Helene Lerner's Blog, page 175

Career Coach: Welcome to January!

A new month means a new career coach, and believe us when we say you're in good hands.Meet your January career coach, Andrea Zintz!

Hello, everyone!

I'm Andrea Zintz, your Career Coach for January. I am once again happy to be your resource as you pose questions, ideas, and experiences about navigating workplace, relationships and career.

A little about me: I specialize in executive and high potential leadership strategy, succession and development. I have over 30 years experience in Leadership Development, Change Management, Human Resources Development and Training. For 11 years, I have consulted to large corporations on leadership, team, and organization development.

I cultivated my experiences as a coach within the diversified healthcare and pharmaceutical, defense, and retail industries. As Vice President of Human Resources and Management Board member of the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Ortho Biotech, Inc., I helped lead the growth of the company from $40 million to $500 million in a 6-year period, and launched breakthrough biotech products. I also led executive leadership development for North America from J&J Corporate. My special interests include executive women advancement, diversity/inclusion, and mentoring. My doctoral dissertation was about mentoring: What constitutes effective mentoring for women who are stuck in their careers within large corporate settings? I received my M.A. and Ph.D. from Fielding Graduate University.

Today my clients include J&J, Lockheed Martin, Boehringer Ingelheim, Nokia Siemens Networks, and GE. A specialty of our company is crafting powerful and strategic questions we can ask ourselves (and others) to access the best thinking. Since questions are a powerful leverage point for thinking, if we change our questions, we can encourage our best answers and this can help our thinking, decision, behaviors and results.

I enjoy coaching and my goal is to make a difference every day. I live in New Jersey, am married to an elementary school teacher and have two wonderful daughters, 15 and 18.

Please feel free to comment with any questions or special requests. I look forward to a great month!

—Andrea Zintz, Career Coach

Happy New YOU!

It is always possible to change for the better. You have a blank canvas in 2013. 

I wish you a rich, fulfilling year--a year where you step out boldly; where you nurture new business friends; where you share your insights and make a difference.

Remember to use your words wisely as they have great impact--use them to inspire others.

And never give up on something you believe in. Keep claiming your power.

Fondly, Helene

What Are Your New Year's Resolutions?

Tomorrow brings a new day and a new year. This is the perfect time to wipe the slate clean and start anew — you are more capable of your goals in 2013 than you realize. We asked our followers what goals they hope to achieve in the new year. What will you achieve in the year to come?

Ranny Levy: write my book that's been backshelved for 9 years

@anjouconsulting: To grow personally & professionally, to serve others & finish what I start!

Wendy Carlile: to try and be more positive and take more control of my life

@LydiaK30: Empower the people I love to break the chains of poor health/nutrition!

Lynn Williams: Getting healthy!

@TLConsultingInc: Being even more productive in everything I do. 

Danae Bales: To be better to myself!

Be sure to read our posts on keeping your resolutions in 2013, and have a healthy and happy New Year. 

Career Coach: Do You Have the Right Mindset To Manage People?

Being a good manager is a testament to your mindset as a developer of people. You have to be able to deal with the insecurities and shortcomings of your employees with patience, and you must have the willingness to teach them to step into their power and develop their best selves. You cannot be in a rush or be too self-absorbed. You have to like people – your people. When you hire, you need to follow your intuition faithfully and only hire folks who have the ability to do the job and the willingness/motivation to do it. Despite your best efforts, you cannot motivate people who have no internal drive.

Here are some key actions to support the positive manager mind-set:

Be an advocate for your people. Your job is to listen to the concerns of your employees and advocate for what they need, whether it’s new computers, more training, or raises. You are the chief problem-solver; you must communicate genuine appreciation and concern for your staff. They need to feel you are behind them 100 percent. 

Be a visionary. You are the navigator with the plan to meet the team goals. While you want to solicit input regularly from your team, it is your job to create the plan and inform everyone about his or her role. The master plan that you develop determines the results that you want everyone embracing and implementing. 

