CEO Group Call - Building Website 02
Master website optimization with Squarespace! Learn to enhance SEO with proper text, image naming, meta descriptions, and social media previews. Improve search rankings, personal branding, and user engagement while building a professional online presence.
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CEO Group Call: Building Website 02 - A Guide to Effective SEO
In today’s digital landscape, a visually appealing website is only the beginning. Effective search engine optimization (SEO) ensures your content is discoverable, engaging, and aligned with your brand goals. This session focused on SEO best practices using Squarespace.
Key Takeaways
1. Structuring Your Website: Sections for Simplicity
Squarespace allows you to divide pages into sections, simplifying navigation and enhancing SEO:
• Sections act as modular units for specific content (e.g., text blocks, images, or videos).
• Well-structured pages make it easier for search engines to crawl and index content.
2. Optimize Text for Search Engines
Search engines rely heavily on text to rank pages. Here’s how to make yours count:
• Headlines and Meta Descriptions: Create keyword-rich, clear, and concise descriptions (up to 400 characters).
• Content Alignment: Use meaningful text that reflects your brand identity and purpose.
3. Image Optimization: Visibility Beyond Visuals
Images aren’t just visual assets; they’re SEO tools. To maximize their impact:
• Descriptive File Names: Name images logically (e.g., “team-photo-Jens-Heitland.jpg”).
• Alt Text: Add accessibility-focused descriptions that also aid SEO.
• Social Preview Images: Attach relevant visuals to ensure proper display on platforms like LinkedIn or WhatsApp.
4. URL Management and SEO Settings
Each page’s URL should be simple and descriptive to improve search visibility:
• Replace generic URLs like /page1 with /services or /contact.
• Ensure all pages have custom SEO descriptions and associated images for optimal results.
5. Personal and Corporate Branding Integration
SEO extends to branding. A consistent digital identity reinforces recognition:
• Use a cohesive color scheme and font style aligned with your brand.
• Leverage tools like Canva or AI-powered services to fine-tune logos, slogans, and visuals.
6. The Importance of Social Media Previews
Social sharing impacts visibility and click-through rates. Configure social previews to display:
• Captivating Images: Use professional visuals.
• Engaging Text: Ensure preview descriptions entice users to explore further.
Why It Matters
Every text, image, and setting on your website contributes to your online presence. By combining strong SEO practices with thoughtful branding, you create a site that stands out in search results and strengthens your professional identity.
Actionable Next Steps
• Review each page’s SEO settings in Squarespace.
• Optimize text and images with meaningful, brand-aligned descriptions.
• Enhance your brand identity with consistent visuals and messaging.
Take control of your website’s SEO today for greater visibility and impact!
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction and Recap
00:06 Understanding SEO Settings
00:58 Practical SEO Tips
01:44 SEO for Images
02:51 SEO in Google Search
04:25 SEO Settings in Squarespace
06:53 Social Image Settings
07:36 Creating a Social Image with Canva
11:18 SEO for Blog Posts
12:31 Final SEO Tips and Best Practices
17:09 Adding a Favicon
22:36 Personal Branding and Design
31:58 Q&A and Conclusion
Transcript:
[00:00:00] So I'm already in Squarespace and this is all the things we did last time. I haven't changed anything. Um, I think at least so a key part that we have not done last time is the SEO setting. So that's the main thing I will be focusing on today.
So we have the home site, homepage, and just to iterate again, if I'm going into editing. Every single page has different sections. Here we see sections. So the section is what we see now. In the upper part is one section. This is one section. This is one section, the black one. And then the white one with the blocks and so on is another section.
So this just allows us to separate the page into smaller pieces. And then inside of each section, we can have a background picture text on top and other things on top. So what we [00:01:00] have now is SEO wise, search engine optimization, we have the text that can be read by their search engine. So empowering people, inspiring growth.
