Thought leader Guy Kawasaki has recently written an excellent review of Scott Eblin’s new book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know about Executive Success in his blog on OpenForum.  He feels Eblin’s message is an important one: Executive leaders can’t just keep picking up new ideas, strategies, and action plans without letting go of those things that no longer work or are holding them back. Failing to let the right things go can lead to sluggishness or paralysis in action-taking or decision-making. Elbin maintains this is because jettisoning long-held assumptions usually involves throwing out pieces of our self-image too. These are not new concepts, certainly, but they get a fresh perspective from Eblin’s work with hundreds of executives.

Read the review yourself, but among the things that Eblin suggests we should let go are: Self-Doubt, Running Flat-Out, One Size Fits All Communication, Self Reliance, Micro Management, Sole Responsibility, and Myopia. Some of these will undoubtedly resonate with you or with some of your coaching clients.

I’m adding The Next Level: What Insiders Know about Executive Success to my “To-Read” list (as well as Guy Kawasaki’s book to be released 3/8/11: Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions. Don’t you just love that title?)

One of the potentially powerful features of LinkedIn is the option for you, as a professional and a leader, to join Industry or Shared-Interest Groups so you can read or participate in the discussions taking place in your field and see who’s doing the talking! I’ve embedded LinkedIn’s clear and helpful tutorial below on how and why you might wish to use LinkedIn Groups.

Don’t dismiss this without watching this video, and don’t equate LinkedIn Groups with the Group function in Facebook. It’s an entirely different and more professional interaction and can involve as little or as much time as you wish.

Depending on the purpose of  the Group (which should be declared when you go to its page), LinkedIn Groups can offer you:

1. Visibility and the building of your reputation as an Expert
2. A place to find — or share — tips, techniques, and best practices
3. A place to seek a job or post job openings (though not all groups have a JOBS tab)
4. Quickly discover the most popular discussions in your professional groups
5. Have an active part in determining the top discussions by liking and commenting
6. Follow the most influential people in your groups by checking the Top Influencers board or clicking their profile image to see all their group activity
7. See both member-generated discussions and news in one setting
8. Easily browse previews of the last three comments in a discussion
9. Find interesting discussions by seeing who liked a discussion and how many people commented

When I’m looking for Groups I might wish to join, I consider the description provided by the Group manager, look at the length of time it’s been active, and look at the number of members. If it’s an open group, I look at the activity to see if discussions are interesting and informative. It’s easy to leave a group you have joined if you decide it doesn’t fit with your interests or priorities. Most groups require you to express an interest and be approved by the group’s manager.

For example, one newly formed group I have joined recently called Coaches and Consultants for New Horizons has been helpful because group members are generously sharing their experience with various webinar sites, marketing tools, and other programs. Sometimes people abuse a group by blatantly marketing themselves instead of joining in a legitimate discussion. If that happens too much, it’s time to think about leaving that group and joining another one.

Of course, you can start your own group too, but you should participate in one or more groups a bit to get the hang of it first.

Friends of AvoLead is a LinkedIn group established for connecting like minded individuals who share AvoLead’s values of Abundance, Evolution and Leadership. It is for sharing and networking by individuals who want to advance partnerships and authentic leadership. If you fit that description, we welcome you!

AvoLead is co-sponsoring a local train-the-trainer event with the Center for Conflict Dynamics (CCD) at Eckerd College.  This three-day training prepares and certifies participants to use the Conflict Dynamics Profile tool and to deliver CCD’s new 8-module workshop entitled Becoming Conflict Competent.

The workshop will be held February 14-16, 2011 at the Solutions Center in the Research Triangle, NC (http://www.thesolutioncenter.com/Directions.html).

More Information:

You may already be familiar with or certified in the Conflict Dynamics Profile, a powerful 360 tool for helping clients understand and work effectively with conflict in their lives and organizations.  This workshop is the next generation of applied knowledge of CCD’s solid work in this area.

Integration of ideas: The Course is shaped around Craig Runde and Tim Flanagan’s model of individual conflict competence, and Sherod Miller’s work on communications skills that encourages people to Cool Down, Slow Down and Reflect, and Engage Constructively.

Tools You Can Use: The course introduces practical maps, tools, skills and processes that improve talking and listening skills, help analyze conflict situations and systematically resolve conflicts.  These help participants manage conflict from within the Conflict Competence SkillsZone®, a place where communications is both focused and flowing.

CLICK on this link (2010 12 23_BCCFlier) for a more detailed description of the program this course qualifies you to implement.

The price for those who are certified is $1325; non-certified $1695.  Remember, completion of this workshop will serve as certification for both delivering the training modules and using the Conflict Dynamics Profile tool.

