New year, new workplace: Five key changes in 2021
Vaccines are coming. Donald Trump is going. These are two of the top three changes for 2021 on my mind this Sunday as we enter the new year.
Of course, I am also thinking about changes in work. A multitude of things have changed since the damn-you-know-what knocked us out of our offices and into our Zoom rooms. Loads of business leaders are predicting that work as we knew it will never go back to the way it was. I agree. But it's an oversimplistic statement. Before uttering such a declaration, we first must unpack and review the range of modifications and alterations which have taken place.
Next then, for each of us who adapted, pivoted or whatever you want to call it and somehow managed to keep on going, let's decide what changes we should continue and codify. In addition, I'm also collectively calling upon us to examine one particular change that I believe we should do everything in our power to reject and curtail. So, reflect and resolve? Or review and reject? Let's go!
1) Agility vs long-term-planning
Like each of you when we rang in 2020, I had plans. Organisations were set to roll out their strategic maps for the new decade, I had a calendar full of conferences and training programmes I was anticipating leading, and I'm sure you had plenty of activities and projects you were looking forward to as well.
But as, Douglas Adams, author of one of my favourite books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, wrote "Trying to predict the future is a mug's game". No one predicted pandemic. By that second week of March, our plans were scrapped.
I stared agape at my inbox as a murmuration of emails arrived notifying me that every single one of my expected calendar dates was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Now, from the vantage point of January 2021, we can look back over our shoulders and see the successes we found in the most unexpected places.
For me, I launched my online learning platform, The Language of Leadership, updated my website to promote "support for remote workers", and created a series of titles that supported those offerings of support. I emailed each of my current clients (and previous ones too) in hopes that someone would take me up on my offers. One by one, they did. And then, depending on the title someone chose, I crafted content to match the title. When I recently shared that story of "creativity" with Amy Bernstein, the editor of The Harvard Business Review, she craftily summed it up as, "service on demand". Until then, I had thought of it more as "making webinars up to keep paying the rent", but her description has such a more professional ring to it,We all had to start making things up. And our flexibility paid off. We shared different ends of the kitchen table as impromptu laptop desks with a spouse, partner or roommate. We introduced our pets and children through our company's preferred online platform to business colleagues, clients and even prospects. We held project planning sessions with team members who weren't in the same room with us, but rather occupied a rectangular piece of a large virtual mosaic. Since remote working began in earnest, I have started and ended virtual coaching engagements while never once seeing the other person's feet.
Our ability to be flexible and agile during this time has replaced disciplined compliance to projections and expectations. We improvised when we needed to and learned valuable lessons about design thinking in the process.
Resolved: Flexibility and agility will continue to be hallmarks of individual and organisational success.
2) Skills vs location
One of my favourite coaching clients, Richard, who used to be based in Dublin where he led a team for a large multinational tech company, no longer calls Ireland home.
During the summer when lockdown relaxed a bit, he grabbed his wife, their young son and even their dog and hopped on a ferry. He and his wife, who also works for a large tech company, continued working remotely from their holiday home in France.
Their remote working gigs were so successful that toward the end of 2020, upper management gave Richard and his wife approval to extend remote status indefinitely. They sold their Dublin home and have now begun an adventure in France where their son is enrolled in school and "speaking French like a local".
Connie Gibney, VP, Human Resources of MongoDB, states that this trend will continue. "Location based pay grades will be changed. Employers will focus more on the job and the skills that are required, regardless of the employee's location. It's like the way you are paid to write your column, no matter where you write it from."
Good point.
As a contributor, not full-time writer with a desk in the newsroom, this column has always been "have wifi, will travel". The travel part of that phrase does harken back to the time when traveling was easier, of course.
Before pandemic, I filed this column from anywhere I was traveling. From Alicante, Spain; Sydney, Australia or Arezzo, Italy to name just a few.
Already, many companies, including Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, are offering remote working packages permanently to employees.
Resolved: Location will become irrelevant for some jobs that can be performed remotely.
3) Ongoing performance conversations vs the annual review
To effectively oversee the performance of those now full-time, remote working employees, supervisors must establish a steady stream of touch points to monitor progress and productivity.
During the first wave of lockdown, companies realised they needed to dramatically increase their structured support for stressed teams in both remote working conditions and those who still needed to report in-person to fulfil their jobs.
"We've seen employees and plant workers who were doing triple shifts, call centres whose teams were dealing with massive volumes of calls and tech companies that were dealing with all manner of work from home situations," explains Lauren Zajac, Chief Legal Officer for Workhuman, Ireland's latest tech firm to reach unicorn status.
"Companies knew they couldn't wait until the end of the year for performance reviews, so they're moving to agile feedback mechanisms to recognise, reward and have performance conversations throughout the year as situations are arising."
Resolved: Employee performance will be tracked more frequently.
4) Frequent recognition vs the year-end bonus
Along with the idea that we're not going to be doing annual performance reviews, we're also not going to be doing annual bonuses anymore. Because the same way we want continuing discussions about our performance, we also want a lot of our smaller, but still meaningful, efforts to be routinely spotlighted and rewarded.
"Workhuman provides ongoing performance management systems and social recognition tools because companies are promoting more of those, 'I see you' moments," Lauren observes. "There needs to be an expectation that every person owns their own development and the development of others coupled with an easy-to-use piece of technology to create a safe space for conversations. Workhuman's platform is called 'Conversations' for this reason."
Resolved: Ongoing recognition and rewards programmes will fuel employee wellness, morale and motivation.
5) Office vs face-to-face employees
My final reflection is one which prompts more questions than answers from me. I struggle with the fact that nearly all my clients and the people targeted in this column have steady pay cheques - working for companies providing benefits and even amenities for setting up home-offices - which offer the kind of economic stability to think about being innovative and agile.
But what about those who are not in such positions?
The challenge posed by our future world of work is to make sure it doesn't expand the gap between those embracing a new, more flexible work-life balance and those for whom flexibility means adhering to the ever-changing demands of policy makers.
