International Networking Week™

By Bruce Elliott

International Networking Week is right around the corner. Last year, thousands of people from around the world recognized the week and even more are expected to participate this year.

International Networking Week is a BNI International initiative, which features a number of networking events around the world. The goal is to celebrate the key role that networking plays in the development and success of businesses globally.

Simultaneous events will be held around the world to celebrate International Networking Week. The focus of these events is to bring together representatives of government, businesses, and the community to network with each other, to understand the concept of good networking, and to listen to talks by key networking specialists from across the world. These speakers will offer advice and information on how businesses can grow and succeed through good networking practices.

Invitations to attend are open to the wider business community, members of other networking organizations, students, press representatives, and interested parties from all levels of government and business. The purpose of International Networking Week is to raise the profile of networking in the wider community, recognizing it as an essential tool for success in today’s business climate.

For more information about International Networking Week™, click here to watch a short video.

Bruce Elliott, is the Executive Director of BNI for South West Ontario. For more information regarding BNI, contact Bruce at 519.475.4643 or 1.888.375.1904 Email: bni@xplornet.com Web site: www.bnicanada.ca

Networking for Work

By Jennifer Murray, The Nimble Assistant

That’s what we’re doing. Some of us, out there schmoozing, socializing, buying groceries or office supplies are looking for work. The difference between work seekers is the nature of job we are looking for – employment or customers.

Is there really that much difference between employment and customers? Perhaps not in the acquiring but certainly in the delivery. A huge portion of the population is looking for employment – to work for someone else. They are seeking job satisfaction, benefits, co-workers, a computer, and maybe a Christmas party.

Entrepreneurs are looking for employment – to work for themselves. They are seeking job satisfaction (on their own terms), benefits (flexibility and direct reward), partners (instead of co-workers), the equipment they want, and they’ll go to many Christmas parties. The process is essentially the same though. Both people need to get out there, meet people, talk about what they have to offer, understand customer/employer uniqueness, assess where and how they can help and if it’s a match between skill, product, and need. We’re in business for a job for that matter.

Once you have the job though, it’s pretty simple. You go to work; you go home; you get paid. Yes, I realize sometimes the balance between the three goes askew and there are people who work their tails off and don’t get paid equivocally. That’s another issue. The entrepreneur however, gets the job, acknowledges the job (hopefully with a little note), performs the task, thanks the customer, asks for feedback and a referral then spends time assessing the process and does the paperwork. Oh, and guess what? You’ll need to go job hunting again tomorrow!

And so we should. How will we ever keep up with market trends, social changes and environmental issues by solely sitting at the computer or being fed information? Get out there and get it yourself. There is valuable information within networking that we can all take back to our jobs (bosses and clients alike). Keep networking; you need to see how well you’ll fit into your next job.

Jennifer Murray, proprietor of The Nimble Assistant, determines efficiencies for small businesses and simply gets the job done in her role as a virtual assistant. Her energy, enthusiasm, flexibility, and focus have lightened the load for many managers and entrepreneurs. Growing a small business requires a team where each member does what he or she does best. Jennifer creates an opportunity for small businesses to grow their business while supporting their existing business. She can be reached at jennifer@thenimbleassistant.com.

What Will Happen If Nothing Changes?

By Gregg Thompson

Many of us who lead organizations go through a very similar routine this time of the year. We start by admonishing ourselves for the mistakes of the past year - the projects left undone and the opportunities not seized. We grit our teeth, clean off our desks, start a fresh notebook, and resolve to make significant changes in the way we will work in the coming year. Year after year, the same resolutions are made:

1. I’ve just got to get organized. (“If I can just create a better way of dealing with this relentless stream of email, improve my scheduling, and sort out this mess of papers in my briefcase, I’ll be able to spend more time doing the really important leadership stuff.”)
   
   
2. This year, I will set priorities. (“I’ve got to stop doing a bunch of things, no matter how cool and interesting, and discipline myself to do only the strategic stuff.”)
   
   
3. I promise to delegate more. (“If I can only get others to do the things I don’t want to do and to work as hard and smart as me, I’ll be free to do the high value-added stuff.”)
   

I have news for you (and me). While these are worthy goals, the truth is we will all still be at the same spot next year, fussing about the way we are organizing, prioritizing, and delegating. But what would happen if we were determined to make a real change in the way we lead our organizations this year? Perhaps we should ask ourselves the more compelling question…what will happen in our organization this year if nothing changes in the way we lead?

