Todays Women in Business

The New Rules Of Career Management: 5 Actions To Shift Your Career Into Fifth Gear

Have you noticed that colleagues and friends seem to be enjoying greater career success than you recently?

Are you wondering how you can get your career back on track?

Don’t worry, help is at hand. Here are five actions you can take to get your career back into fifth gear:

1. Get focused

If you are not sure what you want to achieve in your career your first task is to focus on your vision of success. If you know what you want to achieve in the next 5 years in your career then it will be easier to plan the actions you need to take to achieve your career goals.

Do not create a goal that you think will be acceptable to your family and friends. This is your life, your career. Create a vision of success that will inspire you to stay the course of action.

2. Turn your vision into a plan

It is great to have a vision. But how do you ensure that you vision does not just remain a dream?

The key is to ensure that you translate your vision into a career goal that you document, review and refine over time. You plan should also include actions to take to further develop your strengths and develop core capabilities that you will be required to demonstrate in the roles you seek to undertake in the future.

If you do not have specific goals that you want to achieve to support your career success in the next 12 months, take time out to draft your career goals today.

3. Acknowledge your strengths

Are you clear about your core strengths – the areas that come so naturally to you that you do not have to work at them - and the things that you are passionate about, so that when you are engaged in these areas time just flies?

Review your career history and consider those times when you not only had just the best time in the work you were doing but you were also highly successful. Were these times when you were playing to your strengths? What were the other things that contributed to your success at that time?

As you complete this review, if your CV or resume is not up to date, now would be a great time to review and up date it.

Consider how you could change your role and responsibilities in your current job to inject more of your strengths and the factors that supported your previous success.

4. Express your personal brand

One of the reasons that your career may be in neutral or has stalled is that you have not taken the time to define and fully express your personal brand – in other words, how you are differentiated from your competition.

There may be many other people seeking the same career path as you, but by developing and nurturing your personal brand you will be sure to stand out from the crowd.

5. Get known now

So often it is easy for us to be busy in the day to day activities of our role that we spend little time connecting with others both inside and outside the organisation.

Now is the time to get visible and nurture your network – the biggest mistake you could make is not beginning to nurture your network until you are looking for your next role.

Create your career networking plan so that you build your personal profile and reputation inside your business, in the local community and in your industry.

YOUR PERSONAL BRAND ACTION PLAN

Take just 90 minutes this in the next week to give your career a health check using the tips in this article.

If you are on track for the success you are looking for – fantastic!

If your career is in neutral or has stalled, what actions can you take so that you can look forward to a bright and successful career – one in which you are proud of and with accountabilities that enable you to play to your strengths and realise your full potential?

Many of us spend more time planning our vacation than our career success. The new rules of career management require that we take steps each day towards our career success.

What have you done today to ensure that you are going to enjoy greater career success in years to come?

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007. All rights reserved.

Reprinted from 'Biz Growth Express', a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices, featuring inspiration, strategies and tips to build your corporate, employer and personal brand and enjoy greater success with less stress.  Subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com and access free branding and business development teleseminars with experts from across the globe on how to build your brand and expand your professional and personal success.

Dublin City Enterprise Board Female Leaders Network

Are you a female entrepreneur based in Dublin looking for professional development support?

Well I just heard from my friend and the Deputy CEO of Dublin City Enterprise Board, Eibhlin Curley that a new network is going to be established supported by Dublin City Enterprise Board to provide customised training in areas specific to the needs of women in business. 

Funding of up to 80% of training costs and networking events is available from Skillnets, a body that supports networks of enterprises to engage in training under the Learning Networks Programme.  The network will be open to female entrepreneurs.

You can find out more at the information evening that will be held on the 13 August 2007 at 6.30pm at Mount Herbert Hotel, Herbert Rd, Lansdowne, Dublin 4.

If you are planning to attend, please contact the event organiser Pauline Logan at network@dceb.ie so they can plan numbers.

3 steps to engage your people with your business strategy

Much is spoken on the subject of being an engaging leader to support you building a magnetic employer brand, but what I am noticing is there is a lack of understanding of what employee engagement actually means.

Engaging your people is in fact about getting them actively involved and connected with the business.

Very often we do not differentiate between consultation and engagement.

Let me give you an example. A professional body I am a member of has recently been developing their new business strategy. One of the people (let's call him Fred) who was part of the working group for the new strategy is also the chair of a regional subgroup I am a member of.

