leadership

Digital Consultant links for January 26th through January 27th

These are my links for January 26th through January 27th:

Why the Idea of the Apple Tablet May Be Better Than the Reality – Steve Jobs has layed down the competition with Amazon and the Kindle, and are developing an Apple i-flavoured tablet which, in typical Apple style (may) revolutionise and breath life into the publishing industry. However, the hefty price tag and service charge are a major barrier, and it's best to say 'wait and see' for now – but one to watch.
The Moment Social Media Became Serious Business – - Tammy Erickson writes a brilliant little piece on how technologies have changed the way communications and workflow exist throughout history – from the telephone and the fax through to social media today, allowing multiple, discerete pieces of asyoncronous and virtual one-to-one and one-to-many communications. It's becoming integral to how we work, and a core tool of serious business.
Accidental Leaders and Managers programmes by Hyper Island – Calling all Yorkshire creative/digital folk: This Thurs is deadine for first batch of the highly recommended Accidental Leaders & Managers course run by Inspiral (a company I did the inspiral.biz project and others with) and Sweden's Hyperisland – the fair-haired wunderkids who are cleaning up the creative training sector with their radical nordic approach. Recommended for business owners.

Digital Consultant links for November 24th through November 26th

These are my links for November 24th through November 26th:

Accidental Leaders programme – Yorkshire Launch – Inspiral, a creative and digital consultancy I work with, have teamed up with Swedish creative innovation leaders Hyper Island to bring their Accidental Leaders & Managers programme to Yorkshire businesses. This is high end specialist training for growing businesses (they've also been delivering the programme in the North West) that has been highly recommended from reports I've heard. They're doing launch events 9-11th December featuring Swedish nibble, yum!
Hundreds of media professionals awarded TV multiplatform training windfall – Skillset are offering training bursaries worth up to £800 for a whole range of courses relating to cross platform production, financing and management – many of them geared towards TV and film producers.

Free management and leadership consultancy for Midlands businesses

Image by Tom Fishburne

As a business owner, making good management decisions and delivering strong leadership in difficult times can become complex and distorted; trying to judge actions and their outcomes to get the results you need can seem like staring into a clouded, crystal ball.

Fortunately, help is at hand from a new programme delivered by Business Link to support management and leadership skills.

If you’re a senior manager or business owner, digital consultant can deliver consultancy to you in the following areas:

Digital strategies for service businesses:

Website planning and digital strategy – essential in planning a website commission or re-launch
E-marketing strategy (including e-commerce, online editorial and social media)
Digital skills training: virtual team management, e-comms and blogging

Business strategies for digital and creative businesses:

Executive coaching and professional development for digital sector managers & leaders
Innovation, market research and product development for digital products/services
Business development, visioning and planning
Performance development – including HR and company skills plans

To find out what we’ve done for other clients take a look at the services we offer.

To give you an idea of how we think and work, here’s a few links to some favourite recent articles on strategy and leadership:

How to be a better leader: give up authority
Adapting to crisis in your knowledge-based business by delegating control
Constant Transformation Is the New Normal
Disruptive innovation guru Scott Anthony on how to adopt now ‘business as usual’ no longer exists
A Checklist to Choose Which Internet Marketing Channel is Right for Your Business
Guide to pricing, resources and strategy for selecting internet marketing platforms
How-To: Using Social Media Strategically
A marketer’s guide to thinking about the key issues in formulating a social media strategy

Funding packages

The training award is worth up to £1,000 .
The first £500 does not need to be matched by you but the second £500 does.
You can opt for any of the following packages of support:

1 day of consultancy (includes 1 visit & all expenses)
Package worth £500 – you pay: FREE
2 days of consultancy (includes 2 visits & all expenses)
Package worth £1,000 – you pay: £250
3 days of consultancy (includes 3 visits & all expenses)
Package worth £1,500 – you pay: £500

Funding criteria

To be eligible to receive this award your business will have to meet all of these criteria:

Have between 5-249 staff (this can include exec and non-exec board members)
Be less than 25% owned by a large organisation
Be based in the East Midlands or West Midlands regions
You must be a key decision maker, senior manager or owner of the business
You must have not received LSC Leadership & Management funding since 2007

How to access this support

Please contact me, Susi O’Neill, by email (susi@digitalconsultant.co.uk) or phone (07981 222799) to express an interest. We can then firstly discuss if I can help with your business issue; if I can we will complete together a referral form which I will submit it on your behalf to your local Business Link.
A Business Link advisor will contact you to arrange a time to complete a diagnostic review of your business, including a Leadership & Management assessment which will identify gaps and areas for development.
On completion of your review your Business Link advisor will complete a Development Plan for you, which you will need to approve and send back with other paperwork to Business Link by post. They will then confirm if you are eligible and offer you the grant in a confirmation letter. Please allow at least 1 month between your application and confirmation of the grant.
Assuming we’ve ended up noting the same gaps in your needs and I can deliver the skills you need, we can then proceed with the consultancy work. You have 90 days from your offer letter to complete the work you need.
I will invoice you at the end of the work and you will pay me directly then claim the eligible costs back directly from Business Link.

Programme information

This scheme is called the Director Development Programme in the West Midlands. Find out more about the Business Link West Midlands programme here.
In the East Midlands this programme is called Leaders First. Find out more about the Business Link East Midlands programme here.

Ready to demystify your management and leadership issues?

Please email me, Susi O’Neill (susi@digitalconsultant.co.uk) or telephone 07981 222799 for an initial discussion on the programme and how I can help you.

Digital Consultant links for November 2nd through November 3rd

These are my links for November 2nd through November 3rd:

Constant Transformation Is the New Normal – Piece by disruptive innovation expert Scott Anthony on how 'business as usual' ain't coming back: you need to be customer-focused, adaptable to change and have distinct, autonomous spaces for innovation.
Lord Mandelson sets date for blocking filesharers’ internet connections – In full: the timetable and approach for UK government to impose the "three strikes and your offline" policy to tackle file-sharing; which, interestingly, WASN'T a recommendation of Lord Carter's Digital Britain report from this year.
A fistful of (internet) dollars – The Guardian have produced this useful round up showing the size of the digital industries (music, TV, film, games, publishing) in 2000 compared to now, and how they are siddling with Lord Mandelson and the government on the issues around downloading and regulation.
To Be a Better Leader, Give Up Authority – Prof Vlatka Hlupic believes that in complex trading environments in knowledge industries, the leader who delegates more control to their workers can see improved levels of innovation and results. Command and control models are broke.
Expansive English Game Development Hub Discussed – The long-running 'games centre of excellence' proposal seems to be zoning in on becoming a reality, with a research, training and testing facility mooted to be established in MediaCity in Salford – which could put the noses out of joint in Liverpool, where most of the North West games industry are based.