Contributed article in our leadership series. Enjoy! – Kimberly
Researchers have found that the number-one quality of ineffective leadership is the inability to inspire and motivate subordinates. Time and money are lost when people pull in different directions or when disengagement and conflict undermine progress toward business goals.
Effective leaders counter these problems by using communications technology and digital signage to keep everyone on track and in sync.
Email, Texting, and Chatrooms
Computers certainly enhance business communications, although most users merely focus on information, not attitudes. Here is something you should ask yourself every time you talk with someone on the computer: Are you conveying your sense of hope and possibility along with your project management expectations?
One simple way to motivate your team is by choosing the right automatic business email signature. Recipients pick up its affirmation secondarily whilst concentrating on your email’s content. Another technique is the use of positive emoticons and emoji. These informal tools for self-expression are effective in online business communications when applied sparingly and in those rare situations that call for the lighter touch.
Chatrooms are excellent places to collaborate with peers and to keep all team members working together. These rooms serve as central clearinghouses as well as places to hold virtual meetings. Chat rooms also offer you the opportunity to display more team-building statements as well as imagery.
When the goal is sufficiently large, you can take things up to the next level with digital signs.
Digital Signage
No, not something like the National Rail holograms in the UK. Rather, this is an electronic medium, commonly used in advertising, through which you can convey information and build employee morale. You probably saw a digital sign used today in such applications as outdoor advertising, streaming arrival and departure information at an airport, or guiding people at a popular attraction. There are many possibilities, so companies like VideoNations are used to helping their customers to choose the digital signage solutions most appropriate to their businesses.
Electronic signs are also used to present internal information on LED or LCD screens. These messages may be presented either statically or dynamically. The messaging network is managed from a personal computer, a server, or the cloud. Its architecture is flexible and can be designed to fit businesses of any size.
Initial set-up costs are high, and of course the question is what sort of return to expect on your investment. One company has found a way around that problem by developing smart vending machines that may be set up for either public or employee-related use. It is more difficult to quantify the financial benefits of employee-facing digital signage, although the payoff in morale can be quite substantial over the long term.
In summary: be an effective leader. Use whatever business technology works best for you to inspire team members and to keep everybody focused on the right goal.
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