One of my colleagues from our customer experience team has finished his ‘Gap’ year with us and is returning to the UK… he left by sharing this ‘rap’ with the team. What fabulous feedback on RedBalloon as a great place to work….
Tag Archives: Managers at work
Words of Wisdom from Sir Richard
Richard Branson has been in town this week… and I was interested to learn his insights into the importance he places on the people working for the Virgin brands. This was the first question asked at the Business Chicks breakfast on Monday. Q: Virgin has such a strong brand – what role do your people play in this? “Our people need to be 100% proud of where they work, to believe what they do every day. He or she must…
Communication about Bad Apples
Bad Apples can still do damage even after they have left the organization. Cleaning up the damage and rebuilding culture will take consistent and considered effort. My previous post ‘Bad Apples’ raised the question of authentic communication to the rest of the business – to ensure that culture is not impacted. At RedBalloon being completely transparent with the team has worked for us. They expect that of the leadership team – it is one of our values. We lead by…
Bad Apple
In the last few posts I have been talking about what it takes to be a Great Place to Work. It’s all about trust and purpose. One of the questions I had recently at a speaking engagement is very relevant ‘What if you have a rotten apple inside your organization– someone who is not just disengaged but subversive….’ We are pretty close to our people at RedBalloon – as a leadership team we are all committed to the team and…
Have Faith
I have trawled through online articles featuring best employers and companies with high engagement scores (I’m curious as to what others do of course) and I can’t help but notice the negative comments some attract along the lines of “it’s easy for you” from people all over the world. The truth is any organisation no matter the number of people or the size of the budget can be a great place to work if they accept that what they need…
Balancing Balance..
Nigel Marsh has a simple story to tell – which vividly illustrates – “if it’s meant to be it’s up to me”. We are the architects of our own future – responsible for our own happiness. One question that keeps bothering me during these discussions about paid parental leave… is this the right question we should be asking as a community. Raising children is not an 18 week journey – it is 18 years (my mother would say that it…
Curious about Strengths
Some years ago I had my Gallup Strengths done (see previous post) since then everyone who joins RedBalloon has also completed the review… it is fun and insightful and really helps us as a leadership team to understand how to best get our people in ‘flow’. It is not a recruitment tool.. because no strength is better than another – it just gives us an added way to support our people in their development. This is not the only strengths…
Icing on mud pie 2
I cannot stand waste. And this week the debate about how the government is spending $38million on selling (advertising) a tax package has really made me mad! What a waste! (Not for the agency, or media who are the recipient of the funds) But as a marketer I know you cannot spend yourself into having a great brand image. Building a brand takes so much more than advertising. No amount of icing can hide the mud in mud pie. I…
Excellent…
I’m very exciting that RedBalloon is recruiting for a new role, a Customer Excellence Manager. We see it as the next big step in our growth and innovation story. To put it in context; I’ve always used the title Chief Experience Officer (in part because of what we sell) but more so because ‘I’m accountable for how people experience RedBalloon’ – whether that be our customers, suppliers, distributors or the team. Whilst I’m accountable, it is simply not practical and…
Conflict is not all bad.
People sometimes think that being a part of a best place to work means that it is party time all the time. That’s not the case. Sure we work hard and play hard, but really what we do is challenge each other to greatness. We know that to be challenged can also be truly rewarding. It says somewhere in the bible that a ‘good wife’ will debate and challenge her husband so he can see what he cannot see. I…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
