Author Archives: Lori Franze

Traditional Marketing Has Changed – Check Out Some of These New School Marketing Roles

While Technology has made some roles endangered (think postal worker, bank teller and travel agents), technology has also created roles within some corporate teams. Urberflip, a technology provider whose tools allow marketers to aggregate social content released a list of 9 roles that a modern marketing team needs and cites some of the recent trends for influencing these changes. These trends include:

Content marketing
Marketing automation
Social media
Big data

Below are four of these new roles. One might just be right for you:

Content Director

Created out of content marketing is the role of content director or manager of content. The person in this role will be responsible for developing and managing the content that buyers value and that ultimately feeds SEO efforts.

While the role of traditional journalist may be moving towards extinction the role of brand journalist is emerging and on the rise.

The person in this role not just writes content but also curates third-party content, manages others who work on content pieces and tracks the ROI of these efforts.

This role might work for you if you have a writing background, PR or marketing with an interest in diving deep in to products, services and the needs of the customer.

Brand Journalist

While the role of traditional journalist may be moving towards extinction the role of brand journalist is emerging and on the rise. These brand journalists are in charge of the storytelling of the brand and targeting to specific audiences.

Coming likely from the field of copywriting and traditional journalists, the brand journalist, will monitor industry related information and craft copy that aligns to company’s mission. Continue reading →

5 Time Management Tips To Become A Productivity Ninja

Lori Franze

How many times this week have your heard “there just isn’t enough time in the day” or “I can’t get to everything I need to in a day”? I think everyone would gladly take more time in the day to do things either at work or home or maybe just to sleep!

Well I don’t think hours will be added to the day any time soon so the only other option is to manage time better in a quest to get it all done. And to get it all done well! I am not going to recommend multi-tasking as research shows that people don’t really do things well when they are working on several things at one time. (If you must multi-task check out our earlier post on how to do it right.)

Lump your like tasks together. This will minimize the time lost from going back and forth from making phone calls to writing a proposal to meeting with teammates to reviewing the documents your boss left on your chair the night before.

I have combed through several articles to find the best tips from both Celestine Chua, founder of Personal Excellence shares 20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management and Entrepreneur.com.

Have a plan – everyday

Don’t start the day buried under a list of things to do. Start with a plan on what you are going to accomplish for the day and even schedule the items in your calendar to keep you on track. I actually try and plan out the next day before I close the laptop on the day before – it makes me feel less panicked about what faces me in the morning.

Just say NO

Most of us take on more than we can manage between our work responsibilities and our home commitments making it no surprise that we can’t get everything done in the day. Start to be more selective with the tasks and activities that are optional like joining the social committee at the office or organizing the neighbourhood block party. Continue reading →

How to Be a Good Boss – Tools That Will Help You

Lori Franze

Everyone has the stories and the war wounds maybe even the therapy bills. There is even a movie! We’ve all had a bad boss (if you have one now check out our post on how to deal with a bad boss) whose behaviour has taught us how not to be and we have promised to never be “that boss” but have you ever truly worked on your leadership skills and identified the traits you want to develop to help you be a better boss?

Understanding more about yourself will help you be a better leader.

My first recommendation is a quick read “Managing from the Heart” by Hyler Bracey, Jack Rosenblum, Aubrey Sanford and Roy Trueblood. Recommended to me by a mentor early in my career it shaped the way I work with teammates and those who report to me. The lessons are told in an easy to read story about a boss named Harry who as the head of a oil refinery uses the same philosophy to lead as he did as a fullback in college: put your head down and run through the hole in the line: keep driving toward the goal until somebody stronger than you stops you; and never let go of the ball. Know any bosses using this philosophy? Continue reading →

Tools That Will Help You Be a Better Boss (or just a better person)

Lori Franze

Keep driving toward the goal until somebody stronger than you stops you; and never let go of the ball. Know any bosses using this philosophy?

Another great resource is Strength Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Several years ago I employed the services of a career coach and the first thing she had me do was go out, buy this book and do the quiz. The results of the online survey floored me but also gave me insight in to my self that I had never had before. It tells you the five traits that you have had with you since childhood and how you can use them to your advantage when they may have been limiting you. Understanding more about yourself will help you be a better leader. Reading this book and understanding the different traits will help you better understand others. This book, I recommend to anyone I mentor. It is a great exercise in self-discovery.

I’ve mentioned Coursera.org in earlier posts but there is one course specifically that can help you become a better leader; “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence”. This course is done online for 8 weeks. It is about 3-4 hours of work a week and free unless you want the verified certificate and even then it is a bargain. Emotional connects is how great leaders motivate us. Think about the last great leader you had and what they did that had you motivated, invigorated and inspired.

