The Sykes Group's OnPoint
The Sykes Group's OnPoint is your one source for innovative leadership, motivation, customer service, and career tips, techniques, and resources to improve your career and life.
- Last build:
- Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:19:35 EST
- Language:
- en-us
- Feed URL:
- http://www.thesykesgrp.com/TSGBlog/rss.xml
RSS FEED IDEMS: The Sykes Group's OnPoint
- Leader Brett Favre's Retires
All-Pro, record breaking quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre, has decided to retire from the National Football League.
He achieved many of his accomplishments by being a great leader. Well, what are the characteristics of a great leader? The following are just some of the leadership traits important to leading people that Brett Favre exhibited:
- Leaders communicate clear goals
- Leaders provide ongoing communicate
- Leaders take adversity and create opportunity
- Leaders are not afraid to make mistakes
- Leaders bounce back up after taking a hit
- Leaders constantly motivate others
- Leaders develop teams
- Leaders inspire people to accomplish more than they realize
We know Brett will enjoy just as much success in his retirement.
Technorati Tags: Leader, leadership, leadership techniques, Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
05/03/08 2:37 - Happy Leap Year!
Happy Leap Year!
I can only say this once every four years. I hope you are enjoying this "exrra" special day and making the most of it.
Technorati Tags: leap year, February 29, leap day
29/02/08 11:07 - Revealed: The Ten Secrets to Career Success in Any Economy!
Economic times constantly change and organizations adapt to these changes. For you to find career success, you must be pro-active about your job. What are the career secrets of those who soar to the top in their careers no matter what the economic environment is in the world?
The following are ten career secrets you can use to "recession proof" yourself and find career success no matter what the situation is:
- Find Out What Your Organization Needs for Career Success
Invest the time to investigate and understand your organization's mission, goals, and values. Your organization may be facing challenges and the person who can tune into what the organization needs to be successful and provide the solution can write his/her own career success ticket.
Remember, to get what you want in your career, you must help your organization, your department, your manager succeed. Focus on what is important to your manager and provide the solution. If customer service is important, speak with your manager in terms of creating customer solutions. If your manager is a numbers person, quantify all your results, etc.
- Be a Change Agent for Career Success
Organizational change will change the way you do your job. There is no escaping the changes that are happening around us all the time. Learn to embrace these changes so that you can learn how to take advantage of the career opportunities available from being a change agent.
How do you do this? Be pro-active and ask questions about the change. How does it affect the organization? What challenges will there be implementing the changes? How will these changes affect the way you do your job? And the most important question, "What can you do to help implement the changes?"
Once you receive the answers to these questions, and are able to act on the answers, you are way ahead of the "change curve" and will be looked at as someone who can "make things happen" within the organization. This will lead to countless career opportunities.
- Be the Master of Your Job for Career Success
Invest the time to learn as much as there is to know about your job. Many times, employees will become complacent and master only the few tasks that they do 80% of the time. Then when a career opportunity comes up, this employee doesn't have the skill set to take advantage of a promotion or raise.
Take the time to read trade journals, go on the Internet to job related sites, and ask questions to master the understanding of your job. With the wealth of information there is in the 21st century, there is no excuse for "not knowing."
To read more go to Career
Technorati Tags: job career work, job, jobs, career, career advice, work
28/02/08 9:45 - Find Out What Your Organization Needs for Career Success
- Pay A Compliment Day - Take Time to Appreciate Someone
What's the greatest investment you can make at work or in life? What is the one investment that doesn't cost you anything, yet you receive enormous benefits from it? What can you do to motivate a person to achieve a new level of success?
A Sincere Compliment
Take the time today, "Pay a Compliment Day," and everyday to "find something good" that an employee, a family member, a friend doing and compliment them on it. It may be the first time the person you are complimenting may ever have been complimented. On account of that special moment, you can make a real difference in their life.
For information on how to give a sincere compliment and praise someone, go to Appreciation.
06/02/08 3:57 - International Make a Point Day! (Five Public Speaking Secrets for Getting Your Point Across)
International Make a Point Day!
Have you ever been in a meeting where the presentation when on and on. Have you ever asked yourself, "What's the point to this presentation?"
Here are five public speaking secrets that will keep your message on point:
- Start with an End in Mind
Ask yourself, "Why am I speaking?" "What do I want the audience to do after listening to my speech?" This will help you focus on the message you want to share with your audience. It will help you focus on who is your audience, the key points, and what you want your audience to do after listening to you.
