Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

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Are things on the up at last?

November 25, 2013

economic crystal ball

I was really annoyed to hear the coverage that the media gave the latest Ernest & Young downgrading of their Irish Economic Forecast in their Economic Eye Winter 2013 report.

“The latest All Island EY Economic Eye Winter 2013 report has revised its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for 2013 downwards in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) from 0.8% to -0.2%“.

The comprehensive report covered more than just this but it was the “downgrading” that seemed to grab the headlines.

I gritted my teeth and shouted “shut the hell up” at the radio when I heard their economic experts being interviewed on air explaining their analysis.

Jesus …we near to hear positive news, we need to hear about those businesses that are seeing growth, we near to hear about the successes and we need to start believing that things are really improving.

ConfidenceIt’s only with confidence that things will start to improve and I firmly believe that this is happening – at least from what we are witnessing in the marketplace.

Giving airtime to such negativity is only going to hold us back as it has done for the last few years. Is market performance all down to facts or is it down to sentiment?

A nice bounce will happen if we start believing ..

While I have every respect for the experts in Ernest & Young I do believe that we have every reason for optimism based on what I am seeing and hearing:

  • We are seeing positivity and real intent by our clients
  • We are seeing competitiveness for staff
  • We are seeing sectors that were dormant such as retail and fashion back engaging for the first time in years
  • Hotels are busier than before – often it’s hard to get a booking
  • The summer for the tourist sector was well up on recent years
  • Restaurants are busier and the corporate market is back in force wining and dining: “Lately Tuesday’s are like Saturday’s” one restaurateur shared with me
  • Christmas party bookings are up on last year
  • The tradesman seem to be busy again
  • New businesses are opening
  • Hotels in NAMA control are being purchased by new operators
  • Solicitors and estate agents are telling me house transactions are happening – not by investors but by genuine buyers
  • Those houses will need furniture, carpets, lighting, painting and decorating
  • Banks are finally making progress with difficult situations and progress is being made
  • Supermarkets are opening new units and fighting a war using a “Support Irish products” agenda
  • The shops seem to be busier than they have been

Of course these are just my observations and the conversations that I am hearing every day.

I genuinely feel things are on the up and I sincerely hope that this is the case – to broaden this conversation can I ask ..

What are you experiencing?

#Positivity

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Economy, Motivation, Positivity, Recession | 6 Comments »

Doing the small stuff great

November 18, 2013

Kerrie O'CallaghanSomeone has to answer the phone and someone has to let visitors into the building and greet them as come into the office.

This isn’t rocket science but at the same time it needs to be done right. You would hope that the person with this responsibility would carry out the task in a pleasant and friendly manner – after all, it is often the first impression that anyone would experience of your business.

We’ve been really lucky down through the years in that all of our team are pleasant and friendly and will give a really good impression of Fuzion.

The primary responsibility for answering the phone (we all do it by the way) tends to lie with the ‘junior’, the person who is newest to the team. Initially we find that the newbie is more than happy with this role but after a while they do want to feel that they are progressing and that this task is moved onto someone else.

While everyone who has worked with us has been great at that ‘hello, meet and greet‘ role we had one person who really stood out; Kerrie O’Callaghan.

Day after day we had people on the phone or who had come for a meeting specifically commenting about how special their greeting was.

This wasn’t an isolated incident but an absolute trend – she did this important, junior, simple but yet important task incredibly well.

Not surprisingly the hugely talented Kerrie, who did everything with 150% enthusiasm, progressed quickly and went on to do every task incredibly well but unfortunately for Fuzion she had the emigration bug and is now enjoying huge career success down under.

It’s funny how someone who does the small things great ends up also doing the big things great..

Kerrie, we miss you!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Recruitment, Staff training, Training | 13 Comments »

Bob Savage, EMC joins the Smarter Egg club

November 13, 2013

Bob Savage - EMC

You have to hand it to him – Aodan Enright from Smarter Egg did a great job!