The world has demonstrated that, when pressed, it can come together at a record pace to innovate a vaccine.
Resolved: Let's reject the widening gap and commit to solving other problems with the same level of dedication and innovation.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
Why don’t you write me a letter?
“When was the last time your saw your family in person?” a neighbour asked me.
As they all live in the United States, which is experiencing alarming increases in Covid-19 cases and deaths across the country, it has been a long time.
“My last trip to the US was in September 2019,” I replied, recalling my niece’s wedding in Cleveland. “My daughter Lulu and I attended along with my parents, my brother, my step-brother and his family, my sister and her family and a veritable assortment of friends. Back in the day of big family gatherings.”
I sighed and continued, “We haven’t returned since then. In fact, after last Christmas, none of them have even reunited physically. My parents, for the first time in their lives, shared Thanksgiving dinner between just the two of them. We had planned to all meet in Hawaii this coming Christmas. But, of course, that’s off and my elderly parents will mark another holiday alone.” I sighed again.
As we prepare to close our remote-working laptops and take a much-deserved break during the holidays, many of you are probably joining me in those sighs. For this Christmas will not be about open-house parties, tables pushed together to accommodate numerous extra diners, cacophonies from a miscellaneous collection of squealing children or glasses clinked together by loved ones who traveled home from afar.
Instead, we have an opportunity to focus on making connections in different, but still meaningful, ways. I say opportunity, because if we have our health right now, it’s better to look for opportunity this holiday season than disappointment.
We have been relying heavily on digital communications over these many locked-down months, and I’m happy to encourage you to deck your Zoom rooms with boughs of holly and welcome Aunt Mary and Uncle Harry virtually. But I’m also urging you to dig out a piece of stationery or a simple lined notebook and write an old-fashioned letter.
- Letters move you from digital to tangible
Emails, Whatsapps and other forms of digital DM, are no substitute for putting pen to paper.
“There’s been a reawakening of the physical,” said Anna McHugh, An Post’s head of communications. “There’s been a big increase in personal mail this Christmas like we’ve never seen before here in Ireland and internationally. Not only the massive increase in parcels and care packages but a return to the written word. Everyone knows how they feel when they receive the tangible nature of what makes us human.”
- Receiving a letter can become an event
“I remember when my granny would receive a letter from her family in America,” my dear friend Damien O’Reilly recalled. The presenter of the RTE Radio 1 programme CountryWide explained that three of his granny’s siblings emigrated to the United States during the 1930s.
“Living in rural Cavan, Granny didn’t have a phone until the 1980s, so getting a letter was a big deal. I remember the envelopes with their navy blue and bright red edges signifying airmail. She would call us all into the kitchen where she would put on her glasses and read the letter aloud. I can even hear her imitating her sister Manie’s voice.”
For that reason alone, when you write your letter, make sure you craft it the same way you speak. Take your time. Make sure your personality and sense of humor ring through.
- A hand-written letter is a treasured piece of history
“A letter is like a present. You can share it. You can re-read it,” Anna told me.
In fact, Damien’s dad Paddy recently re-read the letter his mother (Damien’s granny) wrote to her American-based sister Manie announcing his birth back in 1940.
I saw a photo of the letter. In it, you can vividly see the letter’s distinctive tilted pen-stokes. No two people’s handwriting is the same. For instance, there’s a delicate curlicue embellishment on the capital “D” in her salutation, “My Dearest Manie”. There’s quite a bit of spacing between her words. She writes her final thoughts in the margin – sideways.
This letter has outlived its writer and stands the test of time for her family as a wonderful study of her style and character during a significant time in her life.
“A cousin found the letter in Manie’s house and sent it back to us. It was written just three days after my dad was born and is completely irreplaceable,” Damien said. “We may worry about this one Christmas where we can’t sit around with our loved ones. But in my granny’s generation, many family members who emigrated did not return. My granny never saw those three siblings in-person again.”
By not visiting our families, we are protecting our elderly family members like Damien’s dearly departed but not forgotten granny. So, compose a keepsake of a letter for your absent loved ones this year. Don’t re-open your laptop to type and print it. Craft it by hand. An Post have created Adam King’s virtual hug into a special post mark for the holiday season. You can share his hug and your unique handwritten sentiments. Make it a moment and momento to remember.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
Life is funny: how humour can help you connect remotely
Pandemic. It's the word of the year according to Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, with both organisations recently making the same announcement. It's a good choice, too, as, of course, 2020 will forever be remembered for the global outbreak of Covid-19. Without it, none of the other many once unfamiliar and now all-too-common words in our collective lexicon would have been spawned. Words and phrases that I hear all the time. Pick your personal favourite among "remote-working", "social distancing", "face mask or face covering", "front-line health-care workers", "Zoom calls", "You're on mute", "virtual everything and anything", and, well, I'm sure there are plenty more.
But one word that does not spring to mind as an obvious contender for the word of this unprecedented year, is the very one I'm going to focus on as we stretch into December. That word is, "humour." Yes, you read me correctly. The tonic, if not the vaccine, for many of life's ills is humour.
That said, in the land where "the craic is mighty" serves almost as a national pledge to good humour, you're certainly not going to see this American transplant to Ireland try to roll out her amusing recommendations for alleviating the strain of remote working or Zoom fatigue. Instead, I'm turning to funny-man Colm O'Regan for his insights on the power of communicating - through humour.
Not only is Colm a professional stand-up comedian, best-selling author, and broadcaster, but he also served as my co-host for this year's (virtual) inspired leadership programme, The Pendulum Summit. As we stood socially distanced together before the green screen during the event, I was fortunate to learn how he adapted to online and how anyone can tap into humour to keep themselves going.
"Of course, my in-person shows were cancelled," Colm told me, "but I was able to transform a live night we'd been doing known as The Dublin Story Slam (TheDublinStorySlam.com) into a virtual event. We're using it now for companies to help them connect with their employees. Storytelling is always an intimate experience either live or on screen."
In addition to connecting with employees, you can use humour to re-connect with yourself.
