Blog Development & Coaching

Speaking of Experts -

helps speakers and other professionals, such as real estate and financial service professionals, develop and enhance their blogs.

Our coaching is ideal for beginners, bloggers who have run out of steam, or experienced bloggers who want to take their work to the next level. 

For a free consultation contact David Zinger or John Junson at dzinger@shaw.ca

The latest…

This post examines cynicism, fear and disengagement.

Don’t Go There!

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism,

and what we’re lead to is a life not fully lived.

Cynicism is fear,

and it’s worse than fear -

it’s active disengagement.

~ Ken Burns

Photo Credit: Closed by http://flickr.com/photos/jasoon/10837680/

“What Habit Will I Alter Or Eliminate?”

Kevin Eikenberry asks a new set of challenging questions designed to help you make 2008 a great year!

What Habit Will I Alter or Eliminate?

By Kevin Eikenberry

This is the tenth post in a continuing series designed to help you create a great 2008 - using questions to reflect on last year, and project into the future. All of the questions and additional information can be found in this tool, available for you to download now.

The tenth question is:

What habit will I alter or eliminate?

This is a close cousin to question #9, and your answer may be even more powerful.

I have several habits I’d like to alter. Here are three examples:

• I’d like to refrain from turning the television on without knowing what I am going to watch.
• I’d like to discipline myself spend the last half hour of every day reading something uplifting and educational.
• I’d like eliminate language or comments that could be seen as hurtful or mean to others - even if they are truly meant in jest.

While I am going to work on all of them, the first one - only turning the TV on when I know what I am going to watch is going to be my focus. Studies show American adults watch an average of four hours of TV per day (see here), and while I enjoy some television I don’t nearly approach that on average (though some football Saturdays, Sundays and college basketball tournament time days head that direction!), I do find times when I seem to binge, or don’t turn the set off.

For me the culprit is the times I just turn it on and surf. In these cases I’m not choosing to sit and watch with part of my family, and I don’t have a particular program that I want to see. The reality of these situations is that when I turn the set on in these times I am procrastinating, and therefore actively (by turning on the set) moving away from my goals.

I do enjoy TV and don’t want to banish from my house (I’d even like a new one on my wall), but I do want to manage it more effectively. Altering this habit will, for me make me happier, healthier and feel better about my results every day.

What more could we ask from a habit?

Think about this question, answer it, and take action. It is one more way to make your 2008 great!

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

President Gen X or President Boomer?

Jan 17, 2008

Cheryl Cran takes a look at which Democratic candidate for U.S. President is attracting Gen X and which one is attracting the Boomers.

Speaking of Experts is very pleased to have the following leadership speakers join the network.

• Cheryl Cran,
• Jim Clemmer,
• Linda Tarrant,
• Joe Sherren ,
• Kevin Eikenberry
• David Zinger

They will be offering perspectives and resources on leadership

They will lead the way as this premium leadership network launches fully in 2008.

Gen X for Obama? Boomers for Clinton?

Cheryl Cran examines the U.S. Presidential race from the Gen X and Baby Boomer points of view.

Barack Obama appeals to Gen X- Hillary Clinton to the Boomers

By Cheryl Cran

Barack Obama is 46 years old he would be considered a Boomer 2 or by some research a Gen X cusper. Hillary Clinton is a true Boomer and is 60 years old.

Already the age issue is creating interesting debates among bloggers and voters alike. There is reports that Barack is appealing to the Gen X and Y generation as a young and fresh voice for President. In fact more young voters are registered to vote in this election due to the communication methods team Obama is using. They are texting messages direct to PDA’s- they are “you tubing” and “face booking” and attending rally’s where the younger generations as responding with great energy. The apathy that young voters may have felt in the last election is not evident with the race between Obama and Clinton.

Hillary Clinton is appealing to the crowd who would believe that with age comes wisdom and 60 is a respectable age for an important role such as President. Along with Hillary come not just age but experience and everyone remembers the stoic support she provided to her husband in his Presidency.

So it may not be comparisons any longer about gender or race in the Democatic race it may come down to ageism. The young want change and they see youth in leadership as a sure sign of change- they dont care so much about experience because they have become jaded by what they perceive as ‘old’ politics.

The Boomers want experience and yet they too want change and with boomers being the largest voting demographic I think this race will be interesting to look at when we analyze which age groups voted for which candidate.

