Lead to Achieve - How To Be an Effective Coach and Mentor

  

February 14, 2012

By Clemson Turregano

If you think about the trajectory of your life and career, there likely are a few influential names and faces that come to mind — individuals who coached and mentored you to help you realize your full potential.

But there can be equally deep rewards in becoming a mentor yourself. In addition to the personal satisfaction that comes with giving back, mentoring can be good for your ongoing career. It can help you hone important skills and make a profound impact on your organization as you transfer critical knowledge and expertise to others, whether you remain in the military or have transitioned to a private-sector job.

If you’re a student of military history, you might have read about the path Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled to become a five-star general in the U.S. Army and 34th president of the U.S. Eisenhower’s career got off to a rocky start, but his relationship with Gen. Fox Conner made all the difference. Though Eisenhower did not have a high profile at the time, Conner recognized his natural ability and asked him to become his deputy in the Panama Canal Zone. Conner’s willingness to take Eisenhower on and to mentor his development changed the course of history.

Is there an Eisenhower within your sphere of influence? Are you willing to do what it takes to develop that individual’s natural talent? If so, experts at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) recommend you master the following skills to make the experience successful for both you and your mentee:

• Develop and manage the relationship. One of a mentor’s most critical responsibilities is to “own” the mentoring relationship.Get acquainted and build trust. Focus on what your mentee wants and needs. Determine how you can assist the individual in achieving important goals — especially those that are aligned with the strategic objectives of your organization. Take the pulse of the relationship at regular junctures and monitor progress.
• Survey. One of the strengths you bring to the table as a mentor is context. You’ve been there, done that, and easily can spot trends, opportunities, and roadblocks. You are in a unique position to share what you see as you survey professional horizons and take a broad look at your organization. Are there unique opportunities that can be leveraged? Are there challenges to be addressed? Does your mentee need help navigating unfamiliar territory? Share what you see as you scan the landscape.
• Teach. Effective mentors excel as teachers and transfer useful knowledge. Tell stories from your own personal experience. Recommend appropriate reading materials, seminars, conferences, and classes. Explore possible developmental assignments and special projects that can showcase what your mentee can do.
• Model. Most of us have learned a lot through the years by watching others. We see what works well and can be emulated. We’ve also learned which behaviors and attitudes we want to avoid. Provide your mentee with opportunities to observe you in action so you can model effective behaviors. Discuss the choices you made — what you did and why. You have the opportunity to provide a lasting impact on your mentee’s values, standards, style, attitudes, methods, and self-confidence.
• Guide and counsel. Become a confidant and sounding board. Help your mentee conquer self-doubt, manage conflict, and understand the emotions provoked by people and events. Based on your own experiences and what you’ve learned through the years, share wisdom and guidance. Offer options for dealing with tough relationships, work/life balance issues, organizational politics, and more.
• Motivate and inspire. Support, validate, and encourage. Avoid authoritative and directive behavior and focus instead on collaboration with your mentee. Help him or her understand how to make an impact. And above all, celebrate achievements and milestones. 
• http://www.moaa.org/Main_Menu/Access_Member_Benefits/Professionalism/Lead_to_Achieve/Lead_to_Achieve_-_How_To_Be_an_Effective_Coach_and_Mentor.html

If you are looking to increase your income, move up in your organization or land a position contact:
CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

Would You Put a Resume on Pinterest?

by Vault Careers 

Published: Friday, February 17, 2012

We've talked before about using social media tools to find a job. But usually, that means the Big Three: Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.

Just kidding! Of course, the (arguably) best site for job search social media is LinkedIn. And it's undoubtedly the best place for explicating posting your resume and qualifications, since you're not likely to have any photos of you drinking nearby, and you have more than 180 characters to describe your job duties.

But what about Pinterest, a newly, wildly popular site for posting "interests," scrap-book style? Reports show that traffic to the site has increased 40-fold over just the last six months, with 11 million hits in just the week of December 17^th, according to Business Insider—placing it at about same growth trajectory as Facebook circa 2006.

That's great news for those looking for exposure. But the style of the site, which tends to feature images, may be better suited to those shopping for creative, artistic jobs. That's also because that's the type of employer that a site like Pinterest would attract.