That is, that, like, Google as a search algorithm can read these words. Then, if you remember last time when we were uploading a photo, we are, we are uploading the photo with the proper name. If I'm going to this photo here and I click on edit, then we see that the photo is called the Ensideland photoshoot.
So the search engines, like Google as an example, can read these words. Then we are adding a description, image alternative text, which says here, describe your image to improve accessibility and SEO, search engine optimization. So what we do is, always [00:02:00] when we are on a photo, we name this photo with our name, because then the internet remembers it is us.
I will just show you if I'm going to Google and I put in my name, then, you know, there's this image or photo part when you, when you go into Google and you look at images and now you see all of this single photos that you see on this page is me, right? And that is because this photo is associated with my text.
Because the internet does not know that this face is Jens. So you need to make a text connection and that is through this SEO.
And now that the internet knows it is me, then of course, now with all the AI features going forward, it can then say, okay, that's the same person. [00:03:00] But still all of this photos that you see, my face is, or name is associated with this photos. All right. Thanks, guys. And I'm scrolling now already for a while and there's no single photo that is not created by me.
This is the first one here. That is not me, but it's still, it goes to me. They just have done a wrong SEO setting. So this is a bad example. So this is a speaking agency which has registered me as their speaker. If we now click on this, then you will see it's me, right? But it's like a speakers, whatever they have listed me as a speaker with a very old photo, but they have done wrong SEO settings.
If we go back to the Google search, you [00:04:00] see, there's a different person. So what they have done, I will show you now.
So which means we have different SEO levels, text, photos on your website. So every single text can be searched and every single photo can be searched. And every single link that you put in can be searched by the internet. And then if we look at the left side here, at least in Squarespace, if you go onto this um, editing piece.
Now you have the general thing, which is like the home, the page title, the navigation title, and then the URL slug, which is the URL. So it's for example, Jens Heitland slash home as an example. But what we want to get to is the SEO. If we click on SEO, this is what you see in the [00:05:00] search engine. So this looks like Google search.
When you're looking in Google, then it's like home, new Andre Dimashev. in this case. And, and, and the main, when it comes to the homepage, the, the main description comes from somewhere else in the website, but in the end, every single page has this. Let me quickly go to the speaking page. That's easier to show.
So, speaking, sorry. How you, how would, how do you open this page? Just by the, um, by the, so if you, if you go on, this is the page Yeah. The set and then the settings. Yeah. And then you come to this and the import so important is just by dim, S-E-O-S-E-O-S-E-O. The description. Exactly. So, so it shows then in the search engine this way, speaking Andrei Demeshev, which is his, his website.
And then this description. Now you see. Why[00:06:00]
book? Huh? Book. It's a book. Okay. It's a keynote. So, so what you can write, whatever you want here, what I want to. So the, when you search for him, then this is, this is what you see. Coke, Andrea, Dimash as a keynote speaker. But, but in internet, when I'm searching for a book, Andrea or a keynote speaker, then he comes also.
Exactly. The searching engine. Okay. Exactly. That means the SEO description is important for searching engine. Exactly. Yeah. So this, this SEO is super important. Yeah. So every single page that you have needs to have that. Yeah.
And then another important part is the social image, [00:07:00] which is the next topic. So we have SEO, and then we have social image. You see, there's nothing right now, which means when you're, for example, when you're, when you're sending a WhatsApp to someone and you're copying a link, then you see the preview of the link.
You, you most probably have seen that in the past. So that's what this picture, or you post a link on the internet somewhere. You post a link on LinkedIn, for example, then you saw the pre preview of that link. So what we now need to have is building a picture for this. adding a picture. So like last time, I'm going to Canva.
This is now opening my, my Canva. I go to projects because I've created it already. And because I have, of course, thousands of projects in the moment, I need to try to find it. I had, so [00:08:00] this is the one from last time. I'm just going to, to this one.