1) Go easy on yourself
"This is the first thing everyone needs to do," Colm says. "The enemy of humour is to put pressure on yourself. Make light of your situation. For example, one thing I have found through doing online gigs, is yes, there is less human contact, but at the same time there can be personality that comes through that wouldn't occur if you were in the boss's conference room.
For instance, I did an online gig for a law firm and in one screen there was a pair of shoes next to the stove behind the man on screen. I said, 'Oh, I see you're relaxed because your shoes are off' and the man said back to me, 'No, my shoes are on.' 'Okay….'" he trails off.
2) Find the human connection
"Some people have bigger houses. Some people are Zooming from cramped closets. Some people are trying to 'workify' their rooms by putting little bits of themselves around and there can be humorous shared experience in making observations about these situations," says Colm. "Once you have a connection, you can have humour."
"Small talk has kind of evaporated but people will certainly say, 'Oh, That's a lovely painting on your backwall behind you."
So use that painting to spark a rapport-building conversation starter.
3) Turn your camera on
When we're talking humour, it's especially important to be able to see your audience.
"I encourage people put their cameras on," shares Colm, "and I've done online gigs where there are 6,000 people. When there is even a small number of them with a camera and I can see them laughing, I take great pleasure in assuming the others are all doing the same."
4) Explore your sense of humour
"Some people say, 'I'm not good at telling jokes,' but telling a one-liner joke is to humour what algebra is to maths. It's only one part of it," Colm says.
"Humour is all sorts of things. It's visual. It's stories. It's facial expressions. I find it very hard to find a person who is not funny in some shape or form. Everyone has some innate ability to make people laugh. Anyone can turn a phrase or tell of a funny situation.
"Storytelling brings people breathing space to be funny. It gives you three or four minutes. So, rather than trying to teach people to be funny, I encourage you to teach people to tell a story with a humorous outcome and they're far more likely to be funny," he says.
Good natured humour means you care about connecting people and you're taking effort to make that connection. During this pandemic, human connections are our most curative medicine.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
How to Create Your Board of Advisers
This past week, in one of his first moves as the US President-elect, Joe Biden announced he formed an advisory board on Covid-19.
Today I’m recommending that you form one too.
Not to make recommendations about how to handle the ongoing global pandemic, mind. No, no, the kind of board of advisers I am envisioning for you will provide observations, assessments and advice about – you.
Lorraine Kenny, Executive Director and HR Lead at MSD Ireland, one of the country’s top healthcare companies, has cultivated and curated her own personal and professional board of advisers for many years. I had the privilege of being virtually introduced to her earlier this year by the organisation’s Corporate Communications Manager Barbara Coyle.
“I’m sure you two would get along famously,” Barbara said after I led a team of remote MSD employees on one of my “Hour of Power” purposeful communications sessions. “You both share the same approach to developing and empowering people.”
“Wonderful,” I enthused, “I look forward to it.”
Barbara was right. It wasn’t long after our introduction, that Lorraine and I were putting our heads together – from a safe, social distance apart naturally – and creating a special series to provide strategies and tools to help emerging female leaders influence their career paths.
“What should we call it?” Lorraine, together with Trish Kavanaugh, MSD’s Global Director for Learning & Development, asked as we held a brain-storming session one evening.
“How about ‘The Key Series’ – Learning to Unlock Your Full Potential?” I suggested.
We agreed, the graphics team was alerted, a logo was created and a series was born. So far, since its inception, I’ve guided two cohorts of women from all over the world on a progressive four-part discovery journey of goal-setting, crafting and delivering messages to better connect, and learning how to better structure and leverage networking.
The sessions during the series are filled with personal sharing, exercises, role-plays and discussions. I’m always humbled by the honesty and the reflections the women feel comfortable to share. But it’s our networking session that provides the most surprises.
“I didn’t realise this was a life-long effort that I need to deliberately organize,” came a comment.
“I didn’t think you could tell people who weren’t your direct manager about your professional goals,” remarked a participant.
“I never thought about simply asking a person from a different department for a virtual coffee,” came another.
Although our Key Series is aimed at women, I’m sure there are many men reading this today who also struggle with the notion of ‘networking’. So, instead of networking, take on board today the opportunity to assemble your very own board of advisers.
Joe Biden’s Covid-board is made up of 13 individuals. While they are all work in some form of health care, they are also from different parts of the country, different genders, ages and ethnic backgrounds.
1) Seek people with different perspectives
Similarly, Lorraine explains how her board of advisers is comprised of a wide variety of people.
“My board is made up of a mix of people I now work with, people I have worked with and people from my personal life. It’s multi-level. It doesn’t have to be people who are senior to you. Some of the people I receive the most insights from are people in different places in their career. It’s not about having a CEO. It’s not about bullsh*t. It’s about people in my life who give advice and insights.”
Fast Company magazine recommends recruiting people who fall in these categories:
• Industry expert
• Influencer or connector
• Strong supporter
• Thoughtful critic
2) Give back to your board of advisors
“Keeping this going takes work,” stresses Lorraine. “It’s not passive. You have to remember it’s not just about you, it’s also about them. One of my guys was a man I worked for for 15 years. When he left his position, he felt perhaps he was too old to find a new job. But I reverse mentored him and he found a great new job.
So, think about the others. Even if it’s a Sunday evening and you’re tired, if you haven’t spoken to someone for a long while, make the effort and call. And in this virtual world, that likely means being on camera when you call them,” she says.
By establishing a committed two-way road of trust and support between you and your board member, you become invested in each other’s success.
3) Rotate your board membership
Once a member always a member. Well, not always. As Lorraine says, “Keep it fluid. There are people I have had with me for twenty years and people I am inviting now.”
Studies show that good mentoring and support from someone who values you, holds you accountable and suggests different approaches to challenges you may be facing, can help you accelerate toward greater career success including promotions, pay rises or other opportunities like perhaps being asked to be a part of someone else’s board of advisers.