And since Pinterest is well suited, format wise, to visual materials, it's a great place to post a portfolio. It also proves—much better than a line on your resume that you're hip to trends in art and design—that you're actually in the game. You can show interests, influences, and best of all, awareness of your industry. That is, if you're hoping to get hired by a young, hip company that's looking at Pinterest.

So thoughts? Is it gimmicky or savvy to have a job-seeking profile on Pinterest?

Meanwhile, check out a few of the amazing resumes Business Insider found on the site—it may inspire you to think outside the box a bit with your online presence.

If you are looking to increase your income, move up in your organization or land a position contact:
CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

Pinterest Is Exploding: Traffic Up 40x In Six Months

Pinterest Is Exploding: Traffic Up 40x In Six Months

Boonsri Dickinson | Dec. 22, 2011, 2:37 PM | 10,668 |

Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra cofounded Pinterest.

The social discovery site Pinterest is growing so fast, traffic is up 40x in the last six months.

That's according to Experian Hitwise,* who says that the site had 11 million visits in the week ending Dec. 17.

Pinterest is growing as fast as Facebook was back in 2006. Evan Sharp (in the middle), a co-founder of Pinterest, used to work at Facebook on the design team.

*Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Dougherty - North America

Analyst Weblog

Pinteresting Trend in Social Media

December 22, 2011

The social media space continues to evolve. Pinterest, a site launched in March 2010 that describes itself as an online pinboard to organize and share things you love, recently emerged as one of the top 10 websites within the Hitwise Social Networking & Forums category. The invitation only site received nearly 11 million total visits during the week ending December 17, 2011, almost 40 times the number of total visits versus just six months ago (week ending June 18, 2011).

Pinterest content has something for everyone, but the site is dominated by images featuring home décor, crafts, fashion, and food. Not surprisingly, visitors to the site in the 12 rolling weeks ending December 17th skewed female (58%) and between the ages of 25 and 44 (59%). Pinterest and the Social Networking & Forums category both receive their highest share of visits from California and Texas. However, the Social Networking category as a whole over-indexes on share of visits from Northeastern states while Pinterest over-indexes on visits from the states in the Northwest and Southeast. This data indicates that Pinterest visitors have a different profile versus their counterparts visiting other social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

In fact, nine of the top ten over-indexed states for Pinterest visitors also over-index for the Hobbies and Crafts category (versus the online population) which is expected given the abundance of crafts content on the website. When comparing the Mosaic USA 2011 types that visit both Pinterest.com and Hobbies and Crafts websites during the 12 weeks ending December 17, 2011, the data shows that Boomers and Boomerangs are the group most likely to visit, particularly the Pinterest website (comprising over 10% of visits). This group of consumers is characterized as baby boomers and young adults who are heavy web users who spend time on house and garden, sports and fitness, and family-oriented websites. This information is useful to companies who wish to target their content to be “pinned” by Pinterest users.

Thanks to Lauren Rice, an Analyst with the Strategic Services team at Experian Hitwise for today's analysis.

If you are looking to increase your income, move up in your organization or land a position contact:

CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

5 Steps to Taking Back Your Time at Work

by Vault Careers
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2012

Ever feel like you spend all your time in the conference room?

Well, if you're high up on the executive food chain, you might.

A new study of CEOs shows that 18 of their average 55-hour work weeks are spent at roundtables—and a mere 6 spent at their actual desks, working alone.

The rest of the work week breakdown is as follows: 2 hours on phone calls, 2 on conference calls, 2 on public events, 5 on business meals, and 20 on "miscellaneous," which includes travel back and forth between activities, personal appointments and activities, and "exercise" (which we're a little confused on, frankly).

There's nothing particularly wrong with spending a lot of time in meetings, if that's where you get the most done. This particular study found that, when CEOs were meeting internally, productivity improved company-wide.

But we're not all executives—and whether sitting in pointless meetings, pushing papers around, or just staring at our work, unable to focus, we're all probably losing a little time during the work day.

So how to regain it? First, know what you should be spending your time on—then identify where it's actually going.

1. What's really important?

Take a second to think about your role at work, and what your most important duties are while on the job. Jot down your goals and targets, and the tasks you perform at work that most correspond with accomplishing those goals. Then map out a rough number of hours per week you'd like to designate to those tasks.