- Keep It Simple
Keep your presentation simple by learning to "speak to express instead of speaking to impress." What I mean by speaking to impress is when you see speakers using $5 words for $2 situations during speeches and they look uncomfortable doing it. Another example of this is when presenters overuse PowerPoint. Your audience will soon lose interest in what you are saying. Also keep it simple with the structure of your speech. An opening, body with three major points, and a closing will help you connect with your audience. Just be sincere, concise, and simple in your presentation and you will always connect with your audience.
- Make an Outline
Create an outline of your speech. Depending on your own individual thought process, you may want to mind map, a freestyle way of putting ideas together, or outline. Outline your beginning, body with three points, and ending.
- Start and End Strong
Concentrate on knowing the beginning and ending of your presentation. Feel confident in giving the beginning of your presentation, and you will become more comfortable giving the rest of your speech. End on a strong note because your speech ending will be the last thing your audience will remember about your presentation.
- Stay Within the Time
Many times when you are given an award during a meeting, conference, etc., you are also under time restrictions. In most cases, you will have longer than thirty seconds. Take the time to ask the person in charge of the meeting how much time you have for your speech. Also, make it a habit to look at the agenda ahead of time to see how much time you have been allotted. It may be only three minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes, but find out ahead of time. By finding out ahead of time and staying within the time given to you, you show respect to your audience, the people in charge of the meeting, and most of all yourself. Once you go over the time allotted, you can see the audience members start looking at their watches and stop listening to your important speech.
Follow these five presentation secrets for staying on point and your presentations will have more impact and will create new business, career, public speaking, and life opportunities for you.
Del.icio.us Tags: public speaking, presentation skills, your presentation skills
28/01/08 2:23 - Start with an End in Mind
- Martin Luther King Jr. Motivating Millions with the "I Have a Dream" Speech
January 21st is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. His "I Have a Dream" speech motivated millions to dream and take action to make the United States a better place.
Many of my presentation coaching students think that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave that speech for the first time on the Washington Mall. My students are surprised to learn that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been practicing by giving different variations of that speech for over a year. He consistently made changes until the speech became the masterpiece that changed the world.
Great presentations start with great preparation! Enjoy!
Technorati Tags: presentation skills, motivator, motivational speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Day, "I Have a Dream"
20/01/08 10:00 - Happy New Year and Let's Start Goal Setting!
Just a quick note to wish each of you a Happy New Year. We sincerely hope that 2007 was the best year of your life, and that 2008 is even better!
There have been a lot of changes at The Sykes Group in the past year, and we have many more great additions planned for the coming year.
In the next week we'll announce the beginning of "Jump Out the Gate in 2008" program, so stay tune!
P.S.-The following are some six quick tips to goal-setting:
- Put Your Goals in Writing - Your goals aren't real unless you put in down on paper.
- Make Your Goals Attainable - Realistic goals are attainable goals.
- Qualify Your Goals - What exactly do you want to achieve?
- Have a Time Frame - Forces you to keep track of your goals and allows you make corrections.
- Develop a Strategic Action Plan - What exactly are you going to do to achieve your goals?
- Make Achieving Your Goals Personal - Create meaning and passion for your goals.
For additional goal setting and success resources, go to Goal Setting.
goal+setting goal goals
31/12/07 8:19 - Happy Holidays and Have a Good Laugh!
We wish all of our readers and your families a safe, great, and Happy Holiday season and an even more successful 2008! In case you are wondering what we are doing over the holidays, please watch the following video:
Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!
Technorati Tags: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season Greetings, Happy New Year
24/12/07 12:24 - Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day: Take Time to Appreciate to Motivate Your Employees!
Today is Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day! First, let me say, you should as a motivator always "invest" in the time to appreciate and motivate your team. I use the word "invest" because it is an investment in the overall performance and success of your team. By taking the time to show appreciation for a job well done, you motivate your team to go to the next level of success. Sam Walton said the following:
"Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."
I challenge you to always find the time to appreciate to motivate your employees in a timely and meaningful manner. The following link will provide you with vast motivation resources to help you start today:
Employee Motivation and Appreciation Resources
employee+motivation employee+recognition employee+appreciation team+building teambuilding
04/12/07 12:09 - It's My Birthday and Thanksgiving All in One!
I hope all is well and we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving today.
Even if it's not a holiday in your part of the world... it's always nice to be thankful for the people, opportunities, and things we have in our lives. Take a moment today to call, e-mail, or text message the special people in your life and let them know how you appreciate them.
Thank you for your continued interest and support in The Sykes Group. We hope our postings have made a difference in your lives and will continue to make a difference in the future.
Also it is my birthday today. It's a big one (I'll let you guess which one). As a friend wrote in her card, "Nice that the entire nation has declared it a holiday."
Have a Great and safe Happy Thanksgiving today!
Giving+Thanks Happy+Thanksgiving Thanksgiving+Day Happy+Birthday
22/11/07 3:27 - Create a Great Funeral Day!
