Promoting Brilliance's Blog

Promoting Brilliance, Inc. is a career and collaboration development firm since 1995. Our services are fundamental to innovation and change initiatives. We work with individuals, groups, and organizations of all sizes; providing collaboration learning experiences and events, strategic off-site design and facilitation, career and leadership development, and individualized consulting services.

Beth Wellesley
(612) 824-0454
beth@promotingbrilliance.com

Linkedin Profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bethwellesley




Become a fan on Facebook: http://bit.ly/4hdwV6
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BethWellesley

We are located in the Minneapolis Southwest Neighborhood near Lyndale Farmstead Park, across the street from Theodore Wirth's historical home.

Promoting Brilliance, Inc.
4001 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55409
http://www.promotingbrilliance.com

4 New Happy Hour Workshops: March & April 2010

Communicating for Career Success

WHEN
March 12, 2010 from 3-5PM

WHAT
Being a champion for your career success is vital today. Communicating and negotiating can be very challenging given the various interactive or in person formats available. Tools such as email, social networks, IMing, texting, even snail and voice mail present challenges on multiple levels where choosing the proper format can be a critical decision itself. Promoting Brilliance's Communication Workshop will help you articulate how you define career success and provide you with new insights and skills for communicating. You'll learn new skills you can utilize within your personal life too.

REGISTRATION
Please register at: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A4TRKRDYT. The cost of this workshop is $100.00, which includes materials.

PROGRAM DEALS
Remember our workshops are included in our individual career programs for any 2010 programs you are currently enrolled. Are you considering working with Promoting Brilliance? The cost of this workshop can be deducted from any future career development programs that you wish to engage in the coming year.

LOCATION OF THE HAPPY HOUR WORKSHOPS
Promoting Brilliance, Inc.
4001 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Google Map Link: http://bit.ly/2dkYiI

CONTACT
Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454, beth@promotingbrilliance.com or
Michael Peterson at (612) 824-0098, michael@promotingbrilliance.com

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Natural Networking for Your Style - Using Keyssential™ Insights

WHEN
Thursday, March 25, 2010 from 3:00-5:00PM

WHAT
Are you in transition, starting a new business, contracting, a new manager/leader or perhaps seeking career development or mentoring? Natural Networking provides highly beneficial networking success. Much of our focus and energy is given to the topic of networking skills, yet very little attention is placed on what you need to know about your natural style and what works effectively for your communication preferences. During this workshop we will explore the many ways Promoting Brilliance's Keyssential™ Insights can help you build a constructive, customized strategy that fits your style. We will make it simple and easy to apply to these networking solutions. Learn how to use Promoting Brilliance's find it inside--use it outside focus and discover what works naturally for you!

REGISTRATION
Please register at: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A9SSRSH9T. You can contact Beth Wellesley at beth@promotingbrilliance.com to reserve your space. The cost of this workshop is $100.00, which includes materials. This workshop is included in the program cost of any 2010 programs you are currently enrolled.

Are you considering working with Promoting Brilliance? The cost of this workshop can be deducted from any future career development programs that you wish to engage in the coming year.

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Put "Fun" Into Functionality for You & Your Team

WHEN
Thursday, April 8, 2010 from 3:00-5:00PM

WHAT
Learn how to Put "Fun" Into Functionality for You & Your Team using Promoting Brilliance's Drama Busting Program. Find and identify the effective tools to respond, re-purpose and re-focus your work and career related relationships. Learn how the career related dramas distract you and your team, making it too difficult to get create productive results. This Happy Hour Workshop enables participants to navigate future dramas and engender productive outcomes for themselves.

REGISTRATION
Please register at: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A9SRRSGN9. You can contact Beth Wellesley at beth@promotingbrilliance.com to reserve your space. The cost of this workshop is $100.00, which includes materials. This workshop is included in the program cost of any 2010 programs you are currently enrolled.

Are you considering working with Promoting Brilliance? The cost of this workshop can be deducted from any future career development programs that you wish to engage in the coming year.

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Career Insurance - The Realities of Relationship Development

WHEN
Thursday, April 22, 2010 from 3:00-5:00PM

WHAT
Promoting Brilliance recommends that you think of your career insurance as their investment in relationship building and development practices. This investment strategy includes support for your career growth, development, and transitions over time. Change is not predictable or self-selected, having solid professional relationships is the key to your career insurance. The Career Insurance: The Realities of Relationship Development workshop will present the necessary attitudes and practices for maintaining productive relationships in your career and at work. Join us at this exciting new workshop, it compliments our Natural Networking workshop program as well.

REGISTRATION
Please register at: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22A9STWSHYE. You can contact Beth Wellesley at beth@promotingbrilliance.com to reserve your space. The cost of this workshop is $100.00, which includes materials. This workshop is included in the program cost of any 2010 programs you are currently enrolled.

Are you considering working with Promoting Brilliance? The cost of this workshop can be deducted from any future career development programs that you wish to engage in the coming year.

LOCATION OF THE HAPPY HOUR WORKSHOPS
Promoting Brilliance, Inc.
4001 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Google Map Link: http://bit.ly/2dkYiI

CONTACT
Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454, beth@promotingbrilliance.com or
Michael Peterson at (612) 824-0098, michael@promotingbrilliance.com

Giving, Gaining & Growing Respect

It seems workplace related stress and frustration has been intense over the past 12-18 months and people want to know how they can make things better for themselves and others. When I ask my clients what they want to experience more of in 2010 one resounding theme is clear: respectful, effective interactions with peers, managers, leaders as well as customers and clients.

The key to giving and gaining respect is to set the tone for productive, collaborative communication. You can do this by valuing and practicing the following in your daily interactions:

- Be objective
- Be diplomatic (and at the very least civil)
- Be empathetic
- Be inclusive

It is as simple as deciding you will incorporate these into your daily thinking and check-in with your progress. Below are simple ways you can put into practice basic principals for growing respect in your daily communication.

- Use "I" statements to share your perspective, experience and responsibilities. Examples include "I am responsible for...", "I believe that ...", or "I am concerned about..."

- Avoid "I" statements that promote superiority or exclusivity, which includes "I am right because...", "I know more about....", or "I was the only one who..."

Additional ways you can give and gain respect:

- Avoid using the directive word "You" at the start of a statement. It sets a tone that can sound like blame is being assigned to the individual(s) who is being addressed. All of which can promote non-productive and defensive reactions.

- Use "My" statements to communicate your individual responsibilities or perspectives, and avoid using "My" to create possessiveness or ownership when working with other adults.

In other words it is safe to say: "My responsibility is..." or "My perspective is that...". However, avoid saying "My team..." if you are speaking with your direct reports or staff. Instead, try starting your statement with "Our team...". It is more inclusive of others and respects each person's membership in the team no matter what role or history with the organization.

Today's work environment requires a focus on staying present, which is the key to giving, gaining and growing respect. The recommendations we've suggested have a low cost, high impact investment for building respect and trust which will provides people with sustainable dividends. These suggestions also work well in both work and personal life, making it easy and straightforward to practice, engage and definitely utilize.

