What is your superpower?

In his newest book Linchpin - Are You Indispensible? marketer Seth Godin asks: What is your superpower? (He explains that your superpower is not your USP, it’s not your ’strength’ or your ‘core competence’, it’s that about you that tells me how you can help me - or how I can help you. It’s the unique talent that you choose to develop.)

In the lead up to International Women’s Day I was invited to speak to a group of young business people at CBS Interactive. So, I posed the “What’s your superpower?” question to them (along with letting them know that it was okay to NOT know what you want to be when you grow up - I’d left home at 17 and didn’t have a tertiary education but have worked long and hard to improve my skills, encouraged them to try lots of different things that interested them - telling them I assumed that they HAVE a rare gift, that if they chose to share would make them very happy and make a big contribution to others - and I invited them to dare to lead).

Something I said seemed to stick. I heard, from the lovely woman who coordinated my presentation, that over lunch that day, they talked about what they thought their super-powers are. That made my heart sing.

In Linchpin, Godin says:

“The ’super’ part and the ‘power’ part come note from something you’re born with, but from something you choose to do and, more important, from something you choose to give.”

Choose today.

Warmly,

Suzi

P.S. If you haven’t yet signed up to attend the free webinar with Seth Godin on 23 March at 12.00pm AEDT, here’s a link. I hope you’ll join me.

New Year, New Career?— How to manage staff’s new-year blues (and minimise impact on your business)

by Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment
‘New Year New Career’ is a term well used by employers and recruiters alike in job ads during the lead up to, and aftermath of, the Christmas and New Year period. And there is a simple reason for this – it works.

Many employees who have become disengaged in their workplace, roles, and careers during the year find themselves taking stock of what really matters and what they really want to achieve in the year ahead – and they do all of this whilst on their Christmas break.

At the end of the day, staff will always leave organisations, and in some cases there is nothing you can do to prevent this, but you can ensure you manage the process to minimise the impact it has on the rest of the team.

As they sit with family and friends, and start discussing New Year’s resolutions, and the achievements of the year just gone, it dawns on many people that they are unhappy in some aspect of their lives, and the quickest fix seems to be to get a new job! They return from their Christmas leave and one of three things will generally happen:

1) They stay put, waiting for a ‘sign’, some motivation, inspiration or for something to change. These people generally remain disengaged from their responsibilities and do just what’s needed to get through the day flying under the radar.

2) They promptly hand in their resignation on their first day back and commence job hunting.

3) They start searching for that great new role, giving little if any focus and commitment to their current workplace until they inevitably resign.

None of these are ideal situations for a business of any size to face at the beginning of the calendar year, but what, if anything, can you do to avoid these times and minimise the impact they have on the operations and profitability of the organisation?

1) Look for the signs of staff who have began to disengage from their roles or the organisation. These signs generally involve a shift in behaviour and some classics include taking more than the usual amount of sick leave; leaving work right on time every day, when they used to be the sort of person to work back whenever needed; not putting their hands up for those special projects they previously have been dead keen to be involved in; withdrawing from groups within the workplace; taking long lunches and in general being a different person in the office.

2) Don’t wait until after the New Year to start re-engaging these employees. By having regular reviews and appraisal systems in place, you will more easily be able to identify and manage these employees. Also coordinate more casual and off-the-record catch ups with staff to encourage open communication.

3) Keep employees engaged in the vision through regular team and company meetings – sharing with them goals and visions and allowing them the ability to provide ideas as to how they can contribute to the success and achievement of company goals.

4) Reward staff who are doing a great job! It doesn’t have to be grand or expensive, nor does a big fuss have to be made - a small gesture goes a long way.

5) Know what motivates your people - when you understand this you have the best possible chance of keeping them engaged and committed.

At the end of the day, staff will always leave organisations, and in some cases there is nothing you can do to prevent this, but you can ensure you manage the process to minimise the impact it has on the rest of the team.

