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Is EI the answer to Reducing the Unemployment Figures?

November 16, 2011 By

This morning the government announced that unemployment figures are up to 2.62 million, with youth unemployment over 1 million.

Why? Is it because of the economy, companies aren’t doing, as well so cannot employ people?

Is there a skill shortage? More and more students are coming out with more and more qualifications than ever before.

On the news this morning (yes I did watch it, my 5 min fix per day), young people who have degrees and qualifications coming out of their ears can’t find a job.

The common catch 22 dilemma they face is employers saying, you don’t have any experience. Well we all know without getting a job you CAN’T get experience.

So what is the young person to do? Do they have to wait until the economy starts to pick up and we start to spend money before employers take a chance on them and give them the experience they need?

This will take a long time.

When employers say you don’t have experience, there is no real answer a young person can give. The employer knows, without getting a job they are not going to get the experience.

So when an employer says you have no experience they actually mean you do not have the emotional capabilities to cope/deal with this position?

Think about, what do you gain with experience? Dealing with people, communication skills, handling your own emotions, self-control, managing people, empathy, self-confidence, initiative, teamwork. all the things and more you learn in Emotional Intelligence.

Because the word intelligence is part of this phrase there is a common misconception that it is to do with academic excellence. Far from it. What would be the impact on the unemployment figures if alongside academic study we were taught the core competences of emotional intelligence, Self-Awareness, Social-Awareness, Self-Management and Relationship Management?

Entrepreneurial traits

Image via Wikipedia

At school children are taught PSHE (Personal, Social, & Health Education). Having worked in schools the issue I have with the way it is taught, is that it is done from a knowledge/ academic viewpoint as opposed the teachers living and breathing it.

Post 16 it is assumed that you know how to deal with people. It is assumed that dealing with your emotions and managing other people is something we should ‘know’ how to do. Is this not what employers are looking for when that are looking for ‘experience’. You only have to look at the number of soft skills courses that the corporates send they employees on, to see the importance on these skills.

I will concede at this point that ‘experience’ could also mean actual experience in the job, i.e. applying the skills you have learnt to real life situations.

But I fear that the majority of times when employers are looking for experience they are looking for high levels of emotional intelligence.

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The One Thing You Use Every Day That Prevents You From Succeeding.

October 26, 2011 By

What is the one thing you use everyday, but can’t see? What is the one thing others use with you everyday, but can’t feel? What is the one thing that has a significant impact on your success that we pay little conscious attention on?

The Answer: LANGUAGE

Conversations!!

Image by aforgrave via Flickr

How you use language, how you receive language and you interpret language. You use language every day. Other people use language every day. This could be spoken, non-verbal, written or sign, whatever form we use it without thinking. So how can the language you use prevent you from succeeding? Even the way I am writing this blog post and the words used can have an impact on your success.

Let me explain, from the point of view of a simple innocent conversation. You meet up with a colleague from work one Monday afternoon and you talk about the weekend, or the football match or how you spent the weekend doing some DIY. This conversation will be like what I call a tennis match, you say one thing, the other person listens waits for you to stop, then proceeds to talk about what they did. This usually goes on for however long that you are talking for and really ends of just an exchange of information.

Nothing wrong with that, small talk is good, build some rapport and it’s polite. Where the problem occurs is when this type of language and listening exchange occurs in all types of conversation. Especially in business or when you are looking to improve something or someone.

There are 3 common phrases that occur time and again when that subconsciously prevents people moving forward or even listen. These are

  • I know
  • Yes but
  • I don’t know.

The Curse of ‘I Know’

Whenever we say ‘I know’ we are in fact saying, ‘whatever you are saying I am not listening and I am just waiting for you to stop’

Think about it what does ‘I know ‘actually mean in the context of any conversation? Is it a kind way of saying shut up! Notice also when you say it, you don’t just say it once you say it several times, ‘I know, I know, yeah I know…’

The Automatic Yes But

It is sometimes said that when we want to avoid offending someone and still give our opinion, we start our sentence of with yes ,but. When you use but, most of the time it negates what has come before, the yes shows we agree, or at least we have listened.