Not only did he do a great job with his really interesting and enjoyable event this week, at the White Horse in Cork but he has done so well with his Smarter Egg concept of learning, which has evolved gradually since he began a number of years back.

I was one of the early converts – I was immediately intrigued by what Aodan described to me when I met him at a networking event years ago and he didn’t disappoint with a very unique (I hate that word now) business and personal learning experience.

Aodan even had me speaking at one of his first events, which I was thrilled to do.

(I recommend you have a peep at his website and consider trying one of his programmes – it won’t disappoint)

This week at his event he had a number of guest speakers and the high point of the evening was his one to one, up close and personal interview with Bob Savage, CEO of the highly successful EMC in Cork.

I’m not sure if it was the intimate atmosphere of the venue, the fact that Aodan worked for Bob before or if it was just his interrogation skills but it led to a really superb interview and one that gave us a rare insight into a modern, successful business leader.

At times  when asked a question Bob was a little unsure about answering and even stopped to mention that the event was being recorded. Good job Aodan!

However he did open up and gave us some gems:

  • He is big on teamwork and creating a great place to work
  • He loves genuine, enthusiastic people and hates the opposite
  • Passion for what you do is essential
  • He views what he does as a vocation and does acknowledge that he has made personal sacrifices with other parts of his life to reach and maintain the position he holds
  • One of his strengths is that he is accessible and he achieves that by ‘walking around’ interacting with the team and learning from them
  • He takes time out to introduce the EMC recruits because be believes they are the future of the company
  • His secret sauce of success is quite simply ‘people‘
  • Walking the walk is essential
  • He acknowledges the mentoring and support he received along his journey and admits that at times maybe he didn’t deserve it
  • He has his bad days the same as the rest of us and admits that things have not always been without problems but it is how you react and deal with them that’s vital
  • He loves the excitement of indigenous industry and sees huge potential in Ireland
  • He values his role on the board of Enterprise Ireland
  • In the future he could see himself consulting, assisting businesses and even life coaching “while my stock is still high”
  • Company politics is knowing when to open your mouth and when to shut it!
  • He would have advised his younger self to be more patient, more respectful and mannerly

The particular gem that I loved and took from the session was when he spoke about working hours.

“At times you need to do 75 hours in a week but you clearly can’t do that all of the time. The trick is to know when to do it!”

That’s one I definitely need to take notice of …way too many 75’s!

Aodan…keep up the great work and Bob…thanks for the refreshing openness and the gems, and welcome to the Smarter Egg club

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Business Planning, Irish Economy, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Teamwork | 5 Comments »

Hugh O’Flaherty and those Poppies

November 3, 2013

Hugh O'Flaherty Statue in Killarney

What a great week.

This was the culmination of an idea and the five years of hard work that followed.

Our idea was simple – we wanted to create a permanent memorial in Killarney to honour Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the Irish World War 2 hero who instead of turning his back on escapees and people on the run from the Nazi regime, he gave them shelter.

He ignored the rules and the neutrality status of the Vatican and he set up a network of safe houses in and outside Rome and with the help of a special group of people he helped 6,500 to safety until the war was over.

After the war this very special man visited the prisons to ensure the Nazi prisoners were being treated properly, including the head of the Gestapo in Rome, Herbert Kappler.

Visiting the Nazi’s and in particular Kappler, confused many as they had been involved in so many atrocities and in particular would have arrested and quite probably assassinated the Monsignor if they had captured him. When questioned why he was doing this the Monsignor replied with a very simple and pure response

“God Has No Country”

Until I read a review of the book by Brian Fleming, about the Monsignor’s heroic deeds “The Vatican Pimpernel” I did not know of this great Irishman and to our shock we realised that most other people were exactly the same.

“Who?” is the most popular response you get from people when you mention his name.

The sculpture with the accompanying story board in a prominent location in Killarney will hopefully change this both with the Irish and the many international visitors to Killarney.