Networking Is A Form of Career Insurance

We will be presenting recommendations for building and improving career insurance to reach your career goals for the short and long-term.

People who are not naturally drawn to professional networking often tell me they don't realize how important it is until they lose a job. In light of the social networking buzz this topic is in the process of evolving and changing as well. Tools like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are great if you are utilizing them with a specific purpose. They also have advantages and disadvantages like any technology.

Although online networking sites provide a highly efficient way to cultivate contacts, they are not a replacement for personal interactions. Face-to-face meetings build rapport and relationships in a way that electronic communication cannot replicate. Continue to meet new people in-person even when you land your ideal "job". This can be a blind spot for many people. It's smart to build a wide, diverse range within your network. In other words, going beyond your field, industry or area of expertise to meet and get to know people.

Focus on helping others when you network. I keep hearing about how people have become more self-centered because of social media and less engaged in diplomacy or non-dramatic communication. It's practical and wise to authentically introduce people, offer a reference, offer solutions and, or even volunteer. It will come back to you, if you believe in what you are doing.

Many people are working longer hours than ever, especially due to the shrinking teams over the past year. Those who are working tell me they have little time to network or return calls and emails from people seeking their time for networking. I recommend putting one date aside on the calendar for 1-2 hours each month to follow-up with those folks by phone. They will understand and appreciate your follow through.

Remember to thank people as often as you can. Gratitude has sadly been neglected more recently due to economic stressors and people's demanding schedules.

Career Development Tops Survey List

Career development prospects top the criteria for job candidates considering a new employer:
- 40% said the potential for career development is the most important factor when choosing a new boss.

- Followed by 21% seeking work-life balance

- 15% stated innovative workplace

- 12% indicated competitive pay and benefits

NOTE: Survey results published by Right Management Inc. in January 2010.

Promoting People's Brilliance - February 2010

New Business Announcement - Imprint Photo Books
Promoting Brilliance client, Stephanie Nichols recently launched a new business Imprint Photo Books. They specialize in personalized photos books which are professionally designed, printed on archival quality paper, bound and custom hardcover bookbinding, all at a very affordable price. Learn more at: http://www.imprintphotobooks.com

Having difficulty managing heavy finance or accounting workloads? - Call NumberWorks
They are experts at matching accounting and finance contract candidates for interim or special projects. Contact Christina Tibesar at 612.230.7100 who will address your specific needs or learn more at: http://www.numberworksllc.com/.

Thinking about your health in 2010? - Organic Divas.com
What we put on our skin goes makes a difference. The Founder of Organic Diva, Ann Garrity shared her story at St. Thomas' First Friday luncheon on Feb 5. She is truly inspirational. Learn more about the topic of healthy, safe personal care products at: http://www.organicdivas.com

New Retail Business - Guild Design Collective
Twelve amazing people have formed a collective to create a unique, fun retail shop with handmade jewelry, cosmetics, gifts, antiques, as well as new and vintage clothing, Check them out at 4414 Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park open Tuesday through Saturday's from 11AM to 6PM. Learn more at: http://www.guildcollective.wordpress.com

Enjoy Fresh Organic Veggies in 2010 - Hay River Farms
Farmer Jim Bruns is now accepting vegetable customers for the 2010 season. Veggie drop off sites are located in St. Paul, Minneapolis and at Target's corporate offices; running from July through October. Sign up and learn more at: http://www.hayriverfarm.com

10 Ways You Can Work With Promoting Brilliance in 2010

10 Ways You Can Work with Promoting Brilliance in 2010

1. Get engaged and set priorities with our Career & Life Blending™ programs.

2. Join us on Jan 15 at our first Happy Hour workshop in 2010, featuring Keyssential™ & Mapping Out Your Year.

3. Subscribe to NetRayne™ and receive a workshop pass for 2010. Learn more at: www.netrayne.wordpress.com.

4. Schedule a 2010 Career Planning and Development session with Beth Wellesley.

5. Design your career transition strategy utilizing our Career Renovations™ program and services.

6 . Improve your communication and presentation skills with Communication Brilliance & Presentation coaching.

7. Become a more effective leader/manager, by growing strategic confidence using our Leadership Brilliance™ programs.

8. Utilize our consulting services to align your key business partnerships and career relationships.

9. Re-energize your own role, team environments, or perspectives by retaining our coaching and consulting services.

10. Refer someone to Promoting Brilliance and spread the glow!

NEW 2010 Service for Professionals

NetRayne™
A knowledge transfer and professional networking subscription service for individuals who want to create connections for their brand.

What is NetRayne?
NetRayne keeps you informed and connected when you need to stay focused on your primary goals. Learn more at: http://netrayne.wordpress.com/

These customized subscription services provide an umbrella to protect you from the torrent of information that is made instantaneously available and on a scale that makes it almost unintelligible. NetRayne helps individuals gain knowledge to effectively navigate the streams of information available and make the choices that matter to you and your business.

We provide a broad spectrum of information and personal introductions that fit individual needs. Subscription services include:

- Focused content delivered in the virtual format of your choice
- Networking resources, events and targeted introductions
- Information pertinent to current and future markets
- Workshops, seminars and webcasts

Who subscribes?
Small business owners, consultants, contract workers, and individuals who want to grow their network effectively and efficiently.

Who is NetRayne?
We are a hub for thought leaders, who provide the spokes for connecting individual audiences, as well as providing targeted, timely streams of knowledge transfer. We are a solution for creating value within the social media landscape.

What is our vision and mission?
Our mission is to move information to knowledge and our vision is to ultimately attain wisdom pertinent to the individual.

What is the cost?
The subscription price is only $300.00 for 2010. If these services do not fulfill your expectations your subscription fee will be refundable.

How do I sign-up?
We can meet with you as well as provide you with sign-up survey in order to customize your NetRayne experience. You can enroll by completing our online survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229QC745EZP.

Promoting People's Brilliance - December 2009

Love the Urban Junket's t.o.t.e. Collection—Made from recycled water bottles!
You must see what's new with the Urban Junket's canvas coated tote bags. Check them out at http://www.urbanjunket.com. And if you join their mailing list on their website you will receive an electronic coupon for your first online order. Urban Junket gives $1 from the sale of each t.o.t.e. bag to carbonfree.org. to help mitigate the emissions created in the production and transportation of their bags. Way to go!


Shop Apiary Design—Vintage Calendars and Stationary
If you are still looking for the perfect gift for someone look the Apiary Design online shop at: http://www.apiarydesign.com. Molly Woodland's new 2010 calendars are really lovely and make a wonderful gift. Apiary Design products are beautiful and they will definitely inspire you to write and send to those near and dear to your heart.