In the spirit of openness and positive intent, Fred sent out a copy of the draft strategy to all members and asked for their feedback.

However when he received the responses, you could tell he had not really wanted feedback. In fact when members provided feedback to him he immediately outlined all the reasons their feedback could not be taken onboard.

The members were left with the impression that they should not have wasted their time reading the document or providing feedback as it clearly was not welcome. They quickly became disengaged in the process and Fred also lost credibility through the process.

This is no different to what goes on inside organisations through the strategic planning process.

Creating a community of people who are fully engaged in their work and who understand how their contribution connects to the bigger picture is a role we all as leaders must embrace if we are looking to create a high performing organisation.

But before you ask your people for feedback on your business strategy, check that this is really what you are looking to achieve.

I definately do not recommend creating a strategy by committee of the whole organisation. However when you develop your business strategy it is wise to seek input from as wide an audience as possible through the research you undertake to underpin your business strategy.

Once the strategy is developed, your role as a leader is then to ensure that your people understand the strategy, connect with the reasons behind your specific strategic imperatives and then are supported as they work how the strategy links with their personal accountabilities, objectives and goals - some of which may need to change or a different emphasis needs to be placed on them given key decisions you have made in the strategic plan.

Here are three steps you can take to bring your business strategy to life and create a more engaged community:

1. Oneway communication or active engagement? Decide what you really want as an outcome. If you want to share information and do not really want input from your people make sure that you are clear in your communication otherwise you will set up false expectations. If you are looking to engage your people in the business strategy, develop a communications and engagement plan to support the roll out of your business strategy.
2. Ready to engage? If you do want to engage your people in the business strategy, create your communications and engagement plan so that you enable all of your people to understand the background to the strategy in terms of the market place and your vision of success. Enable them to engage in the strategy at a team and at an individual level so that they can evaluate their current objectives and goals against the business strategy and then determine what needs to change and by when to ensure that everyones role supports the delivery of the strategy.
3. Communicate the outcomes. After the development of the revised plans by team, share the plans across the organisation alongside the measures for tracking success. This will help other departments understand how the business strategy is being brought to life in each department. It will also help avoid misunderstandings where changes in ways of working or goals have been required to align to the new business strategy.

Taking these three actions after your strategic planning process has been completed will ensure that you bring your strategy to life, create a community engaged in the business and support you building your employer brand.

Round up of blog carnivals for July 2007

If you are looking for great articles about business success, I suggest you take a look at the following blog carnivals for July 2007:

Carnival of sales management success

Make money blogging

Teaching PR

The personal development carnival

The secret of getting what you desire

Do let me know what tips and strategies you apply to your business.

Your employees impact your personal leadership brand

At every meeting with my clients I talk about how they are taking steps to bring their corporate brand, their employer brand and their personal brand to life.

But have you ever considered that as a business leader, the actions your people take not only impact how your corporate brand is perceived in the eyes of clients, business partners and other key stakeholders?

How your people behave influences how others perceive your own personal brand.

You see, the behaviour of your team reflects what you as a leader sees is acceptable behaviour - in other words what you are condoning.

As an example, today I was in a meeting with a potential client.

On arriving at the office, I was shown into the Managing Partners office.

The meeting commenced. We were in full flow of a conversation but just then the office door opened. A member of the team came into the office. The Managing Partner continued to talk, the team member came in to shuffle papers behind us, said a few works and then left.

Suprisingly to me the Managing Partner said nothing about the incident. Nor had the team member knocked the door or said "excuse me" or "sorry for interrupting you".

Then ten minutes later the same thing happened agin.

Now perhaps I am being old fashioned, but I was left with a distinct view that this was not professional behaviour.

Have my team members ever interrupted me when I have been in a meeting? Yes from time to time. But they would say "excuse me". However as a way of working, if the office door is shut and I am with a client, then they know not to disturb me unless it is an emergency.

Was the team member wrong to come in unannounced? My belief is yes.

However the lasting impression is that the Managing Partner was in fact impacting his reputation and personal brand in a negative way as this was clearly behaviour he condoned and felt was acceptable.

I wonder if this also happens when they have prospective clients with them for a meeting? How would you feel if that happened to you as a prospective client?

