it's a way of life.
Community ───≫ Beauty
Connection ───≫Truth
Creativity ───≫ Questions
Technology ───≫ Ideas
– from 5 Ways Social Media Will Change the Way You Work in 2013 on Forbes (via getworksimple)
As the dust settles on the HR Technology Conference, the big takeaway is clear:
Social Performance is transformative.
Recognizing this paradigm shift, Human Capital Management (HCM) vendors are either incorporating or plan to incorporate social elements into their products. There are many…
via getworksimple
Dozens of volunteers took part in what they thought was an investigation into creativity. Half the study participants were given false feedback on a test of their creative potential, with their results inflated to suggest that they’d excelled. In advance of the main challenge – a series…
Oh yes I did. Quoted Scott Stapp on the WorkSimple blog today. There is no low too low for me. Check it out.
Don’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Do make technology work for you.
When I was a kid my Mom used to always say, “I’ve been running around all day like a chicken with its head cut off.” (Yo, PETA!) Being highly visual and very imaginative, as most kids are, it would bother me. A lot. Maybe you’ve heard it said before, or maybe it was just my crazy Mom. It was her totally gnarly way of saying “I’ve been running around like a crazy, busy person!” Okay, Ma. Gnar.
Efficiency. It’s important, right? Who doesn’t want to make the most out of their time, money, resources? These days all three seem ridiculously short for a lot of us. This is no less true in our home lives as it is in our businesses. I have been known to say that cliches are cliché because they are true. And the ol’ addum “time is money, money is time” is, well, true. Isn’t it?
Too many businesses are spending far too much time these days answering questions like, do we invest in that that slicked out Facebook page, this conference or that marketing campaign, when they really should be investing that time in researching and implementing the amazing technological tools that are at their fingertips.
Businesses should have a Technology Toolbox, much akin to Mary Poppins’ purse. And let’s not mince words. I am talking about magic. Tools that can harness speed-up processes, save time, boost efficiency. Tools that are responsive and beautiful. This is magic, my friends.
So what are these tools? Let’s name a few:
I must admit that Evernote inspired this post. I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:40am this morning, brain abuzz with stuff. Yep. Stuff. The way I love to get the stuff out? I open up Evernote and start throwing it all in there. Evernote isn’t a task manager and it’s not a virtual coarkboard - it’s both and more. It’s where I “stuff” everything: all my ideas, all my inspiration. That is to say: lists, links, images, pdfs, the draft of this article I’m writing right now, etc. The layout is straightforward and easy. The design makes perfect sense to both my right brain and my left. Total home run. Like, way outta the park. Like, WHAT would I do without Evernote?
If ever there was an app to help you work better, this is the one. Centered around goals, which, hello - who doesn’t need to focus on their goals once in a while? - WorkSimple is the perfect place to regain your focus everyday. Login, set a goal, update a goal, share a goal, get feedback on your goals. It’s kind of like going to the Career Sherpa you always wish you had, but never knew existed. And then at the end of the quarter, the year, you look back and have this amazing track record of all your work and you’re like, “I’M FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!” Portfolio time. Promotion time. Making-your-productivity-work-for-you time. Yep. Like that! Oh and like Evernote, the design is beautiful. Give me beauty or just go home! Like, get outta here.
I’ve been impressed with Pardot from day one - since before I even opened the darn app. Their awesome people and kick ass branding and marketing precede their user experience and it’s all good - great even - from start to finish. Now this app will only help you in business - it’s Marketing software and not good for making a grocery list or setting a goal to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. HOWEVER I had to throw it in here because, in as far as I can tell, these folks have done and are doing everything - and I mean everything - right. The app interface is simple, the design is beautiful (are you noticing a theme yet?), and they’ve stuck to exactly what you need. What comes to mind is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). And, I’m sorry, but we are all stupid sometimes and because of that, simple wins!
So what about you? What apps allow you to operate less stupid, less “chicken with its head cut off,” and more as the amazing, ass-kickin’-name-taker you are? Well? Give ‘em up!
“The irony of simplicity is that it invariably lets you do more. Simplicity isn’t about giving up any value—it’s a movement around designing technology or products thoughtfully to make them substantially more useful and attainable.” - Aaron Levie, Box.net
Happy Momma’s Day, y’all!
At WorkSimple we like a few things. We like to go hard and we like to play hard. File this under “play hard.” And file it under “muy importante,” too.
Mommas, you make the world go ‘round.
If you’ll drank to that, play along with us and take a gander and guess at who these celeb Mommas are. Hint: they are some of our faves!
“Money is not the best motivator━employees want to be “players, not pawns.””
Remember on Sesame Street when they always had a word of the day? I feel like today, if my day at work were an episode of Sesame Street, that word would be “collaboration.” Let’s face it. It’s a buzzword. *Giant eye roll* But kinda like cliches, buzzwords are buzzwords because they’re important. Because they’re a means of expressing something that’s important to us. And, well, collaboration is important.
I was in a great Twitter Chat this afternoon - #SWChat. If you’re interested in ideas and technlogies that are pushing the workplace foward, I highly suggest you check it out 1PM PST every Thursday. Today the topic, of course, was “Building A Collaborative Culture.” What’s the word of the day again? Heh heh.
And then this article made it’s way across my desktop - How do you Create a Culture of Innovation? Okay, not our word of the day, but you know what? I think the two go hand in hand. Like best of buds. Like beer and pizza. Truly.
Collaboration sows the seeds of innovation.
If you’re reading this and you don’t live in the Silicon Valley you probably don’t know that most every start up environment has an open office space. What that means is no cubicles. Truth.
At my first job at a start up, I sat desk to desk with the CFO. You know, like you sat desk to desk with your BFF in 5th grade and passed notes under the desk? Same gig. What a trip. You think that kind of set up doesn’t breed collaboration, you are kidding yourself. Just think back to how many times you got in trouble for talking to the kid next to you in school?
Collaboration gives voice to ideas that live in solitude and it unlocks new ideas that would have otherwise never come about. Work it out. Stop trippin’. Get off the acid. F’real. Think back to school again. If you had been sectioned off from your peers, you think you would have had half as much fun or learned half as much all by your lonesome?
There’s a reason they didn’t sit us like that back then, and there’s a reason we should be seated like that now.
Listen, I’m an introvert. I need me my 3 foot bubble. Space. I believe creatives in particular need space away from others to birth ideas. But I believe we also need others to give ideas their fullness of shape and form. And if you are so arrogant as to think that you don’t need others to carry along your vision, then your ship is going to sink fast. No woman is an island. No man either!
Seriously though. Collaboration is crucial. You don’t dangle the daggone carrot infront of someone’s head, you put your head together with theirs. That’s what motivates. That’s what innovates. Believe it.
Photo from endo on Flickr.
LOVE THIS.
“When we trust people at work, they behave in a more trustworthy way. This biological effect describes why ‘empowerment’ in the workplace can be a very good thing (when done in the context of the company’s values and mission).” -Josh Bersin, Forbes from How The Trust Hormone Drive Business Performance