Need help getting and staying organized? Contact Collaborative Assistants, Inc.
Are you busy professional that needs help personally or professionally with administrative duties such as correspondence, meeting or event planning, and PowerPoint presentations? Collaborative Assistances works efficiently for you. Contact Darcy Jones, she is an experienced executive support professional. You can reach her directly at (612) 655-7302 or djones626@yahoo.com


Get ready for 2010 with TMW Partners—Providing bookkeeping support.
Are you a small business or busy individual seeking help with your bookkeeping or operational projects? TMW Partners is a great resource for you. Do you need help getting organized and prepared for tax season? Contact Linda Bueckers of TMW Partners. She is an excellent resource and experienced with QuickBooks. Reach Linda directly at (763) 244-5943 or linda@tmwpartners.com and learn more at: http://www.tmwpartners.com

Part 2 Digital Natives & Immigrants

By Michael Peterson

When a US Airways plane landed in the Hudson River in January, the first picture appeared on Twitter. In June, Twitter users were mourning Michael Jackson before major news outlets reported his death. And, last month, as much of the nation was riveted by images of a balloon believed to be carrying a 6-year-old boy, every twist and turn was tweeted and re-tweeted instantaneously, drowning out just about everything else on the site.

As major events unfold, Twitter, Facebook and other similar services are increasingly becoming the nation’s virtual water coolers. They spread information quickly, sometimes before the mass media do, and their ricocheting bursts of text and links become an instant record of Americans’ collective preoccupations.

One key area that appears to have been affected is the power of reflection and the ability to incorporate reflection as it impacts decision making. Having access to instant information can create an impulse to instantly assume that we understand completely what is occurring rather than taking a moment to think “What does this mean to me or anyone for that matter”?

It’s no wonder that the pundits and investors are salivating over the prospect of an effective way to search this information. Twitter, of course, has its own search engine. But others with names like OneRiot, Collecta and Topsy are also vying to become the Google of real-time search.

For all-the buzz, however, one question remains unanswered: How does the rapidity of access to information affect thought process for understanding?

For Digital Natives speed is value when it comes to learning curves. One only has to play a multi-level video game to understand that, get blown up, squashed or devoured too often and you are done. Message to player: Learn quickly or perish. For Digital Immigrants this process is frustrating and of little interest. Note: Not a great share of market in gaming is held by the over forty crowd.

No one doubts that helping users find fresh, up-to-the-minute content on the Web is valuable. What is not yet understood is how this format will affect strategic thought process and ultimately impact formulating wisdom around emerging concepts?

With advertising dollars driving the social media machines it will be very interesting to see how humanity will re-configure how brain function adapts to speed thinking. This style of thinking is greatly enabled by real time search engines, far surpassing the traditional search engine methodology we are now so familiar with.

Traditional Web search is a business that practically mints money, and for two reasons. First, without Google, Yahoo, Bing or Ask, the Web would be an inscrutable jumble of bits. These services are so vital that they are used more than 450 million times a day in the United States alone, according to comScore.

Second, and equally important, search advertising is probably the most effective form of marketing ever invented. Because search queries telegraph a user’s intent with precision, they make it possible to match people with the right ads at the right moment.

If real-time search is ever to achieve the same kind of magic, it needs a large volume of queries and the same ability to match users intent. This is bound to happen as more users of Twitter and other social media formats make this their primary method of communication with friends, family and associates.

Google wants the Twitter data primarily because its mission is to be comprehensive: Google wants to organize all of the world’s information, including the Web’s fleeting real-time conversations. This level of comprehensiveness keeps people searching on Google. It could comprehensively change how we reflect and assess what is occurring and how we relate to those occurrences, as well as how we communicate these events to others.

Growing Engagement & Loyalty As The Market Turns

Today many organizations and leaders are interested in understanding what is required for employee engagement, satisfaction, retention as well as loyalty. Research indicates that there will be a number of organization’s experiencing employee turnover as the global economy and job markets recover, especially if these organizations are not tending to employee career feedback and development needs.

Recent national surveys indicate employee retention results are more about relationships with leaders than with the actual work. In fact one survey reports that people leave positions more than 75% of the time because of their relationship with their direct reports or managers not because of their actual work responsibilities or duties.

Gallup Inc. conducts thousands of interviews and surveys every year to help employers identify work place engagement. They have published the 12 Elements of Great Managing for employers that best predict what employees are seeking. You can find an overview of these elements at: http://bit.ly/4a9cV6

Employee engagement and loyalty is built on respect for people’s overall well being, the ability to acknowledge people’s good work, care for and impact an individual’s career development path, and the provision of resources in order for people to meet or exceed the expectations of their responsibilities. Loyalty and engagement can be cultivated without motivating people through entitlement programs.

At Promoting Brilliance, Inc. we know that loyalty and career fulfillment begins with respect for individuality how individual needs impact learning, performance, engagement and career development. We have designed two individual coaching and development programs: Leadership Brilliance™ and Career & Life Blending to address the individual needs of an organization’s employees. Both of these programs provide a reflective process to support individuals as they design, strategize, implement, deliver and champion necessary leadership and career development plans. Promoting Brilliance programs create easy to use and apply formats that give individuals the responsibility to design their leadership and career paths in ways that collaborate with and meet the needs and expectations of their direct reports and organizations.

Leadership Strategies For Virtual Work Environments

According to the International Data Corporation, the mobile workforce in the United States, which has been the largest percentage of mobile workers in the world, is set to become 73% of the nation’s workforce by 2011.

New strategies for managing a virtual workforce are required for leaders, which begins by embracing these competencies for their own development. Promoting Brilliance, Inc. recommends developing a new vision of your leadership that incorporates communication and collaboration strategies to fit your virtual working relationships. Here are a four key leadership strategies listed below:



1) Consciously create opportunities to build relationships with your people and between colleagues. This may require some innovative strategies and applications, such as developing in-person group meetings, facilitating off-sites or time to learn more about each person's strengths, work histories, plans, and communications styles or preferences. You may also use other technologies such as video conferencing or Skype for regular, one-to-one meetings.

2) Create communication agreements that people will practice and respect within their work groups. Decide how you are going to use your technology as a group that will best serve your projects, clients and even meet individual needs. Make sure this includes the your communication tools, such as text messaging, email, phone, and meetings. For example, too often email is utilized to leave a communication trail as well avoid or escape difficulties or communication conflicts. Today, even people who are sitting on the same floor in office environments are too often using email when it would be better to discuss something face-to-face.

3) Cultivate learning, career development, and mentoring opportunities for people. Loyalty, trust and culture are built on investing in people’s development. Making time for career development as well as creating opportunities for people to meet others outside your immediate organization who can support learning and development opportunities demonstrates authentic interest in the people you are managing and leading.

4) Become a Collaborative Co-Leader who believes in leadership for the time—this means giving others the opportunity to lead for a specific time on a project or initiative, which allows others to lead and collaborate with you.

Promoting People's Brilliance in November 2009

Shop Apiary Design Vintage-inspired Stationery for Your Holiday’s
Apiary Design products are available at select, retailers nationwide as well as their site at: http://www.apiarydesign.com. Molly Woodland launched Apiary Design in 2006 as a personal commitment to lure the modern world back to the thoughtfulness of the handwritten word.

