Human Resources

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 apr 2015

Marketing strategy need to be communicated, accepted and implemented by the whole team to get the expected results. Oftentimes it is observed that a good plan and strategy fails due to lack of understanding and support by the members of the team. John Rampton, president of Adogy, provides three innovative techniques to bring the team on the same page regarding the marketing plan - (1) Make it a Game: Allen Graves, a content marketing strategist, suggests making the marketing strategy a game. The idea is based on Joe Pulizzi's 'Epic Content Marketing'. Make four small teams and a team is constitued with 4-5 members who don't generally work together and use a 10-step process to create strategy (i-Decide on a single product to market; ii-Research & document general audiences, buyer personas etc; iii-Define goals of the conent; iv-Detail the buying process and engagement cycles; v-Define the conent niche; vi-Develop a content mission statement; vii-Create a comprehensive content marketing plan; viii-Build a content calender to include at least 12 pieces of content; ix-Develop a strategy to market each piece of content; x-Define key performance indicators and how goals will be measured). Finally team answers the 10-steps in a PowerPoint presentation. (2) Implement an Internal Communication Plan: According to Kris Prendergast, a communication expert, 'Internal communication is the strategic process of gaining employee support for external branding efforts and marketing campaigns.' This can be achieved within the organization by internal newsletter or blog; internal social network; sales conferences and marketing conferences; team building/training events; and digital interactive capabilities. (3) Hold a Strategy Planning Day: John Jantsch, author of 'Duct Tape Marketing', suggests scheduling a strategy planning day, preferably on an offsite location and including a facilitator for the session. Brainstorming sessions would include a team leader, who assembles his own team & resources, and creates a framework and plan based on key themes like objectives, results, constraints, goals, projects and tactics. Read on...

Forbes: 3 Tips To Take Marketing Strategy to Whole Team
Author: John Rampton

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 apr 2015

Journalism is undergoing transformation due to innovative use of latest technologies. Journalism students view technology as an essential element of today's reporting and broadcasting. Here are some perspectives of students on technologies that they utilize and have potential to encourage innovation in journalism - (1) Alex Lucke, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Using journalism education and tech background to develop a mobile app 'a Pandora station' for travellers that gives social-based recommendations for concerts and other activities. (2) Fernando Hurtado, University of Southern California's Annenberg Media Center: Mini-broadcasts that simulate the live coverage experience; Social media broadcasts. (3) Daniel Wheaton, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Use of overhead drones for filming and coverage. (4) Anne Li, Northwestern University's Knight Lab: Uses live Google spreadsheets as a powerful content management system through Tarbell, a site authoring tool. (5) Sam Hart and Alex Duner, Northwestern University: Utilize interactive plug-and-chug tools and templates that editors can use to quickly generate quizzes, flowcharts etc to tell innovative stories. (6) Tony Papousek, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Computer engineering student-turned-journalist, uses open source programming languages like Ruby, Python and R to build scraping tools and apps. He is inspired by story bots, algorithms that zip through massive databases of articles and churn out thousands of stories in seconds, without a single reporter. (7) Anna-Catherine Brigida, Reporter at Intersections South L.A. & graduate of University of Southern California's Annenberg Media Center: Wearable filming through augmented reality glasses like Google Glass and GoPro for reporting and storytelling. These tools make for storytelling experiences with perspective. (8) Jessica Oliveira, University of Southern California's Annenberg School: Mobile presence is important with smartphone and tablet app, and responsive website to reach large audience. (9) Jasmine Lee, New York University's Studio20: Streamlined collaborative communication using team-based apps. Task management app Trello, integrated with Slack, a team chatting app, that can also be used with collaborative tools like Google Drive, GitHub etc, for innovative workflow and purposeful collaboration. Read on...

American Journalism Review: How Tech-Savvy Journalism Students View Innovation
Author: Aysha Khan

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 mar 2015

Office environment with meetings, conferences and discussions that involve face to face interactions with fellow employees and clients is a norm for businesses. But in today's technology-enabled, round-the-clock business operations, situations arise where workers have to perform and manage their projects and job duties remotely. Remote project management requires experience and specific skills to get work done effectively and efficiently. Following are some tips for project managers who need to work out of office - (1) Be organized (2) Use a collaborative tool (3) Seek personal connection with team members (4) Over communicate (5) Keep senior management and customer informed. Read on...

CIO: 5 tips for remote project managers
Author: Brad Egeland

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 mar 2015

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'With reduced demand for production workers, total US manufacturing employment dropped from approximately 19 million in 1980 to 11.5 million in 2010. Most of manufacturing job losses were in the section of the workforce without a high school diploma.' The recent report 'Making Value for America' by National Academy of Engineering (NAE), points out the changing face of US manufacturing and the challenges faced by the human resources employed in manufacturing. The report suggests need of collaborative approach between government, companies and educators to strengthen workforce training programs and enhance innovation and productivity. Manufacturing is to be considered an important component of the value chain and businesses that focus on the entire system of product and service delivery help make value for their customers and are less likely to be disrupted by new technologies or increased competition from emerging economies around the world. According to the report, 'While technological advances offer companies new ways to understand customers' needs and in turn increase demand for their products, automation and streamlined operations are likely to supplant an increasing number of workers in a variety of occupations.' Nicholas Donofrio, chair of the committee that conducted the study, says 'Advancing skills and creating skilled jobs are the best bet to aid the workforce that has been left behind by changes in manufacturing and the broader economy.' Read on...