The sculpture was unveiled on October 31st, 2013, the 50 year anniversary of his death before a large audience, which included the O’Flaherty (and Dineen) family, William Derry (son of Sam Derry, one of the key members of the Monsignor’s team), David Sands and Mo Burton (the grandkids of Henrietta Chevalier, the Maltese widow who offered her home as a safe house for escapees in Rome).

In the audience we also had the Israeli, Canadian and British Ambassadors and John Morgan representing ELMS, The Escape Line Memorial Society.

The moving ceremony consisted of speeches by the town Mayor Patrick Courtney, Hugh O’Flaherty, the grand nephew of the Monsignor as well as Jerry O’Grady the terrific chairman of our Memorial Society. We unveiled the plaques that carried the story of the Monsignor, the “God Has No Country” plaque and the sculpture itself.

John Morgan from ELMS left a wreath of poppies at the feet of the sculpture,

We did it!

Five years of organising, events and fundraising – most of which has come from individuals (please note we received no state help nor support from tourism bodies) brought us to this proud moment.

Killarney now has a beautiful sculpture, a permanent memorial, something to be proud of and a new attraction to visitors, which can only help things in the town. It is also a real connection to British, American and European visitors.

Poppies - Flanders Field

Poppie Anger

While this was an incredible week I was dumbfounded that our chairman received a call from an “angry” citizen enraged that we had allowed the Poppy wreath to be left at the foot of sculpture of the Monsignor. I’m glad he didn’t call me ..

How can any Irish person take in this whole incredible project and the very best they can come up with is to get angry with us because of a Poppy wreath. What has happened to someone that this is the only emotion that is stirred from such an occasion?

What is it about the poppy?

‘The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers. In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War One raged through Europe’s heart. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields.

The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921′

The Poppy represents something beautiful growing from the sacrifice of others.

Our key objectives with the sculpture of the Monsignor are to honour his selfless deeds and his courage but more importantly to inspire these traits in all of us so that we can do great and selfless deeds in our lives.

While my first instinct would be to give our angry poppy friend a piece of my mind, instead I hope that he can put his anger and prejudices aside and realise what this is really about. Maybe he should stop and smell the poppies…

As a great man once said “God Has No Country”

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in History, Ireland, Motivation, Personal development | 4 Comments »

Punching in Time

October 25, 2013

Bored at work

I gave two social media training sessions on consecutive afternoons this week to different groups from the same organisation.

Before the session began on the second afternoon I asked the organiser if there would be a coffee break – we had a lot of ground to cover and the previous day there was no break, which made it a tough three hour session for everyone concerned.

“No, just keep going” she told me “everyone would prefer to finish up and leave as soon as possible”

That’s strange ….

It was only then it dawned on me – the attendees were taking the course as part of their continuous development, which is required as part of their qualification. This is standard practice with a lot of professional bodies.

I asked a few questions at the beginning of the session to warm up the group and to establish exactly how much they knew about social media – not a whole pile as it turned out …this was going to be a tough session!

OK, we’ll all here (I had driven two hours to get here) so lets get stuck in and make the most of it..

Willie Sutton, The Famous Bank Robber

Willie Sutton, The Famous Bank Robber

I dug deep, I gave the session everything I had – I told them stories, I gave them examples, I kept the session as light and lively as possible, I related the topics to their jobs, I showed them how they could use it to win new business, I showed them how it could help them to get closer to their clients.

I even told them about the famous Irish/American bank robber, Willie Sutton!

They were a nice group and bit by bit I seemed to win over some of them; some of them were engaged in the topics and they were asking me questions and at least there were a few interested, nodding heads.

I drove on and before I knew it I realised it was 5:05 pm and I had ran five minutes over time.

“Ok guys, I have about 15 more minutes to go in order to finish the session. I’ll continue if you wish but if anyone wants to leave, I won’t be offended”

I was given the green light to continue but a few got up to leave – before I knew it I was left with about a quarter of the attendees. I continued with the session but I must admit that I was disappointed that more did not stay back.

The few that stayed were really appreciative that I punched in the extra effort and a few stayed back to ask me questions.