Building a strong reputation and personal brand as a leader and executive, remember to look arounf you in terms of what you are prepared to accept as behaviours in your team and consider if it reflects your personal leadership brand as you would like it to be perceived.

Why not take the chance to review what people coming into your business or meeting your team would take away about how your people behave and therefore what you stand for as a leader?

How to increase your chances of being a guest speaker

How do you enhance your chances of being selected as a speaker for conferences and events?

Well let me let you into some insider secrets from someone (me) who has organised hundreds of events with industry experts from across the globe.

Just yesterday I was speaking the event manager for a professional association who is planning the events for their UK organisation.

I'm heading up the Irish events team, and we were discussing how to ensure that we select great speakers for the forthcoming year. Even though we do not pay speakers, as it a not-for-profit and voluntary organisation, that does not mean that we don't want to hire engaging speakers with great content.

I was sharing with her the fact that this week I had been conducting podcast interviews for an organisation I am working with to help promote a forthcoming conference. One of the speakers who I interviewed for the podcast was so monotone and uninspiring in their deliver, that even though they have good content, I would not have hired them as a speaker if I had been the event organiser.

What I suggested to my colleague in the UK is that as part of  the selection process for the speakers for the professional association, that they include a telephone conference interview as part of the selection process. The event organiser in the UK particularly concerned about how the speaker would not only deliver content in terms of energy but also their ability to respond to questions live. Having a telephone conference would enable a number of people to be on the phone line and the speaker could then present and the panel ask questions.

If you are a speaker or want to build your personal brand as a professional speaker, adding a podcast, the recording of a teleseminar or a video of you speaking to your events page or media page on your website, if well executed, will enhance the chance of you being selected as a speaker.

You see you are taking away some of the risks and fears of the event organiser as they will have been able to "sample" your ability to engage with an audience just by listening to your audio or watching you on the video.

Interestingly, I was reading a post from David Meerman Scott who reported on the way that the team at the Business Software 2007 conference are selecting some of their speakers this year.

Business Software 2007 are inviting potential speakers to create a short video of themselves speaking on a topic that will inspire, and be relevant to, an audience of software executives. They are then inviting their newsletter subscribers to vote on the speakers they want to hear at the event.

That certainly takes event organising to a different level - with the engagement of the potential delegates for the conference deciding who they want to hear speak.

So if you are a professional speaker or an aspiring professional speaker, consider how you can show case your expertise through video and audio to showcase your personal brand as a speaker.

And if you are looking for additional guidance on building your reputation as a professional speaker, don't hesitate to register for our forthcoming no-cost teleseminar, "Speak your way to success" which takes place on the 13 August at 1pm ET.

PS - more on David Meerman Scott soon - I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of his new book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" - it arrived in the post earlier this week so I'll be reading it and posting my reflections in the next week or so.

Build your personal brand through your profile

Whether you are in an organisation and developing your career or you are the leader of your own professional services practice, one thing you can be sure about....

.... at some stage in the next 12 months you are likely to be asked to present yourself on paper.

That could be for a proposal you are submitting, a job you are applying for or a profile you have to present as a speaker at a conference.

But when was the last time you reviewed your personal profile or CV? And does it accurately reflect your expertise and experience?

I was recently working with a professional association to support them building their brand on-line. They had developed a new web site which gave the members of the association the opportunity to add their details to the data base, providing them with increased visibility.

However, the quality of the personal profiles was so poor, they certainly were not likely to attract interest from potential clients or strategic joint venture partners.

I was also recently working with an executive who was looking for their next career move and we were working on developing their personal brand. However when we looked at their personal marketing materials - their CV - it certainly did not enhance their reputation.

I am frequently asked for a copy of my personal profile and what I have some to learn is that we need to have a core profile available at a moments notice so that we can adapt it to the needs of the audience requesting our profile.

You see it is much easier keeping your profile up to date and relevant than having to create it the first time.

So if your personal profile or CV is out of date, here are this weeks personal branding action steps to ensure that your profile projects your personal brand.

THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL BRAND ACTION STEPS

1. Print out a copy of your current personal profile and identify which elements are no longer current.
2. Update your profile - whether it is a CV or professional profile make sure that it does not exceed 2 pages.
3. If you are not sure if your profile accurately reflects your personal brand and expertise, ask a colleague or friend to review it and provide feedback.
4. If you need additional assistance consider the support of a resume writer or personal branding coach to help you create

TERMS OF REPRINT: You are welcome to publish this article in your own online ezine or news letter, providing the article is printed in its entirety and is left unedited and you include the copyright notice and the following statement:

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007. All rights reserved. Reprinted from 'Biz Growth Express', a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices, featuring inspiration, strategies and tips to build your brand, attract your ideal clients and enjoy greater success with less stress.  Subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com and access free weekly teleconferences where we interview experts from across the globe on how to build your brand and expand your professional and personal success.

No-Cost Training: Speak your way to success

Have you been asked to present to a group but have found yourself fearing the event?

Are you concerned about what it takes to be an inspiring and credible speaker?

Perhaps you know that you should be speaking to build your personal brand and expand the reach of business but you are not confident about your skills?

Well in our next content rich audio tutorial, I will be taking you through 5 biggest mistakes to avoid if you want to build your reputation as a compelling and magnetic speaker.

I'll also be sharing strategies you can employ so that you attract more clients and more business opportunities whether you speak for free or for a fee - guaranteed.

Over the last 24 months I have spoken live at conferences in Ireland and overseas on over 100 occasions (and many more hundreds of times leading virtual events including teleseminars and webinars) and each time I speak it results in more clients, new strategic partners and more profit.

So if you want to discover the strategies I have employed, be sure to join me on the 13 August at 1pm ET/6pm Ireland and the UK for a content rich 60 minute seminar on how to develop your skills as a professional speaker. Register today at Biz Growth Live.

If you have questions about how to 'Speak Your Way to Success' you can post your questions before the call here:

http://www.bizgrowthlive.com/asklive

A Brand You World Episode 1 – Express your personal brand through your writing

Personal Branding Quick Tips - Discover three actions you can take to express your expertise and personal brand through your writing.

Listen to this four minute personal branding tutorial from "A Brand You World" bringing you personal branding guidance.

"A Brand You World" is hosted by Krishna De, Ireland’s leading Personal Branding Strategist.

How To Leave Us Feedback

Do share your thoughts on this employer branding quick tip. Perhaps you have found some of the strategies and tips we share have worked for you or perhaps you have ideas and suggestions you would like to share with our listeners. You can choose one of 5 different ways to get in touch so why not:

1. post your feedback the comments section
2. leave comments at our media centre, you can call +1 214 615 6505ext 6842. As this is a US based number you make low cost calls from Ireland using AllFreeCalls.ie or from the UK using AllFreeCalls.co.uk
3. leave an audio comment on our site here at Todays Women in Business - just plug in your headset and micophone and you can leave a message
4. leave an audio comment on our Irish media centre at 086 8163096      
5. or send us an email at connect(at)todayswomeninbusiness.com

Do let me know about your success in bringing your personal brand to life.

And if you are looking for additional resources to build your corporate brand, employer brand and personal brand why not visit our brand building blog and podcast at Biz Growth News where you can also register for our no cost branding audio seminars and our weekly brand building ezine.

The Talent Magnet Episode 1 - Build your employer brand by ensuring your employees are great brand ambassadors

Employer Branding Quick Tips - Discover three actions you can take to nurture your employer brand and ensure your employees are great brand ambassadors.

Listen to this four minute employer branding tutorial from "The Talent Magnet" bringing you employer branding and talent management insights.

"The Talent Magnet" is hosted by Krishna De, Employer Branding Strategist.

How To Leave Us Feedback

Do share your thoughts on this employer branding quick tip. Perhaps you have found some of the strategies and tips we share have worked for you or perhaps you have ideas and suggestions you would like to share with our listeners. You can choose one of 5 different ways to get in touch so why not:

1. post your feedback the comments section
2. leave comments at our media centre, you can call +1 214 615 6505ext 6842. As this is a US based number you make low cost calls from Ireland using AllFreeCalls.ie or from the UK using AllFreeCalls.co.uk
3. leave an audio comment on our site here at Todays Women in Business - just plug in your headset and micophone and you can leave a message
4. leave an audio comment on our Irish media centre at 086 8163096      
5. or send us an email at connect(at)todayswomeninbusiness.com

Do let me know about your success in bringing your employer brand to life.

And if you are looking for additional resources to build your corporate brand, employer brand and personal brand why not visit our brand building blog and podcast at Biz Growth News where you can also register for our no cost branding audio seminars and our weekly brand building ezine.