Today is "Create a Great Funeral Day!"
Why would I be talking about this day? Well, about five years ago I had the pleasure of helping a client through a challenging situation. This client was a major university who was just starting a Funeral Services Management program and degree. The instructor, who was teaching the business side of funeral services, had other priorities come up and had to leave. The client asked me if I would step in and teach this course for the seminar. To say the least, I was quite surprised. The only information I knew about the funeral business was the men in the black suits, the open caskets, and the limousines.
After great consideration, I accepted the challenge and took the course book and researched everything there was about funeral service management. My classes were alive (Ha! Ha! That's the joke) with interaction and involved the students as they were looking to jump into the business. I had guest speakers who were in the business come in to speak to the students. I also took the students on field trips to funeral homes to learn what goes on behind the scenes to make a successful funeral.
I enjoyed teaching this course as I could see that the students were absorbing the information. I went on to teach the course for a total of three seminars until they actually found a Funeral Director/Instructor to teach the course. Out of the five Funeral Services Management courses taught during this period, my courses were consistently rated the highest.
What did I learn from this experience? I learned the following:
- When you do quality work for your client, they will have confidence in you for other areas.
- Opportunities in one area with prepare you for other opportunities in other areas.
- You can perform a good quality funeral for only three to five thousand dollars. Anything more than that is just extras/add-ons.
- Funeral directors perform their jobs to the best of their abilities to give great customer service.
What an experience! I am so glad I accepted the opportunity to teach at that time. The client and university regarded me in a whole new level of respect and hired me for additional projects. I can see how this past experience helped me today to give even greater service to my clients.
Create a Great Funeral Day!
Create+a+Great+Funeral+Day management success opportunity
30/10/07 11:13 - The Secret to Living Your Dreams: Five Success Techniques to Achieving More Success in Your Life!
How many times in our lives have we said the following?
If I had more time, I would have acted on my dream...
If I didn't need this job, I would have pursued my dream of...
If only I had (you fill in the blank) ten years ago, I would have achieved my dream of...I am sure you can add a dozen more "If I" dream statements. There are people going through life everyday working at jobs they hate, in situations they tolerate, and living a life that they disown because they settled for an "If I" mindset.
What is the secret between the person who is achieving his/her dream life and the person who is just wishing for a dream life? The following are five techniques for living your dream and achieving more in life:
- Understand Your Options and Live Your Dreams
We have options in our life. Do we follow the road everyone else is taking or do we travel the road less traveled to achieve our dreams? We have the option to look at life's challenges as a way to find creative solutions or to look at challenges as a negative barrier to achieving one's dreams. Take the positive option to develop yourself and achieve your dreams.
- Fight Your Fears and Live Your Dreams
Most fears we constantly think about and which sometimes paralyze us never happen. Yet we will spend 75-90% of our thoughts on our fears. F-E-A-R is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real. Get the facts and act accordingly. Let's "flip our mental script" and concentrate on the upside of any situation so that we can concentrate on achieving our dreams. Fight though your fears and build your courage to live your dreams.
- Concentrate on Your Goals and Live Your Dreams
If you are not living your dream, you are living someone else's dream. How do you make your dreams come true? Create and concentrate on your goals to achieving your dreams. Start with your main goal and then break this goal down into smaller pieces so that you can digest and act on these goals. Most importantly, write down your goals and keep them in a place where you can see and read them any time of the day. This is important because there will be times you will feel you are not achieving your goals and will need a "dream booster shot" to keep you motivated toward achieving your goals.
- Eliminate Barriers to Living Your Dreams
You need to eliminate barriers to living your dreams. This could be eliminating expenses, gaining knowledge, or gaining the technology for living your dreams. One of the biggest barriers to eliminate could be very close to you. This barrier to living your dreams could be your family, your friends, and your co-workers who create reasons why you shouldn't live your dreams. They may not even realize they are a barrier to your dreams by their words or actions.
Some people are living in their own misery and want you to give up your dreams and join them in their misery. Remember, some people may not have high expectations for themselves, much less for you. So when you express your lofty dreams, they will look and speak to you expressing their low expectations for you. Break away from them and their misery so that you can live your dreams. Bond with people of like mind so that you can form a synergy and have a positive group of people who are helping each other and moving toward their goals and living their dreams.
- Act on Your Dreams!
Your dream will be just that...a dream unless you act on it. An amazing thing happens when you keep acting on your dreams. You will keep growing stronger and will become better prepared to achieve even more in life.
Take the time to apply these five techniques for living your dreams and you, too, will achieve more in life.
dreams dream the+secret self-help
18/10/07 8:58 - Understand Your Options and Live Your Dreams