Creative. Artistic. Unscripted. Studio Starfish—the way your photos should be.
Studio Starfish is a new boutique photography studio specializing in unique wedding images and modern portraits that reveal your personality and tell the true story of you. Schedule your session before December 7 and you’ll receive your photos in time for Christmas. Mention “Promoting Brilliance Inc.” and receive a box of 25 custom press-printed cards for FREE (a $50 value)! Call 612.817.6566 or visit http://www.studiostarfish.com for more information.

Uncommon Gardens—a wonderful little garden store in Southwest Minneapolis
You’ll find everything you need to beautify your world inside or out at this inspiring garden and gift store. Don’t miss Winter Fest on Saturday, November 21 from 11:00AM-3:00PM. Enjoy special discounts as well as free cocoa, cookies, while watching demonstrations on easy winter decorating ideas for pots, window boxes, wreaths, kissing balls, garlands and more. Located at 5750 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis and on the web at: http://www.uncommongardens.com

Career & Life Blending Tips

Daily Bright Spots & Other Useful Tips

Observing Daily Bright Spots
People who have worked with Promoting Brilliance, Inc. know that we advocate for observing your Daily Bright Spots. This practice makes you aware of the many ways your day is going well and all of the good people and experiences you are creating, manifesting, and allowing into your work and personal life. Take note daily for 2-3 weeks and you will experience a subtle difference, many people tell us that it lifts their mood and makes them more confident. One thing is for sure—living in the Midwest this time of year as we experience less day light—it helps to observe and acknowledge the bright spots in your day!

Cause The Pause
Today more than ever people are looking for ways to find time and space to get in front of things. I often hear this as, “I need time to be strategic and innovative” or “ I need to make time for planning for next year” or I want to have more space weekly for creative thinking so I can develop something new.” At Promoting Brilliance we’ve coined the phrase—cause the pause. It is up to you to make time and space for this and there are many ways to do this. When you start out and want this to become a habit or a regular practice I do recommend that you plan it in your calendar like any other meeting. Simply schedule time for it. Consider your best time of day or a personal offsite. Remember we do offer these services at Promoting Brilliance as well. We invite you to cause the pause regularly.

Working & Sustainability
Many of you are working longer hours than ever before and yet you are often grateful because you know the current fear of being laid off. It’s important to consider sustainability with regard to the topic of how much you are working. If your boss is asking you to work less so you don’t burn out—listen! However, you may need some thing to help change your habit of logging back on after dinner night after night. Creating a change can begin by replacing your habits with something new. You may want to sign up for a class in the evenings 1-2 nights a week, there are lots of options like cooking classes, photography, or even a book club. The point is to create something new that will be energizing to you. I’m often told by many of my clients that they end up being a better professional or even solve problems while they are enjoying the change they have created.

Natural Impacts & Self-Trust
Doing something different naturally creates tension, anxiety and even fear. If you are experiencing these when you consider changing your lifestyle, approaching a project differently at work, interacting with someone in a different way, taking on more responsibilities and leadership or even looking for a new career opportunity—know that it is 100% natural to experience any of what we think of the more negative emotional experiences. 100% natural is not often popular, but know it is normal. All of this combined with the uncertainty that we have collectively been facing it is no wonder that people are dealing with stress and worry. Consider this: What brings you back to center? Where do you experience confidence? How do you cultivate trust and self-trust? Tell yourself and mean it—I can do it well!

If you are interested in learning more about Promoting Brilliance’s Career & Life Blending Programs or workshops please contact Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com.

Living In A Bi-Polar Digital World

By Michael Peterson

The youngest members of our workforce today are all "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. The most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives.

Those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and always will be compared to them, Digital Immigrants.

The importance of the distinction is this—As Immigrants learn to adapt to their environment, they always retain, their accent, that is their foot in the past. The digital immigrant accent can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it. Today's older workers were socialized differently and are now in the process of learning a new language.

There are hundreds of examples of the digital immigrant accent. They include printing out your email; needing to print out a document written on the computer in order to edit it, rather than just editing on the screen; and bringing people physically into your office to see an interesting web site, rather than just sending them the URL. I'm sure you can think of one or two examples of your own without much effort. My own favorite example is the phone call asking, "Did you get my email?” Those of us who are Digital Immigrants can, and should, laugh at our accents and ourselves. What does dial a number mean anyway?

But this is not just a joke. It's very serious, because the single biggest problem facing us today is that our Digital Immigrant managers, team leaders, and bosses who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to connect to a population that speaks an entirely new language.

Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to "serious" work.

Digital Immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected though years of interaction and practice. Gaming has changed how Digital Natives think—they are vigorously retraining their brains in newer ways, many of which are diametrically opposed to older ways of cognitive formation. Digital Immigrants hold a belief that Digital Natives have short attention spans. They do—for the older ways of communicating—they do not have short attention spans for virtual interactive medias, such as gaming, Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.

One key area that appears to have been affected is the power of REFLECTION and the ability to incorporate reflection as it impacts decision making. I will have more on that topic in the next newsletter.

Effective Use of Email Correspondence

Working with fewer resources this year has created more pressure and stress for many professionals, and some of the signs of this stress are leaking into our daily communications. These recommendations may serve as reminder or be news to you, whatever the case remember you are in charge of how you communicate using the varied tools we have at our disposal. Use them wisely to develop productive, respectful working relationships.

Let’s begin with the When Not To Use Email Correspondence:

#1: Avoid using email communication when differences of opinions, perspective or an out right conflict is occurring. #2: Avoid using email communication when the topic is sensitive or of a confidential nature.

If email correspondence is utilized when these types of situations are occurring it can be counter productive and worse yet cause unnecessary drama. In many cases, it causes further misunderstandings that result in a break down or loss of trust.

What to consider before sending an email?

- Do not use email to discuss or communicate confidential topics.

- Communicate complaints or dissatisfaction directly with an individual. It is ineffective sending complaints about individuals to third parties via email. Give an individual the respect of a phone or face-to-face conversation. The opportunity to clear up a misunderstanding is very important in promoting collaborative communication.

- Communicate highly complex information or subject matter that involves a number of details through other means. A telephone call, face-to-face conversation or meeting can reduce misunderstandings.

- Negotiations usually need back and forth communication. If you find yourself responding more than two times on the same topic, choose an alternate form of communication.

- Write your message in whatever word processing software you have available first to avoid spelling and grammar errors.

- Avoid sending emails when you are frustrated, upset, overly stressed. Wait until you are objective and back on center.

What are some basic email writing tips?

- Think of the subject line as the headline of an important news article.
- Place the most important statements in the first paragraph.
- Keep paragraphs short for easy reading.
- Use sub-topic headings when you have a lengthy message.
- Utilize numbers or bullets to organize and simplify your message.
- Request an action or invite your recipient to provide further information in order to complete a task.
- Re-read email messages at least once before sending, if you can read it out loud that really helps.

Communication Brilliance™ & Presentation Coaching

If you or your organization is interested in improving your presentation and communication competencies, Promoting Brilliance offers Communication Brilliance™ & Presentation Coaching services.