Here are seven leadership resolutions you might consider that will make a real difference in your organization in the coming year. Which ones will provide the biggest payoffs? Do all seven, and I promise that you will have the most rewarding year of your leadership career!

1. Craft a big, bold, breath-taking story and tell it every day. What is the most exciting, rewarding, and scariest future you can imagine? What great battles will be won, treasures found and people freed? Paint the story in full color. What does the future look like? How are we going to get there? How is tomorrow going to be much better than today? People want to be part of an important story. Tell it to them and help them find their own starring role.
   
   
2. Multiply the strength of your leadership connections. Consider for a moment the 8-10 individuals with whom you share management and leadership responsibilities. How much more effective would your leadership team become if you dramatically strengthened your personal connection with every one of these people? You have probably created a mutually acceptable status quo with these individuals so change will not be easy. Are there some difficult conversations that you need to have? Try this: honor their uniqueness; share more of yourself; learn about them; ask how you can serve them. Be careful, this is very potent.
   
   
3. Act with exceptional compassion and kindness. You are not the only one feeling a bit beaten up these days. The members of your organization are faced with many of the same challenges that you face…imperfect products, unpredictable markets, insatiable customers, disappointing staff performance. Seek out ways to show your humanity every day. Treat everyone in the organization with dignity and respect, especially those who are struggling. They will walk through walls for you, but do not do it for that reason. Do it because it is the right thing to do. We spend much of our waking lives inside organizations and you have the power to make these places where the human spirit can thrive or die. Use this power well.
   
   
4. Tell the absolute truth. Stop spinning, sugar-coating, and avoiding. You’ll be amazed at how many people start listening to you. Everyone wants to improve the communication throughout their organization but what about simply setting a new standard for honesty…starting with you. How much more effective would your organization be if the half-truths, positioning, sacred elephants, and face-saving were eradicated? The tough part is that you cannot make this happen by mandating it. You must go first. You must model it.
   
   
5. Hold everyone accountable. Accountability is a good thing. It is not tyranny. The caring leader insists that people do what they say they will do. When you hold people accountable, you are saying that their work is important. You are saying that they are important. Every time you let a deadline slip or a deliverable go incomplete, you are discounting the person whose job it is to deliver on these commitments. Make it a habit to ensure that every piece of work is accompanied by a personal commitment. Measure. Give feedback. Initiate consequences. Celebrate being part of an organization that keeps its promises.
   
   
6. Confront underperformance with a twist. You know in your heart-of-hearts who is under-performing in your organization. Make a list. Commit to seeing that this performance changes early this year. Now here’s the tough part. Before you take any action, ask yourself these questions – “What is my part in this situation? How have my actions or lack thereof contributed to this situation? What do I need to do differently?” Approach the individuals in question and describe your responsibilities and personal commitments to change. Then, and only then, it’s their turn. You may need to do nothing else.
   
   
7. Be distinctively you. What would you get if you could put all of the leadership qualities of Bill Gates, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, George Washington, Jack Welch, and Winston Churchill into one individual? Probably a bland, non-descript person indistinguishable in the crowd. These men and women made a difference because they had the courage to be themselves. Have you forgotten who you really are? What excites you these days? What are your passions? Your obsessions? Where do you want to make your mark? When you are at your best, what are you doing? Maybe it’s time to figure out what is most important to you, tell everyone around you, and let this fuel your leadership.
   

Why not make this your best year ever as a leader. What will happen if nothing really changes?

Gregg Thompson is the President of Bluepoint Leadership Development and author of Unleashed! – Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance. He has extensive experience as a business leader, operations manager, executive coach, facilitator and management consultant. He can be reached at greggthompson@bluepointleadership.com or 513.289.0141

10 Ways to Inspire Your Team

By Michelle LaBrosse

Inspire. Just the word itself causes us to pause and think. We may remember our own personal heroes like Martin Luther King or Mother Theresa or a teacher or mentor who brought out the best in us and showed us the power of one person.

It’s easy in business to get cynical when we’re surrounded by what I like to call “faux inspiration.” I’m talking about the corporate posters with motivational sayings that are easy to spoof when the actions of management don’t reflect the glossy images and quotations.

In my experience, inspiration comes from example. As Albert Einstein said: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” So, that means we all have the power to inspire others by our actions. As project managers, you’re in a prime position to inspire your team. Here are 10 ways to get you started.