That's, that's what we have used last time. Now I want to create a page that, that is represented. So now. I have his personal photos, funnily enough, I got them today. Uh, uh, just need to find where they are
and add them to,
so I'm quickly adding Andre. So this is now Andre, Andre's photo. Can you see that? Yes. So now what I'm literally just doing, I'm downloading this photo,[00:09:00]
make it into a PNG and not into a PDF. So size is the same. And then we download it.
Let me quickly stop sharing that you can see my desktop because then see, you see what I'm doing. So now I've downloaded the picture. I'm going to download and this, this is the picture. So what I do is I call this,
call this his name because I want to have the photo associated with him. And then I go back to Squarespace and I'm now uploading exactly this picture. I go here and upload this picture. [00:10:00] Now you see how it will look in the preview. When you Google, you see, she's speaking Andre Dimash book, Andre Dimash as, as a keynote speaker.
So that's when, when you look into Google and you find it in the normal Google search, that's how it looks. Mm hmm. So every single page. If we now go to story again, here, the SEO page is empty still. So we need to write a description and we need to add a photo so that when someone is looking for that specific link or shares that link, then you have the photo.
This is a super critical point for every single page on your website. So every single page needs to have an SEO description [00:11:00] and a photo connected to it.
So, which, which means for everyone to, to go through the website and every single page to add the description you would like to see when someone is searching it. Very important. If we go to blog,
I'm quickly going to the blog page here. So these are the different blog posts and. It's the same strategy. So every single blog post need to have, if we go here to settings of that single page, need to have a picture connected to it. And we see this here on the SEO. So now, right now it's called new blog posts.
Obviously that's called then differently when we save it differently. But here's again, the description is empty and we need to add something so that we know what this[00:12:00]
just to give you an example. So you see, and then again, picture. And then we have, what was the description that this was just an example for me just to write something.
It's a key element for every single page, including block pages. I'm not now not saving this. Because this is empty because every single SEO setting is triggering search engine optimization in general. So it's text inside of the website that is counting. It's every photo needs to have an uploaded when you're uploading it, it has to be named.
If you are on the picture, [00:13:00] it has to be your name on it. When you save it. And then it need to have a separate description and then every single page need to have the SEO settings, which is always going to the same page settings, going to SEO and make a description that can be up to 400 characters description,
and then has a social media photo connected to it, social image. At least that's how it's called in Squarespace. So that we know there's a picture and there's a text to every single page. Because then the, the whole search engine, if I go back to Google, and if we now not go on to photos, we go on to everything, here's here, here you see this, how it looks.
So you look for my name, and then you have my main page, [00:14:00] you have my name, and then you have the description, which is this one, and you have a photo.
And that's the same for the videos, but they're hosted on YouTube. They have also SEO settings. Here's again. So this is my story page. Jens Heitland story. This is how it's called. And then startup mentors. These are, these are the keywords that Google is finding in inside of, and that's the picture to it.
And, and this is an, a good example from another speaking agency that is called premium speakers. It's Jens Heidland on innovation and leadership. So they directly put in to their search optimization field that is innovation and leadership in if someone is searching for a speaker in innovation or leadership, and then they, they route wrote in the description Jens Heidland speaker, an expert in leadership and people centered innovation.[00:15:00]
And then they added my photo to it. So they did this on their page setting
again, here, a different speaking agency, and they use the same thing. just different picture. Here, a different example, they did not add a photo. That's where you see when you have a photo associated to it, we go back to page one, it's always ranking higher inside of Google. So instead of not having a photo, that's why we're adding a photo as well.
So we have now the key things set up from the website. Obviously the text can be changed and refined all the time with Andre. I need to upload his personal pictures. That is not me on his website and, and adding all the specific things [00:16:00] in the end, it's not difficult. It's, it's more about following the structure.
And the layout of the pages are, is from my experience, the, uh, not the design itself is more the, the structure of the website is, is the key part. And then adding the content that fits to, to that structure. So, so you have at least a homepage, you have a speaking page, you have a story page, you have blog content, and then you have a contact page.
