Posts from the success Category
News About Beth
August 27th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
My latest Training Series Success at Work has now been endorsed by NEHRA. NEHRA is New England’s premier human resources association. Its mission is to lead, advance and influence the management of human resources and its impact on organizational success. The Success at Works trainings have also been endorsed by Project Management Institute, International Coach Federation, HR Certification Institute and MBTI Master Practitioner.
3 Ways To Reduce Stress
August 7th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
3 Ways To Reduce Stress:
- Show up five minutes early. Everyone knows the feeling: You’re running late, stuck in traffic, glancing at your watch every 30 seconds in frustration. Give yourself extra time to get wherever you need to go. Being an early bird will kill stress by giving you more control over your day and your commitments.
- Exercise 20 – 25 minutes – 5 times a week. Stress makes your body produce two hormones: cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals put your body into fight-or-flight mode, ratcheting up your energy level and causing your heart to pound and your muscle to tense. Exercise gives you an outlet to reduce some of that tension. A good workout also increases your levels of “feel-good” chemicals called endorphins.
- Enjoy the company of friends. Socializing releases oxytocin, a chemical that can help combat stress hormones and lower your blood pressure. Just knowing you’re not alone can go a long way toward coping with stress.
How Engaged Are You in Your Career?
July 15th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
Engagement is a key factor for individuals to enjoy their career and for companies to be able to retain the employees that make an impact on the business. So what do we really mean by engagement anyway? I see engagement as an alignment of job satisfaction (“I like my work and do it well)” with maximum job contribution (“I help achieve the goals of the organization”). Engaged employees are not just committed and proud. They have a sight on their future and on how they can make a difference for their employer’s business success.
Lots of organizations are doing research on engagement. The latest study by BlessingWhite in 2011, found some interesting findings:
- Fewer than 1 in 3 employees worldwide (31%) are engaged. Nearly 1 in 5 (17%) are actually disengaged.
- Despite the challenges of the economic recession, engagement levels around the world remained roughly stable when comparing early 2008 and mid – 2010.
- Yet more employees are looking for new opportunities outside their organization than they were in 2008, suggesting that 2011 may be a challenging year for retention.
Consistent with other findings, two factors top the list of satisfaction drivers for employees in nearly every region across every engagement level: “career development opportunities and training” and “more opportunities to do what I do best.” Individuals also want a better relationship with their manager. This supports the drive of companies and specifically managers to spend time and really understand what drives your employees and provide regular feedback to develop and enhance trust. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to facilitate career discovery and development trainings in progressive organizations. These companies are ahead of their time. By supporting your employees to become clear on their interests, skills and values you are providing a key development strategy. The greater fit a company can have with their business needs and the employee’s strengths, everyone is going to benefit!
Spark your Success Tip-Determine Your Engagement Level and Become More Proactive!
June 29th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
It is important that we take responsibility for our engagement. Individuals must:Own your engagement. You come to work with unique motivators, interests and talents. You cannot expect the organization to provide an exact set of tasks or conditions to fit your personal definition of satisfying work. You are ultimately responsible for being proactive for personal and professional success.
Be clear on your core values and goals. If you do not know what is important to you, you will not find it in your current job or potentially any other. Take the time and be clear on your motivators.
Take action. You need to take the initiative to build your skill sets, articulate your interests and identify ways to apply your talents to achieve the organization’s goals. Set a monthly goal that focuses on engagement
The Magic of Leadership
May 16th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
An exciting part of my coaching practice is when I have an opportunity to interview innovative leaders and their reports. When I interview their reports they share the unique magical aspects that make their managers such incredible leaders.
Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baxter International, Harry Kraemer, has written a back to basics book on value- based leadership: From Values to Action. He presents four interconnected principles that are key ingredients to effective leadership.