I am always trying to improve my leadership skills – what tools can you recommend that have shaped you

How to Know What Salary to Ask For

Lori Franze

During your job search, if you do well and get close to a job offer, you will probably get asked what your salary expectations are; and sometimes that question is posted with the job description. So what do you do? How do you value yourself? It is definitely a delicate question that needs a thoughtful answer.

While you want to get what you are worth you also want to be reasonable in what you ask for so that you don’t knock yourself out of the running for the role.

Alison Green from Ask a Manager shares some great advice in her post for US News Money. She acknowledges how stressful it can be answering a question about your future salary and makes a smart recommendation to start with research. Here are some places you can start:

Ask people in your field (try to not raise suspicions with colleagues in the process),
Search job boards for roles like yours that may show the salary range
Check with a couple recruiters (this might also open some new doors for you during your search)
Google it. You can find reports and even infographics sharing statistics on salary – by role and location. Check out ours for Graphic Designers and Marketing Manager across Canada from 2013. Some industries also release their own reports or report on salaries annually.
Research specific companies you are engaging with to see how they rate for compensation against their peers.

Continue reading →

Start Developing Your Leadership Skills Now

Lori Franze

You might just be starting out in your career and not have a single person reporting to you. Even if that is the case, it is never too early to start honing your leadership skills. You may be managing a project or working with an external team and the ability to lead will be of great value in these situations and as you grow in your career.

Do people understand what you are saying when you speak to them? Try and gage how the audience is receiving your message; even ask some of your colleagues.

I am sure you see senior people in your organization and how they can rally a team; change the feeling in a room from gloom to hope, get people behind an idea and push them to give 110%. These people might be natural leaders (and you might be to) but if you are not a natural, don’t despair; there are steps you can take to develop your leadership skills.

In 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader, author Tanya Prive describes the key qualities that every good leader should possesses. Here are some of the qualities you can start with right away

Honesty – Honesty is an important quality for anyone not just leaders but if you are in charge of a team you should be holding yourself to a much higher standard. This is definitely a skill that you can work on developing at any point in your career and will make you a better person too!

Creativity – Not all decisions you will make are cut and dry, black and white so you will have to dig in to your creative side to come up with viable solutions for both the project and challenges you come across with the personalities on your team. Check out my earlier post if you need some tips on how to be more creative.

Continue reading →

Is Collaboration The Silent Killer In Your Corporation?

Lori Franze

With a brainstorming session booked in four days coming, this subject is very topical and scarily relevant for me. I have booked a team to come together to brainstorm on initiatives for a client for the next calendar year. What have I done?

A collaboration session will be more successful if everyone has a chance, on their own, to think through problems and flesh-out ideas.

In “Collaboration Paradox” Ron Friedman, Ph.D., founder of ignite80 and the author of The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace, shows the potential problem and costs associated with collaborating.

Collaborations create a sense of false confidence. Friedman sites a study in Psychological Science that found that when we work with others to reach a decision, we become myopic dismissing outside information and more confident in the output from the group compared to outputs from individuals. This confidence in the work of the group vs the work of the individual did not have any foundation.
Collaborations create a platform for only the strong to be heard. Are you sure that all voices on your team are strong enough to make themselves heard? Do you have someone who will be attending who is going to shut down good ideas before they can be crystallized? You may end up only hearing from the stronger personalities and leave the others feeling defeated.
Collaborations allow people to be lazy. For a lazy person, the best place for them is in a full day group session, surrounded by their peers where they can hide behind those that are eager, enthusiastic and prepared. Over time this type of meeting or process may actually breed lazy people. Those who come prepared start to notice that they are doing all the work and will start to do less while the lazy keep trying to hide. Soon you will have a room full of people who are just not interested in “collaborating”

Now the negative outcome from collaboration, like a heart attack, can be avoided and not all collaboration is a failure.

Ask tough questions. While breaking down silos in the organization is an important goal, collaboration is not always the best option for the situation. Morten T. Hansen a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and at Insead, in Fontainebleu, France has studied this topic for 15 years and in his article for Harvard Business Review he states that the first thing you need to ask is “Will collaboration on this project create or destroy value?”
Assign homework. A collaboration session will be more successful if everyone has a chance, on their own, to think through problems and flesh-out ideas. Also, if homework is assigned it will help dissuade those who are lazy from opting out of the thinking.
Invite diverse skillsets and set expectations. Do not invite a room full of marketing managers to a session on improving client relationships and expect to get the best results possible. Nothing against marketing managers but you should have a cross-section of people from those who actually meet with customers to the customer support team that answers their phone calls; the product team that creates products for them. It really takes a village!

Continue reading →

4 Ways to Be More Creative – Up Your Creativity Quotient

Lori Franze

Do you look at a friend or a colleague and wonder just how they come up with such great ideas or how they can make subtle changes to something and make it totally new and exciting? Do you feel like you are stuck in a imagination-less rut? Not to fear there are steps you can take, things you can do, to be more creative.