In fact, when I asked Lorraine if I could interview her for this article she said yes, and added, “Speaking of which, I’d like you to join my board.”
You would be right in guessing that I replied, “Of course, I’d be honoured!” You see, I know I also get her as an adviser to me in return.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
How to Handle Division
While there will most certainly be a political victory in the United States presidential election, there will not be a moral victory. The vote counting results coming in so far from my home country as I write these words for you on the Thursday morning after election day, clearly reflect a nation strongly and deeply divided.
On Wednesday evening during the TodayFM “Last Word with Matt Cooper” radio broadcast, I shared my own family story of political division. My mother became a widow at just 34 years of age when my private pilot dad was killed in a crash. His plane struck trees near the runway as he was coming in for a landing at the airport on a foggy December evening near our hometown of Farmland, Indiana. I was 11 and my sister was only eight. My mother found the strength to go on through her evangelical Christian faith. She went back to university and got her master’s degree. Her work put my sister and me through college. To this day, we admire her determination and her grit, but we are sharply divided when it comes to politics.
Mom’s (since I’m American, it’s not Mum or Mammy) political leanings are conservative. She describes herself as a single-issue voter, consistently marking her ballot box for the pro-life candidates. My sister and I are squarely on the pro-choice and progressive side.
This election season, our differing views ignited into heated arguments. My sister and I laid out what we believed was a clear case against voting for Donald Trump. But our mom refused to capitulate. Observing the stalemate, and since I happen to live thousands of miles away, I told her I wouldn’t let the president come between us. “He’s not worth it,” I reasoned.
But my sister, who only lives a couple of hours away from Mom in the neighbouring state of Ohio and normally makes regular trips to see her, was furious. Using the pandemic as a reason not to travel, she confided to me she would not visit our mother again, “for the foreseeable future.”
They haven’t spoken in weeks. I’m disheartened by this on my family level and now as I examine the entrenched split among individuals collectively represented by the red and blue electoral map of the United States, it’s hard to imagine how to bridge the divide.
For these reasons, the focus of today’s column is on handling division. It’s never easy, and while most of us are remote working and not physically interacting inside an office, dysfunction in the form of differing points of view, disagreement or impenetrable cliques is even more difficult to tackle.
Here are some thoughts.
1) Pay attention to your awareness
My mother’s life experience combined with the choices she has made in reaction to them has moulded her in a particular way. Same with myself, my sister and you. Each of us bring with us to our various places of employment our unique memories, experiences, perspectives, and communication styles.
To understand that other people may not see the world, the project or the business proposal from the same perspective as you, requires effort and diligence. It is easy to slip into complacency and stop striving to understand others.
2) Ask more questions
“When you assume, you make an ass out of me,” the old saying goes. It’s true. Stop assuming the other person you’re working with shares your approach, goals or objectives. Pause regularly and ask open-ended questions. Cultivate genuine curiosity and interest in their views.
One of my coaching clients who is German and manages several teams for an American-run multi-national is a great example of vigilance in this area. As a second-language English speaker, she asked me to help her build her vocabulary in a variety of areas so she could better connect with her employees.
“I want to learn a range of conversational English questions and phrases that you as a native English speaker may already know but I, as a German speaker, may not be delivering.”
“Ah, you mean like a variety of ways to celebrate people? Ask how they’re doing? Or provide support?”
“Yes, exactly,” came her reply.
I had never thought about this before and our conversation about conversations reminded me how essential it is to imagine the pictures in the other person’s head. No matter what language you’re speaking, questions will help you to understand another. Reach out. Ask.
“What are you hoping to have by the end of this meeting you don’t have now?”
“How are you feeling about this?”
“How are my ideas?”
3) Examine your own behaviour
Speaking of questions, ask yourself this important one: “What am I possibly doing or not doing that can be modified to help the situation?” Take responsibility for what you should add – or discard.
While there are those who thrive on disruption and drama and may even intentionally create it, most of us desire to live – and work - in harmony. I am confident that my mother and my sister will eventually reunite, not in political agreement, but in the appreciation of the many other things that bond them together.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
US election has much to teach us about art of communication
As loyal readers, you well know your faithful columnist is an American transplant here in Ireland. You likely also know that as a former CNN White House correspondent, I can’t help but have one ear constantly turned toward Washington. And finally, you are also sure to know that the official date for the upcoming US presidential election is this Tuesday. Just two more sleeps from the Sunday you are reading this.
I use the words “official date” because at the time I am writing, early on a blustery Thursday morning, more than 75 million votes have already cast. That includes in-person early voting and absentee ballots, either being mailed or interestingly e-mailed, to respective states as I transmitted mine earlier this month to my home district in Hamilton County, Indiana. This was my first time to vote electronically, but there you go. My voice is being heard.
Speaking of voices being heard (segue alert), the voices of each of candidate from the two major parties have been heard in a wide variety of forms from TV to Twitter to debates to rallies – both in-person and drive-in - masked and unmasked.
So, here now, a special US Election edition of The Communicator. A red, white and blue package of do’s and don’ts of communications drawn from my observations of the speaking styles of Donald Trump and Joe Biden with real-life applications beyond political podiums.
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Seek to understand your audience first
Countless times a client has come to me with a prepared speech, presentation or Powerpoint deck prepared by themselves or a third party full of information but devoid of personal, emotional appeal.
“Who is your audience?” I always ask. “Consider their hopes, dreams and fears first.”
You can easily argue about which emotions each candidate is targeting, and of course, I am firmly a proponent of positive, purposeful leadership communications, but it is clear that for each of them, audience considerations and correlated content decisions have been made.
Dry information alone will never motivate any audience to connect or take action.
Consider your audience’s agenda and adjust your presentation to suit. Tailor your content to affirm or reassure. Capture their imagination. Bring them with you in a heartfelt way.
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Anticipate questions and prepare answers
During the two presidential debates, it wasn’t surprising that each candidate pivoted or deflected when asked a question they didn’t like. Their teams had anticipated the range of questions within the moderator’s announced topics and the potential allegations that could be lobbed from their opponent in advance.