Promote creativity. A recent survey of CEOs cited creativity as the most vital skill of 21st century leadership. Do not be afraid to innovate and experiment to give yourself the leading edge in the marketplace. Keep a journal of new ideas that could improve the performance and satisfaction of your team. Give your team permission to try new strategies. Mistakes are a part of the learning process that creative people must experience before breakthroughs occur. 

—Gail McMeekin, Career Coach

Big Risks Bring Big Rewards

As the New Year approaches, many of us will set resolutions and goals for the year to come. Are yours big enough? If you aren't taking risks every once in a while, you will never really know what you are made of. Trust in your strengths, and take a leap of faith. 

–Video by Nina Giordano 

Treat Yourself: Quick Pumpkin Muffins

For me, the best part about the weekends has always been having the time to enjoy a delicious home-cooked breakfast. We are so busy during the week that we barely have time to grab a coffee and granola bar as we run out the door – if we even eat breakfast at all! With the holiday coming up, take the time this weekend to savor these warm pumpkin muffins right out of the oven. I promise you will have trouble stopping at just one!

Pumpkin Muffins: Yields 12 Muffins

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 large egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup molasses
1 3/4  cup all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground ginger
2 cups crushed walnuts 

-Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the brown sugar, beating throughout. Add egg, pumpkin, and molasses. Beat thoroughly.
-Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Gradually add to the pumpkin mixture, beating at medium-low speed until just blended. Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin pan, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops of each with crushed walnuts. Bake at 375˚ Fahrenheit for 20 minutes; remove from pan immediately. Let cool and enjoy!

–Lindsay Putnam

Are You Guilty of Self-Sabotage?

When we open our new calendars to January 2013, there is a sense of hope, of having a clean slate, of being able to take on any challenge that comes with the New Year. And we all start out with good intentions – to make a career change, to exercise more frequently, to quit a bad habit – but with all of these good intentions it can be easy to fall off track

But just because you stray from your New Year’s Resolutions once or twice does not mean that you can’t refocus. Psychologist Anne-Renee Testa, Ph.D. has been helping clients overcome barriers to achieve their goals for over 20 years. Here are her tips for avoiding self-sabotage in the New Year.

Figure out why. It’s easy to write down your resolutions, but it takes more of a commitment to write down why you want to achieve these goals and how they will better your life. “Losing 10 pounds” can lose its impact in a month or two – “Losing 10 pounds so that I can go rock climbing over the summer” gives you a reason to get out of bed for those early morning workouts. You designed your New Years Resolutions to better your life, remember that. 

Know you deserve it. Often people think that they don’t really deserve to experience the joy that comes with achieving a goal, so why bother trying? When you are making your resolutions know that you deserve better – a better job, better health, a better lifestyle, whatever it may be. Say to yourself, “I deserve better” every morning, and even if you don’t believe it at the time it will soon become your mind-set. 

Don’t beat yourself up. If you slip and have one cigarette or drink, know that hope is not lost. The things that are the best for us are usually the hardest; you may experience guilt, but be proud that you have taken the initiative to do something good for yourself. 

Find support. If you’re having a bad day and finding it hard to stick to your guns, you need to have someone to rely on. Do you have a friend who has kicked a bad habit of her own? Call her when you need some backup. If not, try to find a local support group, like AA, Gambler’s Anonymous, Overeater’s Anonymous, etc. You think you’re alone in your struggle, when in fact there are so many people that have the same problem. Learning from them may help you with your battle. 

Career Coach: Plan a Meeting that Matters

As you know, there is nothing more irritating than sitting through a meeting that is pointless. There are generally five purposes for meetings: to inform, train, inspire, solve problems, or resolve conflicts. But meetings can go off-track and leave employees feeling uninspired. They can also be costly in terms of both time and productivity. To avoid these pitfalls when you call a meeting, plan ahead. Be sure to ask yourself, “What is it that needs to be discussed or decided? What is the best possible outcome from this gathering? What preparation do participants need beforehand?” Here are some tips to help you answer these questions and make the most of your meetings. 

When and where? Before you run a meeting, ask yourself, “Is this meeting really necessary or can I accomplish what needs to be done in a more efficient manner?” If you have a better alternative, use it. Today, with e-mail, conference calls, streaming video, and screen sharing, you have numerous options. If a meeting is necessary, think carefully about the time and location, and what format will be most beneficial to the group.