I packed up my things and headed to the car park to face the two hour drive back to Cork.

For two afternoons we all just punched in time …. they were there because they had to be, and I was there because they had to learn something and it may as well be social media.

While I was paid well for my time and I hope I did teach the few who wanted to learn it just felt pointless and I felt empty.

Life is way too short to be just punching in time.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer social media consultancy and training in Ireland from our offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development, Training | 12 Comments »

Can you feel the love?

October 22, 2013

Chefs tasting

“I can taste the love in the food”

I was fascinated as I listened to this restaurateur describe how he knows when the dynamic is right between the team at his restaurant. He reckons having a happy team who enjoy working together is essential to producing great tasting food.

He tells me he can taste “the love” in the food when it exists with the team and even more importantly he tells me he can taste it when the love is not there.

The ingredients are exactly the same, the preparation is exactly the same but when things aren’t 100% with his team the food just doesn’t taste as good as it should.

For this reason he works hard at talking to his team, having fun with them, listening to their issues, eliminating any issues or strains quickly and generally devoting a lot of his energy to making sure the spirit is as good as it can be.

Is it enough that your team turns up and punches in their time, is it enough that they execute their roles efficiently and professionally?

Without love that food just won’t taste as good as it should.

How does your food taste?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are an Irish Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Motivation, Staff training, Teamwork | 2 Comments »

Today I was an Accountant

October 17, 2013

accountant

I can’t help it ….I was once an accountant!

To be fair most people who meet me now get puzzled by this.

“Really?” ….yep!

For some reason I still won’t delegate these duties and in October of each year those deadline walls come closing in and there is no choice other than to knuckle down and prepare the accounts for the annual tax return.

I was like a bear today (sincere apologies to everyone concerned!) – I had worked till midnight last night doing the bank reconciliation and I was determined to break the back on the rest of the accounts work today. Besides feeling tired it made me feel totally miserable – the thought of the best part of my day being spent on “negative” work was killing me.

Romantically I always reckoned that doing the accounts was like telling the story of the business for the year. A long time ago I made a choice that I wanted to be part of the story rather than telling it afterwards!

Instead of meeting clients, trying to make positive things happen I had to, “for one day only” focus on just getting this horrible task done – I needed to be an accountant again and a cloud descended around me.

As planned I have broken the back on the accounts and while it wasn’t quite as bad a day as I had feared I am looking forward to being the “other me” tomorrow.

Are you telling the story or are you part of the story?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are an Irish Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Accounting, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity | 8 Comments »

Can great customer service be up to the customer?

October 9, 2013

Grumpy customer

“Table of Death” was the expression he used ..

I had the most interesting conversation with an experienced restaurateur yesterday – our conversations are refreshing as he always has a different way of looking  at things.

Yesterday we were chatting about the importance of great customer service and how now, more than ever, it needs to tip top as the decisions about how someone spends their disposable income are much bigger than before.

He gave me an interesting perspective about how the customer can play a huge role in the service they experience.

In particular he spoke about the “Table of Death”, which is an expression his team uses when they spot a bunch of customers who just should not be on a night out. They arrive grumpy, every interaction with the service staff is curt and unpleasant and their whole demeanour is negative.

The staff pick up on this immediately and tense up and then as sure as night follows day “Murphy’s Law” kicks in – that will be the table where something gets spilled, someone gets bumped into, something gets overcooked and there will always be something wrong with the bill.

The tension that is created by the negative vibe of that group of customer’s just infects everything and everyone they touch – a good night guaranteed!

He reckons they get at least one group like that every second night and they can spot them nearly the minute they walk in the door.

I notice myself that the pleasant client will get more from our team. The really mannerly and appreciative client will get somersaults from our guys. When you hear our team saying “I love working on that account” or “they are my favourite client” you know that client will get the very best from us and will enjoy the best results from their investment.

For some reason some people have decided that the best approach to business is by being “nasty” – it might make people jump but it will never get the best from them.

