Where is your head today

Where is your head at today?

I will continue reshare my recent post regarding the upcoming  International Men's day November 19th to raise awareness.

What is your organisation doing that day to bring about awareness?

We are plagued by our thoughts, our inner voices and inner opinions swirling about in our minds all full of emotions.

Our thoughts constantly interrupt themselves as they battle within on the way to someplace in the future as we  worry about how to get there while in some cases haunted by a past we want to forget.

As adults we tell kids you can't always  have your own way, yet if we slow down we recognise its exactly that's the way we are living our lives and what we individually  expect.

Please take a moment today to try and be aware that  the present moment is all that matters, if you know or suspect  someone struggling reach out to them.

A quote I heard on radio recently "I'd take a 1000 calls to help someone than to get one call on Monday to hear we have lost a friend or colleague  to suicide.

Be kind do something in your workplace on November 19 to raise awareness of International men's day.

No one is bulletproof. #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #awareness #leadership #support

bjkennomotivation.com

19th November International men’s day.

19th November 2020
International Men's day.

What is your organisation doing to celebrate and highlight and to support men during this day.

International men's day seeks to address different issues surrounding men's  mental health and to raise awareness for male suicide.

The male suicide rate in Ireland is x3 times the female rate with a 19% increase in suicide in 2019 against 2018. Suicide rates increased for both men and women in 2019 as a whole for Ireland.

Limited information for 2020 shows Q1 had 72 suicides in Ireland.

In the age bracket 15-34 through the  segment  of external causes of death/accident/suicide these were ranked 1st with  41 deaths.

The Samarathans advise economic recession, unemployment, a decline in male mental health as an urgent need for specific suicide prevention focus targeting middle aged men.

All of this and now on top covid19 stress and outcomes to deal with.

Please highlight this day as its my view in 2019 International Men's day went almost unnoticed.

In the workplace please try

-Awareness raising campaign
-Support groups
-Psychological support
-Technology support.

#mentalhealth #suicideprevention #mentalhealthawareness #equality

Stay safe.

bjkennomotivation.com

If you want to be a professional footballer you should read this blog.

If you are lucky enough to have the belief that you have the abilities, the drive and the ambition to reach all the goals you set yourself in this life.

That belief got me to a football trial in the UK and a contract I turned down to come home for true love.

In football how many times have you seen a team give away a goal in the first minute or last minute of a crucial game. Why?

To play successfully as a professional footballer requires you have had superb technical and physical skills.

These skills ultimately get you noticed and signed by a successful team, but they are not enough.

Being coached as a footballer on the strategy of the team, the mission, and the overall game plan, the responsibilities of your position should result in the team achieving results and climbing to the top of the table.

But is not as easy as that for a team of individuals.

Because, regardless of your career and specifically in football as a talented physical highly skilled technical individual you can still make an error in minute 1 of a game and give away a goal.

Because its not only the physical but also the human spirit that needs to be engaged.

If the everyday work and activities are consistent with the individuals values, those values that specifically provide a sense of meaning and purpose.

If the club, the team, and the actual football career really matters to them then they will typically feel more positive, have more energy, focus better and demonstrate greater grit and perseverance overall and either score a goal early in a game or make a saving tackle.

Unfortunately the high demands and fast pace of life does not leave much time to pay attention to these values and therefor most footballers don't recognise that having your meaning and purpose identified are potential sources of energy.

If they do slow down and identify their values and clarify their purpose in life they will find paying attention to these dramatically will influence their effectiveness in the team and their own overall satisfaction.

Clarifying your purpose and priorities and consciously allocating time and energy to areas of one's life such as, work, family, health, giving back to others followed by one living their newly identified core values in their daily lives will help one find a time in life when they are effortlessly inspired and fulfilled and will most likely be playing the best football of their career.