Analyze your participants. Consider all of the people who should attend this meeting and why. More participants often make for longer meetings, so keep your list to a minimum. But also be aware of the consequences of overlooking people who ought to be there. Plan a format that will guarantee that this group feels heard and has an opportunity to present key issues affecting their job/business. Distribute an agenda in advance. 

Follow up. At the end of the meeting, you need to summarize the results and assignments for participants. If you can’t resolve an issue at the meeting, assign a person/study group to do further research. Clearly define what decisions have been made and what actions will be taken when and by whom. People respect a leader who actively facilitates the agenda so that there are visible results. Distribute a meeting summary to the group within forty-eight hours and follow-up with the study groups prior to the next meeting to make sure they are prepared with the right information. 

–Gail McMeekin, Career Coach

Be Social Media Ready for 2013

Last week, personal branding guru William Arruda shared what social media initiatives to expect in 2013. No matter what new technology comes around, we’re not likely to abandon our Facebook or Twitter pages anytime soon. So what developments should we be expecting from our tried and true favorites? William shares what we should be on the lookout for in the year to come.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn used to just be a place where you went when you had a career change – you were let go, you were hired, or promoted – but the site has been developing new ways to draw in more users. Now, professionals can connect with groups, update a status, and read original articles on the LinkedIn homepage related to career advancement tactics and tips.

Facebook. Facebook is becoming more of a professional site than it has been in the past. The creators are changing their protection of information and settings so that users can have a “professional” profile and a “personal” profile. Just as LinkedIn is moving toward broader communications, Facebook is attempting to construct a professional image as well.

Tumblr. When Web 2.0 happened, everyone thought they had to be on the web writing new content every day. What we’ve learned is that most people don’t want to do that and they aren’t good at that. What is there an audience for? Locating content and commenting on it.  Tumblr provides a great platform to do just that – curate, not create. 

Twitter. This social media site is being used more and more by the press to identify reputable sources. Reporters will often use a key word search in the Twitter newsfeed to find people who are tweeting the most and are the most current. If you consider yourself an expert in women’s rights and are constantly tweeting about it, you may be asked for information from a writer.

—Lindsay Putnam

Career Coach: The Secret Ingredient for Success

What is the difference between people who achieve success and those who do not? It is focus. Once we drill down into our never-ending to-do list and select a project that will grow our business or bring us satisfaction, great things can happen. Creative ideas take your professional life to the next level, and making those ideas a reality will bring great personal fulfillment. 

Focus is the major ingredient in success. Focus directs you to spend your energy doing the right things that will bring you the best rewards. Too often, we are seduced into spending too much time on e-mail and other office tasks – or what I call “administravia” – and we don’t accomplish what is most important to our vision and our soul. I have had to master the art of focus to write four books and develop a series of products of my own. Below is the model I outlined to find my focus. 

Follow your fascinations. This is one of the secrets in my first book, The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women. When you choose creative ideas to develop, you must choose ideas that resonate for you intuitively and get you excited. If your heart is not in it, even the best money-making idea will falter, as it lacks the force of passion. 

Original Voice. Each of us is a unique person, and our original insights have value. We need to know the “why” of what we are focusing on and whom it is meant to serve or nourish. Innovative thinkers often come up with new businesses or products that meet a need that they alone have noticed. 

Courage. It takes courage to commit to an idea and develop it to its full potential. The creative journey has many obstacles on its path and we must be valiant. You must be bold to continue to sell an idea that people may not yet understand.

Ultimate form. Part of project and product development is to determine the most brilliant form in which to present our revelations. It needs to be user friendly, practical, and draw attention. Working on one of these aspects at a time will give you a polished finished product. 

Share your innovation. When you are ready to have your business or product examined by others, it is important to seek the right market. Find the people who need what you are offering because it meets their deepest desires. Some creators want their creative work to be community- or family-based, while others may want international impact. It is a life-altering decision. 

–Gail McMeekin, Career Coach