2. Keep a log

We don't all have assistants to track our activities for us, but try your best with a notebook and pen. Write down every activity at work that lasts for more than 15 minutes for at least a day, and at best, a full week. Also track breaks from work that last for more than 15 minutes, and how they were spent—paying extra attention to what you did when you came back, and how you felt (Sluggish? Recharged?)

3. Compare and contrast

Once you've completed your log, go over it with three categories in mind: prioritized tasks, busy work, and rest periods. So what's the verdict? Have you actually been spending an appropriate number of hours on your most important work tasks? You may find that you're dodging important work to tackle minute-to-minute activities like answering email. Look for patterns in your behavior—do you start getting distracted when you've worked too long without a break? Is your focus better at certain times of the day? Do certain activities--like leaving the office for lunch or playing Words with Friends in the staff room--help you refocus once you're back at your desk?

4. Identify lost time

If you feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day, check your log for busy-work and rest periods. How much time did you spend answering emails? Organizing your pens? Attending meetings where you didn't contribute or learn anything relevant to your job? By consolidating this time—designating a few minutes once per hour to check email, setting aside a quick block of time once per week to sort paper work—you can get a handle on those lost minutes, and hold onto your focus for the important stuff.

5. Making the most of down time

Look at your rest periods, and what you did when you came back to work from them. When were you most productive? After a trip to the gym? A quiet lunch alone, or a fun coffee meeting with a coworker or friend? Everybody's different—some people recharge from a little time to reflect, while others get psyched up by socializing. Whatever helps you get into your zone, identify it, and don't judge yourself. Time spent effectively recharging is just as important as working.

If you are looking to increase your income, move up in your organization or land a position contact:
CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

2012 Resolutions of Small Business Owners

Posted by Irina on January 5, 2012 | 

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POSTED IN INFOGRAPHICS

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If you are an executive looking to:

• increase your income, 
• move up in your organization or 
• land a position 
• improve your performance

Contact:
CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

EEOC Reports Record Number of Discrimination Charges

Legal Alert: EEOC Reports Record Number of Discrimination Charges

1/26/2012

Executive Summary: According to information released by the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 2011 the agency received

a record number of discrimination charges and obtained a record amount of

relief for discrimination claimants.

In a press release issued January 25, 2012, the agency stated that it

received 99,947 discrimination charges against private sector employers in

FY 2011 (which ended September 30, 2011). This is up slightly from the

99,922 it received in 2010. Charges alleging retaliation under all of the

statutes the EEOC enforces accounted for the highest overall percentage of

private sector complaints received (37.4%), followed closely by race

discrimination complaints (35.4%). Claims of religious discrimination, while

not as numerous as retaliation and race discrimination claims, increased by

a little over 9%, which  was the highest percentage of increase of any of the

charge categories.

In addition to the record number of charges received, the agency also

reported that it obtained a record $455.6 million in relief for private sector,

state, and local employees and applicants, a more than $51 million increase

from the past fiscal year. ADA charges produced the highest amount of

monetary relief among all of the statutes. According to the EEOC, the

administrative relief obtained for disability discrimination charges increased

by almost 35.9% to $103.4 million compared to $76.1 million in the previous

fiscal year.

Employers' Bottom Line:

 The increase in discrimination charges may reflect the public's increased

awareness of discrimination laws as well as increasingly aggressive

enforcement efforts by the EEOC. Additionally, the weak economy may

have contributed to this increase. The EEOC's draft Strategic Plan for

2012-2016 notes that during difficult economic times, the agency may see

an increase in overall charges as more people are laid off. With fewer jobs

available, these people may be more likely to file discrimination claims

instead of moving on to another job, as they might be able to do in a

stronger economy.

Accordingly, it is more important than ever for employers to be aware of their

obligations under employment discrimination laws, especially reasonable

accommodation obligations under the ADA. It is also essential to ensure

that any adverse employment actions are based on legitimate business

reasons and that these reasons can be verified through proper  documentation.

If you have any questions regarding this Alert or other labor or employment

related issues, please contact the Ford & Harrison attorney with whom you

usually work.

PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com

If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).

Writer’s Block – How to get your inspiration back

Posted by Kirk on February 7, 2012 

You know that it is important to update your website on regular basis and post blog updates often to maintain and improve your search engine ranking (SEO). You sit down in front of your computer/laptop but nothing comes out. You want to post an insightful update and just can’t come up with a good idea. It’s a problem that strikes us all, especially when it comes to writing – the dreaded writer’s block.

Don’t fall victim to procrastination or fear of the blank page. There are plenty of things you can do to get you on the right track towards posting:

• Start with looking at your competition: what kind of information are they providing their guests?
• Look at websites you like and determine what it is about them that you like.
• Look at sites you don’t like (not just your competition). What is it about them that you don’t like – do they over share? Do they provide information that you need or is it just words on a page?
• Ask people/fans/customers what they would like to see posted on your site.
• Keep a notepad near you while you work that is just for web-ideas. When you think of something write it down and keep it on your “to-do” list.
• Follow social media. There is a wealth of intentional or unintentional information available on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even Pintrest.  Use these portals to discover new trends and interesting information relevant to the topic of your website. It is also a good idea to save your favorite articles for future references.  Reading such articles can help spark your inspiration.

The simple fact is that inspiration can strike from anyplace or anything. Just be open to it and remember it’s sort of like lightning, that it often strikes when you least expect it and rarely ever strikes twice.

Do you have another great way to find inspiration? Share it below in the comments section.


For additional information visit: http://www.webs.com/blog/


PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com

If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).

BRCC + How to Write Benefits Focused Copy for Your Website

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Posted by Irina on January 25, 2012  

This week we would like to showcase a website with clear calls to action: Building Repair Cost Consulting (BRCC).  Site owners also took into consideration a lot of design elementsto ensure their website provides a simple way for visitors to browse.  Check it out for yourself:

Looking over this website, there is just a small suggestion we would like to offer to the owner of BRCC – try putting more emphasis on the benefits your services provide.  Adding benefit focused copy will answer the vital question all visitors seek: “What’s in it for me”.  Here are some suggestions on the type of statements BRCC could emphasize:

• “With BRCC, you will not have to worry about overpaying contractors.”
• “Using BRCC you will gain a piece of mind when it comes to major renovations”.

Looking to add benefits focused copy to your website? Here are a few tips you can utilize:

1. It’s not about you – Keep in mind that website visitors want to know how you/your services will solve their problems.  Make sure the copy on your website is not centered on you but rather on the benefits your services will bring. When looking over the copy on your website, try putting yourself in the position of your clients and asking “What’s in it for me?”
2. It’s not about the product stats– Similar to the information you present about yourself/your business, if you sell products remember not to get too technical with product features. Sometimes people want to know how the product will solve their dilemma. Putting emphasis on product benefits can help to increase your product sales. Few suggestions on benefits you can focus on when presenting available products:
   1. Does the product solve a specific problem?
   2. Is it easier to use than what is currently on the market?
   3. Will it improve their lives somehow?
   4. Don’t be vague – providing information on your website that is vague can lead to uncertainty. You do not want visitors questioning whether or not you are the subject matter expert. Thus make sure to provide information that is detailed and helps to set you apart from your competitors.
   5. Keep it short – While detailed information is important, remember to keep a critical eye on the length of information you provide on your website. Since most Internet users today scan sites for information, longwinded paragraphs are daunting and will not provide a lot of benefit. Instead, readers will ignore the posted information or worst choose to go to a competitor that has easy to scan data.
   6. Speak Clearly Man! – Always keep your target audience in mind when writing content for your website. While you know all the latest industry jargon, ask yourself if these terms make sense to your target audience. One way to test if your copy is clear or not is to get a fresh set of eyes to review it, preferably someone that is in your target audience.

Websites are a great marketing tool that can only improve with continuous tweaking and testing.  Make sure to review and test your copy on regular basis to ensure information is fresh, easy to understand and speaks directly to the customer needs.
For additional information please go to: http://www.webs.com/blog/2012/01/25/how-to-write-benefits-focused-copy-for-your-website/?utm_source=House&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=FebNewsletter






PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com


If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.


CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).