7 Strategies for Blogging to Your New Career

1. Have a Goal

2. Decide On Your Business Model

3. Blog Regularly

4. Interview the Experts

5. Link with Others

6. Provide a Service to Your Readers

7. Be Visible on Social Media

http://www.youtern.com/thesavvyintern/index.php/2012/06/26/7-strategies-for-blogging-to-your-new-career/

7 Rules for Meetings With Top Execs :

1. Do your research. 

2. Don't assume the exec knows who you are.

3. Establish credibility immediately.

4. Ask intelligent questions.

5. Listen more than you talk.

6. Add value to the conversation.

7. Close on a next step.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/c-suite-advice-7-rules-for-meetings-with-top-execs.html

5 ways Leaders can create great teams

1. Make time to forge relationships with those you lead

2. Give your team a platform to voice their concerns

3. Freely share information to improve discourse/ideation process

4. The focus should be on your team, not you

5. Remember, leadership is a never-ending learning process

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2BqvxV/www.tanveernaseer.com/how-leaders-can-create-great-teams/

5 Rules of Power of Consistency

1. Consistency allows for measurement.

2. Consistency creates accountability.

3. Consistency establishes your reputation.

4. Consistency makes you relevant.

5. Consistency maintains your message.

source

5 Ways to Break the Logjam

1) Employers: take a chance on new talent. Hire a young person and invest in his or her growth. Invest in your current employees so your workplace culture can sustain loyalty and commitment. Talk about your business with enthusiasm and pride, and your customers will notice – and buy.

2) Government: shift the focus from providing unemployment benefits to providing meaningful, actionable and measureable incentives to hire. Tie stimulus and loans to increasing headcount, building employment, rehiring the laid off and investing in the young.

3) Boards of directors: stop looking at quarter-to-quarter results and concentrate instead on building long-term value that will pull the country out of the doldrums. Work to keep jobs here. The past thirty or forty years have been devoted to moving resources and income off shore – it’s time to bring it back. Lead the companies you are guiding and investors will follow.

4) Employees: invest in your job. It’s really investing in yourself, so keep learning. Don’t take anything for granted – you alone are responsible for improving your performance and job prospects.

5) Job hunters: don’t be afraid to take the entry level job. Don’t balk if the salary or benefits aren’t exactly what you thought you’d get. Put your heart and soul into everything you do. Be excellent and be responsible.

http://onforb.es/LxGDZd

Using Strategic Planning to Close the Project Execution "Gap"

Strategic planning is a form of team learning. When approached collaboratively, planning is a knowledge-creating and problem-solving process. And strategic planning can create much detail that is difficult to manage, and therefore, execute. Great project execution requires 100% retention in the team learning process. Without such a perfect level of retention, project execution will falter; however, just as there are techniques to improve individual retention after learning, there are techniques to improve the team's project execution after strategic planning. One of these techniques is the Execution Gap Meeting, or X-Gap.

In principle, the X-Gap is simple. Get the team together at regular intervals during the project execution phase, address the progress of each individual task that must be performed, and take action before progress falls behind. In "Teambuilding: Proven Strategies For Improving Team Performance," recognized as the authoritative work on the fundamentals of team building, the authors note the importance of regular interventions within teams to prevent regression like that of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. Furthermore, they note that regression is more effectively halted when regular interventions are held to focus on tasks as a team rather than on a one-on-one, supervisor-to-subordinate basis. It sounds like a simple strategic planning technique; however, in practice, holding an effective X-Gap requires discipline.

One of the greatest challenges to leading an X-Gap is controlling the discussion and keeping it on task. Fundamentally, the X-Gap is a transparent strategic planning method of applying peer pressure to enhance project execution performance. So, participants have a tendency to provide excuses and open up lengthy discussions to distract the group from individual accountability. X-Gap leaders must fight this tendency.

Leading an effective X-Gap requires a commitment to four basic principles - focus, resolution, action and frequency.

Principle Number One: Focus

First, X-Gap meetings should be short and focused only on the tasks required. This strategic planning technique is not an opportunity for open discussion, complex problem solving or the exchange of general information. It has only one item on the agenda - the review of all due and open tasks within the plan. In an X-Gap, the leader convenes the meeting on time and proceeds task-by-task through the project by asking each task owner to report their progress. Responses should be succinct. Completed tasks and tasks in-progress but not yet due are simply either "completed," "on track," or "green." Tasks that are in progress but have some uncertainty about the capacity to complete them as planned are "yellow." Finally, tasks that are past due or have encountered some critical obstacle that must be addressed are "critical" or "red." The latter two classifications are the target of the X-Gap strategic planning meeting. The X-Gap leader's purpose is to identify and isolate those "yellow" and "red" category tasks for further review.