And then last time we talked about the link page as well.
And if you have all of those, you are set up to publish your website. If that's, that's in the design and in the, if you have done the content. So these are the key elements for every personal websites. And of course you can go deeper. You can develop more things like I have already as well, but this is [00:17:00] the essence of the personal website.
Last thing. Which I would like to go into when we are looking into because you can now see my my screen You see when you have different tabs, like I have now quite a lot of tabs open you see for example in Canva, you see this white heart with blue background In Chad GT P, you see the Chad GTP logo in the speaking page where we looked, you have the speaking logo.
Now with Andre we see just a placeholder. Can you see that? So what we, what we want to have there is as well, we have one, his logo in the future there, we now do it very, very simple. We go to Canva where we go back to,[00:18:00]
uh, did we have the last time we need to go to project. Inside of projects we need to check. Now I don't have it here. So what we need to look into is how do we change this logo for the, his website. So we go to, we go to the settings. Now it's low. Wow. I think it's in, maybe it's in marketing, email, marketing tools.
Let me quickly check promotion. No,
I guess it's here. Settings,
favicon. This is what I was looking for. So inside of the website settings, we have a thing that's called favicon, which is this small little logo. [00:19:00] And. This is the logo I'm now building. So I'm now going quickly to, um, to Canva. What I'm now doing, I'm just creating a new project or a new design. I think there's nothing which is favicon.
So we, we do again, Instagram, Instagram square. It's just because it's square and that's the easiest version to do it. So. Then you can, of course, let's say logo. You just click on you, you type in logo as an example, and you see thousands of different potential logos that you can build. Um, we just make it simple now for him just as an example.
So we, we delete this. Oh no, that's not, it doesn't work. We just do a very simple one for [00:20:00] him. His name is Andrei Dimashev, so we just do a D, we make this as big as possible because it's very small and we keep it on white background. Now for the example, obviously in the best case you design a proper logo for him, but I'm just showing that's like the super cheap version of this and what we can do is we can just use, let's say, uh,
we just use a font that is looking a little bit different than other versions. Then I'm now exporting this just to show it to you. Obviously, I need to agree with him that this is his logo. Most property will design something specifically for him, but I'm just showing to you. We now, we have ad saved here.
Now I'm going to his website again, and then we are [00:21:00] uploading the favicon, which is this ad.
Now you see it's uploaded here. Now we are saving this. And usually over the next 24 hours, the, the favicon here, do you see it's now changing from the black box to AD. Can you see that? So that's what we want to have because it looks professional when we have something in that background. So that's what this is about.
I think this are the key elements and there's a lot of advanced things still, but if, if you have built your website with this pages and the way that you're happy with the font, that you're happy with the colors, you have the sections that we went through, you're adding the. SEO settings [00:22:00] and you're adding the, the favicon, we could then publish the, the, the web page.
Yeah.
Uh, by Canva, uh, for logo you, you, you were, uh, you were, uh, you were in Canva and then Instagram Square. Yes. It's right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Then it's, it's just because it's a square. Yeah. Okay. Design. Yeah. But do you have, and of course do you have, uh, you can, yeah. Sorry. Do you have also local designer or a iden, a person for identity?
Uh, what's the name? What, uh, I corporate identity stuff. It is a corporate identity. Exactly. Yeah. I have, I have someone, but they all want money. Uhhuh. Okay. I, I'm now do showing you the DIY version. Of course you can hire someone building your website. I mean, we do this for our clients [00:23:00] as well, but I don't want to offer it to you.
No, but for corporate identity, it's really important which logo, which slogan, which, which color and it's also personal branding. So, yeah, so we, we still, for every one of you, we still need to go into your like colors and so on. I just took this one, um, as a starting point to, to just get started and see.
