5. Offer benefits other than money. Money is not “be all, end all” of a relationship with your intern. Many interns are looking to learn new skills which can best be learned in a real-life scenario. They also know importance of networking and possibilities that might accrue by meeting right person at right time. In addition, if they really enjoy experience (and you do, too), they’ll want you to write them a letter of recommendation or serve as a reference in future.

There are other ways you can “compensate” your intern. Consider developing a coaching program for them which entails teaching them your business in an organized manner. Teach them steps of creating a business from scratch. By having them assist with all aspects of business, you may be opening up door for them to start their own.

Consider offering them commissioned-based compensation based upon product or service sales they close on their own. Or, you might design an internship where they can earn college credit. Contact appropriate faculty member in charge of credit-based internship programs to see if you might be able to create a development program which will fulfill some of their elective credit hour requirements. 6. Minimum requirements. Before you’re ready to contact your local college or university to place advertisement for an intern, make sure you have following information ready:

• Company Name • Company Address • Your Name • Telephone Number (you may not wish to give out your telephone number so that applicants are forced to submit resumes through fax or via email) • Fax Number • Email Address • Job Description (including complete list of expected tasks, expected number of hours to be worked, days to be worked (if necessary), hourly rate of pay (if applicable), negotiable rate (if you wish to evaluate their qualifications before setting a rate) • Type of college major desired (business administration, accountancy, finance, computer science, etc.) • How best to contact you (phone or email) and what to send (resume, letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.)

7. Contact career services. Once you’ve gathered all necessary information, contact career services center of several local colleges and universities. They will either give you online access to a system where you can input your job description information, or you can simply provide them with information and they will do it for you. Once your posting is approved, it will be made available for students to access.

8. Gather resumes and start interviewing. Allow your advertisement to be posted for at least two weeks. Start sorting through resumes right away to see who might be best fit. Begin setting up interviews immediately to find best candidate for position.

9. Interviewing. Ask both closed and open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions require a yes or no answer, whereas open-ended questions request explanation and elaboration. Find out about their prior work experience; ask for examples of how they’ve handled particular situations, all while carefully evaluating their communication skills. You might even ask for a copy of one their class papers to assess their writing skills. Make sure that you are comfortable with them in every aspect. After all, you will be entrusting them with your top priority – your business.

10. Status reports. You might consider asking your intern to fill out a weekly status report which tracks assignments completed, including how much time each task required. It will give intern a sense of accomplishment with respect to their contributions, while providing you with useful information about what has been completed.

11. Enjoy benefits. There’s so much to gain from building relationships with others. While intern is learning from you, you’ll be surprised at how much you will learn from him or her. Encourage them to take ownership and pride in what they are doing, praise and acknowledge them frequently for jobs well done, and welcome their comments, criticisms, and contributions.

Using college interns to help you with your business is not only a cost-effective way to get things done, but it’s a wonderful way to contribute to knowledge and experience of someone who might very well follow in your footsteps. In any case, it can be a win-win situation for everyone.

Servant Leader Philosophies - In our leadership workshops, I'll ask participants who most important person is to a company. The answer, of course, is customer. The question that follows next is, "Who is most important person in company to that customer?" Most people get that person most important to customer is one they come in contact with - "frontline". The question that follows is real key to a better understanding of servant leadership. This question is, "What, then, is job of manager of those frontline people?" The job of managers of frontline folks is to make their job as easy and as effective as possible so that customer has best experience possible! If this leadership philosophy is adopted throughout an organization, it ends up with an organizational chart that looks like an inverted pyramid. It is an organization that acknowledges importance of frontline and reflects philosophy of service throughout.

* EFFECTIVE PURPOSE, MISSION AND VALUES

An organization which inspires best effort in its people will attract kind of employees it wants and needs, and will retain them. It has a Purpose, a Mission, and a set of Values that it lives by, it effectively communicates them, and it measures its actions and decisions against them.

- Purpose is "WHY" of equation. It defines why we do what we do. Each decision and policy should take company closer to achieving its "WHY". When a company has a clearly defined purpose it begins to act as a magnet, attracting kind of people who will further purpose; people who are like-minded. Not only will having a purpose attract right people, but it will also act to retain them.

- Mission is "WHAT" of equation. It defines what company will be doing to achieve its Purpose. A mission can be fairly narrow or be somewhat broad. However, one that is too narrow can unduly restrict an organization from considering opportunities that would otherwise be an excellent fit and one that is too broad offers no guidance at all.

- Values are "HOW" of equation. Values define how Mission will be carried out in an effort to achieve Purpose. They define “rules of game”. Some of them will come to mind quite easily, things like honesty, courtesy, kindness, and ethics. But some other important values will only surface when brainstorming takes place - when different perspectives and voices are heard.

* EFFECTIVE PEOPLE SKILLS

I’ll often ask clients or workshop attendees for traits of best boss they ever had and traits of worst boss. Inevitably, I’ll get answers like: (Best) respected my ideas, worked to develop me, challenged me, listened, empowered me and let me make my own mistakes,… and (Worst) micro-managed, was overly demanding, poor communicator, mistrustful, … What’s interesting is that in no case were technical skills or intelligence of a boss either praised or condemned. All notable traits, both good and bad, had to do with people skills. The goal of effective people skills is good Relationship Management. Relationship Management encompasses ability to develop others, inspire others, influence others, resolve conflict, and build teamwork and collaboration.

CONCLUSION

The essence of exceptional leadership is ability to inspire best effort in others. When people choose to give their best effort, satisfaction increases, pride develops, innovation is born, productivity improves, stability prevails, and profitability increases. The keys to a highly performing organization are creating an inspiring environment and personally becoming an exceptional leader. We can create an inspiring environment by adopting effective leadership philosophies and clarifying a Purpose, Mission and set of Values. We can personally become a more effective leader by honing and acquiring effective people skills. Become a leader who inspires best effort in others.