This program includes an on-line assessment process to pinpoint your learning and development needs. This process can involve gathering feedback from your trusted colleagues, direct reports, partners, as well as internal and external customers. If you are interested in learning more about Promoting Brilliance’s Communication Brilliance™ & Presentation Coaching or our other individual coaching programs and workshops please contact Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com

Promoting People's Brilliance: October 2009

Shop Award Winning Toys @ Manhattan Toy Company
This coming holiday season buy local from Twin Cities based toy company, Manhattan Toy. Choose from their award winning toys including Automoblox®, Groovy Girls®, Whoozit® and a variety of new unique products such as The Kreechers Klub™. Find the perfect gift for the kids in your life at: http://www.manhattantoy.com/. Plus receive free shipping on any order $25 or more. Just enter promo code FREE@$25 at checkout.

Social Media 101 for Small Business Owners and Individuals
Should your business be on Facebook? Is Twitter important? Find out what you need to know (and what you don't) about social media marketing for your business or your career from Natalie Greve at Spot On | Smart Business Marketing. Contact Natalie at (612) 805-9749 or natalie@spotonsearches.com. Mention Promoting Brilliance for special rates. Learn more at http://nataliegreve.extendr.com/

Maiden Minnesota 2009
This special event celebrates locale female business owners and their products. This year’s event takes place on November 5, 2009 from 5-9PM at The Graves 601 Hotel - Minneapolis. Find out how to buy tickets at: http://maidenminnesota.blogspot.com

La Chaya Bistro
Yum! Yum! This amazing neighborhood spot features flavors from the Mediterranean and Mexico. Make reservations online and learn more about their hours and menus at: http://www.laychaya.com

Gluten Free Bakery & Market
Who said living gluten free means living without flavor? Madwoman Bakery & Market, located at 47th & Nicollet Avenue South in Minneapolis, makes wonderful breads and delightful teacakes! Learn more about this unique bakery alternative at: http://www.madwmanfoods.com

Promoting People's Brilliance: September 2009

Service Support for Small Business Owners and Individuals
Are you seeking help with your small business bookkeeping, administration or operations projects? Perhaps you need help keeping up with your family bookkeeping duties or need to get organized and prepare for the next tax season? Linda Bueckers of TMW Partners is an excellent resource and she is experienced with QuickBooks. Contact Linda directly at (763) 244-5943 or linda@tmwpartners.com Learn more about TMW Partners services at http://www.tmwpartners.com/index.html

Growth Through Volunteerism
Promoting Brilliance client, Linda Rasch, grows new farmers through her volunteer work with the Minnesota Food Association. This nonprofit trains beginning farmers in sustainable, organic vegetable production so that one-day they can own their own farms. You can support this important work and learn more at: http://www.mnfoodassociation.org

Energy producing foods for your Career & Life Blending needs:
- Think Products
These wonderful products have 20 grams of protein and also contain no sugar or gluten. You can purchase them on-line at Amazon or find them locally at Lund’s or Kowalski’s markets. Find out more about their products too at: http://www.thinkproducts.com/index.php

- Farm Fresh, Organic Vegetables
This summer our family enjoyed fresh, organic vegetables each week from Hay River Farms, run by Jim Bruns. We signed up for a weekly share in March or April and received fresh produce from July through October. Jim sends a newsletter each with week with cooking tips and interesting stories about what’s happening on the farm. You can contact Jim at hayriverfarm@gmail.com or learn more at: http://www.hayriverfarm.com.

- Free Directory of Organic Food Resources
Here’s a link to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s free directory: http://www3.mda.state.mn.us/mngrown/

Biography of a Modern Day Healthcare Hero: Dr. Paul Farmer
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World, by Tracy Kidder

New Service Delivery Options

Walk & Talks
For nearly two years we’ve offered sessions that incorporate walking with our individual and small group consulting sessions. We have amazing resources available to us to incorporate this format with the Peace Gardens, Rose Gardens, and Lake Harriet walking trails nearby. If you’ve never experienced the Elf House (see photo) on Lake Harriet, Beth would be happy to show it to you during a walk & talk session. Let’s activate your goals with this new format; you can reach Beth Wellesley at beth@promotingbrilliance.com

Personal Off Sites
We can create a unique offsite experience for you that will help you focus on your career and/or life blending considerations. We can design this unique time to include our walk & talk format as well as time in our offices to brainstorm, innovate, strategize, and formulate plans for your leadership vision, current change or transition strategies, career and life blending priorities, current transition or change, learning and development plans, or collaboration and communication planning. Contact Beth Wellesley at 612.824.0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com to discuss an opportunity for your customized, personal off site.

Skype Sessions
Promoting Brilliance is offering individual career and leadership sessions via Skype. This works well for people living outside the Twin Cities in Minnesota as well as for professionals too busy to meet in-person. Ask us for more details about this option at 612.824.0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com.

Finding Your Career Fulfillment

Promoting Brilliance is dedicated to helping people master career fulfillment. I’ve been asked on a number of occasions if is it possible today to find career fulfillment given all of the economic and organizational challenges of this past year? My response is---yes! In some ways it is even more possible—because it is the perfect time to follow our motto—find it inside and use it outside. The truth is if you identify what matters to you in your career and life now—you are making yourself ready to respond effectively to the uncertainty of our times and strengthen your confidence to navigate further change.

Our career, leadership and collaboration programs and services focus on fulfillment, sustainability, innovation and economic performance. Because we work with individuals and organizations we are also often asked what types of people or organizations work with Promoting Brilliance?

Who Works With Promoting Brilliance?
Below is a summary of the qualities and identifiers that individuals, managers or leaders often possess when engaging our services and programs.

- Professionals or people interested in a professional career (students through retirement)
- People who desire aligning their values and interests with their work and/or work environment
- People seeking strategic innovation, inspiration and insight for their career and life
- People experiencing subtle to significant change in their career or organizational direction
- People willing to financially invest in themselves as well as their work related and non-work related relationships
- People who value communication and the alignment of communication with decision-making (both self-communication and with others

Keyssential: Style Related Solutions for Stress

Dealing with stress today can be unique to your personality facet strengths. Consider these stress types as a way to help you find new approaches for finding humor and a way to move your stress into productive alternatives. Here are some examples of overstressed Keyssential Facets and how to work with them differently:


Worst Case Scenario Imaginers
Let go of the worst picture or story you are creating in your highly active mind. Find new ways to relax using mediation, yoga, or walking. If traditional seated meditation make you fidget take try something that occupies your attention such as chess, dancing or imaging the best-case scenario. Breathing exercises can also help draw your attention away your stress.

Obsessive Observers
If you’re yelling at others—please stop. Try something different that is a healthy alternative to intensity you are experiencing. Use some of your competitive drive by participating in a sport or doing something physically active outside. You don’t have to compete just stay active and be lively. Perhaps you create something that you find visually attractive or beautiful by gardening, painting, decorating, or improving something for yourself and others like fighting hunger or improving your golf swing.