Because what you do with your website, you can still change things like we can still change the font. We can change the colors and everything going forward. But I agree there is if we go into the community inside of the classroom
and then inside build your brand. There is, if we go here, [00:24:00] choose your colors. Hmm. So there is a description of all of these things, but of course I think I even have it somewhere. There. Yeah. Like there are thousands of tools like AI and so on that can help you defining which colors it is and like what color palette fits to what you're doing and who you are and to your personality and so on.
Yeah. So there, here's a simple description. I mean, not so simple, but there's like different themes when it comes to color and then the same, which is connected to that, which we haven't done yet because this is also an individual topic. It's like, what is the outfit and style that you want to represent?
We're just connected to the clients you want to represent. interact and attract and so on. And that's different for everyone as well.[00:25:00]
Questions. Which method do you use for, uh, for personal branding and this, uh, this color, because there is different methods. I know for example, uh, I don't have the names now, but for example, Harvard, Oxford, you know, they, there are different methods for personal branding also for, that's also, um, that's a psychological methods.
So for example, uh, which personality you are, then which brand, uh, is for, I mean, uh, is accurate to your personality. Um, yeah, I'm, I, I'm, I'm building my own, building my own, okay. Okay. But that's, that's more of my, my, my personal style. So I have worked with a designer to, to find out this things for me. But in, in, in the end is you can just do one of this tests where, where you then see what, let's say AI is proposing to you, and then you can select what you feel is the [00:26:00] best for yourself.
For me, at least in my experience, it needs to feel well for you. Colors and all of this things. But the beauty is you can change it. Like, if I'm changing my colors today, you will not remember the colors anymore two weeks ago. Uh, no, it's not so, uh, you are, you're, you are mostly in black and today you are in blue jeans, so.
No, I know, but, but this today is weekend. That's why I'm not in black. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. But, you know, in black is good because of the videos, because then the, the, the, and you have like the contrast. Yeah, exactly. The contrast. And also, Um, the light is more Yeah, it's, it's exactly, that's why when I, when I record videos, I try always to have dark.[00:27:00]
Yeah. And when I, um, and that's also, you know, by videos. I don't want to be in different colors or in different outfits. I think it's better to have one color, one outfit for videos that's more. Like, you know, it's like, uh, it's more, um, comparative, kann man sagen, oder nachvollziehbar. Yeah, I have three outfits for videos, and I just change them over time so that it is not always the same, but I try to stick to three outfits.
Yeah, it's, it's just something, but it's just for me, it's easier. And I mean, for, for, for man is anyhow easier when it comes to this things, because like, what do you want to, like, you have a shirt, you have a jacket and that's, that's the thing you see on, on, on videos. Yeah, but that's, yeah, [00:28:00] but then, then, then, so, I mean, the, you can, I mean, when the color changed every, by every video, then recognizable, it's not so recognizable or the current person.
You know, but when you, when the, I mean, the background is, when the background stay the same and also the color and the outfit, it's more, it stays like a chain in the mind, you know, it's. It's like also a brand. It's like your logo. I agree. But you have to. I just, yeah, for me, it's just, I have found out that I want to have at least slight changes, not always exactly the same because then people might think it's the same video.
Yeah. And, uh, you're standing by video, by recording it. It's better for the gesture. For the energy. For energy. At least for me. For me. I can only speak about me [00:29:00] always. But when I'm, when I'm standing, I have way more energy towards the other side. And I just feel more like I can breathe better and so on.
And I'm sitting then I'm like here now I'm linked to, to my chair. Yeah. Good. Did you, did you try, did you try with your avatar with AI? I tried already. I have a, I have a voice avatar already. The video itself, I have not done too often, and it's not a hundred percent me. It's different energy. Yeah, but it's, it's getting better.
It's getting better. It is getting worse or getting better. No, it's, the technology gets better and better and better over time. I've tried this like, I don't know, like two years ago already with the first prototype. But you know, with this, uh, what's the name of this website? I sent it in the, in the, in the post.