The first principle is self-reflection. “If you do not know yourself, how can you lead yourself? If you cannot lead yourself, how can you possibly lead others?” Self- reflection makes it possible to answer key questions like, what is most important? and What should we be doing? This provides clarity and makes sure you’re in line with your strengths and values and organizational goals. Leaders need to be clear on their Myers Briggs personality type so they are aware of their natural strengths and opportunity areas.
The next principle is balance and perspective, being able to understand all sides of an issue. Kraemer says, “My task was to recognize when a particular perspective offered by one of my team members was the best answer.” He uses the term life balance over work-life balance because it’s not an either or proposition. The leaders that have the magic know how to focus on balance in their career and personal life as well!
The third principle, true self-confidence is knowing what you know and what you don’t know. Leadership is not about always needing to be right. The final principle is genuine humility. Genuine humility helps you recognize that you ought to respect everyone equally and not treat anyone differently just because of a job title. I learned this skill from my Dad who always respected every person he encountered in such a positive engaging way.
Kraemer describes a leader well: “Self –reflection increases self-awareness. Balance encourages the individual to seek out different perspectives from all team members and to change their mind when appropriate in order to make the best possible decisions. With true self-confidence, they easily share credit with their team. Genuine humility allows them to connect with everyone because no one is more important than anyone else.” These principles can be applied to individual contributors or individuals in leadership roles and the magic will appear!
Spark your Success Tip-Display empathy towards others.
March 14th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
Every person you work with is worthy of your respect and empathy. Listen without judging. Don’t cut people off in the middle of a sentence. Take the feelings and perspectives of others into account. Sometimes we get too busy and forget to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes.
Beth
Spark your Success Tip-Write in a Journal
February 21st, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
Research indicates that those who keep a “gratitude journal” achieve better physical health, are more optimistic, exercise more regularly, and describe themselves as happier.
Quick Tips:
- Keep a journal by your bed and try to write in it at least once a week. Bring it when you are traveling or have appointments and know you will be waiting around.
- Pay attention to whatever gives you energy and amazes you! Capture these ideas in your journal.
Beth
How to Have a Happier 2011!
January 14th, 2011 by Beth Kennedy
There are lots of obvious ways to be happier! These include exercising, time with friends, having a career you enjoy, taking vacations, eating chocolate 
, and thinking and being more positive! The suggestion I am going to make is to address conflict more proactively in your life whether at work or at home. In my first career as an outreach counselor, I developed a program to assist elementary students to deal with conflict. The teachers really found it made an impact not only among the students but with staff as well. I find now, working mostly with adults, conflict is still a major issue that tends to be ignored creating tension for all parties involved.
My colleague, Ed Evarts and I recently facilitated a webinar, Navigate Conflict for Success. We were happily shocked to find out that over 800 people signed up for this webinar. Conflict is one of those elephants in the room situations. It sometimes is easier for most to avoid rather than address.
A 2008 CPP Global Human Capital Report surveyed 5,000 full time employees in nine countries across the globe. The results support the need for all of us to address conflict more productively. 85% of all employees at all levels experience conflict to some degree. Employees in the United States spent 2.8 hours per week dealing with conflict. 27% of employees have witnessed conflict morph into a personal attack. 25% of employees say that the avoidance of conflict resulted in sickness or absence from work. There it is…you can see the amount of stress that conflict is causing on a daily basis.
I teach my clients a four step process to have in their tool box to address conflict. The first step is Assess. Assess the conflict. What are the facts, impact and importance of resolving? The second step is Plan. This is the step where your own self awareness is key. You need to be really clear on the natural strengths of your personality and also your blind spots. In MBTI language there is a term we call being in “the grip” when you are really stressed. Many conflicts can be prevented when we focus on how we are behaving and take responsibility for what we bring to the situation. The third step is Engage. How will you start the conversation, hear them out, look for areas of agreement and walk your talk! The final step is monitor. This is where you check in with yourself and the other person involved to check on the progress as time goes on. Conflict is not a black and white situation but you will see your skills improve once you make the conscious decision to deal with conflict situations.