They will be in the ”sweet spot” and will clearly know what really matters to them, and what they will want to be remembered for. (and itvwou’t be for giving away a goal in 1st minute of a game)

*Brian is an accomplished speaker and ultra marathon runner who has practiced what he has written in this blog to reach success.

If you are a professional footballer or on your way to being a footballer and you would like help reaching your goals contact me through bjkennomotivation. com

Don’t go it alone when you become the boss.

On the 28th May 1992 I truly became a boss when my son Simon was born.

The day before I had little responsibilities and on the 28th May suddenly I was a father and I was supposed to know everything about being a dad and raising a son. The test of leadership began that day.

In business when you get promoted to manager as I did that’s when the similar test of leadership begins.

In both cases the new role didn’t feel anything like it was supposed to. It felt too big for one person to handle. You suddenly realise there is a big gap in your skill set for the new responsibilities.

You will find that in the early days you will dispair and stumble in fatherhood as you will in the management role in business.

You find not everyone will follow the rules or direction you provide.

You feel constrained by the parental advise from others and in business by the organisations silos and your dependencies on the to deliver results.

You have to look at and reset your expectations of being a father and of being a new manager in an organisation.

You have to build relationships with those that interact with you, listen to feedback to improve parental skills and how to empower your business team to achieve your teams goals.

So don’t go it alone, help your people to develop your parental and business skills instead of always solving your problems, the same in business, help your boss develop you.

You will find becoming a leader /parent is tough, yet rewarding, a journey of constant learning and self development.

When you reach out for guidance and assistance in a new role most senior managers and people understand how difficult it is to step into a new role for the first time and they will provide all the assistance in the world.

“remember becoming a leader is tough, rewarding, a journey of continuous learning and self development”.

bjkennomotivation.com

Stress has long term health effects.

You may be used to working long hours, you feel stressed but you believe in your head the stress is a requirement of the job, and a little stress helps you meet your goals.

Of course some people will tell you that a positive form of stress “cortosil” helps you find the strength and inspiration to get the job done. In short term it’s acceptable.

The simple fact is stress ruins your health and despite the belief of short term benefits the fact is, it has devastating long term effects.

When stress occurs you find the demands of your life outweigh your ability to cope.

What you find is that you can no longer work the long hours, your energy is less, your confidence is shaken, and your communication with family friends and colleagues becomes limited, short and very poor.

An analysis by DBS school of business showed of the IT industry in Ireland before covid19 showed

Time pressure and deadlines caused stress in 76% of people in the study.

Having their roles and responsibilities unclear accounted for the stress of 73% of the people in the study.

89% of employees worked more than 8 hrs a day which they identified as their starting point of the stress.

40% were stressed by family issues.

Other causes of the stress included

-Stressful situations in work.

-Not enough personnel to complete tasks

-Frequent interruptions to work and constant changes to scope of work.

-Insufficient time for family matters.

-Poor guidance by managers and supervisors

-Individuals unable to deal with changing workload.

-Lack of opportunity for promotion.

-Feelings of being constantly been taken for granted by your employer.

As a direct result of stress you will feel you have lost control and you will feel the need to take control.

As a result of this action you become easily agitated, emotional, lonely and you can become depressed and your judgement usually sound will become poor.

Mental exhaustion as a result of work life stress is no joke and must be taken seriously. Please listen to my radio interview with Joe Dalton on the emerging business brands show which is shared on my website along with my talk on the Service Excellence podcast for the call centre industry voted #1 podcast for 2020 from that show which I have shared on LinkedIn and Instagram.

If you are struggling with stress and your mental health please know it's OK to ask for help.

Meditation and relaxing techniques can help you slow the pulse and relax tense muscles and improve blood pressure to acceptable healthy readings.

Try to take 10 mins out each day for yourself for reflection and positive self talk and meditation.

If you would like me to support your corporate wellness program please contact me through bjkennomotivation. com. Or DM me through LinkedIn or Instagram.