The Safety of I Don’t Know

Where can you go, when someone answers I don’t know, it’s a deadpan response, the equivalent of a tennis shot that just gets the ball over the net, and then requires you to do all the work. Think about this, there are times when the ‘I don’t know’ response is a genuine response about not knowing something. However there are times, when asked a challenging question, the response back is an immediate ‘I don’t know’.

What would be the impact on you if stopped using these phrases in your conversations? In the world of personal development the phrase ‘I can’t’ is frowned up, what if we added these phrases.

A couple of things to observe, next time you are in a social situation, be aware of what is being said and the number of times these phrases are uttered. Ear wig a conversation in a restaurant. Listen to yourself and catch yourself to see if you use these phrases.

As soon as we wake up we are communicating with ourselves. The first thoughts you have in your head, will determine the kind of day you are going to have. The type of language you use in your head mirrors what you say out load. If you find that say these phrases quite a lot, it usually a symptom of something that you are trying to avoid or hide.

There may be other phrases you use that are part of your pattern. Maybe nothing wrong with them, however look in the context you are using these phrase and ask yourself, do these phrases serve you and the conversation of just keep you in your pattern an keep you where you are.

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How to make the customer feel in control

September 16, 2011 By

I am fortunate enough to work in many different industries. The nature of the work I do is all about people and businesses working to their potential.

motor :: engine

This invariable involves starting with the people in the business to see how the business can improve. One company I work with is a car mechanics; one of the issues we addressed this week was customers phoning up to see when their car would be ready.

This was a continued frustration for all the staff, because when the customer dropped their car of they said they would call them when it’s ready, of diagnosed what needed to be done.

They couldn’t understand why customers were still ringing.

They were several things happening here:

1. They were not managing the customer’s expectations, by saying they would ring as soon as they have some information doesn’t fill the customer with confidence. Not that they didn’t believe the garage wouldn’t call but being so busy they may have forgot or slipped within the cracks.

2. When the customer did ring, they garage would try not to frustrated, by saying they would call as soon as they had more information. This just made the customer frustrated as well.
3. When the car was serviced and the garage rang them, instead of being please the customer would invariably have a ‘about time’ attitude.
So what would the garage do to minimize the number of times a customer calls back? First thing to say is the obvious thing is just to give a time when they would call back. The problem with this is if they did say, 2pm for example, and rang at 2.15, you are risking the customer feeling you have called late.
We put three things in place to manage the customer expectations and also make them feel that the garage was doing them a ‘going beyond the call of duty’ service.
1.Call Back Window. When the customer leaves their car, the garage would give a window in which they would call back. So something like 2pm- 4pm. This gives the customer some idea and gives the garage a big enough time space to call back. If the customer wants you to be more specific, you can manage this by making it 1 hour.
2.Give Them Your Name – there is nothing worse than when you are calling up not knowing who you spoke to. So here whoever the individual is dealing with the customer who actively give them their name, saying they are personally dealing with their car. Giving your name before they ask for it puts you’re already on the front foot, showing you are prepared not to hide behind the company.
3.Give Them Permission. – Once the garage has given the call back window and their name, give them permission to call the garage of they haven’t heard from you within the call back window. This will do two things, a reassurance that the garage WILL call within 2-4 to avoid this and the customer opportunity call at a fixed time.
Proof is in the pudding. I will let you know how they get on

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Rory Mcilroy: An example in self-belief

June 22, 2011 By

This weekend we saw Rory Mcilroy win the US Open, and along the way he broke many records. If you look at Mcilroy’s meteoric rise, wining his major was only a matter of time. However this win is even more remarkable if you look at what happened to him in the past few months.

BETHESDA, MD - JUNE 19: 1964 US Open winner K...

In any sport, especially at the elite level, it is all about performing in the moment. This is the difference between being very good and being world class, the cream of the cream.