I contend some of the pivots were unsatisfactory and needed more practice to land solidly. There was too much verbal stumbling on a few of the more obvious ones and that largely stemmed from being in the heat of the moment.
Even if you aren’t planning to run for political office, you may find yourself in a similar situation.
Failure to prepare is to prepare to fail. Work with a partner and write down expected questions and objections and craft short, positive responses.
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Be clear, brief, and relevant
To ensure you successfully deliver your answers aloud, don’t craft laborious, multi-sentence answers on paper. If you or your PR team has written a topic talking track which is paragraphs long, I guarantee you won’t recall everything smoothly in the clutch. Try capping the content with a short headline. I encourage my clients to limit these lines to no more than eight-words if possible.
Bolt onto your response headline a short supporting story, or three snappy examples like products in a grocery list. Here’s how: “We need to create a culture of employee support (headline), because our teams are struggling with remote working Zoom fatigue, childcare and isolation issues (grocery list).”
This formula can help you construct simpler responses to remember and deliver with ease.
Once you have crafted your answers, you must do more than read them to yourself. Deliver each one out loud to strengthen your muscle memory and create new neural pathways. As with debate prep, try a role play in which someone acts as your interviewer peppering you with rapid-fire questions. This will allow you to see how quickly and easily you can move between responses in a relaxed and conversational style. This takes time and effort but remember, practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent. Practice how you want to perform.
4) Don’t interrupt the other speaker
Finally, as many of us witnessed during the chaotic and incoherent first presidential debate, talking over the other speaker does not advance one’s position. You may have experienced this during live group webinars when participants forget to turn on their mute buttons. It can be uncomfortable and frustrating. Which is precisely why the second debate deployed the much-needed muting device.
Showing respect for other’s perspectives is a sign of strength, not weakness.
See you all next week, hopefully on the peaceful other side of the US vote. And, frankly, although we can’t control the outcome of this presidential election, we can certainly take more control over what comes out of our own mouths. So, here’s to a week of more purposeful communications toward others and yourself.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, aCuthor, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
How to dig yourself out of the hole and reconnect with colleagues
“This is the first time in seven months, I’ve seen all of you,” one of the participants shared as I went around our virtual room asking each person to contrast how they felt before our session began with how they were feeling now that we were wrapping up.
The group was comprised of tech analysts from a global financial company based in London. Headquarters and satellite offices in Paris, Singapore and elsewhere remain closed. Employees continue to work from home. And while I’m sure people have been interacting with each other, I became aware during our session that my request for everyone to turn on their webcams was a first. Until then, this had not been asked, so many chose to simply call, email or stay “off camera” when speaking on video platforms. Hence my participant’s striking observation that she had not “seen” her colleagues for all these many months.
“I didn’t understand how vital it was to see you again,” she went on. “I have been sitting here at my home digging a hole I didn’t realise I was in until now. It’s a deep hole. I’ve missed seeing you.”
I had been asked to run a purposeful leadership and well-being seminar and clearly it was needed. The woman’s poignant words rang out across the screen and touched my heart.
The time was 6:00 p.m. this past Wednesday and I had spent the entire day leading virtual session after session. I was tired. I looked forward to whipping up a quick dinner for my daughter Lulu and me and then settling in to watch season two of the Danish political drama Borgen.
“Fancy meeting over at Lemon & Duke? I can book us a table. Outside of course,” came the text.
I paused and thought of venturing to that stylish eatery in downtown Dublin, “No way, I’m exhausted. I’ve got Netflix on deck,” I imagined writing.
Then my participant’s words hit me again. This time in not in the heart but squarely in the stomach.
“Really?” I asked myself, “Are you going to pass up an opportunity to meet a friend face mask to face mask for a final, socially distanced dinner before Ireland’s second round of Level 5 Lockdown gets underway? Are you choosing to be alone on the couch over human interaction? Have you forgotten how to ‘do people’?”
As we come to the end of October – which interestingly included World Mental Health Day – and gaze out toward the next six weeks of another lockdown, please do this above all else:
1) Get support
Wherever you are, get off your couch. Do not try to go through this alone. Phone a neighbour, a family member, a friend, a colleague, a hotline. Someone. Get the support you need.
When I was a senior in college, I wrote a paper on the causes of homelessness for a political science class. I remember being surprised by the findings of a study that showed that the number one trigger for why a person landed on the street was not an increase in poverty, addiction or mental health issues, but was more directly connected to a simple lack of any support network.
If you’re reading this column, I’m not insinuating you’re on the precipice of losing your home, but like my participant, you might be unaware of the hole you may be quietly digging for yourself by yourself.
2) Prioritize mental health
Earlier this month, a survey published by TELUS International reported 75 pc of American workers have experienced anxiety as they work from home during this ongoing pandemic and strange world of uncertainty. Ninety percent of those surveyed said they find it difficult to “shut off” during the evening. Nearly half said their sleep is consistently interrupted and their mental health is deteriorating.
I imagine the numbers are similar here in Ireland. For these reasons, it’s critical companies take real effort to increase and expand their current range of mental health programmes.
3) Turn those cameras back on and re-connect!
Maybe you’ve stopped your weekly virtual coffees or lunches. Try holding one again. Urge participants to turn their web cameras back on. Ask an external facilitator to lead a collective conversation around something that isn’t work related.
For instance, when I lead what I describe as my “Hour of Power” to help employees refresh, reset and recharge, I often begin by asking participants to recall an early time when they accomplished something. Maybe it was the first time they rode a bike or performed in a play. One person shared how he had overcome a childhood fear of horses to attend a riding camp. “Remembering that accomplishment reminds me of the mental strength I mustered then. And I can find that again.”
I finally texted back to my friend and said I would gladly meet him in town. We had a great dinner.
We humans are social animals. If we can’t have offices, we need gathering places. Outdoors. Online. On-camera. We need to see each other. We need to re-connect to our sources of strength.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
Career Reinvention in the Time of Covid
He once opened for the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt and ran into Mick Jagger while they were recording in different parts of the same studio in England.
