24 Feb

Winter Olympics Close Out With Canada On Top!

Posted in News on 24.02.14 by John Meloche

Flag of CanadaIt would be hard to imagine any Canadian waking up without feeling a great sense of pride this morning. As hoped for, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia closed out yesterday with the Games’ biggest spectacle seeing Canada capturing a gold medal. That gold, of course, was awarded to the men’s hockey team who repeated as champions from the 2010 Winter Games.

It seemed as if everyone was awake bright and early to watch the game yesterday morning. Airing live at 7 a.m. EST (that’s four in the morning for everyone on the west coast!), the game created a party atmosphere throughout the entire nation. And it appeared as if there was no doubt that the final gold medal of the Olympics would be headed to the Great White North.

Team Canada, lead by captain Sydney Crosby, never trailed during their game against Sweden. In fact, the team never trailed at any point throughout the entire tournament. It was as dominant a performance as any Canadian fan of hockey could expect. And that’s even with the fact that Canada didn’t pile on the goals as much as other teams did during the tournament.

A big slice of the credit deserves to go the way of goaltender, Carey Price, who shutout both the United States and Sweden in the final two games. “He was phenomenal,” exclaimed one of our Synergy staff members who watched the game from a downtown Toronto bar, “Price stood on his head and kept everything out of the net for six periods straight. He was on a mission.”

That mission – to win a gold medal – was completed yesterday, placing Canada among the top three countries in the world to win the most gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics with ten. Only Russia (13) and Norway (11) had more. In total, Canada won 25 medals by adding ten silvers and five bronzes to the haul. That’s just one short of the 26 our nation won in Vancouver in 2010.

The most inspiring of all of the medals won this time around has to be the gold medal won by the women’s ice hockey team last week. Down 2-0 to their American rivals with less than four minutes left to go in the game, the Canadian women pulled out a seemingly-impossible victory by scoring two goals by the buzzer, and one in overtime. The win sent the nation into a frenzy.

“That was the most exciting moment of the Olympics for sure,” said our rep, “The men winning put the icing on the cake, but the women really showed some heart. How could you not be proud to be Canadian after watching what they did? You can’t write stuff like that. It just goes to show you that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. That’s what the Olympics is all about.”

On behalf of the entire staff, here at Synergy Marketing, we would like to send our most heartfelt congratulations to all of Canada’s Olympians. We’re even prouder today to be a Canadian company serving other Canadian companies nationwide. Here’s hoping that the 2014 Winter Olympics have inspired all Canadians to never give up on their dreams and to live every moment!

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12 Feb

2 Big Benefits To Letting The Games Begin

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 12.02.14 by John Meloche

Competition in businessThere are numerous benefits to creating competition in the workplace. As we’ve been discussing over the course of our past two blogs, there are many benefits to starting up your own version of the Winter Olympics at your place of business. People have natural instincts when it comes to winning – and that’s that they all love it! So have you let the games begin at work this week?

On TheHindu.com, Paval Chanania explains that friendly competition at work is a great way to inspire your staff members. It’s meant to boost morale while increasing productivity. And, of course, you don’t have to implement such ideas only during the Olympics. A competitive attitude should be encouraged all year long. He writes of the ways in which this will benefit your business.

Team-building. By creating teams at your business, you are obviously encouraging your employees to work together. Creating a unified, team-driven atmosphere will get your staff members talking and inspiring each other to achieve higher-than-normal standards on the job. Engaging your workers is bound to spark a more positive environment to work in, all the while boosting productivity levels at your company.

As Chanania puts it, “once employees start feeling the cohesion as ‘everyone wins’, they will inspire each other to excel and actually be motivated (instead of feeling beaten) by a colleague’s success! Now instead of just trying to outdo others, employees will try to enrich each other’s work thus bringing out the best in everyone.” Team building has the ability to satisfy your bottom line in more ways than one.

Firstly, you’ll be creating a “fun place to work” out of your business. In many cases, businesses fall into the same, regular daily routines that only promote mundane, boring days on the job. Inevitably, this will only cause your staff members to become complacent and unmotivated to achieve greater goals. Secondly, you’re bound to get greater production out of your staff. That means more money being made!

Team-strengthening. Although this may not be your number one reason for creating a sense of gamesmanship in the office, providing counseling to specific team members will help to strengthen your staff. Because you are creating teams and inspiring competition, you will end up discovering which staff members work best with others and which ones do not.

You may also notice that some team members may become overly-aggressive as it relates to their competitive natures. This too, will require some feedback. It’s important, as a business owner, to be able to counsel your employees on what mistakes they’re making and how they can learn from their shortcomings on the job. Hopefully, the entire experience will make for a better work atmosphere for all involved.

At Synergy Marketing, we know quite a bit about fostering healthy competition. Our staff is made up of some pretty enthusiastic individuals who love nothing more than to outdo their colleagues. It’s all in good fun, of course. But the fun is truly had in how successful they have each become. And, as you know, our success depends on your success. Call us at 1-877-748-9884 today and let’s work together on making your business a gold medal winner!