Yeah. Uh, you can just give your text. [00:30:00] Your at the out avatar talks with your gesture and with your, you know, I know, and you know, the mouth. There is, there are, there are some tricky points that you have. Follow them and then, uh, you know, with your pulse and with your house or your mouth, your gesture, your, uh, your blinking.
And then it's, it works well. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm impressed. Technology is, is crazy advanced already, but I still think you will distinguish at least for the next two year, if it's a video of me or an automated video. Yeah, but it's like from this website, you cannot recognize it, which video is avatar, which video is this real person.
It's, it's, it's. Yeah, but that's, that's the one they showcase. If you try this yourself, then you see it's still different because they show, they showcase the best possible version. Yeah. No, but that, that's why I believe in the [00:31:00] future you will have the possibility with blockchain to document this is really me.
And that's not a fake me because you could create videos of me today already like without me knowing. Yeah. I just guess in the future you will have like blockchain and then you know exactly this is created by me and that's truly me. And that's me. It's fake. Okay. What, what, what do you mean with blockchain?
No, this it's already possible that you like, like if you, um, how it's called, if you, if you document that this, this video is registered in your blockchain and then it's, it's kind of, you know, it's yours. Uh huh. You mean also copyright. So like. Exactly. Yeah. It's, yeah. It's all possible already. It's not cheap in the moment.
That's why I don't do it, but it's possible. Yeah. Good. So thank you very much. [00:32:00] Any, any questions website wise? Do you want to write homeworks for us?
No, I would say it's also good to make a deadline for each point. Yeah, the tricky thing is you're all on such a different speed and some have more business pressure than others. I mean, if you ask me, I would love to like next week we need to finish or not you're out, but it doesn't work Not so radical, but you can make a deadline like, you know next week We can just have a look on other websites how far and how developed, you know just to have Agree.
I, I can, I can be more pushy if you guys want. That's no problem. That's easy. No, I, I just try not to push too hard because I [00:33:00] know that for some it's not, it's, it's not helpful. Okay. You, you two, if we take the two of you. Uh, we had already like two or three calls. I have some people, I haven't had one call yet.
Okay. Then he's out
So just to give you call, but when person is interested then, uh, he's agreed. Agree. Our, as a leader. That was the best sentences, sentence, sentence that I learned from you, I've learned from you. It was, uh, you have to be your own leader before to be a leader. So I tried to be my own leader. It's true. Yeah.
Yeah. But they're, they're different priorities. I don't kick people out yet. If there are people that don't show up for the next two, two, three weeks before Christmas and they haven't done anything, it doesn't help them. [00:34:00] And I'm reaching out to them already. Like I'm sending them emails and say, are you still in?
Are you joining? What is it's going on? And then I will take later on an executive decision. They can still follow along, but I will not spend time with them coaching or mentoring because it's, they, they will be like two months behind. Thank you so much. But let's see, I know, but what we do, we track behind the scenes, who is doing what and who is on which stage.
I can show this next time in one of our calls, just for everyone to see. Same with the daily videos, we are tracking that as well. How many videos and who is doing the videos. And it's not a must, but it helps when you do this. Yeah, I have also a video with my, my colleague for the first meeting. It was an interesting video.
I would, I will send to you.[00:35:00]
Any, any other questions? No, thank you. Mario, keep in touch. Okay, we make an appointment for next weekend. I'll, I'll switch off the recording.
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Transcript:
Personal development masterclass. One of the topics that's dear to my heart, because of what I have seen over the last 15 years is that personal development is quite seldom in organizations. It's not really taken, uh, in a proper way, at least in my eyes. So that's why I'm really keen on sharing this today.
So we have two. main perspectives. One or two topics for today. One is personal development talk versus performance evaluation. And then we do a deep dive into how I'm doing personal development talks. And then we do questions in the end. Personal development. So we have one part, which is the personal development talk, and then we have the performance evaluation.