This correlates to corporate America- Gen X have been patiently waiting for their chance to show their style of leadership. Boomers have been holding the leadership jobs based on time, age and experience. Who will win? It’s anybody’s guess and it may come down to age.

Coaching for High Performance: Presentation Description

Joe Sherren offers some insight into true management syles for leaders.

A leader’s management style is the single most important factor which will either positively or negatively influence the productivity and loyalty factor of employees. The objective of this mentoring program is to develop, on an individual and confidential basis, a manager’s understanding of his or her true management style and how it affects the performance of employees and team members.

Three fundamental skills are introduced and reinforced throughout the process:

1. Diagnosing: being able to understand the competency level of subordinates within the situation the manager is attempting to influence.
2. Adapting: being able to adapt their behavior to a management style which will be most effective, and will ensure not only high productivity and morale, but positive one-on-one manager-employee relationships.
3. Communicating: being able to convey messages and instill the importance of achieving objectives in a way that people can easily understand, and more importantly, accept in a positive way.

The manager will learn how to apply the concepts, theories and skills developed during the mentoring process to everyday circumstances. The result will be satisfied employees who are committed to achieving the organizational goals.

The Process:

1. One-half day of shadowing/observing the manager to understand his or her predominant management and communication strengths and weaknesses.
2. One full day of leadership training using feedback from employees, self-analysis instruments, and case study work. The manager will learn effective leadership styles using the dynamic leadership model approach.
3. One half day of observing the manager in actual circumstances to reinforce techniques and styles learned during the training.
4. One half day of presentation and communication skills training. The objective of this day is to enhance the manager’s professional and personal image.
5. One-half day of observing the manager, which will include feedback and reinforcement of the positive behaviours exhibited.
6. On-going coaching and counseling as requested.

Other partial days may be added as required and mutually agreed to by the trainer, client, and the manager.

Being Courageous

Linda Tarrant offers some thoughts about being courageous.

We’ve all read stories about people acting with selfless courage to save another person’s life: A firefighter who rescues a small child from a burning building, an elderly woman who single-handedly lifts an automobile to free her grandchild, a person who jumps in front of a moving car to push a stranger out of danger. We’ve probably applauded those heroic acts and questioned whether or not we would be able to rise to the occasion if called upon to do so. We may even have questioned the heroes’ motives. Why did they do it? Did they think about all the publicity or the reward? Was it a hoax? Courageous acts often elicit mixed emotions. They’re out of the ordinary, unexpected, scary, and therefore suspect.

But courage isn’t just about spectacular events like rescuing people from life-threatening situations. In fact, most of us will never be called upon to respond with such super-human action. Our personal experiences with courage will probably be associated with the everyday events in life. They won’t be that glamorous and more likely than not, they won’t get written up in the papers. That’s not to say that they will go unnoticed. People close to us will see our acts of courage. Some will be impressed and applaud our actions and others may be threatened or mistrust what they see.

Recently I heard someone say, “It’s hard to be brave every day.” I agree because I think it’s hard to be true to ourselves and what we believe in, every day. It may require us to speak up when we hear a lie or to keep a positive perspective when surrounded by negativism. It may be about being different and not going along with the crowd or being willing to risk receiving negative consequences if others don’t like our actions. It’s certainly about being courageously ourselves, even when others don’t like it.

I am a professional speaker. (Why do I feel like I should be attending regular meetings with others who are all confessing to the same disorder?) I want to be excellent at my job, so I listen to great speakers and try to learn from them. But sometimes I wonder whether I’m learning how to be a more effective me or whether I’m just beginning to look and sound more like them. It’s so much scarier to just be me. I’m just a kid from Kentucky and always will be. Yes, there’s a ham inside the girl and you’ll probably see it. But I want my message to be filled with truth and humor, not just show. I’m not exactly sure what “me” is yet, but I know that if I listen really carefully, “me” will come through. I hope I’ll have the courage to accept the challenge of being me as I unfold. I know there will be a risk.

Being courageous isn’t an intellectual exercise. It may not even be a conscious decision. It’s almost as if it happens at a cellular level. We act and then later give reasons for why we did what we did. It’s often after the fact that we feel fear or experience an emotional reaction to a situation that required courageous action. It’s probably good that our rational mind doesn’t determine all our actions. If it did, we might never act courageously (or have any fun, for that matter).