For those of you that aren’t aware, Rory Mcilroy was leading in Augusta before collapsing on the final day with a round of 80. This spectacular fall from grace on the final, drew many comments about whether he could handle the pressure when it matters. Everybody sympathised with Mcilroy’s situation, feeling for him, and secretly glad it wasn’t them.

Mcilroy was devastated after the tournament. He said all the right things after the loss, “I’ll be disappointed for the next few days but I’ll get over it and I’ll have plenty more chances. Hopefully it will build a bit of character in me.”

So what did Mcilroy do after the loss? Go on the practice green and do hours and hours of work. Look at the DVD of his performance to see where he went wrong?

Flag of UNICEF

Image via Wikipedia

No he went to Haiti. Not to play golf, but to act as an ambassador for UNICEF to view the damage of the January earthquake and the construction that is taking place now.

This escape from his golf enabled Mcilroy to do two things, first, to get his mind completely away from golf and out life in perspective. Yes he lost a major golf tournament and at the time would have felt like the end of the world, but seeing the devastation that the Haiti people have to deal with puts his loss in perspective, The second thing, is that as soon as he did get back on the green, his mind was clear and he was able to trust his instincts and play as naturally as possible without the residual negativity of the masters hanging over him.

Mcilroy said: “The chance that these children are getting to be kids and enjoy themselves is so important for their well-being. Being here at this child-friendly space gives them the chance to play with their friends and enjoy themselves – helping them escape for a little while every day from the difficult situations they are growing up in.”

This demonstrates that Mcilroy has a sense of perspective and when he does play golf he does so as if it doesn’t matter, which gives he the best chance of winning.

Rory Mcilroy’s complete self-belief in his own abilities not only won him his first major, but at the first opportunity squashed any talk that he couldn’t deliver when it matters.

What can we learn from this in our own lives?

Learn from the past, but don’t dwell on it
Trust your instincts
Put life in perspective

Congratulations to Rory Mcilroy, the first major, many more to come.

Baiju

Performance Coach
and Southend Business Awards Winner: Business Man of the Year 2010

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Social Media or Email – Which is Best for Marketeers

May 25, 2011 By

So what should you use. Is it a choice?

There is an ever increasing use of social media, so is there a place for email? If you look at the way the younger generation communicate it is via social media platforms like Facebook. If there want to send a message they message through Facebook not send an email.

So does this have implication as far as how businesses should market in today’s world? Should they replace their email with social media?

In a recent study by comScore, they reported that email usage among teenagers 12-17 declined by 59% in 2010 and 18-25 there 18% fewer users. The cohort that email usage increased was 55+.  The full study can be found here - Download report

If this is the trend we are seeing, what is the implication for how we should email in the future, especially for online retailers? Well depends on your viewpoint. If you feel that the younger generation will not change their habits and use social media as their main use of communication, then online retailers will have to adapt the way they communicate. However we know as we grow older our habits do change, so it is safe to assuming that email will not become redundant but actually enhance social media as it does today.

Email and Social Media: Some Observations

  • When you send a tweet or update your social media profile, you send an email saying so. This gets to your target audience and drives them to your websites. ( maybe how you got this blog post!)
  • The interaction on email is different to that on social media. On email it can be fairly transactional, whereas on social media, it is social, as the name suggests. Email is a broadcast tool, whereas social media should be used as interaction relationship building tool.
  • An unsolicited email can be seen as invading ones space, however an unsolicited social media update, is anything but.
  • Business, especially larger ones, are still not enhancing social media for its full use. They use email to broadcast, but don’t use social media to build relationships. However some do. Below you can see the different ways Starbucks and Costa are using social media

Now it doesn’t take a genius to work which of these two coffee brands understands social media and which one doesn’t!