1. Have a clear goal with a reasonable approach to achieve it. Shooting for stars may work for you when you’re developing your personal goals, but when you’re inspiring a team, people need to be able to clearly see how they are going to get from point A to point B and believe that it’s possible.
   
   
2. Be enthusiastic about each person’s contributions. Remember how good it felt when a teacher recognized your contribution? You glowed all day and nearly flew home. It costs nothing to tell people how they’re doing. Recognizing what they’re doing well, and also giving ideas on how they can work even better, goes a long way.
   
   
3. Wear your blue hat and leave the black hat at home. You may have played the game where you wear different hats to assume different roles. The black hat starts with the negatives and tells you everything that’s going wrong. This is the person who can kill idea generation in any meeting. When you’re inspiring a team, wear the blue hat. See the possibility and opportunity in every challenge. Begin with what is working and then build on it.
   
   
4. Focus on the strengths of each person. One of the biggest myths in business is to focus on weaknesses instead of building strengths. It’s a backward way to approach problem solving – like fitting the proverbial square peg into the round hole. It’s faster and more effective to focus on the strengths of your team members and develop them. Not only will you see results faster, you’ll also have a happier team because people are doing what they’re good at and contributing at their highest level.
   
   
5. Clear hurdles like a Super Hero. How do you get your team to feel like rock stars? Think like Superman and clear any hurdles that are in their way. When you remove obstacles, you show your team that you’ve got their back.
   
   
6. Get the slackers off the team. Nothing brings down a team like slackers. When people aren’t pulling their weight, it lowers the standards of everyone and makes it seem like quality doesn’t matter. When you remove people who aren’t performing, it improves morale because it shows your team that you’re serious about the best results.
   
   
7. Roll up your sleeves. When you work with the team in the areas where you can contribute, you send a strong message because you are showing that you are part of the team with your actions.
   
   
8. Acknowledge people’s contributions every week. Many managers make the mistake of recognizing people once a year. Recognition isn’t a holiday. It should be a regular part of your team dynamic. Take the time every week to tell people how they’ve contributed to the team.
   
   
9. Be the model of accountability you want to drive through your team. If you’re telling people to be accountable while not meeting your own deadlines, it doesn’t take too long for the eyes to roll. Keep your team inspired by keeping your commitments to them and meeting every milestone.
   
   
10. Show and communicate your progress. Don’t make the mistake of doing project updates only at milestones. Communicate the progress of the project every week to make sure you’re on track.
    

And inside every one of these steps, add one key ingredient: Fun! Whether it’s a quick team-building exercise during a milestone meeting or an inside joke that has come to define your team, give people every reason to laugh out loud and let the sound of laughter inspire your team to be the best they can be.


Michelle LaBrosse is the founder and Chief Cheetah of Cheetah Learning. An international expert on accelerated learning and Project Management, she has grown Cheetah Learning into the market leader for Project Management training and professional development. In 2006, The Project Management Institute, www.pmi.org, selected Michelle as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world, and only one of two women selected from the training and education industry. Michelle is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Owner & President Management program for entrepreneurs, and is the author of “Cheetah Project Management” and “Cheetah Negotiations.”

8 Ways to Sabotage Your Success

By Barbara Bartlein

Ever know someone who “has it all,” then throws it away by doing something stupid or worse—something fatal? The most well-known examples are celebrities—musicians, entertainers, athletes—seemingly making all the money in the world and then doing something self-destructive. Think of Brittany Spears, Michael Vick, Paris Hilton, and Wesley Snipes; all are in a self-destructive spiral of their own decisions.

While, hopefully, you are not having similar experiences, many people sabotage their success in more subtle ways. What about you for 2008? Are you in a self-sabotage mode? Are you short-circuiting your own success? Check out the warning signs.

Success saboteurs…

• Fail to put a premium on learning. They become content with what they know and are closed to new ideas and challenges. Because they do not commit to continuous learning, their world narrows as they age. A narrow perspective becomes rigid and stagnant leading to poor decision making. Successful people know that the more they learn, the more they realize that they don’t know. They read a wide variety of books and periodicals and have an appreciation of history. A continuous education keeps you humble and curious.

• Give up too soon. If at first they don’t succeed, they quit. Yet, often people quit when success is just around the corner. A little more perseverance and the goal could be reached. If you look at the histories of very successful people it often includes many “failures” that were turned into learning opportunities. Several years ago, more than 20 editors turned down two unpublished authors for a nonfiction book project. Refusing to give up, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen eventually sold the book for a nominal advance to a small Florida publishing house. Chicken Soup for the Soul became an instant best-seller and has sold millions of copies. The difference between a writer and an author is that the author did not give up.

