Are You on Overload?, by Ellen Martin

September 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Going through your day at a hundred miles per hour doesn’t leave much time for thought.  When you are not thinking you are simply reacting to what happens around you.  This anxiety causing cycle will cause you to feel as though you are losing your mind.  When you feel yourself spiraling out of control, you must stop.

Stop, take a deep breath, and think about what you are doing.  Stop to really think about the pieces and parts. What is the next step you must take? Are you doing things in an efficient manner? How can you get control of the situation to avoid future anxiety-filled days?

I encourage my clients and students to do a “brain dump” at the beginning of each day.  Get it all out of your head and down on paper.  Write down everything that is occupying space in your head or causing you to worry.  At this point you don’t have to categorize it or try to make it into some neat formatted list.  You are literally dumping all of the “stuff” from your brain so that you can think more clearly.  This will immediately help to calm the anxiety. 

You can capture the information in a written list or use technology to help you.  If you like using technology, here are a few options for you.  Open a word document and start typing away!  If you use Outlook, you can use the task feature to capture each of the to-do items in your head.  You can also use a tool like OneNote to capture the information. 

Once you have gotten everything out of your head you can organize the information into a usable format or you can just put the list aside.  Sometimes just getting it out of your head is helpful and you don’t really need to do anything more with the information.  Often once the brain dump is complete you will realize that you aren’t as overloaded as you felt.  The information that you dumped is usually very valuable and can become an excellent task list. Now when you get started again, you will be working on purpose.  If you get out of control again, you know that you can stop, re-group, and then get started again.

Ellen
Organizing Your Space. Simplifying Your Life.
www.organizationalexperts.com

Posted by Ellen Martin | Filed Under Organization, Task Management 

Customize Your Presentation for Any Audience (Pt 1 of 3), by Myra Corrello, PhD

September 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

You’re sorting through the mail and you spot an envelope containing a hand-written address — yours.   That envelope immediately moves to the top of the stack.   Inside, a hand-written note.  Someone who has taken the time to create a message just for you.  It’s a special but rare occurrence in this day of mass communication.  So much of the communication we receive is “one size fits all”.  But customizing your communication does not have to be difficult.  With the widespread availability of the internet, customized information abounds that can be added to your message to make it very special to its recipient.   Even though you may be called upon to deliver the same general presentation to many audiences, you can create truly meaningful messages for each audience by incorporating some easy customizing tips.        

 

  1. Conduct pre-presentation informational interviews to identify your audience’s hot issues.  Any great presentation starts with a thorough needs assessment.  What must be covered?  What do they care about?  What’s worrying them?  What do they already know?  Talk to people who offer different perspectives on the topic.  If your audience is diverse, talk to a sampling of individuals that represent those diverse perspectives.  Audience members from different organizational levels and different departments will have different views.  To help you make the final choices in content, remember to place a high priority on the needs and desires of the decision maker who is ultimately responsible for your presence.  Make sure your content choices will satisfy the boss.  When choosing content for any presentation, always ask yourself:  1.  Is this content new to this audience or is it something I can present in a new way?  2.  Is this content relevant and interesting to this audience or can I find a way to make it relevant or interesting to this audience?  These two questions should be your litmus test.  If you can’t answer both questions affirmatively, look for different content.

           

  1. Use their images in your materials.  We all know the powerful impact of visuals.  Pictures, as the old saying goes, can save us thousands of words.  Audiences are delighted when they see themselves on the “big screen.”  Adding their candid staff photographs, their products, and their logos to your electronic visuals and handouts is a thoughtful way to demonstrate this is their program.  With the wide availability of digital graphics and photographs, it has never been easier to import these custom touches into your presentation.  Definitely check the organization’s website as a starting point but also befriend the organization’s internal communications representative.  If you do conduct a pre-presentation visit to the organization, take your camera and gather images as well as information.  

 

Playing detective before your presentation can produce all kinds of unexpected treasures.  It just takes an effort to ask the right questions of the right people.  Taking the extra time to also add thoughtful, entertaining, and engaging visuals can really add polish to your program.  What are some creative ways you’ve customized your presentations for a new audience? 

Myra
Helping Individuals and Organizations Increase Their Image, Influence, and Impact
MyraCorrello.com

 

Posted by Myra Corrello | Filed Under Communication, Presentation Skills, Professional competitiveness 

Commit to Being a Lifelong Learner, by Jennifer Ledet, SPHR

September 11, 2008 | 1 Comment

It’s back to school time in most parts of the country, and the kids aren’t the only ones who should be heading back to class.

As a leader within your organization, you have a responsibility to continue your own professional development. Yes, I said you have to continue to develop yourself. You know that you have a duty to create a workplace with a development culture – one where employees are offered opportunities to learn new skills. It’s important that you support and encourage your employees to attend training workshops. But by also continuing to seek out and participate in professional development programs yourself, you are not only learning new skills, you are modeling this practice for your employees.

Continuing education should be just that: continuing. It never stops. The average person will spend a good portion of their workday learning in the twenty-first century. Anyone unwilling to continue to grow and learn will be left in the dust of those who do make the effort to expand their knowledge and skills. Those who refuse to develop and grow will become deadwood and usually become disengaged. Soon the pace of change will overtake them.    

I believe that being a strong leader takes constant effort. Good leadership includes skills and actions that you can learn.  You can take advantage of any of the following methods for continuing your professional growth:

I tell participants in my workshops that learning and knowledge can never be taken away from you. By improving your knowledge and skills, you are also increasing your value to the organization. In uncertain times such as these, who wouldn’t want to increase their value to the organization?

However you decide to do it, commit to being a lifelong learner. You’ll be a better leader, a better employee, and a better person as a result. Look into professional development opportunities and plan your own continuing education. If you want to really get into the spirit, go out and buy yourself some school supplies!

Jennifer
Ledet Management Consulting
Grow Your People. Grow Your Business.

 

 

Posted by Jennifer Ledet | Filed Under Leadership, Management