Starbucks is engaging with their customers and as a result you see their following is nearly 1.5million. Costa on the otherhand does not engage and has less than 3000 following.
So in conclusion I would say that its not an either or scenario. Email can enhance your social media presence when used in the right way, and we’ve not even talked about blogging etc…
Love to hear your comments

Baiju

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Filed Under: Baiju Solanki, Business, Latest:, Social Media

The Power Of What If…

May 6, 2011 By

So What Is What If?

If you managed to get past that mouthful, well done, the least you deserve now is for me to explain what I am talking about in the title!

When we want something, the natural instinct is to suddenly go all logical and start finding ways to justify the decision, or in some cases, ways to avoid it, if it is something we might be secretly scared of.

The minute the decision becomes a reality, it all becomes a bit scary and immediate.

Cover of

Cover of What If? Classic Vol. 1 (Marvel Heroes)

What If There Were No Limits?

What could be possible if there was nothing stopping you?

No lack of money, no responsibilities, no work to go to. No limits. No excuses.

Ask yourself “what if?”

The “what if” conversation can begin with a simple question and then develop into a wonderful idea. Imagine this:

“What if I combined my networking skills with my passion for coaching? Imagine how many people I could help?”

Or;

“What if I took my passion for writing and mixed it with my keen interest in social media? What sort of business could I build?”.

Once you start this process, the options are endless…

So What’s Next?

The “What if” conversation can reveal some unexpected things, such as hidden talents and maybe even a passion you didn’t know you had, or fully understand. It can show you in a revealing way whether you really like what you do, and if you don’t, what you would like to be doing.

Most importantly, and this really is the key here – it can change your mindset from “I can’t do this” to “How can I do this?”

And that is a priceless shift.

Rather than finding ways to justify why you can’t do things, you start to think of ways to make things happen. All of a sudden, the possibilities are endless.

Give Yourself a Pat On The Back…

Well done – you’ve had the conversation with yourself from where all things can start. That now leads to getting information and then taking the bold actions needed to get your show on the road, whatever that might be.

An Exciting Journey.

You’ve started in an exciting journey where you’ve allowed your mind to be opened to the possibility of “what if”. Your passion for the “if” can now kick in, taking you on an exciting journey full of possibility.

Once passion is engaged, there really is not stopping you…

And Finally…

Not everyone will understand, or be happy with, your “if” journey. People might question the changes you make and more importantly, the changes in you. Remember though that this is your journey. At the end, you can achieve your dreams, reach your goals and have a fantastic life.

And it all starts with two little words…

“What If”…

Is that a chance worth taking?

Ask what if consider there are no limits and ask what if and what could be possible.

Baiju

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Will The Royal Wedding Kick Start The Economy?

April 29, 2011 By

There has been so much comment in the media over the past few weeks with regards to the upcoming Royal Wedding on 29th April, about everything from Westminster Abbey, to the procession route, to the dress and interviews with the bride’s family.

Union Jack flags flying all over Regent Street...

Image by jaimelondonboy via Flickr

I think the one that made me smile the most was the daytime TV programme (I don’t watch daytime TV as a rule you understand – just want to make that clear) where they had hired a travel expert to look at and comment on the most likely honeymoon destinations.

That’s right – not the actual destination (which I assume is a closely guarded secret) but just potential ones. So effectively they were just guessing. Brilliant entertainment!

Ecademy Wisdom

Prior to that, I had been talking to Thomas Power, who for those of you who don’t know, is one of the founders of Ecademy, an online networking forum, about the wedding, and he had asked me a really good question. Did I think that the Royal Wedding would kick start the economy again? He thinks yes, big time!

As we know, the economy has not been in the best of places since the near meltdown in 2007/8, and is probably doing what most commentators would describe as “bumping along the bottom” at the moment.

It seems that people are not spending as freely as they might do, largely due to appears to fears about their job (perceived or actual) and also long term concerns about where interest rates might go next and the impact it will have on the cost of mortgages.

Spend Money People!

What the economy needs is for people to spend some of their hard earned money on consumer items. In a lot of cases this will be money they have saved up, as credit is still quite difficult to secure and overall, people are paying back old debts rather that incurring new ones.

