Soft Skills In the IT Environment – Part 2 of 2Written by Carole Nicolaides
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Does coaching really work? Even most skeptical of people have been impressed. One Associated Press article reports this occurrence: “When his boss first offered him a coach, Ken Saji, a director for MTV Networks, hedged a bit. "I didn't want anything touchy-feely," he says. ”The 30-year-old, who considers himself a bit of an introvert, wanted to show more leadership in meetings. His coach suggested he build on his analytical nature to become an "active listener," who distills what's been said and offers new suggestions. "I feel I perform 100 percent better in areas we worked on," Saji says. "I'm now much more confident and more self-aware."” Coaching can be conducted via telephone, email, or in person, so regardless of pace of your schedule, there is always time to improve. Considering results coaching brings to table, investment of time and money are both well worth it.
Carole Nicolaides is president and founder of Progressive Leadership, Inc., an executive coaching firm. She assists companies in creating high-performance teams and leaders that produce outstanding results. Discover her free ezine, teleclass training and consulting in Knowledge Management, Coaching and Leadership Development when you visit http://www.progressiveleadership.com.
| | CHRISTMAS COMMANDOS MAKE YOUR YEAR-END EVENT A “TOTAL VICTORY”Written by Boyd Hooper
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Their claim to have a world of experience between them, may just be undersell of year as Christmas Commandos have a track record of success that has taken them into culture battles of corporate America, joining forces with such clients as CIA, Sisters of St. Josephs, Abbot Laboratories, PeopleSoft, Panasonic, Intel, Microsoft, Texaco, Nike, Ford Motor Company, Purdue University, Environmental Protection agency, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines to help them achieve victories in their everyday corporate battles to motivate employees and improve productivity. When asked about why they teamed up to create Christmas Commandos, Kirk and Don responded with one voice, “We were catching up at a monthly breakfast meeting telling each other war stories about our road warrior lifestyles when familiar topic of doing something together came up again. This time though, we decided to do something about it, so we identified what we thought was a significant need: Year-end entertainment that wasn't lame.” “We reviewed every corporate Christmas event that we had ever subject to and found majority lacking anything that could said to have any real lasting impact. We decided then and there to do something about it. Whatever we did should be high energy, high impact, or what Rangers term, ‘Hooah!’ But it should have substance; rich meaty motivational content that people could reflect on and digest long after event was over. Since this is what we both has been doing professionally for several years anyway, we felt confident we could deliver it in a year ending theme, Christmas, New Years, or whatever.” What exactly can you expect in Commandos unwrap their explosive package? It is a creative and charismatic blend of humor, parody, improv, and motivational content that involves and engages audience from start to finish. By end of this engagement you will have laughed, cried, sang army cadence, and maybe even kissed a Grinch, and re-committed yourself to a higher standard of personal and professional excellence and achievement. These are two well-read Commandos and you can expect to hear integrated into their message war doctrine from business battle books such as, Good to Great, Shackelton's Way, Raving Fans, Execution, and many other business best sellers. Tom Peters is a personal hero of Commando Kirk Weisler who says that, "Anyone who has read Tom Peters’ series of books about making work matter will recognize right away our attempt to make Christmas Commandos a ‘WOW’ event." When asked about how name “Christmas Commandos” came to be, Kirk said, It was literally first thing that came to our minds…and we liked ring it had. “Perhaps we should have given more consideration to political-correctness of Christmas Commandos, but we liked ring of it better than Holiday Commandos, Year-End Commandos, or anything else. We have already had some calls from ‘PC Police’ at some organizations that want presentation, but want to make sure we don't mention manger scene or any religious symbolism.” I am hopeful that after all our nation has been through in this past year we can avoid getting hung up on “Christmas” part of our tag line, and look at intent of our mission.” Q: So this was a military operation from beginning? A: Heck no, “Our original intent in choosing Commando theme was to convey a sense of high energy, fun, involvement, and motivation. We didn't even intend to do presentation in military fatigues, but that is impression that most people are getting from website. Heck, if they pay fee, we'll dress in “almost” anything! Our mission is to make a difference, have maximum impact and lasting value, and achieve long-term results. This is about so much more than a corporation’s year-end event. Our intention is to help their units celebrate their achievements and victories of this past year. To recognize and pay respects to fallen comrades, and then to focus on year and missions ahead… rally troops and help these corporate commandos Take next hill!” We will laugh with them, cry with them, sing with them, push them to push themselves, rally their fighting spirit with powerful content, focus them on future, and kiss them goodbye with Grinch. We think they’ll never have experienced anything like what we’re bringing.” Without question Commandos are two spirited men on a mission. As for bringing “Total Victory” to your year-end event, these guys could make taking Baghdad look easier than hanging stockings by chimney with care. To learn more about Commandos visit their web site they specifically designed for this mission at www.teamdynamics.com/cc
Boyd Hooper is a web development and marketing expert who runs Fortius Group an idea studio dedicated to providing creative marketsolutions for web based advertising and promotion.
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