To register, call Patty Viscomi at 727-864-8972.

Questions?  Email Bonnie Wright at bonnie.wright@avolead.com.

We are so grateful to Bonnie Wright for her diligent efforts to bring this important work to our area.  We hope you’ll join us for this learning opportunity to make the investment to add to your leadership tool kit!

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social networking site, is becoming an increasingly important tool for building your professional visibility, especially online. With over 75 million members, LinkedIn’s designers have been adding more and more functionality to the site, so now it is much more robust and no longer just a place to post your online resume.

I plan to do a series of posts on using LinkedIn effectively, but this one will begin with answering the question “Should I bother to build a LinkedIn profile?” The quick answer is “Yes,” and for now, I will elaborate from the perspective of an individual professional. Yes, your company can have a Company Profile on LinkedIn too!

Consider these common ways that professionals are using LinkedIn to find people and information they need:

• Many executives say they only keep a business card long enough to look up the person on LinkedIn and invite them to become part of their network. After that, they throw the card away.
• LinkedIn offers an effective way to prepare for an interview, meeting, or presentation by giving you a place to look up information about others who will be across the table from you. You look smarter when they realize you’ve taken the time to find out about them or their company.
• If you get a list of attendees at an upcoming conference or seminar, LinkedIn can help you identify those people whom you might want to seek out. The photo usually found in LinkedIn helps you recognize them in a crowd.
• LinkedIn is a great way to get more information about someone you’ve just met at a meeting, conference, or social gathering. Perusing their credentials and their connections can help you determine whether it makes sense to cultivate a relationship with them or not.
• LinkedIn can be very helpful in identifying people to be on a board, especially if you’re looking for someone with a particular area of expertise.
• Employers and HR professionals use LinkedIn to deepen their knowledge of a potential employee. They can also find potential employees with specific talents, skills, and experience by using LinkedIn’s search filters.
• Anyone can get free answers from experts to questions they ask using LinkedIn’s Q & A function.
• LinkedIn members can find others who share specific interests or areas of expertise by joining any of the thousands of free LinkedIn Groups. These can offer a more focused community for sharing and networking. Your should look for groups of alumnae or alumni from all the places you went to school and all the places you’ve worked in the past. You never know when the connections may come in handy.

The very best way to leverage your visibility on LinkedIn is to take the time to fill out your profile completely and keep it up to date. Linked in will let you know whether your profile is complete or which areas still need to be finished. Here are some profile-building tips to keep in mind:

• Use the most professional photo you have. If you’re in Job Search mode, it might be worth getting a professional photograph taken.
• Put every school and place of employment into your profile. There are searchers out there who may be looking for a mid-career finance major from the University of Kentucky to work in their new start-up bank in Frankfort. If you haven’t completed your own profile, they’ll never know that you might fit their search criteria perfectly!
• Give some thought to the keywords that searchers might use to find someone like you. Incorporate those words into the content of your profile, especially the Summary and the Specialties sections.  If you want your name to pop up when someone is searching for a keynote speaker at their next fashion  industry conference, be sure to include words they might use in their search: speaker, designer, fashion, clothing, sportswear, etc., depending on your particular areas of expertise.

Coming soon:

Expanding your LinkedIn Network

LinkedIn Etiquette

LinkedIn’s Q &A Function

Use the button below to connect with AvoLead on LinkedIn and learn more about our leadership consultancy professionals.

Listen up leadership coaches! Here’s your chance to get PressTime Simulation Step One certification easily and affordably.

We all know this statement from Andrew Carnegie is true:

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision…the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Your clients’ organizations need PressTime Simulation, Discovery Learning Inc.’s dynamic and engaging simulation that’s now distributed with web-enabled software. The powerful program has garnered worldwide praise for its effectiveness in teaching team leaders and participants how to cut through limiting thoughts and behaviors to achieve common goals more quickly and efficiently.

Certification is required for product use, so your clients need you to step up to the plate and be there for them. You need this certification to round out your credentials. Don’t miss this opportunity coming up in Greensboro, NC, on October 21-22, 2010, to take the first step towards certification. Certified trainers will be listed on the DLI Website, be eligible for DLI referrals, and gain access to an experienced survey user group.

Register by calling 336-272-9530 or email smetzger@discoverylearning.com and ask about subsequent certification steps. The price is only $250, and the experience will be priceless. Invite a fellow trainer and add a new arrow to your quiver of tools.

Click here for more information about PressTime Simulation.

Click here to register now.

For a downloadable brochure, Click HERE.

Don’t miss it!

Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.

Henry Ford