Principle Number Two: Resolution

The second basic principle of the X-Gap is to take action to resolve uncertainty, ambiguity and any other obstacles. Once project execution gaps are exposed, the leader should make decisions and possibly reallocate resources in order to close those gaps. Some explanation and discussion is usually necessary. Therefore, X-Gap leaders must remain on their guard against unproductive, rambling discussions. Those responsible for the task targeted for discussion should succinctly explain the issue to the team and state what they believe they need in order to accomplish the task - to close the gap. This need is usually stated as a request for resources or a decision from the leader.

At this point, teams will tend to want to have an open discussion about the matter; however, the X-Gap leader must contain this strategic planning discussion to only a few minutes. If the team is allowed to take too much time, then there will be less time to address other "red" and "yellow" tasks. As a rule of thumb, any task that requires more than two minutes to explain and discuss should be deferred to a separate discussion that takes place after the X-Gap meeting. Leaders must keep the X-Gap meeting focused and moving along smoothly so that all the relevant tasks within the plan are addressed.

Principle Number Three: Action

X-Gap meetings should identify specific actions that must take place during the project execution phase, unless all tasks are completed or on task as planned. Leaders should take care to either clearly indicate the actions that must take place as a result of the task review process, or indicate how and when decisions or other resolutions will take place and who is responsible for them. They must determine whether or not additional resources are required, who will acquire them and by when. And if further deliberation is required to achieve a decision, leaders must decide when this will take place and which team members will be a part of the discussion. Successful strategic planning in X-Gap meetings should never conclude without clarity about the next steps to take.

Principle Number Four: Frequency

Finally, X-Gap meetings should be a recurring strategic planning event that aligns with the team or organization's overall project execution rhythm. If the team holds an X-Gap every Monday morning at 10 a.m., for example, the team will be better able to anticipate, participate more fully, and prepare more thoroughly.

Preparation is the key to a successful X-Gap meeting and strategic planning session. Team members report to the X-Gap at their pre-designated time and place with the statuses of their assigned tasks in the plan. This means being prepared to respond to its overall status, as well as providing both a succinct description of a status that is "yellow" or "red." Participants should be prepared to answer the question: "What do you believe is required to move forward?" Of course, there are often certain dependencies outside an individual team member's control that may be the underlying cause. Hence, the purpose of the X-Gap is to expose these project execution issues and address them appropriately as a team. Good preparation also means that individuals can stand in for others unable to attend the X-Gap, providing a status of their tasks and discussing what is needed to move forward.

An X-Gap strategic planning meeting must be led. As a teacher leads a classroom and utilizes techniques to help students improve retention, a leader should utilize techniques like the X-Gap to improve project execution.

http://bit.ly/MM2yeI

The Ultimate Job Protection Program

Fear of losing your job is certainly valid in this economy. But unfortunately that fear often provokes protectionist behavior that is likely to backfire for both employees and their companies.

The kind of behaviors I am referring to are things like: hoarding information or knowledge; shifting the blame for breakdowns to others; keeping your mouth shut hoping you’ll stay out of the line of fire; always agreeing with your boss so you stay on their good side; etc.

The list of things we might do, and perhaps have even done in the past, to protect our jobs is endless.

But will they actually work now?

These kinds of behaviors are certainly nothing new and are not unique to the current economy. However, I believe they are far more risky than ever before.

Why? Because while they MAY strengthen your individual position, consider that they WILL weaken your organization. And if your company goes down, saving your job becomes irrelevant.

The bottom line…your job is only as secure as the future of your company.

What is the Ultimate Job Protection Program?

I say it is being willing to act like a leader whether you are THE leader or not. It is speaking up, stepping up and standing up for the things that matter to the future success of your organization. You don’t have to be THE leader to be a leader in these difficult times.

Here are 5 ways you can start leading to help secure the future of your job by helping to secure the future of your organization.

1. STOP Blaming and START Offering Solutions

Blaming is a drain on precious time and energy. Want to be seen as indispensible? Be the person who always contributes to making things better.

2. STOP Hoarding Information and START Sharing It

Knowledge may be power for an individual, but sharing it powers successful organizations. Lead the way in sharing knowledge and you can be a catalyst for creating value and opportunity.

3. STOP Trying to Do It Alone and START Collaborating

No one person has all the answers. It is time to start find ways to tap the intelligence of your entire organization not just a limited few. Include new people in what seem like old conversations and you will gain fresh perspective. Find ways to engage the people who are less likely to speak up. You may be surprised at how much you learn.

4. STOP Reinforcing the “Status Quo” and START Challenging It

We can unwittingly reinforce the very things that are not working because it is uncomfortable to challenge the way things are done. But if your organization isn’t where it needs to be, chances are the ways things are being done are not working very well.

Remember to challenge the thinking not the person and you will increase the likelihood of both being heard and making a difference.

5. STOP Protecting Your Turf and START Acting Like One Organization

“Us vs Them” relationships are rampant in organizations. They are incredibly costly, too. Time to start acting like you are on the same team.