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11 Feb

3 Ways To Inspire Friendly Competition

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 11.02.14 by John Meloche

business team winning competitionIn yesterday’s blog, we proposed the idea of creating a little friendly competition in your office. With the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Sochi, Russia, there’s no better time than now to start up a little Olympic Games of your own. Divide your staff into teams if you haven’t already and offer incentives to those who are the most productive at the end of your week.

There are a variety of ways to set up your own Olympics depending on the nature of your business, of course. And as Payal Chanania writes on TheHindu.com, competition in the workplace is a great way to add value to your organization. This is true as long as you have a “synergetic and healthy mix that not only keeps the competition in perspective but also brings out a sense of enthusiasm and camaraderie.”

Making competition a good thing. Quite obviously, you’re not trying to put wedges between your employees. Instead, it’s the exact opposite. In an effort to boost employee morale, you’ll want to create an atmosphere that increases team-building and the senses of enjoyment of coming into work. The onus, says Chanania, is on management to inspire competition correctly.

It’s important to be a good role model, he writes. “Actively provide inspiration, support and guidance as you encourage employees to do better. Also, establish clear policies regarding competition and communicate them effectively so that everyone knows what behaviour is acceptable within a competitive environment and what is considered undesirable or unethical.”

Define plausible goals and metrics. To be fair, your employees should know exactly what they are each striving for. You want to stretch their efforts so that they achieve their goals. The last thing you want is to motivate your team only for them to feel like their efforts are unrecognized. Be sure to continually set up new challenges giving everyone opportunities to win them.

“Small challenges like increasing sales or bringing new clients in a realistic timeframe will make them feel that they are competing for something worthwhile,” advises Chanania. You may also want to offer opportunities for team challenges as well as individual challenges. As long as each employee is aware of the targets needed to be met, the playing field will be made level.

Rewards and recognition. Naturally, the entire point of creating competition is to provide rewards to those who accomplish the most. “Devise and implement a good reward system as employees will not be spurred without any direct benefit,” says Chanania. Cash always works. But, as you can imagine, Synergy Marketing suggests that you take things a step further.

Our incredible promotional gifts make for amazing rewards. In fact, many of our clients have informed us that they often give their staff members promo gifts as forms of recognition for jobs well done. Our sales team is made up of friendly and experienced individuals who can help you choose the right promo gift for your “Olympic medals”. Call us up today at 1-877-748-9884!

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10 Feb

Creating Your Own Olympics In The Office

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 10.02.14 by John Meloche

business competitionWell the Winter Olympic Games are off to flying start in Sochi, Russia. And, we’re happy that Team Canada is among the nations who are flying the highest! As of this writing, Canada is currently in a four-way tie for most medals with four. Norway is leading the pack with seven so far. Only the fourth day into the Olympics, there are many more medals left to be won.

And there’s just something about competing for your country that makes winning all the more special, isn’t it? Even if you’re not an Olympic athlete, just being a Canadian has got to feel good right about now. At Synergy Marketing, we take great pride in cheering for our Canadian athletes. And that is especially true when the hockey starts! Our Canadian women have already bested Switzerland with a 5-0 victory in their first game.

And the men are off to the races later this week! So how do you fit all of this excitement into your day when you have to head back to work today and get back to the job? As a business owner, it’s always incumbent upon you to stay focused so that you can best encourage your staff to meet their goals. Well, here’s an idea. Maybe you should incorporate the Olympics into office!

Friendly competition never hurt anybody. Not that much anyway. And think about it, wouldn’t it be fun to spark a little bit of an Olympic flame at your place of business in an effort to drive up productivity? We’ve found, here at Synergy Marketing, that when we create and provide incentives based on performance, it really helps to turn the energy up. Who doesn’t love the feeling of winning?

Perhaps, you can provide that sense of energy by starting your week off by creating new teams within the work place. Offer weekly incentives – in place of medals – to help foster the friendly competition in the office. The plan, as we’ve mentioned, is to get everyone on their toes to increase how productive they all are. But, just as importantly, it will help to create a more enjoyable work atmosphere.

The thing to remember is that you want for your team members to enjoy themselves while they work. Creating competition can be tricky. You obviously don’t want to create any fights. On TheHindu.com, Payal Chanania writes that intense competition and the thought of winning at all costs “is destructive and ultimately takes its toll on morale, productivity and employee health too.”

However, he notes that a “lack of competition also makes people complacent and lackadaisical, leading to mediocre performance.” Chanania points towards a BusinessWeek study that found that two thirds of middle managers who were surveyed believe that having a competitive nature is essential to getting ahead. Those who lack a competitive spirit, on the other hand, generally don’t achieve great success.

In tomorrow’s blog, we’ll take a look at a few methods that you can employ in your office in an effort to drum up some friendly competition. There’s no better time than now considering that the Winter Olympics are in full swing. Make it a fun time in the office for your team members. After all, they’ll be missing the Games while they’re at work. You might as well allow them to play some of their own while on the job!

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