Even though most of us will never be called upon to save someone’s life, we are constantly being given opportunities to act courageously. I believe the greatest opportunity you will ever be offered is to be courageously you. And what you do with that opportunity will make a significant difference to the rest of your life.

Linda Tarrant brings insight, inspiration and humor to people and organizations in transition. She speaks on courage, connectivity and change. Linda can be reached at TOC Consulting Inc., (416) 533-1532, e-mail linda@lindatarrant.com, or via her web site at www.lindatarrant.com.

Monday Morning Percolator (#40)

In today’s post, David Zinger raises the possibility that there are many paths to employee engagement.

Multiple Pathways to Employee Engagement: MMP#40

By David Zinger on Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement: The Monday Morning Percolator #40

There is no way to employee engagement,

employee engagement is the way.

The above statement is a rewrite of Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hahn’s, dictum: There is no way to peace, peace is the way.

The opening statement about employee engagement is a central theme of this website. Three times a week you will encounter an eclectic collection of articles on employee engagement. You will read a plethora of perspectives on engagement, from strength based leadership to ZENgagement.

There are many possible forks in the road on the multiple pathways to engagement - I am not trying to confound or confuse you. I want to acknowledge the complexity of employee engagement and honor the many paths to employee engagement.

Last week the Gallup Management Journal published an article with this exact title by Jennifer Robison, Many Paths to Engagement. I have utmost respect for Gallup’s extensive work on employee engagement and I was very pleased to see the parallel nature of our perspectives.

Jennifer began her article with a reference to Buddhist philosophy:

Some Buddhists believe that there are many paths to enlightenment, as many paths as there are seekers. Business philosophy, however, considers that idea problematic. Business leaders don’t want many paths to enlightenment, or in their case, to business results like employee engagement and the benefits it brings. They want one simple, straight, predictable path. When it comes to employee engagement, though, Buddhist thought is probably closer to the truth. There isn’t a perfect path to engagement, a single route that passes from manager to employee to performance to productivity to profit. There are as many effective ways to manage people to attain high performance as there are great managers…

Click here to read the article on how very different management and leadership styles can achieve high levels of employee engagement at Mars, Inc.

Here is part of the conclusion of the article:

So after all that number crunching, behavioral analysis, systematic examination, and simple questioning, Schulte (from Mars Inc.) found the key to great management — great managers. The path to enlightenment, or rather, engagement, ends where it begins.

What does this mean for employee engagement leaders.

• We need to understand the complexity of employee engagement.

• We need to understand our own strengths and styles.

• We need to fully understand the people we lead.

• We must give up the pursuit of a simple one-size-fits-all answer to employee engagement.

• We must get on the path and be prepared to change paths.

• We must know in our hearts: there is no way to employee engagement, employee engagement is the way.

Photo Credit: Cliché by http://flickr.com/photos/mayr/372933549/

David Zinger writes about the plethora of pathways to employee engagement.

Get in the habit…

Kevin Eikenberry wants you to learn some new habits for 2008?

Speaking of Experts is very pleased to have the following leadership speakers join the network.

• Cheryl Cran,
• Jim Clemmer,
• Linda Tarrant,
• Joe Sherren ,
• Kevin Eikenberry
• David Zinger

They will be offering perspectives and resources on leadership

They will lead the way as this premium leadership network launches fully in 2008.

“What New Habit Will I Create?”

Kevin Eikenberry asks a new set of challenging questions designed to help you make 2008 a great year!

What New Habit Will I Create?

By Kevin Eikenberry

This is the ninth post in a continuing series designed to help you create a great 2008 - using questions to reflect on last year, and project into the future. All of the questions and additional information can be found in this tool, available for you to download now.

The ninth question is:

What new habit will I create?

I plan to strengthen habits related to building and deepening relationships.

Included in this area are:

- sending more (and more timely) thank you notes.
- intentionally connecting more often - with colleagues, clients and other cool people.
- making time for friends, creating meaningful memories and conversations.

The key to making these happen is to take action. I have been and will be taking these actions, and along with making for more enjoyable conversations, it will also support me in reaching my other goals for the year.

Pretty good returns for some new habits.

What habits will create those kinds of returns for you? What new habit will you create?

I hope you will choose to share your answers in the comments to this post.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

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