Christina Desmarais shares Keith Sawyer’s tips from “Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity” in her post 25 Ways to Be More Creative, Here are a few action items you can start with right away:

1. Be inquisitive. Ask questions

Creative solutions come from being inquisitive and asking lots of questions that may ultimately lead you to the questions that put you on the path to a creative breakthrough. When you are attempting reach a creative solution trying rephrasing the question 10 different ways and do it without overthinking it. One of your questions might be the catalyst to THE answer.

2. Invest time in the development of your creative muscle

Very few people have pure natural abilities. Yes, there are athletes like Tiger Woods and musicians and performers who impress us with their abilities but even they practiced as they climbed through the ranks. If you are trying to reach a creative conclusion in a specific area of business then you want to be the expert in that area before you can truly be creative in it. Dive in and immerse yourself as part of your process at getting to the solution.

In addition to being more inquisitive and taking more time to think you might need to do some internal reflection and ask yourself if you are possibly being your own roadblock to the path of creativity. Here are a couple tips to getting out of your own way from A.J Jacobs in How to Be More Creative: Continue reading →

Don’t Quit Just Yet: How To Make a Bad Job Better

Lori Franze

It happens. You take a new job and it never becomes the dream job you thought it would be or something changes at work and the place where you spend at least 40 hours a week becomes less than ideal. There are a few things you can do before throwing in the towel and finding a new job.

In 5 Ways to Resuscitate a Bad Job, Katie Simon offers some tips to resuscitate your job if it is boredom that has put it on life support. Having used some of these myself I can attest that they can add new life in to your workday!

A coffee once a month to check in with someone who you respect and can speak openly with can be a huge help.

1. Raise your hand for additional projects and activities

You don’t have to stay within the description of your job, if you are doing that role well. Ask for more, volunteer to lead projects, maybe the department needs a social committee or someone to organize Health Week. If you are bored in completing your daily tasks and have the time, raise your hand for a little more. It won’t go unnoticed.

2. Find a mentor! Be a mentor!

Depending on your level of experience and tenure in the company you might find great satisfaction in being a mentor at your organization. If you are more junior and/ or new to the company you might want to join your company’s mentorship program or seek out a mentor for yourself. It doesn’t have to be a formal program either. A coffee once a month to check in with someone who you respect and can speak openly with can be a huge help. Continue reading →

How to Identify a Bad Boss Before it’s Too Late!

Lori Franze

I think everyone has a story or at least knows someone who has a story about a boss who totally deflated their motivation and robbed them of their passion or even went as far as making them ill with their poor leadership skills and typical behaviour. There is nothing worse than landing that dream job only to find out that your boss is a far cry from the coach, leader and mentor you were hoping for.

Now, there are some ways you can test the waters in the interview stage before you accept a role that can help you “smoke out” a potential bad boss (cause they obviously aren’t going to come out and tell you!)

Trust your gut! You know you best and if you feel that after meeting this person that it might be a bad fit with them or the environment then it may be necessary for you to do more research.

In 3 Ways to Spot a Terrible Boss in a Job Interview and How to Spot a Good and Bad Boss in Your Job Search authors Jaquelyn Smith and Lynn Taylor (respectively) give us guidance on what to look for

We’ve taken the best from both of them along with our own experience to give you 5 things to look out for.

1. Your left waiting in the lobby with the receptionist
You arrive 10 minutes early like every good candidate should and then wait and wait and wait some more. Now of course emergencies happen and people are busy but if you are waiting out in reception and not a single person has come by or called the receptionist to explain the delay and apologize then there may be a lack of respect coming from that individual. If this does happen and you eventually get called in gage the attitude of the apology before giving them the strike.

2. There is no “u” or “I” in team
Listen carefully to how the prospective boss refers to the work you will be doing and his or her team and their role in it. Do they take credit personally for the role in the team? Is everything “you, you, you”? Like you will be handed the responsibility and be on your own without guidance and mentorship? Of course there are questions that will be answer with “you” or “I” but just make sure they aren’t the ones that should be answered with “we” or “the team”.

3. They can’t put their smartphone down
It is great to know that if you ever need this person that they will be easy to get ahold of but not so great when you are trying to have a conversation with them. Of course we are referring to the person who can’t look away from the screen of the phone. Not only is it rude and disrespectful to you but it is also an indicator of how they will be in meetings with you and others. And if the interviewer answers the phone while interviewing you I’d look elsewhere!

4. They struggle with the hard questions
Of course you’ve prepared some questions for the interview to assess if this role is as good as it sounds on paper and the team is a fit for you; pay attention closely as to how these questions are answered and what is said. Does he/she struggle to answer them? Are they avoiding the real answer and skirting around it? Continue reading →