• Undervalue their talents and time. Too often we think that if it’s easy for us, then “anyone can do it.” Saboteurs undervalue their gifts, which leads them to under price their labor, products, and services. They may wait for someone to “notice” how hard they work or patiently wait for a raise. Successful people know that they have to sell themselves and negotiate to get paid what they are worth.

• Overvalue their talents and time. With an exaggerated view of themselves, they miss opportunities. They may become “full of themselves,” which blocks their view of reality. They find it hard to listen to others, especially if this includes some disparaging feedback. Ironically, the more successful people are, the more difficult it can be to improve. After all, why change when things are going well. With a tendency to isolate themselves with “yes” people, they get caught up with “group think” and miss important information.

• Clutter their minds with junk. We’re living in the “cyber information age.” I call it cyber garbage. Lots of junk data from junk sources. Saboteurs confuse date with information. They get bogged down with electronic leashes that litter their days, their lives, and their minds. They listen to the junk media that is more focused on celebrity gossip than real news. Successful people stay focused and alert for opportunities. Albert Einstein once said, “I never clutter my mind with something I can easily find in a book.”

• Waste time. Procrastinating, mindless TV, and lost weekends waste precious time that could be focused on personal goals. Saboteurs are experts at wasting time. Some are even successful in wasting their whole lives. They complain that they don’t have enough time yet squander time through disorganization, lack of priorities, and failure to focus. Their motto is “why do today what I won’t do tomorrow?”

• Talk instead of act. It’s a good way to pretend you are not procrastinating, but the only one you are fooling is yourself. For year I talked about writing a book. One day a colleague told me to “quit talking and start writing. You diffuse your energy by talking instead of doing.” I finished the book a short time later. Success saboteurs are good talkers but short on doing. They talk about their next big deal or what they plan to accomplish.

• Believe intentions count. Goes well with procrastination, but they want credit for their intentions and planning. In fact, they may become offended if others do not appreciate their intentions even though it never translated into action. Their favorite sayings are “I meant to” and “I planned to.” Intentions don’t count. Action does.

Barbara Bartlein, is the People Pro. She offers keynotes, seminars and consultation to help you build your business and balance your life. She can be reached at 888-747-9953, by e-mail at: barb@ThePeoplePro.com or visit her Web site at www.ThePeoplePro.com.

How to Be a Sales Sore Thumb

By Kim Duke

Everyone has heard the old expression "If you do that – you'll stand out like a sore thumb!" The Sales Diva is here to tell you that your goal in sales is to BE THE SALES SORE THUMB! Especially when you are leaving voice mail and e-mail messages for your customers or prospects.

Imagine a phone. Imagine a computer. Imagine them full of so many e-mail and voice-mail messages they could explode. This is what your customer is living every day. In this Age of Technology and Convenience listening to voice mail and scanning through e-mail is two degrees away from being in Hell. In my former corporate life I received between 25-50 e-mail messages a day. Add this to the phone messages and you had one grumpy girl! Very few of the messages stood out – but they definitely received my attention if they did!

Tease with a tantalizing sales message…
There are three kinds of people who leave messages. I love one kind and can't stand the others. The first kind of person leaves you a long-winded story of their entire life and never gets to the point. The second are extremely vague (think multi-level marketing people) and they don't get to the point either. The third kind I adore. They are succinct, detailed and they make me curious.

In e-mail – make sure the subject line gets attention. Your customers should be interested in opening it up! Don't just send "Reply" back to a customer if it as an ongoing e-mail message. Write "Bob –I have an idea for you..." or "Thank you and a suggestion..." or "A question re: Your Shoe Sale..." Be creative and get to the point in the body of your e-mail.
End telephone tag forever by standing out…

Leave a message that is either detailed with what you need or one that makes them curious; i.e., "Jill, I have a question only you can answer. I will be in the office until 10:15. "Don't tell people you are around all morning, don't just say "Jack –it's Jane –call me." If you do so you are entering the merry-go-round of telephone tag and it's a dizzy ride! It will also waste precious time and energy.

Remember: BEING a sales sore thumb is great – having a sore thumb from dialing and typing is a BORE.

Kim Duke, The Sales Diva, provides savvy, sassy sales training for women small biz owners and entrepreneurs. Kim works with clients internationally, showing them The Sales Diva secrets to success! Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report "The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make" at http://www.salesdivas.com/.