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Pareto Principle

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80:20 Vision… The Pareto Principle

Pareto Happy

I’m not lazy, but I am a great believer in taking the most effective route from A to B.  That’s why I love the Pareto Principle… otherwise known as the Principle of the Least Effort.

Background

The principle is named after an Italian Economist (unsurprisingly called Pareto), who recognised an observable trend: 80% of Italy’s land was owned by 20% of the population.  He also observed that this extended outside of economics; for example, 20% of the pea pods in his garden provided 80% of the peas. read more

4 Ways to Build your Credibility

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Your Pit Stop Guide to Professional Credibility

Professional Credibility

What exactly is Professional Credibility?

The Oxford dictionary defines credibility as:

The quality of being trusted and believed in.

The quality of being convincing or believable.

It also defines Professionalism as:

The competence or skill expected of a professional

Putting the two together, Professional Credibility is basically the feeling of trust and competence that you inspire in others.

Why Credibility is so important

Credibility is key to your workplace survival, success and progression.  Credibility is what draws people to work with you and managers to trust you with important tasks.  Credibility is what makes you the “go to” person and lands you with a good reputation.  And credibility is what robustly platforms so many other professional skills, such as influencing and persuasion. read more

The Impact of Sleep

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 The Impact of Sleep on Work

 
Sleeping Lion

I don’t know about you, but I have a very strange relationship with sleep.  First thing in the morning, sleep is my best friend and my bed… well, my bed is literally the most comfortable place in the entire world.  Fast-forward to the evening and sleep becomes elusive; morphing into my greatest nemesis.  Aided and abetted, of course, by a bed that has transmogrified into an uncomfortable heap of cold, lumpy nettles.

That’s just fine Liz, but what’s this got to do with work? read more

Why Facts should be your New Best Work Friend

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Facts: Your New, Best Work Friend

Working Together

I once knew a manager who couldn’t have a conversation without using the phrase “start with the facts” or “starting with the facts”.  As much as I wanted to poke him in the eye back then, he’d actually latched on to a very astute approach.  Let me explain…

We’ve all probably been there: something’s gone wrong and all of a sudden… arms are flailing as people scurry around like the sky is about to fall on their heads.  But the sky doesn’t fall and tomorrow, well it’s simply business as usual.  Or perhaps someone identifies an issue… it’s catastrophic and could mean the end of the world as we know it!  Except it doesn’t and, well, everything carries on as normal. read more

Five Killer Hacks that give you the Advantage at Work

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Five Killer Hacks that give you the Advantage at Work

Own Work with Killer Hacks

If you want to put yourself at an advantage in the workplace, then check out these fiver killer work hacks:

1. Mirroring

Rapport is a very powerful platform in any working relationship.  It’s critical for successful workplace interactions, creates a sense of “relating” to someone, and facilitates the building of understanding and trust.  In the working environment, people are far more likely to support or agree with someone they relate to and have rapport with.

You can accelerate a sense of rapport with someone in work by harnessing the power of mirroring.  Mirroring is simply adopting (or copying) another persons non-verbal behaviour (e.g. their posture, the way they move their hands or fold their legs) and speech (e.g. word choice, speech patterns, volume or tone). read more