Today he runs virtual workshops for universities and millennial-staffed companies called, “How to succeed at jobs that don’t exist yet.” Christopher Bishop has an engaging and entertaining approach toward influencing and leveraging knowledge and experience I look forward to sharing with you today.
Many clients I am serving during these ongoing days of remote working say they don’t want to put their progression paths on hold. They want to position themselves now for internal advancement or external opportunities which may present later. Great. Because now is the time. As I’ve written in this space before, companies continue to promote and hire, even during the pandemic.
Chris, as he invited me to informally call him, is well-suited to offer advice in this area due to his own unique career development journey. “I’m a non-linear, multi-modal careerist,” he pronounced as I spoke to him from his home in Connecticut via Zoom.
“I’ve had eight separate careers so far, starting from a small degree in German literature with a minor in music. I now provide insight how to leverage emerging technologies – including quantum information science, AI, data science, fintech, crypto-assets, blockchain, augmented or virtual reality and robotics.”
But how did he get here from there? And what can we learn from his journey?
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VOICE – Understand and define your brand
Upon graduation in the 1970s, Chris auditioned and landed a gig as a bass player with the rock band, McKendree Spring. He recorded and toured for several years - first with the band and later as a studio musician for a variety of performers. That explains his star-studded encounters. It also may explain why his first suggestion for anyone looking to move in a career is to, ”know your voice.”
“This will change and evolve over your work life, but you must look inward and define your ‘uniqueness.’ What qualities make you stand out?” he asks. “Pick a favourite movie or book and write down aspects that you relate to.”
Chris’ movie is Blade Runner with its themes of future culture and technology. His book is Rise and Fall of Nations highlighting his interest in global business.
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ANTENNA – Monitor and find information
Futurists predicts new graduates will have between eight to ten jobs by the time they reach 38. To direct your path Chris says, “Raise your antenna and map what you do to what is happening in the world. Be diligent about monitoring information sources and finding new ones.”
Chris’ music career intersected with technology when he began work as an arranger and producer. “When music became data, I bought a computer and learned how to sample and sequence. You take existing skills and acquire new skills to future-proof yourself.
“I’m always chasing the next thing and seeing several things now. Crises engender innovation. The emerging jobs of the future are appearing at the intersection of historically disconnected disciplines. As long as there are problems, there will be jobs.”
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MESH - Connect with everyone and anyone
Chris recalls his traveling musician days when he finally tired of “the Holiday Inn life on the road” and decided to look for steady work in New York.
“I had a plastic bag full of index cards with people’s names and numbers,” he remembers. “It was way before LinkedIn. “Musicians, ad agents, art directors and creative types. I called every person I could.”
I can’t stress this myself enough, and as always, it’s great to have someone else echo and reinforce this idea. Networking is not work, it’s essential. His networking tip: “Add five people a week to your profile.”
That’s how I met Chris, by the way. I simply reached out to him via LinkedIn, not from a card in a plastic bag!
TIP OF THE COMMUNICATOR CAP
Speaking of reinventing yourself and career progression, a loyal reader of the column recently introduced me to Eileen Forrestal. Formerly an anaesthetist in Sligo, she traded in her medicine career in 2014 to become a publisher of motivational diaries and journals. Her Get Up and Go range of products are available in stores and online and are packed fresh each year with new inspirational quotes, stories and illustrations. I spoke with her by phone this past week as she was facilitating her virtual booth at the online Mental Health and Wellness Summit.
She shared with me she’s currently in conversations with American Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield about a partnership and if there was any time which called for positive forces to connect and align, this is certainly it. Good luck, Eileen.
STILL CRAZY OR MENTAL TOUGHNESS?
And finally, although in last week’s column I derided my sea-swimming buddies Lisa and Jane as ‘crazy’ for continuing to jump in the icy water here in October, I now formally re-label the practice as “mental strength training.” That’s because they convinced me to take the plunge again past week. Twice. Yes, we all need to build our mental fortitude for the winter, but I swear now I’m done.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
I’ll be home for Christmas and what to do about it
Christmas is 74 days away.
I was reminded of the inevitable return of that annual winter-time festival during an early morning bike ride this past week with my friend, neighbour and workout buddy Lisa.
“Do you like Christmas?” Lisa began.
It was about 6:45 a.m. on Monday. Light rain was falling. Despite the weather, we were cycling to the southern tip of Dublin Bay, otherwise known as “The Forty Foot,” or that place where crazy people jump into nearly freezing water in October to go for a swim. I say crazy because the perfectly sane people like myself stop sea-swimming once September is over. So, although I agreed to join in the bike ride with Lisa to meet our mutual friend Jane and then cheer those two crazy swimmers on, I was certainly not planning to dip even one of my toes in that icy water.
“Sorry, what?” I questioned Lisa, asking her to repeat herself as the enquiry was swept away by the wind which, of course, was accompanying the rain.
“Are you looking forward to Christmas?” Lisa asked again.
“Oh yes!” I gushed. “I absolutely love it. Imagine the Coca-Cola Santa meets Mr Fezziwig from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I love the food, the decorations, the socialising; the entire figgy pudding.” I could practically feel the warmth from a log fire, the cinnamony aroma of something baking in the oven, the sound of Bing Crosby crooning White Christmas.
“I hear you,” Lisa interrupted my thoughts. “but I think it’s going to be especially hard on a lot of people this year.”
I was jolted out of my self-absorption by more than the cold rain and wind. Lisa’s words prompted the startling realisation that this Christmas holiday – like practically everything else we’ve been experiencing since the Corona Virus pandemic struck – will be unlike that of any previous year.
Large office parties, out. Travel to sunny after-Christmas destinations, limited. The notion of welcoming several extended family members or friends into your home, a memory from the ghost of Christmas Past.
So, what can we do now to begin to prepare?