So an event like the Royal Wedding, with street parties, barbeques, and other events taking place is a perfect opportunity for people to spend money on more of the things they might not otherwise.

Some might consider going to the procession in London, which means money spent on travel and food, whereas those who stay locally may choose to celebrate the fact that we’ve got a day off by having a drink or two, which will put extra money in the coffers of pubs, off licenses and supermarkets.

The Americans Are Coming

In addition to getting Brits to spend more money, the Wedding will also attract a decent number of overseas visitors, particularly Americans, who are well renowned for their interest in all things Royal. A good number of visitors to London for this weekend will probably be from the USA.

Wherever they are from however, they will all be doing one thing in common – spending money!

The Conclusion?

What the UK economy needs is investment based upon confidence – the confidence for people to spend money again on consumer items, whatever they may be.

So will one weekend with two bank holidays in it, be enough to get the economy off again?

My opinion is quite possibly yes. Certainly the extra money being spent will help, especially if the weather carries on being as favourable as it has been. If that can translate itself into even a small amount of longer term growth, which carries us through the summer and is sustained into 2012 and beyond, then that has to be a great longer term tangible benefit.

That will lead to more jobs being created, more new businesses started and then that will create its own momentum to keep going.

Good Luck!

So good luck to William and Kate on their wedding and also thanks for helping out UK PLC too!

And wherever your honeymoon is, I promise to keep it a secret!!!

Why not leave me a comment below and tell me what you think about this?

Baiju

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Filed Under: Baiju Solanki, Business, Latest:, Money

A Dream Snatched

October 1, 2010 By

This week we saw two brothers fight it out to become the next leader of the Labour party, David & Ed Miliband. If the reports in the news are to be believed, David’s dream, ever since he entered politics, was to be the leader of the Labour party.

David Miliband
Image via Wikipedia

When Labour was in government he served several junior posts before becoming Environmental Secretary in Blair’s government. His real big break came when Gordon Brown was in power and he was made the youngest Foreign Secretary in 30 years at 41.

Looking at this timeline, it looked the perfect platform to stand and become the next leader of the Labour party, when they lost the election.

All of a sudden the dream the David had of becoming the leader was there for the taking. Looking through David’s eyes, it would’ve been hard to argue that he had excellent chance. Looking at the other candidates, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, Alan Johnson, John Cruddas (who?), Diane Abbot, and oh yeah Ed Miliband. No contest.

The run to the Labour Leaders election Ed’s campaign seem to gain some momentum, so much so, there was talk of how would David react if Ed did get the leadership, doesn’t bear thinking about.

But it did happen, on Saturday 25th September David’s dream of being leader of his party was snatched from him, by the very person that was always in his shadow, Ed.

So what does it feel like to have a dreamed snatched away from you? A dream that is taken away from you by 1.3% of the vote.

How many of us have dreams, never to get this near? Is it better to have a dream that you never get close, or to play full out, get as close as you can to achieving your dream, only for it be taken away? Well I suppose it depends if you’re a half cup full or half cup empty kind of person.

Most people, and this is based on anecdotal evidence, spend their days in a job they don’t really want to do, don’t follow their dreams full out and never do anything to achieve their dream. They come up with excuses a myriad of excuses of why they can’t do it.

What about Ed? Was this a long term strategy of his, to become leader, or was it a case of right time, right place, right opportunity?

My guess is if you spoke to Ed 3-4 years ago, he didn’t have any aspirations to become a leader, however as the election unfolded and more and more people talked about the direction the Labour party was going, his own thinking started to change. All of a sudden what seemed a distance opportunity became a reality. I don’t know this, however I would guess that as soon as his thinking change around the possibility of become leader, the more he believed it and the more people around him starting talking about becoming leader, the more he believed it achievable.

So what has this got to do with the rest of us? Well having a dream is something we all should have better still, dreams so big, that if they are achieved (Ed), it is the best feeling in the world, and if we don’t (David) they hurt like hell.