Disenchanted Explorers
When you stop running away the problems will stop chasing you. Take action now, perhaps you can find the support of a friend or expert to get you organized and ready approach things from a pragmatic view point. Brainstorming can be creative if you commit to taking action to carry out your plans. Switch gears and visualize your steps, write them down and follow your own steps with the map you’ve created.

Survival Thinking Experiencers
If you find yourself overwhelmed with concerns about the future or your ability to stay on top of things, stay positive and remember how talented you are, be confident that with your ability to cope in the past. Make room and time for your favorite stress-related activities such as: cooking, reading, napping, exercise, time with your family or friends. If you have slipped out of your healthy habits be kind to yourself and remember you can schedule time for self-care. It’s time to make yourself a priority by going back to the basics: get enough sleep, eat healthy and stay active physically.

Emotional Brilliance @Work

Today it is especially important to understand self-trust as and how this relates to your ability to build trust with others. It begins with being present. It also means being open and giving value to the process of learning, practicing and strengthening your Emotional Brilliance™. This may require a commitment and discipline. The practice of strengthening your Emotional Brilliance is vital for the changes you are experiencing today, this relates to personal changes as well as those you may experience within business enterprises, work environments, educational organizations, and communities.

Use these recommendations listed below to develop a practice for developing your Emotional Brilliance. Remember this means giving yourself permission and time to:

- Stay present—don’t look too far back our too far ahead
- Reflect about your current experiences
- Consider the truth of your emotional experience during this reflection time
- Identify your emotions as they come up
- Do not judge your emotions or assign a label such as good or bad
- Avoid reacting to your emotional experience, slow down your process if need be
- View your emotional experience as a component of your perspective, not the end all be all
- When you express yourself, practice expressing your emotions from an observational view
point, this means one that is objective and compassionate to yourself and others
- Integrate the wisdom of your emotional language with your choices

Emotional Brilliance: Expanding Self-Trust

Emotions are a language. They are necessary for self-understanding. Emotions are not facts. The value of the language within our emotions is not good, bad, positive, nor negative. These are simply labels we have assigned to emotions in order to express our opinions of our experience or our beliefs about a particular situation. Avoid judging your emotions in this way. Why is this an important topic to explore? Because self-trust is vital when your goal is to lead and manage others effectively.

Our emotions are signals to let us know something is happening and they provide an opportunity to learn something about ourselves or find out something significant or unique about ourselves. They are natural builders and personal messengers that can help you strengthen relationships with others as well as yourself.

Trust starts from within; being committed to growing trust with yourself and others begins with having your own relationship with self-trust. Let’s explore the emotional brilliance of fear and how it is often the other side of the coin for trust, safety and even fun. When you experience fear or a lack of safety these emotions may be telling you it is time to look at how you define safety? Trust? Or even faith? It could be signaling you to take a risk and open up to new possibilities, or to consider what you care deeply about and how these emotions are manifesting attention to what you care about. Fear could be nudging you to stop limiting yourself and support your vitality.

Ask yourself the following questions to learn more you safety, fear and fun interact with our ability to experience and maintain self-trust:

- Are you willing to listen to yourself and witness your thoughts and feelings?
- Can you objectively understand your current situation?
- What fears or concerns do you need to acknowledge for yourself currently?
- What fears or changes are you possibly avoiding?
- Are you imagining the worst types of possibilities? Explain.
- Where and how is trust and self-trust playing a part in your current situation?
- How can you grow more self-trust?
- How could fun and humor support you now?
- What can you do to promote a sense of safety as well as fun or humor for yourself now?
- How can you be more compassionate with yourself or others so you can trust your ability to deal with the current circumstances?
- How can your own values support your next steps and choices?
- What is your priority?
- What do you need to reflect on next?

Promoting People's Brilliance: August 2009

Fabulous Art
I know so many talented people and I wanted to tell you about a local artist, Connie Kroskin. I can't help but promote her brilliance. You can preview her work at: http://www.conniekroskin.com

A Great Read
Feeling like you can't afford a vacation? Read The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. You can find out more on his website at: http://www.ericweinerbooks.com/content/index.asp

10 Healthy Lunches Ideas You Can Take To Work
In case you were wondering there are "grown-up lunch" ideas available, including recipes and a grocery list to make it easier. You can find this link at: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cheap-and-healthy-brown-bag-lunch-ideas-for-grownups

Stress Solutions Using Keyssential Insights

Will we look back at 2009 as one of the most stressful years in our lifetime? So far this year, I’ve witnessed more situations involving symptoms that reflect people are under immense stress. I’ve termed these symptoms The Grip, describing an overuse of peoples’ strengths. When individuals or groups apply their strengths repeatedly to high impact situations our strengths over time do become inflexible and cannot function with the same capacity, flexibility and impact. This can lead to a one-dimensionality of our strengths, in turn producing more stress or an environment that accelerates and heightens ineffective pressures.

Leaders in business environments are using logic-based Keyssential Facet strengths at this time to the point of overuse. These include the Analyzing and Reasoning Facets, to create solutions, make decisions, and respond to the change that is required. An overuse of Analyzing and Reasoning strengths can produce more unnecessary stress as well as a lack of innovation and well-rounded decision-making. Read on to learn how to use Keyssential Facet strengths to alleviate or remove The Grip experience:

Analyzers often need Empathizers
This means letting your highly active mind rest and take a recess from the process of continuously assessing circumstances or dilemmas. Restore a creative state with relaxation. Apply Empathy to your current situation. Start by asking yourself what activity would be supportive of you at this time. You may want to invite someone you trust, who possesses the Empathizer strengths, to talk with you. Perhaps you can ask this Empathizer to help you empathize with others, specifically with people within your organization. Empathy does not require you to be emotional, it simply means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and applying the insight gained from this experience.

Reasoners often need Sympathizers
This means taking a break from talking or telling others about your opinions, current recommendations or vision. Allow your nature to shift gears and channel your advocacy abilities into something new—creating quiet for yourself. If this is difficult write down your thoughts and aspirations. Find a trusted Sympathizer to share the quiet and after some time ask this person if they would be wiling to read your writings and interview you, asking questions about your current circumstances. Ask them to help you find your values related to these situations and discuss what this means. Let your Sympathizer partner play back what they have heard. This will help you greatly. If you do not have access to a Sympathizer read your writings out loud to yourself, afterwards ask yourself how your values impact your view points and opinions.

If you are interested in learning more about Promoting Brilliance’s Keyssential™ Communication Programs featuring individual coaching and workshop formats contact Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com

New Collaboration Leadership Tools

If you or your organization is interested in improving collaboration leadership skills- Promoting Brilliance is offering a new on-line survey process, which supports learning and development within these specific areas. The survey process identifies over 30 competencies, qualities, and traits needed for mastering collaboration leadership. Our comprehensive process allows you to take a self-assessment as well as collect survey feedback from direct reports, partners, colleagues, peers, and customers.

These survey tools are a component of Promoting Brilliance's leadership and career consulting programs.