And a lot of organizations, focus on performance evaluation. And the difference between those two is that the performance evaluation, the main part they are focusing on, or the main source of that is the company. So the company is on the top. And from there, it goes into, the individuals and the different tasks that need to be done to accomplish what's happening in the company, what is required to do to be done in the company.
And the individual that is doing the task is the last point. And then inside of the performance evaluation, you're looking backward. So you look, how did this person perform in the past? The development talk is the opposite. So the most important part of the. Development talk is the future. Where does the person want to be in the future?
And it has nothing to do with the outcome of the company or where the company wants to be. The goal of this is, and why, why do this personal development talk? I believe that if we are developing people in organizations beyond what the organization needs, they will contribute more to the company. They will contribute better.
So the goal of what I'm doing with development talks is finding out what the people desire and going deeper into that. And we will have a look at that in the next couple of slides. And then look, what are the different tasks of the organizations that fit the person and what the person wants to be. And then you marry these two things.
And then it works as well from a performance evaluation perspective. So that's my perspective on development talk and performance evaluation. Let's go into personal development talk a couple of, I think it's almost two years ago or something. I've developed this in as, as a worksheet. So if anyone is interested in getting this worksheet as a PDF.
Happy to share that. So, the starting point of a development talk is really a setup of the atmosphere and the place. So you are going to do a development talk with another person. So you are the manager and the, the other person is like reporting to you and then you're meeting up. So what you need to make sure of is that you have, an appropriate place.
The best case is always doing this outside of the office environment in a. In a place where people feel well, the atmosphere is super important. The time of the day is important, not doing it on Friday afternoon, for example, when people want to go on the weekend, of course, you need to be aware of your relationship with the other person, depending on how deep your relationship is.
You of course have then a perspective on how deep you can go. And how much that is. And then what is important as well is that you put the note-taking responsibility to the person that is inside the room or is working with you. So me as a leader, I always give the note taking responsibility for the other person because then you see what they understand and what they get out of that.
And then I always do as well. A version in front of us so that people understand this. So printing out this worksheet as an example, if you do that in a physical space, then you print it out and then you go into the development talk. And the starting point of the development talk goes really wide.
Looking into what's the personal vision like. I always ask these as open questions without showing them the worksheet in the beginning. Who do you want to be? And that's very, very, very wide. Like, who do you want to be? What does it mean? Some people who have never had a conversation like this, struggle with this.
So they start with, yeah, I want to be a manager. I want to be something specific. So they go very, very, very specific and they don't really look into the future. So the first round of this, I just, Help them to find out who they want to be and they write down, they write down a manager. I want to be a good father.
I want to be whatever they come up with. And then I go to the next question and I show them the next question, not before. So why do you want to be that person? So then they're reflecting on the answers they have given and then they go back and refine who they want to go to be. And that's an interesting process because what.
You as the manager that is holding this development talk are doing, you're literally shutting up and just asking open questions to tell me more. How, how does that feel? What does that look like? What would that look like in the future? So you only ask open ended question when that gets the person talking and reflecting.
So if you're saying this, what does it mean? So, and then they're explaining, explaining, and they go in a loop between who am I going to be? And why do I want to be that person? So until they have clarity, and the first loop is always. The starting point where they don't know what's going to come, then who am I going to be?
They come up with high-level topics and then they go, Why do I want to be that person? Then they go back to Who am I going to be? And then they go deeper. And I always then give them a perspective. Okay, think about five years, 10 years from now, who do you want to be? And then they go more particular in all of these things.
And then we go, we don't close this, we keep it, we put it aside. And then we go to the next sheet, which is a personal development map. So I want them again to reflect on certain questions. And it doesn't matter in the order, I just take them clockwise right now. But it's really going and answering the specific questions.
What do I want to learn? So you're asking this, the person that is in front of you. So what do you want to learn to be that person? So linking it back to that person of the future. And then you're asking, what do you want to improve? And then they come up with things. So it's, it's like writing down the, all the different topics and then what do I want to leave behind?