Have you stopped dreaming because the pain of not getting it, if you play full out, would be too great? Have you stopped dreaming because you have convinced yourself that you are not good enough? Have you stopped dreaming because you don’t dream any more?

Just think how differently things would have turned out if Ed not thought it possible to become leader. One thing is for sure, David’s life would’ve been a whole lot different.

What did you dream that has come true? What have your stopped dreaming about that will never come true? Love to hear your comments

Baiju

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If it can bite nuts…

August 28, 2010 By

The silly season, as far as networking and generating business is concerned, is nearly over, kids back to school next week and I can get on with what I love doing (don’t tell the wife & kids).

However even when you are on holiday you think about things in your business and occasionally have some lightbulb moments. I didn’t have any!!!

What did happen though was both amusing and a lesson in how children think differently to adults.

We went to Centerparcs, which for those of you that don’t know is a holiday village within a forest with lots of activities for all the family, with all the villas and chalets located neatly in various parts of the forest.

Squirrel with nut
Image via Wikipedia

This being the case, we enjoyed the delights of having some visitors from the wildlife come by, two of which were rabbits (or hares, cant tell the difference) and squirrels.

I have 3 children and Sapna(14), Milan (12) and Suraj(7), upon seeing one of the squirrels I gave him some food (don’t tell Centerparcs), which the squirrel proceeded to eat. I said to my 7 year old “Look at the little squirrel”. He (my son) was less than amused, I said to come closer and see the squirrel, he didn’t want to.

So here I went into mode and said, “Has a squirrel ever bitten you”, “No”, came back the answer, “Do you know anyone that has been bitten by a squirrel?”, again he said “No”. So I said “see, it won’t bite you!”

Smarting over the power of my high level questioning technique and the breakthrough I created, my son looked at me paused and said…

“If it can bite nuts, it can bite us!

….em he has a point…

Baiju

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Filed Under: Baiju Solanki, Family, Latest:, Life

4 Steps to a Positive Attitude

July 14, 2010 By

A positive attitude is something that all of us recognise as something that will allow us to get what we want in life, well listening to anything to do with personal development, they say your attitude to life determines your altitude in life. As easy as it may sound, however, maintaining a positive attitude does required some hard work from our part.

Do you know what exactly constitutes a positive attitude? I am quite surprised that many people do not exactly know what the word “attitude” actually means.

4 Steps to a Positive Attitude

Step 1 – Beliefs, Values and Emotional Intelligence

You cannot manage what you cannot understand. Thus, the first step to you improving on your attitude is to know what constitutes an attitude. Attitude is defined as a complex mental state involving beliefs, feelings, values and dispositions to act in certain ways. To change your attitude, you have to put work hard on your belief and value systems and your Emotional IQ.

Step 2 – Your are a product of your Associates

Recognize who you want to associate more often with and who you want to limit your association. As much as we want to, not all relationships are created equally. Birds of the same feathers flock together.

Step 3 – Time Management

Know how to deal with your time. Everyone is given 24 golden nuggets per day, no one is exempted. Therefore it is up to us to decide how we want to utilize them to further improve our life and the lives of others.

Step 4 – Healthy Mind

If you noticed, having a great attitude in life involves great amount of mind power. Possessing a positive attitude all starts in the mind. A healthy, positively charged mind will atomically translate to a positive outlook of life.

push ups
Image by sun dazed via Flickr

And to own a healthy mind, one has to first own a healthy physical body which evolves from having a healthy lifestyle. Learn how to effectively manage the stress in your life, refrain from any potentially harmful drugs and getting a moderate amount of exercise very week are some of the examples how one can build a healthy mind and physical body to attain a positive attitude and outlook of life.

Like every other skills, nurturing a positive attitude in life requires some work from your part. You have to actively seek to replace your limiting beliefs and negative self talks with more empowering and positively-charged ones. The 4 positive steps formula can only lay the foundation for you. However, you still have to “do your own push-ups” should you want to see astonishing miracles in your life, literally.

Baiju

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