seconds); 20,000 newly products are launched every month, that's over 650 products a day.
How can our product shine in this overwhelming and fierce competition?

Embrace your customer, understand their needs, build trust and Keep it simple…


One brand that understood this and took it to the next level is Jet Blue. Since the unfortunate incidents that happened with airplanes, the aeronautic industry has been highly affected. This has changed the way you buy your tickets, the experience off-board and of course the time you spend on the plane.


Flying had always brought a series of complications, this coupled with social media (customers' favourite complaint platform), makes that information management were even harder to control. Thus, maintaining a good consumer relationship has become really complicated.
Jet blue focused their efforts in customer experience!  Like there mantra claims 

“Bring humanity back to air travel”

Clear, precise and powerful.



There are thousands of stories of how they dealt with the day-to-day industry problems (delays, overbooks, lost luggage’s, cancellations etc). They wisely used their digital platforms as the main vehicle of communication with their customers. Always focusing their efforts towards customers’ experiences.

 A “Human Social Media” this helped to fix their flaws and to get valuables insights, to improve their service. Unlike many people think, digital strategies can make companies more human.

They didn’t created a complex marketing strategy, they just went back to basics, “Listen to your customers” “Understand what they want” They took advantage of digital technology to improve and fix their problems in real time.
Their communication clearly expresses what they are offering. Using everyday examples to illustrate the simplicity of their promise. Good service and warm attention!

This are some clear examples about the power of simplicity!

One Awesome Customer Experience: How JetBlue’s Twitter Saved the Day

http://theetailblog.com/2011/01/24/one-customers-jetblue-customer-experience/


Twitter 

The Royal Minion newsjack the media!

What’s NewsJacking, Why is it so important and how should we do it?

 As David Meerman Scott says, the term refers to the takeover of a news story or narrative and using it for other purposes. 

We live on a high-speed life where everything is interconnected; everyone is trying to be the first to jump into the latest information and take advantage of it.

I wouldn’t like to use trite phrases like “Opportunities are for those that take them first” or “the second place is the first looser” however, Newsjacking is all about that, being the first.

In my opinion, Newsjacking has to be 10% boldness and 90% creative 

Let’s take the latest big news; the birth of the Royal Baby. Everyone is going to try to steal this news because is so Juicy. Imagine what it means this news for stroller brands or baby clothes; this is the news of the decade 

But what about a movie?

Yes, a movie…

The latest animated movie of universal studios Despicable me 2, has made a fantastic job promoting the movie; using viral videos featuring their small green and adorable characters “The Minions” It has been a blast!

So how does they Newsjack the Royal baby news?

When all the media started talking about the first pictures about the new Royal Family, they showed up with a picture of princess Catherine carrying his newborn, a minion. 

 might be the official picture; it looks just like the father...

I think is amazing! I laughed so much that I started sharing with all my friends.

Bloggers and media started talking about this. It was fun, creative and excellent for promoting the movie.  I bet no one was expecting for this!