And then they come back with topics that they want to leave behind. Another question is what excites you? Yeah. And then going deeper into this, who is important to them? And then what is important to them? And when you have done this circle, you go around it and they were deeper in this topic.
What quite often happens then if you ask them, so how, if we go back to the other one, is that still the same thing you want to be? Because they have now clarified what they want to be. and answer the question, they go back to this one and then clarify, no, no, no, I want to be this, I want to be this. What I always ask them, in this part is to paint a picture.
So when, when we have finished with this one, I go back to this one. And say, from a personal vision perspective, imagine a picture and describe the picture that you see on the wall. And then they describe to me who they want to be and who they are going to strive to be inside of a picture and explain everything that is around them.
I've had, for example, a person that told me where they are going to live, what, how it feels, um, in this picture, where the kids in this picture, where the wife or husband and, and going really into details and then linking this to. A job perspective as well, because in the end, we are at least this part is in a job environment.
So they are linking that to the job environment of who they're going to be working with as well. So these two are super powerful. And then you go into the next step, which is a goal perspective. So it starts with the staircase. So in the top right corner, we have what is the goal. And the starting point is really, um, defining that goal.
So if you want to be this person in five years, what is the goal for the next year for you to be very specific? And of course, you can do smart goal setting and all of that, but it's in the end, What does feel right for that person? What is the development goal they want to reach in one year from now?
And then they formulate that goal. And then you go to the bottom of this page where you look into where do you stand today on a scale from one to 10. So they're rating themselves on how close are they to that goal. If they're close, then they're at 10 or 9. If they're far away, then they're at 1. And what always happens is they're somewhere in between, obviously.
So when they have rated that, then you look into what are the things that get you closer to that goal, meaning moving your scale from 5 to 10. And that's what they are writing down above the stairs. So, above the stairs are the things that are getting them closer to their goal. And then they're defining this in bullet points and formulating that out.
And [you do that obviously all in a conversation. You ask the person who is doing the development talk, you are asking them questions to get them moving. You're asking them clarifying questions about the topics that are put, into the sheet. And then the next part is, what are the things that getting you further away from that goal?
So downstairs, if you think at it from a staircase perspective, and then they're writing these things down and then they have a clear picture of a goal staircase where they, they know they want, where they want to be linking that to the vision that's five years from now and the goal picture, and then they rate themselves.
And have then clear understanding of that are the things I need to do to get to my goal and that are the things I should not be doing. And then the last step of the development talk is getting specific. So now we zoom into one year and actionable goals that help them or tasks that get them towards the one-year perspective.
So what are the things they're going to do? When are they going to do this? What do they need to make happen to be able to do this? What are the things they need help with and how I'm, how they going to measure them? So it's a very, very simple setup where they write down literally the different steps that help them to get there.
And they're putting measurable goals towards the goal. And this is roughly. I would say one and a half hours, even if we go through this right now in a theoretical setting in, let's say 15 minutes in a real conversation, in a coaching style, where you ask the manager or coach the other person to find out what they are desiring and where they want to be.
It takes roughly one and a half hours if you do that well, sometimes it's faster depending on the relationship as well. The fascinating thing with this is it has zero to do with the company you work in and one hundred percent to do with who they want to be. And as well as zero to do with you as their manager, if you're their manager, like your perspective, your opinion on anything of that.
Um, just to give you a couple of examples, I've had people that told me that they want to be. building their own company in the next five years and they worked in the company and I was their manager they told me because they trusted me that they wanted to build their own company and we built a plan for how they were going to build their own company and I've had situations where people told me that they want to get married in the next five years and then we built a plan to get them towards marriage getting married and looked into how that does that work with the career perspective same with kids and all the other things so this is a development tool you That I use with everyone that is working with me over time because I believe that as further we as managers and organizations help people to develop as better it is.