If you are interested in learning more about Promoting Brilliance’s collaboration leadership skill development, or our other individual coaching programs and workshops please contact Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com.

Drama Busting Tips

It’s been a year of ups and downs and with these cycles it is natural to experience some drama. We’re often asked what can be done to prevent drama distractions. Our Promoting Brilliance consulting partners compiled a list of tips that we've shared over the last few months with clients, partners, and colleagues. Remember, above all else--make time to slow down and room to reflect before responding. Here are more suggestions:

- Commit to a new practice of letting go of “judging” others
- Keep your sense of humor, when you cannot find it be sure to go find it
- Take responsibility, when issues arise do not blame others
- Do not invest in gossip or hearsay
- Compete with business competitors, not with coworkers or customers
- View complaints as opportunities
- Create clear agreements with others
- Know what is expected of one another
- Let people know when they are making a contribution that impacts you
- Express gratitude and appreciation regularly
- Be specific when giving feedback, avoid the use of “You…” statements
- Respect your boundaries and those of others
- Speak-up, take action and make decisions when you are calm
- Remember your personal feelings are not facts, wait if need be for the intensity of your feelings to pass before responding to others or making decisions

Leadership Brilliance™ Reflections

Actions That Develop Innovation & Strategic Thinking

Most of my clients are looking to innovation and strategic thinking as solutions for their current career, collaboration or leadership dilemmas. Too often people believe there is a "secret plan that is out there", that is out of reach or has not yet released and communicated by their organizations. Of course this belief is not true and counter productive, resulting in too much time today spent waiting for something to happen. Being innovative, thinking and acting strategically is simpler to incorporate on a daily basis then we often realize. It requires a willingness to show-up and champion the approaches listed below.

Here’s what you can do to innovate and take strategic action:

- Anticipate and thoroughly explore what is changing
- Demonstrate and examine situations from a multitude of viewpoints
- Appreciate conflicting perspectives expressed by others (including clients)
- Recognize and respect the implications of differing approaches and choices
- Simplify priorities for action and to ensure productivity
- Learn from your choices and risks; incorporate your lessons
- Navigate change without isolating others or avoiding new challenges
- Actively present recommendations that includes current changes
- Infuse analysis with current market information
- Create “what if” scenarios to challenge the status quo
- Make time to understand peoples’ roles, strengths and contributions
- Coach and direct others to innovate by recommending they suggest new approaches to projects
- Communicate regularly about how current change is impacting the organization’s vision and specific objectives
- Realize that course corrections arise quickly and need to be addressed and communicated due to the nature of today’s business climate

Career Headline News

Demand for Skilled Labor
Employers are looking for people who have acquired exact skills, first through education, often just high school and vocational training, and then by honing it on the job. This is often going without notice in the government's standard employment data, employers are need applicants for certain occupations. Most of these jobs involve skills that take years to attain. Employers. This list includes:

- Experienced Welders
- Critical Care Nurse
- Special Education Teachers
- Geotechnical Engineers, trained in geology and engineering
- Respiratory Therapists
- Electrical Lineman, skilled in stringing high-voltage wires
- Special Education Teachers
- Civil Engineers

Reaching Our Potential
A McKinsey & Company report, The Economic Impact of The Achievement Gap in American Schools predicted that the USA Gross National Product (GNP) would have been $1.3-2.3 trillion higher if the achievement gap between the USA and its international peers such as Finland and Korea were closed by 1998. It's 2009 and we have yet to close the gap.

The report demonstrates that the underutilization of human potential in the USA is extreme and costly. For individuals—avoidable shortfalls in the academic achievement often means lower earnings, poorer health, and higher rates of incarceration. For the USA as a whole—the McKinsey report indicates that the USA wastes $3-5 billion a day by not closing the achievement gap.

Career & Life Blending - Healthy News

Foods That Can Help You Beat Stress

Stress can send anyone looking for sweets or fatty snacks, and it often has nothing to actually do with willpower. Carbohydrates can stimulate an especially powerful release of hormones that relieve stress.

Leigh Gibson, PhD and senior research fellow at the University College London studies the link between stress and food. His current research is concerned with influences on appetite and food choice, and their interaction with stress, health, and cognitive and emotional well-being. He has found there are specific foods that can help you during stressful times that are healthy for you overtime. His research recommends incorporating this following list of foods into your daily meals on a regular basis:

- Fresh fruit
- Tomato soup
- Oatmeal
- Whole wheat toast with fruit based jams
- Multi grain waffles with light or natural syrup
- Sweet potato or baked potato
- Lightly sweetened whole grain cereals

Happy Hour Alternatives For Your Group

Career & Life Blending Workshops

Invite your friends and colleagues to your own Promoting Brilliance Happy Hour Event. Beth Wellesley will deliver this unique and effective Career & Life Blending program. This topic supports optimism and health in your career and life.

JOIN US IF YOU ARE
- Transitioning in your career or personal life
- Looking for peace of mind or ways to make the most of your career and life
- Seeking creative ideas to uplift yourself and those you care about
- Wondering how to design your life with intention and room for your priorities
- Curious about how you can actively engage Promoting Brilliance for yourself, friends and family

WORKSHOP FOCUS
- Ability to see how your brilliance can help (and hinder) you during times of stress and change
- Fresh attitudes, beliefs and innovative technologies that create positive change
- Tools that will help you visually articulate which roles and values are in your line of focus
- Guide for centering yourself when facing unexpected change or emotionally charged situations
- The opportunity to develop an individualized career life blending plan

UPCOMING EVENTS
Contact Beth Wellesley at 612.824.0454 to schedule a group event. These workshops are two-hours in length. We require at least 4-participants, and recommend recruiting up to 12 people for these Happy Hour events.

INVEST IN YOU
The cost of the workshop is $90.00, and if you sign-up for any of our Promoting Brilliance programs or services after the workshop event, we will deduct the cost of the workshop from programs that you select.

REGISTRATION
Please register by completing the Workshop on-line survey, which can be found at: www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB2294CMTWXM9. If you have any questions or would like to talk with Beth Wellesley directly you can reach her at beth@promotingbrilliance.com or 612.824.0454.

Leadership Brilliance™ Tips

Engaging People & Growing Trust

Trust is a complex subject. Some people believe trust is conditional and therefore you can't trust everybody. The truth is that is more likely that this belief—of not trusting others—has more to do with us than it does with them.

We could list many reasons why people don’t trust, yet there is more to be gained by looking at what creates trust. People trust individuals, teams, and even organizations that demonstrate:

- Respect
- Reliability and consistency
- Authentic confidence (not just ego confidence)
- The ability to listen and be responsive
- The ability to honor what they say or promise
- Boundaries and priorities
- Willingness to be open and direct (not talking with someone else)
- Responsibility for mistakes
- Appreciation for the contributions of others

Think of trust as an action not as a destination. Trust is something another person gives—to receive it you must be trustworthy. Try focusing on three things when you are interacting with someone, these include: being respectful, credible and dependable. These three leadership qualities will help you grow trust, which will improve engagement on your teams. This may require learning more about how others define and perceive respectful interactions as well as how to communicate effectively in order to be consistent.