Engineering.com: National Academy of Engineering - U.S. Must Take Action to Strengthen Manufacturing Innovation, Productivity, and Workforce Training
Author: James Anderton

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 mar 2015

The Dutch industrial and product designer, Hella Jongerius, is critical of design purely by profit, design without conscience and design without awareness. She advocates more holistic approach to industrial design with focus on quality and practical economics. She argues that design shouldn't view objects as isolated items and should interrogate their relationship with people. She suggests 6 steps for industrial designers to achieve this objective - (1) Design the materials. (2) Keep the design process hands-on. (3) Celebrate imperfection. (4) Make use of archives. (5) Have a signature style for differentiation and recognition. (6) Research extensively. Read on...

MarkLives: Hella Jongerius calls for new industrial design values #designindaba
Author: Herman Manson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 mar 2015

Organizations grow and stay competitive by carefully planning and applying 'Learning and Development' (L&D) strategies and aligning them effectively with their business goals. Frank Jaquez, L&D head for H. J. Heinz & Company, suggests steps to successfully define and create L&D strategies - (1) Develop better understanding of the business. (2) Define priorities and develop the plan: Discuss variety of issues related to the team like its priorities, challenges, skills upgradation etc, with senior leadership and functional heads; Create strategy framework like L&D visions, business goals, L&D roadmap, resources required and project timeline. (3) Align leadership with the developed plan and effectively convince them the importance and need of the L&D plan to bridge the gap between business's strategy and performance. Read on...

ATD: Aligning L&D to the Business Strategy
Author: Frank Jaquez

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 mar 2015

As life sciences industry and markets are continuously evolving, managers need to acquire new skills and expertise to adapt, perform and succeed. Health economics, biopharmaceutical supply chain, research & development and innovation are some of the areas that require special consideration in this regard. According to Professor Jan Rosier of Michael Smurfit GSB at University College Dublin, 'For years marketing has been a driving factor when launching new drugs. Now people in the industry need to look much more at how much a drug is going to cost, the impact of this and the effectiveness of the drug in this context. The cost of a drug and how it is linked to the treatment of diseases will come much more to the fore.' Read on...

Business & Leadership: Management skills need to move beyond marketing and profit in life sciences
Author: Sorcha Corcoran

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 mar 2015

Successful entrepreneurs have diverse traits and skills, belong to different geographies, social and income groups, have different level of educational qualifications and expertise in different fields. But according to Thomas Smale, co-founder of FE International, inspite of all these differences all successful entrepreneurs possess the following common traits - (1) Full of determination (2) Not afraid to take risks (3) High level of confidence (4) Craves learning (5) Understands failure is part of the game (6) Passionate about his or her business (7) Highly adaptable (8) Good understanding of money management (9) Expert at networking (10) Ability to sell and promote. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 10 Traits All Successful Entrepreneurs Share
Author: Thomas Smale

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 mar 2015

Generation Z, cohort of people born after the Millennials, is now getting attention of marketers. According to research by Global Messaging, some of defining characteristics of this generation include - 86% use some kind of social media; 72% want to start their own business; 25% left Facebook in 2014; 66% list gaming as their hobby; 1 in 2 will be university educated; Communicate with images, emoticons and emojis. Marketers have to target this generation with innovative, directed and focused strategies to have an impact. Here are few suggestions - (1) Agile Marketing (2) Programmatic Mobile Marketing (3) Snackable Content Marketing (4) Text Message Marketing . Read on...

The Wall Blog: How to market to Gen Z
Author: Polly Becker

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 mar 2015

One of the most challenging tasks for nonprofits is to attract donors and obtain funds for their operations from external sources. Lack of funds can bring great causes and social movements to a halt. To raise money needs specific talent and skills. According to Dan McGinley, director of the Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at National University in San Diego, 'A more effective technique to seek money is to approach a philanthropist the same way a salesman approaches a client... We're adopting the already proven practices of professional selling. The process includes building relationships and getting to know a person's interests, then showing that person how a particular product or nonprofit can meet those interests.' T. Denny Sanford, a successful businessman and philanthropist, advices to keep the process of asking for money simple and says, 'I want everyone to tell their story as if it is to their grandmothers and no more than a 10-story elevator ride. Short and sweet and easy to understand. Because (with) some of the technology people get too technical and talk way over everybody's head.' Read on...

U-T San Diego: Teaching nonprofits how to raise money
Author: Gary Warth

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