Next time you go for a meal ask the waiting staff how their day was!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are an Irish Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Hospitality, Motivation, Positivity | 5 Comments »

Looking after your own house ..

July 24, 2013

Dream House

Are you like us with the best of intentions not getting to things you had promised you would do?

One of the things I promised we would do this year was to make sure that we did not neglect our “own house“.

It’s obviously really important that all of our client work comes first but it’s also vital that we don’t neglect Fuzion. Every day we work with our clients following carefully written plans so that they can promote their business through PR, Social Media, Advertising, E-newsletters, through their website, by blogging and with their printed materials.

We stress the importance of “looking the part” ensuring that their branding is consistent, properly reflecting the quality of their business across printed and on-line platforms.

We’ve all heard the expression “the mechanics car” and I’m afraid that we are guilty of this. We are not the worst but there are things that we have been meaning to do for “our house” for quite a while but we always seem to struggle to get to them.

The guys in the design team are doing fabulous work for clients and I’ve been at them to showcase this properly on our website, through communications like this one and even within our own office. We have done some great work that we have been meaning to display on the walls of the office for the last six months. I’m waiting!

I’ve been at the PR team to start blogging more and demonstrate the expertise that we possess in-house. I’ve been at the guys to be more proactive on social media. We’ve had some huge client successes this year that we probably should have publicised. I’ve had the job of making sure we issue our e-newsletter (this one!) regularly – it’s not happening!

When you are busy it’s always the same – it’s easy to push your own work down to the bottom of the queue because there is always something to do for a client, which after all does pay the bills.

If Fuzion were our client, I’d have a strong word with them ..

Are you looking after your own house?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Blogging, Business Planning, Customer Care, Marketing, Motivation | 6 Comments »

Can Win Happy work?

June 23, 2013

Fuzion team

It was a gorgeous summer Saturday in Cork and I was strolling around the city with Dee and my two kids.

Everyone was in great form and I knew I should have been but I was miserable and my head was bursting – work was killing me. I had been caught in the middle of a corporate crossfire for over two years between the joint owners and unfortunately this was a no win situation for me.

I was the General Manager and I could have had an easy life if I toed the line, kept my head down, settled for the status quo, played the politics and enjoyed the benefits. This wasn’t me ….I was miserable!

On that Saturday afternoon, 10 years ago I decided I was handing in my notice (handing back my new Saab and turning my back on a hefty salary) and it was the day Win Happy was born.

Win Happy

Fuzion teamThis has been my goal ever since – never again did I want to spend a minute feeling miserable about my work.

It is really important to me that happiness is at the heart of what I do every single day.

Happiness for me is working in a place that I love, doing work that I enjoy, with great people and for clients that I respect.

Utopia?

I guess in a way it is Utopian but why not have that as a goal?

I will be the first to admit that it isn’t always that way but mostly we get pretty close.

Happy..

I do love what I do (except for some horrible admin work every now and then), we work for who we want (we don’t answer to any head office or anything like that, we can accept or even reject work if we choose) and we have carefully chosen a group of really good people to work with.

Every Friday we break bread together as part of a sacred lunch routine we have, which we call Fuzion Friday.

I believe that if you get all of that right you end up with an atmosphere that creates the perfect conditions for great work ..for winning.

Win?

Kerrie & DeeHappy is the first part of my philosophy. I am very driven and while I am not motivated by money I do want to be successful in our profession and this is where the satisfaction from Winning comes into it.

We work extremely hard and we keep ourselves up to date with trends and developments. We carefully choose talented people for our team and we make sure they understand the Fuzion way.

Together we work hard to get results for our clients even if this means us doing more than we are contracted for.

If a talented team, in a happy environment, work hard for clients then you should get lots of wins. Winning leads to more business – simple!

This philosophy has stood us well since the business started and in the 10 years that I have been with Fuzion we have continued to grow our business and our team, mostly with a smile.

#WinHappy

Can it work? – Tell me what you think?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Self Help, Teamwork | 7 Comments »

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