It sounds strange that dealing with conflicts can actually make someone happier, but the research does support this idea. As we continue to ignore conflict, individuals end up having more health and stress related issues. Sometimes it is just taking that first step of assessing that can result in a more productive, happier day!
Beth
The Grinch has Gratitude!!
December 31st, 2010 by Beth Kennedy
This time of the year can be so stressful! It can be the most wonderful time of the year, but I find myself with more lists than I know what to do with and a feeling of overwhelm. A great strategy I learned from my Dad many years ago to get through this busy time of year is to focus on gratitude.
Living in gratitude is more than just thinking positively. When a person concentrates on being grateful, it gives them something to actually look for and pay attention to. One of the best ways to reduce stress is to make the choice to focus on what you are grateful for. Research indicates that being grateful make us better people, both professionally and personally.
Some people are really disciplined and keep a gratitude journal where they capture on a daily or weekly basis a few things they are thankful for. I tend to have gratitude thoughts every morning and then before I go to bed.
My latest gratitude thoughts have been:
My eight year old daughter asking me if Santa would mind if she only put 3 things on her Christmas list and ask him to surprise her with the rest!
Seeing my twelve year old daughter play her trombone in her first holiday jazz band concert.
My business gratitude thought was finding out that on my latest conflict webinar, my colleague Ed Evarts and I had over 850 people sign up and over 500 people attend. A special thanks to my clients and colleagues for your interest and support!
My wellness gratitude goes to my boot camp trainer who manages to motivate me at 5:30 am twice a week!
Living in gratitude is a source of inspiration for yourself and others. If you have not recently watched Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, it may be time to. Even though we all know the ending is filled with gratitude there is something so magical to see how thankful the Whovillians are even when the crotchety Grinch tries to rob them of their Christmas!
Wishing you and your family a very healthy and happy holiday season!! A special thanks to all the referrals that have kept my business moving forward!
Happy New Year!
Beth
Are You Engaged In Social Networking?
December 8th, 2010 by Beth Kennedy
Another key area emphasized at the Career Director’s 2010 International Conference, I attended in San Diego was social media. It is important to leverage social media whether you are happily employed or job hunting. It is critical for professional branding and ongoing career management. LinkedIn continues to be the key social networking site that all individuals need to be paying attention to. LinkedIn has a global reach, with over 75 million members in over 200 countries with diverse industry mix.
Two of my coaching colleagues Diane Compton and Ellen Sautter presented some key points from their new book: Find a Job Through Social Networking. They shared some key steps for effective job search and career management. These include:
- Develop a complete profile: Do you have your picture on your profile? Do you have a summary that highlights your brand? Have you joined some groups and associations? These are just a few suggestions to assist you in having a complete profile.
- Grow your network – invite: Find and select former colleagues and classmates that you trust and invite them to join your network. Take the time and invite contacts one by one so you can personalize the invite message.
- Give and get recommendations: We all know the magic formula for success… passed behavior equals future success. Do not be shy in asking customers and Managers for recommendations. Having a good resume is not enough. Endorsements that show impact are a key asset to career management.
- Search for companies: Are you aware that LinkedIn has a new feature that you can follow companies and learn about recent hiring and new openings? Check out this feature under the Company heading.
- Network activity update: The update section is a great area to share networking activities that you may be attending. It shows that you are staying up to date with your industry. This will also motivate you to make some networking and professional development goals so you can post some new updates.
My clients keep asking, “How much social networking do I really need to do.” Do I have to be focused on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and have a blog? There is no right answer for this question. It always comes back to LinkedIn being the most professional business social networking site. A lot depends on your time and interests. Many people decide to keep Facebook as a more friend based networking site and others find twitter interesting but do not have the time to engage with it. Having a blog is also something that takes a regular commitment and can be a great asset if you have the motivation and interest.
As I mentioned last month, the greatest career insurance you can have is to continue to connect with others. Social networking is a great tool but it is important to make sure you are making time to actually meet face to face with people as that is so important in developing strong relationships.