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Understand this holiday season will have difficulties
As head of the global HR team for Pac J Investment Services, Phildelia Johnson oversees a workforce of 1,100 people. I spoke to her through Whatsapp from her home near New York.
She said her company has already put in place many new policies designed to provide wellbeing care for employees during this time of remote working, and the holidays demand extra support.
“We are offering Fridays as a half-day every week. We also make sure our employees block out their lunch time when they take it, so they don’t receive messages or meeting requests.
”For the holidays, we are considering a range of supplemental support ideas including gift packages to go to employee homes full of things to help them know they are valued and our greatest asset.”
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Focus on your employees as individuals
Based in Belfast on this side of the Atlantic, executive coach Ricky Drain cautions we haven’t yet seen the real emotional effect of Covid.
“When this began, the sun was shining, and we were getting into brighter, longer days. But now we’re heading into the depths of winter. And even though we’re not spending time in our cars commuting home, when we complete the day’s work behind our screens, it will be dark. There are plenty of studies about the effects of lack of sunlight, and now you couple that with the anxieties of Covid and remote working isolation, it’s going to be tough. For those reasons, leaders need to be much more mindful about how their employees are.
“Start now to begin noticing the individuals who have really healthy attitudes and notice the ones who are struggling. Offer immediate help to those who appear to be experiencing challenges. This includes other leaders too, not only those down the food chain. If you have a strong awareness of others as well as yourself, you’ll be able to notice changes.
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Provide regular surveys
“A survey can be helpful,” Ricky encourages, “as long as you don’t offer basic ‘yes or no’ questions. Craft open-ended questions so your team can share their thoughts and feelings. Also, if you’re going to create a survey, first understand your purpose. Then, after you conduct a survey, make sure to take action around it. If you don’t, people will lose trust in you.
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Capture the learnings
One of the silver linings of this whole experience, Ricky contends, is that we have the opportunity to connect back to ourselves. “A lot of organizations were operating pre-lockdown at a pace that was too fast. Now in Covid, the brakes have been put on and we’re more aware of the speed. Focusing on the simpler things allows a person to become a new version and more efficient version of themselves.”
As the holidays approach, then, focus less on the pressures of what you think you need to do and more on gauging how you feel you are. Only then should you decide if you want to go for that Christmas Day sea swim. Or not.
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon
How Businesses Can Prioritize Mental Health
Dear readers, it won’t surprise you that mental health and well-being continue to reside at the top of our workplace communication issues list.
In last week’s column, I focused on how you can actively take more control of three main areas of wellbeing: mind, body and soul. Today, let’s examine how businesses can offer support.
On Tuesday, the World Economic Forum hosted a live webinar focusing on cultivating mentally healthy workplaces. (Thank you, reader, Kristina Glasnovic, for bringing this to my attention.) The speakers discussed a variety of regional and cross-sector case studies and initiatives aimed at providing Covid-19 stress-related mental support and beyond.
I’d like to explore some of their suggestions at the same time I introduce you to the Irish company Primeline. Based in County Meath, Primeline employees more than 700 people from all 32 countries across the island. It’s the largest provider
Primeline is the largest independent Irish provider of logistics, sales and marketing services to home-grown and international brands and retailers across the Irish and UK
Last week
In tha last couple of year primeline has been on a journaey we started as a hard warehousing and ligitstince brisnse movinv boxed sfrom a – to be and moving brands et.. but in the last couple o f years there was desiere from the two onwerf ot the busines.. how do we take the company into a new level.. one of the first things was to invest in the slt.. but in ordert o bcreate a common language across primeline.. we had to introcue our new pvalues.. at the caonfere last year.. we held it in the castle naught hotel.. and we invited everyone along the primline group.. to come together..
We have have employees from all 32 counties and 700 direct employees and agency colleagues into our warehouses and our drives. All tobehr over 1000 impacted daiilye.
And we ‘re moving products all over the country – and in Scotland and England we have three and four hubs across the the uk – deliver.. #we launched our company values at the conference elast year.. #we have five company bvalues..
Excellence
Resepent courage #teamwork and results.
We went with words – because we know they mean different things to different people – because we wanted them to sit and fit – for our counter colleagues to driver colleagues – we have colleagues across every industrt
So we launched out values – and that was the first steop in our journey =- and then it’s been about growing that.. #about growing a consistent language across the business.
When it came to launch prime-life – it was aoubt brining our values to life..
While this have come from our founders – it hasn’t been an easy journey – sometimes the concept of culture and the culture change and values based culture – can sound fluffy and people mihg tsay why are you sticking up words on the wall and what’s going to happen with that?
A couple of ways to engage the founders and my fellow colleagus on the senior leader team – I talka bout the customer employee profit chain – in a nutshell if you find really great people andyou look after then they will look after you and there will be growth..
We were doing that to a degree – but we weren’t connecting our people to the people.. how were we getting them to bring their best self to work.
We neded to really have a platform to really engage into primeline – and that was launching primelife – as well. In addition to launching our company values, we also launched our people vision. Why do we come to work every day – to live and breath ethe people vision.
We want to create an evironbgmane where people want to come tow work every day
2. we wnt to create a place werehe people genionely know that people caere about each other
3. we want to have a pleace a to work weher our line managers create a work enviroenmtne where people can be their best.
It’s in the know and care place that primelife comes to life
When we have this converstaiont with the two owners and they get it..
Nikki asked me to look over primelife – I know how it feels to feel important in the workplace – it’s important to feel included and valued. There was already an employee assistance program – it’s a safe place where people cant talk about personal or professional issues that are impatin their lives. There are counselling sessions available or - hlepd you deal with the burdens of life. We don’t’ want our employees to struggle through their jobs.
Primelife promotesmental health – we send out weekly communications to our colleagues – to mental health, financial health, nutritional advice.. our of our employees have contact numbers and we addresses.. primelife is the umbrella term for the programme as awhole..
Employee assistance program is under that and the gp 24 hour care – is a program for our employees and their families – we have about 350 people who work in our warehouses.. and we might have a lot of foreign nationals and they might not have a lot of English.. what we try to do with these programs is give them a one-stop shop =where they can come to help and advice in this country.