If you have open and honest communication channels with your staff, and they feel they can come to you with honest feedback, you will be in the drivers seat when these situations arise. If they come to you indicating they are seeking alternate work, and there is nothing more you can do to keep them should you want to, give them your blessings, help them to find something new and start he replacement process yourself internally straight away.

The longer an unhappy employee stays with you, then more detriment it will have on your team and ultimately your business. Don’t try and delay the inevitable, nip it in the bud and move on.




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Kristy-Lee Johnston - Footprint Recruitment Kristy-Lee Johnston is the Director of Footprint Recruitment, a Central Coast based Recruitment and HR agency which is run by locals, for locals. Kristy’s background includes 10 years in Recruitment, as well as 10+ years in a broad range of other customer facing sectors. She possesses Post Graduate qualifications in Psychology, as well as a Masters in Human Resource Management. Kristy is passionate about bringing something unique to the recruitment sector in her local area and wants to see all businesses make the most successful staffing decisions they can.

How have you expanded your capabilities as a Leader?

We have just released the July Leadership issue of our Women in Business e-newsletter and have included some of the ways you have expanded your capabilities as leader.

How have you expanded your capabilities as a leader? Please add a comment to share your thoughts.

Women and Leadership - Empower Magazine’s International Women’s Day feature

“On the eve of the 98th International Women’s Day, the outlook for women is radically different to what it was a century ago. Huge strides have been made in the area of equality, choice and freedom of speech and yet, despite this extraordinary progress, there’s still more work to be done. We take a look at how far women have come, the key issue on the agenda and what’s being done to address them.” - emPower Magazine

The Australian Businesswomen’s Network was asked to comment on the issues facing women.

We commented that leadership is an area that we want to empower women to be their best at.  As part of our charter we look to give women the business skills, information, resources, access to support and role models, and mentoring to help them become better leaders.

When we asked a group of women leaders what would help them be better leaders they told us it was access to peers and the skills to be good mentors.

So, we’ve put it on our agenda to give women leaders the opportunity to network with other leaders, a safe forum to discuss business (and life) issues and the opportunity to learn to mentor.

Our quote from this recent publication reads: “Leadership is the key skill that women need to harness. The more female leaders we have the more women will be able to overcome some of the (business) issues they face.  It’s not about gender; it’s about taking a stand and taking control.” - Suzi Dafnis

Ask us about our women in business mentoring program and how you can improve your leadership skills.

Women leaders given skills to take board positions

This morning I attended an interesting session presented by Women on Boards, an organisation dedicated to providing women with the information and resources to apply for, and get, board positions.

Today’s session (titled Getting Serious I: Your Directorship Action) prepared us for the next steps of finding the right board by having us focus on getting board-ready through addressing knowledge gaps, working on our strategy, improving our pitch and building our brand.

Great information. Highly recommend it if being on a board is part of your future. Learn more at their website. 

Who is Your Chief of Staff?

US President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his Chief of Staff. Here’s why this first appointment is so important  - his Chief of Staff will control access, crack the whip, tell the truth and manage Obama’s most important resource - time.

This Harvard Review article explains how leaders need to surround themselves with people who complement them, not replicate them. 

Do you have/need a chief of staff to manage your time? More so, are they doing it effectively? Are you resisting? 

Leaders take note - Tribes book by Seth Godin available free on Audible

This is the book that I’m most excited about right now. It’s timely for me as I look to improve the resources and value that our Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN) members get from belonging to the ABN tribe.

Seth Godin (author of marketing bibles like Purple Cow and Permission Marketing) has released his newest book Tribes - We Need You to Lead Us as a free audiobook on www.audible.com. 

I am on my second listening of it and if you want to be a better leader - then get this book.

Who’s in your tribe?

Now, I’m a long-time fan of Seth Godin’s. So, why was I surprised when I finally got ’round to starting his new book (audio while I wait for my Amazon copy to come) that I wanted to stop in traffic, pull out a notebook, or jump out of the car and - I don’t know - do something! Inspired, inspired. Can’t wait to share it with my peeps!