Leveraging Your Competency Currency™

Awareness is the first step in the creative process. As you grow in self-awareness you will better understand why you make the choices you make, and what possibilities and choices are available to you. Self-understanding and acceptance will give you the opportunity and freedom to change those things you would like to change—and create the career and life you envision.

Competency Currency™ supports self-awareness and acceptance. It is an outcome that combines assessing your skills, values, and strengths that coincides with the current climate of your organization or marketplace.

Simply put, it is a process for gaining self-awareness to help you navigate change within your career, your organization, and your field or industry.

Using this “self-assessment” process promotes and expresses an understanding for the value proposition that occurs at a specific time within your career. Ultimately it provides a clear and concrete platform to reflect on the necessary steps for prioritizing decision-making in an ever-changing environment. It supports enterprise priorities, grows trust between people, delivers outcomes, and facilitates communication needed for collaboration.

Competency Currency should not be seen as an objective measurement, but should be viewed as a socially constructed object. Competencies are ranked differently at different times between people and within organizations. Any sort of human trait could be an object of social construction. It is how those traits are perceived and communicated that provides the range of fluctuation for measuring Competency Currency in any environment. An important condition for this is a willingness to learn how to look at oneself objectively, to be honest with oneself in terms of identifying areas of professional improvement, and to be open to feedback from others.

Leveraging your identified competencies within a group can provide a “currency” that may identify you as a potential peer partner or leader for new or existing initiatives. Consider this: What is your Competency Currency at this time? Is it time to invest and learn how to raise your Competency Currency within your organization?

It is important to evaluate your own professional behavior in relation to innovation and performance improvement. Direct and concrete feedback on your competencies can serve as a combined evaluation from inside and outside yourself. Gaining this recognition capability will come from using a process for evaluating your values and intellect that resides within. Your ability and talent for focusing and direction will be the outward manifestation of the process Promoting Brilliance utilizes and you will know in highly efficient ways, how to find it inside—and—use it outside.

You're In Change Now

Now is the time for organizations and individuals to focus on reinvention and growing confidence. You and your people must have a clear sense of what your purpose is and the skill sets to get there. Promoting Brilliance, Inc. offers an active solution—Leadership Brilliance™—a customized coaching program designed for leaders and managers at various stages of their career experience.

By identifying the Competency Currency™ of individuals at this significant point in time, program participants’ strengthen communication strategies necessary for productive performance and effective business relationships. Embrace the change and draw on the innovation needed to understand how to think strategically. Use reflection to focus on the skills needed for effective leadership.

Learn more about our Leadership Brilliance™ programs by contacting:

Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454, beth@promotingbrilliance.com or
Michael Peterson at (612) 824-0098, michael@promotingbrilliance.com

Transforming Workplace Stress Using Drama Busting Tools

Be self-aware not self-involved in order to increase productivity!

The changes that are impacting the current workplace are fueling anxiety and angst. Combined with the tendency of co-workers to act out their fear creates unwanted workplace stress. The Promoting Brilliance Drama Busting Workshop demonstrates effective and flexible tools to restructure perceptions that will help you re-purpose and re-focus when stress, personal differences, or outlooks arise.

Learn how the identities that reside under the headings of Rescuer, Victim and Persecutor, form a Drama Triangle that many in the workplace take on, sometimes unwittingly. Promoting Brilliance’s Drama Busting Workshop enables participants to navigate future dramas and engender productive outcomes. Participants will learn how to identify and implement practices that obviate situations that many of us encounter on a regular basis.

Schedule a Drama Busting Workshop for you and your group by contacting:

Beth Wellesley at (612) 824-0454, beth@promotingbrilliance.com or
Michael Peterson at (612) 824-0098, michael@promotingbrilliance.com

What is A Collaboration Pilot?

Collaboration Pilots™ are people who possess high R-Factor, meaning they embody high levels of both responsibility + respect within their career/life choices and interactions. They are predisposed to promote collaboration and champion the need to teach and facilitate collaboration.

R-Factor Leaders naturally possess the following characteristics:

- A desire to make a difference
- Embody respect
- Epitomize a high standard of themselves, being responsible
- Contain core confidence
- Maintain high levels of accountability
- Exemplify integrity
- Being power infusers, rather than power mongers
- Express a collaborative spirit
- Realize the importance of showing-up with others
- Care about organizational Competency Currency™

Competency Currency™ is an assessment of an individual’s skills, values, natural career strengths, and performance that coincide with the current business climate of the person’s organization or marketplace.

People with high R-Factor need to develop individual self-care strategies to avoid being or becoming over tired or even resentful on the voyage within their roles as Collaboration Pilots™.

Promoting Brilliance’s Career & Life Blending program provides the tools, process and support required for building self-care strategies. These strategies include the fundamentals for understanding an individual’s organizational Competency Currency™ and the how to effectively and authentically utilize these assets.

9 Ways To Cultivate Your Leadership Brilliance™

In today’s world it’s a great idea to learn more about your leadership brilliance and even how to lead yourself if you are not in a leadership role at work. Find out what makes you shine when you’re tasked with leadership responsibilities and decisions.

Our choices reflect how we show-up. We are not always aware that we can make as individuals because of our attitudes, focus, and communication.

Our individual engagement is potent. These choices create experiences and impressions that can cultivate the environments and relationship we interact with over time.

The experience we create is a factor of our Leadership Brilliance and creates Competency Currency™ that touches both work related and personal relationships with fellow collaborators, friends and family.

Yes—it’s all about showing up!

9 ways you can cultivate your Leadership Brilliance:

1. Value the contributions of others and let people know you are appreciative.
2. Stop to listen to yourself when things are not going as planned or expected. Avoid reacting.
3. Define what you value, lean on this when you are worried, in doubt or fearful.
4. Make time weekly to be innovative or look for alternative options and resources.
5. Practice respect and graciousness in all communications: meetings, email, and phone.
6. Let people know immediately when something is not working, avoid assigning personal blame. Be fair and objective.
   
7. Be prepared for what you will do to prevent yourself from becoming distracted by drama.
8. Synthesize your leadership strengths and development needs; don’t use these as an excuse.
9. Reflect on lessons learned in your career and use this wisdom as you move forward.

Cardio-Career Consulting Services

Beth Wellesley will continue to offer coaching and career development sessions with a walking format this fall. Our clients have found this experience very beneficial to our programs and services with an opportunity to walk and talk. Promoting Brilliance’s offices are located just a few blocks from the Lake Harriet Rose Garden walking paths, which makes it very attractive.

Our individual consulting sessions are 1.5 hours long, meetings begin with 45-60 minutes of walking. The remainder of your time takes place at the Promoting Brilliance offices to hydrate, as well as document and review the next steps discussed for development.

Bring your walking shoes or let Beth know in advance of your meeting. And please think of this as an opportunity to promote your physical & career health!

Contact Beth Wellesley for more information at: (612) 824-0454 or beth@promotingbrilliance.com