Teamwork
10. A recovery buddy
After a failure, it’s often difficult to reach out to others for help.
But if you nominate your ‘recovery buddy’ before something negative happens, you’ll be more likely to seek help.
Who do you want to reach out to next time you’re struggling - and who could you offer the same favour to?
Strategy
9. Get specific
- who is my target audience?
- which markets will I target?
- which marketing channels will I use?
Be prepared to make hard choices to define your path, cutting off potential opportunities.
Storytelling
8. Message matters
Know what you want to say with your story.
A clear message gives your story focus. It helps you decide what is essential and what isn’t.
But don’t worry if your audience walks away with a different message. The best stories can be interpreted in many ways.
Leadership
7. Transparent visions
To inspire and motivate your team, you must ensure they understand your vision.
Set clear expectations and objectives for the team as soon as possible.
When goals are clearly set, everyone can track progress and tangibly identify achievements.
Storytelling
6. Make it simple but deep
The best stories are structurally simple but emotionally complex.
Don’t be afraid to tell simple stories as long as you charge them with emotional depth.
Leadership
5. Be a leader, not a dictator
Don’t demand compliance.
Encourage commitment.
Compliance forces your team to work because they HAVE to.
Commitment makes your team work harder because they WANT to.
Productivity
4. The 5-minute hack
Procrastinating? STARTING a task is often the most challenging part.
Commit to spending just 5 minutes working on it.
When those 5 minutes are up, you can walk away. But once you've started, you’ll probably find it hard to stop!
Productivity
3. Defuse the bomb
Intrusive and negative thoughts can really get in a way of our productivity.
But there’s a way to hack them. Researchers advise to defuse the thought by rephrasing it.
Next time you think ‘I am going to fail’, rephrase it to ‘I am having a thought that I am going to fail’.
Storytelling
2. Embrace conflict
The best stories are full of obstacles and challenges.
We’re only satisfied with a happy ending after seeing the protagonist struggle to reach their goals.
The bigger the conflict, the better the story.
Leadership
1. The Day One mentality
At work, we often get caught up in strings of events that started ages ago.
To avoid that, make your next decision as if it was the first day of the business.
With the knowledge you have today, how would you best approach things?
One of the few newsletters I look forward to.
— Dave Cunningham, Head of DesignOps @ NHS
