Tips on using LinkedIn

I recently attended a LinkedIn event organised by the brilliant Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce http://www.businessinbrighton.org.uk/.  The four excellent speakers identified these key ways to make LinkedIn work for you:

• LinkedIn can be used to develop and enhance your reputation as an expert in your field. To do this, join groups, ask questions and contribute to discussions.
• Use good English and only link to quality content/sources/blogs etc.
• Use LinkedIn as more than a place to get a job and to passively connect with as many people as possible.
• Don't try and promote or sell something directly.
• LinkedIn can be used to source good deals from local suppliers (just use the search function).
• Set up a company page.
• Raporrtive was recommended as an easy way to get social media details from an email address. 
• And finally, if a company as big as Microsoft takes LinkedIn seriously then so should everyone.

Thanks to those of you who shared your expertise and insights:  Al Tredinnick of Digicave, Kate Bacon of Kate Bacon: Communication Genius and Caroline White of White Write along with sponsor Guy Anderson from zero G media

Kate Gare

Happiness and Work

This is an excellent video on the positive psychology and happiness which is very much in alignment with my work...

Phil Parker

Survival of the Fittest

"In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment." Charles Darwin

This quote is so relevant in today's economic climate as it is those who are most flexible that thrive despite the challenges that present themselves.  P4 will teach you the skills to bulletproof yourself against your stressors and influence your mindset allowing you to succeed.


Helen Harding 

Alive Inside – The Healing Power of Music

Author and neurologist Oliver Sacks has been doing some amazing work looking at the impact listening to music has on the human brain.

The Guardian recently linked to a You Tube video http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/apr/12/alive-inside-documentary-healing-music?CMP=twt_gu showing Henry Dyer, 92 seemingly wake up a in a way that cannot fail to move the viewer.  We know that listening to music can release dopamine and this new documentary adds another dimension to the power of the brain and the power of music.  Great stuff!

Kate Gare

When Champions need help

Below is a link to my new video:

http://present.me/view/8555-when-champions-need-help-phil-parker-peak-performance

Hope you enjoy watching!

Phil Parker

Laughter makes for a Happy Workplace

I am lucky to work with a group of people where we take time to have some fun within our working day - it can be as simple as sharing a story or a funny video but it makes for a great environment to work in and encourages a great team atmosphere as well as creativity.  Laughter sets off a reaction in our brains which releases endorphins that improve our mood and reduces the levels of stress hormones in our body.  It is estimated as adults we only laugh 14 times a day whereas children can laugh up to 400 times a day. So give it a go in your office and see how much happier your working life becomes.


Helen Harding

Catch People Doing Something Right!

If you really want to demotivate your team, here are some great strategies:

1. Constantly pick faults with what they do.
2. Tell them what you want doing, but don’t give them enough information so that they can do it as you would like. This means that when they complete the task, you can tell them what’s wrong with their work.
3. When staff complete a job, also tell them that you wouldn’t have done it like that.
4. Impose tasks on them and set deadlines without agreeing the deadlines with them. This will put them under pressure and is a great demotivator!

However, if you want to motivate your team, do the opposite to all the above:

1. Catch staff doing something right!
2. Be clear about the guidelines for the work, and be reasonable in your expectations.
3. Acknowledge good work. Coach them on how it could be improved.(This requires having good coaching skills.)
4. Negotiate deadlines with staff wherever possible.

Demotivated staff results in lower performance, which is not good for your business!

Simon Pimenta

Your mind's a beach

Today is the perfect day to cut loose from work and go to the beach. If you're lucky enough to do that, then enjoy your day off; if like most of us you can't just take a day off then research suggests just 10 or 15 min of your lunch break can give you exactly the same feelings.

Harvard neuroscientist Pascual Leone conducted an experiment in which one group of volunteers were asked to practice a simple five finger exercise on the piano everyday two hours for five days. The second group was asked to just imagine playing the same exercise for the same period of time.  When they asked both groups to perform on the piano at the end of the experiment they found that performance was almost identical, and neuro imaging techniques of their brain showed very similar levels of activation and development of the motor cortex in both groups.


This has stunning consequences for those who would prefer to get the benefits of exercise without actually having to go to the gym. It also should make us aware that negative preparation, worrying, anxiety and catastrophisation will equally prepare the brain effectively for stress; so we need to make sure we don't exercise our brains in this way

So this lunchbreak, spend 15 minutes imagining you're at the beach; your brain and body will get a similar degree of benefit as if you had just popped on your swimwear and gone down to the ocean for a quick break. Enjoy!


Phil Parker


Ref: Pascual-Leone, A. Nguyet, D.,Cohen, L., Brasil-Neto, J.,Cammarota, A.; & Hallett. M. (1995). Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills. Journal of Neurophysiology, 74, 1037-1045 

Meet YOUR Brain

This is a great two minute video that starts to explain how your brain works. Did you know that in your brain ‘there are 40 quadrillion possible ways for neurons to connect, so there will always be room for new knowledge and ideas’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/brainsmart/brain/

Kate Gare

The 11th Question - The Spotlight Question

Just after writing 'The 10 Questions To Ask For Success' book I was privileged to have a conversation with an amazing woman who worked in a very prominent position for a very well known media corporation.

She told me a story about how she had been at cocktail party and noticed an eminent playwright. This was a man who she had been wanting to talk to about a project involving underprivileged kids and the arts for a long time. She was about to go and talk to him when she was suddenly struck by the thought, 'what would people think of me, for cornering this man and talking about my project? They might think that I was being pushy or showing off that I knew him, and what if he didn't want to speak to me? and so on.

This stopped her in her tracks. She headed away from where the playwright was chatting, but felt in conflict with herself, part of her wanted to talk to to him and part of her didn't.

Rather wisely she started to use what I now call the 11th question; she asked herself 'what really matters here?' 

The answer was simple; the most important thing was the welfare of these underprivileged kids. Nothing else, other people's opinions or what the playwright thought of her, was as important as that in this moment.

As soon as she realised this she turned once again to speak to the man, but to her dismay found he had just left. She resolved to make sure she always asked herself this question so she could really seize the moment and use every opportunity to make the things that were important to her more likely to happen.

If you pause for a moment and ask yourself right now 'what really matters here and now in my life?' You may find that you're spending too much time doing things that aren't important, and instead refocus on what you really need to put your energy into...

Phil Parker