Assigning a shared (and meaningful) goal for two groups that have historically been at odds with each other is one way to create the opportunity to experience being on one team. This can be a very powerful way to start transforming an “us/Them” relationship into a “we”.

These are just a few examples of what we can do to support the companies we work for in being successful. Consider that if you start focusing your attention on how you can contribute to the success of your company, you will need to pay less attention to securing your job.

What can you do to make a difference in securing the future of where you work today?

http://bit.ly/LtYcJs

Judgment Calls

I understand the desire to study great leaders. It is my own habit as well. I gobble up biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and currently Steve Jobs. But I read because I am interested in history. I do not believe that studying these leaders will reveal the secret formula to great leadership. Ultimately they were human beings with great strengths and also human flaws, and I think it is a huge mistake to idealize them and try to copy them.

The traditional paradigm where the great leader imparts his wisdom and leads his organization to great heights does not work in today’s world.

With an expanding global economy, a digital information explosion, and increasingly rapid pace of business, our world is too large, our organizations too complex. One person, no matter how great, can’t know everything. The days of “Father Knows Best” are over.

Instead of focusing solely on where they are taking their organization, leaders are better served to first think about what kind of organization they are building.

This is not a new discussion.  Since the 1990’s when Peter Senge popularized the notion of “learning organizations,” there has been a lot of discussion about attributes of great companies. Books like Built to Last (Collins and Porras, 1997) and Good to Great (Collins, 2001) have laid a foundation. But because not much has been written about what it looks like in daily practice, many people continue to wonder whether it is realistic.

We need more models of what these organizations look like in real life.

For this reason I was delighted to discover Judgment Calls: 12 Stories of Big Decisions and the Teams That Got Them Right by Thomas Davenport and Brook Manville (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012)

Davenport and Manville provide 12 case studies of critical decisions made in real organizations – where courageous leaders let go of the notion that leadership is about knowing where you’re going and who tapped into the collective wisdom of their organization to make the right decision.

Judgment Calls shows what it looks like in organizations that have developed the ability to make better decisions through a broad-based, data-intensive approach. These are real stories and there is much to learn from them.

Leadership is about building organizational capabilities and harnessing the collective wisdom of the organization. Davenport and Manville’s case studies are organized around four themes:

1. Utilizing collaborative processes for decision-making
2. Accessing the plethora of available data and transforming it into useful information
3. Being guided by a powerful organizational culture that values participation, diversity, challenge and debate
4. Leaders who their role is to develop the context and structures that support collective exploration and problem-solving

As real-life is somewhat messy, so are the examples described in Judgment Calls. There is no “cookbook” here, but the lessons are clear.

Warren Bennis once said, “Leaders are people who do the right thing.” I would amend it to say, “Leaders are people who create organizations that do the right thing.”  Real examples like those provided inJudgment Calls provide us with a believable picture of what it looks like when organizations “do the right thing."

http://bit.ly/KyzqDY 

The 16 Reasons Why It Is So Important To Follow Your Dreams

1. The secret of living is giving, if you follow your dreams then you will have something worth sharing with others, hope, inspiration and a meaning to live, and that to me, is a great contribution.

2. Chasing your dreams will develop your courage. Courage is your fuel to achieve amazing success in life, follow your dreams and exercise courage. In sure enough time you will be unstoppable.

3. There is a reason why as kids we loved magic and dreams. Stop chasing your dreams and you will forget how it feels to live hopeful and young.

4. Great dreamers grow to be independent, learning that they can make a difference all by themselves.

5. Dreams can distract you from the negative events in life. You will weigh up what is more important, your dreams or the drama. Drama seems obsolete when you are passionate about following your dreams.

6. It gives you something to share and inspire your kids with, you have led by example that anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

7. Through accomplishing your dreams you will come to appreciate the experience of failure and know that failure is just part of success and that it wasn’t really all that bad as it was all worth it in the end.

8. Regret is a terrible thing, and a dream is powerful enough to bring you regret if you don’t take the chance to at least follow it.

9. Because you are never too old to dream. Age means nothing when we know what we want.

10. You become an interesting person, you show others you have meaning, direction and purpose.

11. The unknown of following your dreams may spark a little fear, this is okay though because a little fear is known to make you feel more alive.

12. It is fun proving the world wrong, so why would you follow the status quo?

13. The more you chase and accomplish your dreams the more the lines of the boundaries that the world puts in front of us fade, as we learn that any and everything is possible.

14. When you accomplish your dream, you are the first to see it happen. You can share your accomplishments with the rest of the world but you where there in the front row on a single chair to experience the magic that unfolded.

 15. Your dreams have no limits, you are the creator of your dreams, big or small. When this is understood, you are able to design a way to favor you plan and accomplish your end goal.

16. A dream is strong enough to define you, once accomplished you prove to others they have no say in who you can and can’t be.

http://addicted2success.com/