They may need legal advice or counselling or financial advice.
Primeline is 30 years old – when we first launched this.. and we got back
It’s a phone numbers and a web address- in partnership with Laya healthcare –
We would have colleagues who would be with us for 30 years – it keeps them connected to primline and fosters that culture of care.
We care about you as an individual.
There were 10 calls to the Employee Assistance Program – in the first six months – and now we would have it 10 calls a day. Launched iabout -18 months ago.. we bring food for our employees into the site..
We employee 150 people I office roles and the rest are on the road or in retail. The 150 worked remotely and the rest continued to com e into the sites every day through Covid.
During covid we had to get creative and keep our colleagues connected even more – we had to keep them connected.. we had to keep wellness on the agenda.. some people enjoyed the xperinece and for others it was really isolating.. we set challenges and online recognitaion and delivered fruit boxes and kept it interactive..
We make suer we get engagement.
We’ver big plans for primelife and the wellness program and al ot of the plans had to go on hold because of the lockdown – for instance we were going to launch yoga and pilates on the –
So now we’re launching the recognition program – recognizing them on our values – every day recognition program – I can fillin the bar and we also have a digital version of that.. we would’ve had cards – but now it’s digital.
We are also launching an employee forum to have empllyees privid input to the primlife intiaitaves..
People want to be part of isoemthing – it’s no longer just a job – launched in2019 and before there were no formal values..
Last week
In tha last couple of year primeline has been on a journaey we started as a hard warehousing and ligitstince brisnse movinv boxed sfrom a – to be and moving brands et.. but in the last couple o f years there was desiere from the two onwerf ot the busines.. how do we take the company into a new level.. one of the first things was to invest in the slt.. but in ordert o bcreate a common language across primeline.. we had to introcue our new pvalues.. at the caonfere last year.. we held it in the castle naught hotel.. and we invited everyone along the primline group.. to come together..
We have have employees from all 32 counties and more than 700 direct employees and agency colleagues into our warehouses and our drives. All tobehr over 1000 impacted daiilye.
And we ‘re moving products all over the country – and in Scotland and England we have three and four hubs across the the uk – deliver.. #we launched our company values at the conference elast year.. #we have five company bvalues..
Excellence
Resepent courage #teamwork and results.
We went with words – because we know they mean different things to different people – because we wanted them to sit and fit – for our counter colleagues to driver colleagues – we have colleagues across every industrt
So we launched out values – and that was the first steop in our journey =- and then it’s been about growing that.. #about growing a consistent language across the business.
When it came to launch prime-life – it was aoubt brining our values to life..
While this have come from our founders – it hasn’t been an easy journey – sometimes the concept of culture and the culture change and values based culture – can sound fluffy and people mihg tsay why are you sticking up words on the wall and what’s going to happen with that?
A couple of ways to engage the founders and my fellow colleagus on the senior leader team – I talka bout the customer employee profit chain – in a nutshell if you find really great people andyou look after then they will look after you and there will be growth..
We were doing that to a degree – but we weren’t connecting our people to the people.. how were we getting them to bring their best self to work.
We neded to really have a platform to really engage into primeline – and that was launching primelife – as well. In addition to launching our company values, we also launched our people vision. Why do we come to work every day – to live and breath ethe people vision.
We want to create an evironbgmane where people want to come tow work every day
2. we wnt to create a place werehe people genionely know that people caere about each other
3. we want to have a pleace a to work weher our line managers create a work enviroenmtne where people can be their best.
It’s in the know and care place that primelife comes to life
When we have this converstaiont with the two owners and they get it..
Nikki asked me to look over primelife – I know how it feels to feel important in the workplace – it’s important to feel included and valued. There was already an employee assistance program – it’s a safe place where people cant talk about personal or professional issues that are impatin their lives. There are counselling sessions available or - hlepd you deal with the burdens of life. We don’t’ want our employees to struggle through their jobs.
Primelife promotesmental health – we send out weekly communications to our colleagues – to mental health, financial health, nutritional advice.. our of our employees have contact numbers and we addresses.. primelife is the umbrella term for the programme as awhole..
Employee assistance program is under that and the gp 24 hour care – is a program for our employees and their families – we have about 350 people who work in our warehouses.. and we might have a lot of foreign nationals and they might not have a lot of English.. what we try to do with these programs is give them a one-stop shop =where they can come to help and advice in this country.
They may need legal advice or counselling or financial advice.
Primeline is 30 years old – when we first launched this.. and we got back
It’s a phone numbers and a web address- in partnership with Laya healthcare –
We would have colleagues who would be with us for 30 years – it keeps them connected to primline and fosters that culture of care.
We care about you as an individual.
There were 10 calls to the Employee Assistance Program – in the first six months – and now we would have it 10 calls a day. Launched iabout -18 months ago.. we bring food for our employees into the site..
We employee 150 people I office roles and the rest are on the road or in retail. The 150 worked remotely and the rest continued to com e into the sites every day through Covid.
During covid we had to get creative and keep our colleagues connected even more – we had to keep them connected.. we had to keep wellness on the agenda.. some people enjoyed the xperinece and for others it was really isolating.. we set challenges and online recognitaion and delivered fruit boxes and kept it interactive..
We make suer we get engagement.
We’ver big plans for primelife and the wellness program and al ot of the plans had to go on hold because of the lockdown – for instance we were going to launch yoga and pilates on the –
So now we’re launching the recognition program – recognizing them on our values – every day recognition program – I can fillin the bar and we also have a digital version of that.. we would’ve had cards – but now it’s digital.
We are also launching an employee forum to have empllyees privid input to the primlife intiaitaves..
People want to be part of isoemthing – it’s no longer just a job – launched in2019 and before there were no formal values..
Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie
With corporate clients in five continents, Gina London is a premier communications strategy, structure and delivery expert. She is also a media analyst, author, speaker and former CNN anchor. @TheGinaLondon