I’ve hit No1

https://lnkd.in/eT3cvVB

Delighted that my talk on mental health with Marianne Rutz has turned out to be the No1 downloaded podcast from the Operational Excellence podcast of 2020.

Now more than ever your mental health is important to look after. If you are struggling please know its OK to ask for help.

Please contact me through my website bjkennomotivation.com or DM me on LinkedIn if you would like me to support your corporate wellbeing program.

Thanks Marianne for the opportunity to speak on your podcast and to be No1.

Made my day.

Emotional Intelligence

https://lnkd.in/e_r4ZdZ

Emotionally intelligent leaders impact the bottom line.

You need self awareness, courage, the ability to tell people what they want to hear (but need to hear) in the right way.

Having the wrong leader can cost a company 24x employee base salary in lost productivity, sales, profits, loss of other key employees.

If you would like to understand the importance of Emotional Intelligence, learn to promote yourself in the organisation , accelerate your learning, and align yourself to the present situation during covid 19 contact me through bjkennomotivation to arrange coaching.

You can not download Trust.

We will look back at this time in history and realise we are going through a new Industrial Revolution.

Many industries are going digital, some because they have to, others maybe because its fashionable and its the flavour of the day. Either way they need to turn a pandemic into an opportunity.

Timing is everything and customers want innovation. It's important to know why the change is being made and for leaders to communicate to customers and employees alike, What went wrong if anything,

What you learned if anything,

Why and how you have changed strategy.

Marketeers will tell you every companies reality is their brand and mixed messages and unclear strategy affects the business, the retention of key staff and ultimately the bottom line.

It's important to know that you can go digital but you can not download Trust.

Clear communication is key.

5 mile TM run Thursday night on day1 of lockdown 2.

Stay safe.

bjkennomotivation.com

Managing yourself for the future you deserve.

Managing Yourself

As a leader you will be aware it takes more time and energy to improve non performance to mediocrity than to improve first rate performance to excellence.

To manage yourself, you have to know your values, not ethics as they are the same for everyone.

"The mirror test". Ethics requires you to ask yourself what kind of person do you want to see in the morning. What is ethical behaviour in one company or situation is ethical in another.

If you work in an organisation whose value system is unacceptable or incompatible with your own it will usually condem you to frustration and under-performance.

Corporations once built to last like the pyramids are now more like tents and as a result individuals now more than ever should take responsibility for their career.

If you would like some coaching on managing yourself, your time and your energy for future success contact me through bjkennomotivation.com

Why have a call centre during covid19 ?

In 2020 I had a number of occasions to ring a particular Internet provider regarding the failure of their service.

The company had a number of channels I could review, e mail, twitter, and pages of frequently asked questions , I could chat with a bot but none could replace the immediacy of a phone call.

In the end it took 6 weeks to resolve the issue and the call centre staff and I had to talk to many different people as no one person owned my issue or followed it up. The processes did not allow for it.

Call Centres are crucial to customer retention and if companies are to have dedicated representatives then they must be empowered to make decisions, and in many cases they are not nor do they have the facility to follow up with the customer issue reported which provides a negative interaction.

Call Centres can contribute greatly to the bottom line of a company but are usually reviewed as a cost centre.

Efficient call centres run well with clear processes that meet or exceed customer expectations.

If you are going to hire for a call centre and look for people with excellent communication skills then follow it up with training , coaching , call reviews and 121’s and yet provide the agents with scripts that sound robotic, unnatural, and then not allow the agent to go off script.

As customer expectations are always changing so too should your call centre.

The old metrics such as

80% of calls answered in 20 secs

5-8% accepted abandoned rate

Quality call reviews of 90%

Data from customer service survey after the call.

These are not the new metrics of an Evolving call centre in 2020 and during Covid19.

Time to review your call centre.

bjkennomotivation can assist in the coaching of call centre managers to meet their objectives in this new situation.

bjkennomotivation.com