Adult learning

Inspired by an Intern

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

Today at work, I was reminded why I was drawn to the field of leadership and training in the first place…

I’m sitting in a conference room, listening as a young, emerging professional with whom I’ve been collaborating this summer is giving her final project presentation on this last day of her internship program in my department.

She speaks calmly, clearly, professionally, with moxie and spunk that foretells her promising future. The colleagues in the room, many of whom are seasoned corporate veterans, are nodding and smiling – pleased with the value she is adding to the team.

She has succeeded.

And I get to witness a nodal moment in a young entrepreneur’s life. An ending and a beginning all at once. Maybe not a monumental moment in the grand scheme of milestones that she has passed and is yet to see, but a crossroads, nonetheless.

It’s the honor of walking next to someone as they bravely face a crossing point on their journey that inspires me most. So, I savor the moment. And it helps me understand my own goals, my own dreams, and my own crossroads all the more. Indeed, seeing this bright rising star shines a light on my path.

When was the last time you had the chance to travel alongside someone who is at the nexus of change in their lives?

Dusting off your Brand Box

/ Susan Hendrich / 2 Comments

How fresh is your personal brand box label?

I remember the day I first read Tom Peters’ ground-breaking article entitled, “The Brand Called You,” in Fast Company back in 1997. He wrote,

It’s this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.   –   Tom Peters

Along with millions of other self-improvers, I was inspired and scrambled to decide what my personal brand is and should be. I rushed to select key words and colors and descriptions that perfectly captured who I was and what I wanted to be known for in the world. I branded myself.

And I bought it.

In my little corner of the world, I began building a set of experiences that reinforced that personal brand. I had arrived. And the rest would take care of itself. Or so I thought. 

Within a few months I started to forget about this Me, Inc. company that was supposedly under my leadership. I had drifted to a nap of complacency at the head of the Me-E-O boardroom table. My mistake was that I thought this personal branding thing was a once-and-done kind of deal. I’d figured that since I had that glorious brainstorm after reading Tom’s article, I was forever well-branded. But as fast as my career was heating up, my personal brand was cooling off. I just didn’t take the time to revisit that brand and see if my original descriptors like “scrappy,” “eager,” and “full of pizzazz” still fit the image I wanted to project to the world. A few tought times and a lot of lessons later, I realized that while I was still scrappy, eager, and full of pizzazz, those weren’t the key features I was bringing to my little corner of the world.

It was about that time that Madonna was again making the news for her plucky ability to reinvent herself, just when her personal brand du jour was about to run its course. And this was the same year when an IBM computer beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and Mike Tyson bit off some poor guy’s ear. I was not the only one who needed a brand overhaul.

In the spirit of the Material Girl’s reinvention and Darwinian adaptation, I started that branding brainstorm process all over again. New descriptors emerged. New ideas inspired. And a personal slogan even surfaced. I vowed to revisit the Me, Inc. company charter at least once a year, promising to keep a better sense of the relevance of my personal brand.

So, now I’m wondering…How’s your personal brand doing?

Wait, you haven’t unpacked that particular career box yet?  Or maybe, like me, you got started on developing your personal brand, but somehow your deadlines and lifelines took over the shelves in your career pantry. Maybe your personal brand box was relegated to the back of that closet, along with the inflatable exercise ball and the infomercial products that promised to bring nirvana.

Seriously. What ever happened to that brand called You? How does the label on your personal brand box read? Is the brand you show to the world reflective of where you are in your life and career now? Where you want to be? Is your brand sending the kind of messages you want people to receive? Or, perhaps the “best before” date on your personal brand box has long expired. Maybe it’s time for an image overhaul.

Consider this your reminder to check in on that brand of yours and reflect on how your company, “Me, Inc.” is doing.

You know how fire safety experts recommend that twice a year when we change our clocks for Daylight Savings, we also change the batteries in our Smoke Detectors? Well, I’m proposing that you make a pledge to yourself that twice per year, on that same day when you reset your clocks and reaffirm your fire protection, you dust off that brand box of yours. Remember…

We are CEOs of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.  – Tom Peters

So if you’re brand could use a re-look, consider opening two boxes this next Daylight Savings change weekend – one to refresh your smoke alarm batteries and one refresh the brand called You.

15 minutes of Leading Change

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

Leading Change: We All Play A Role

Anyone who has ever worked for, worked with, or been a leader knows the importance of leading change.

Let’s take a few moments to reflect on ways that you and your colleagues have led change for your teams, your customers, each other, and the organization. Here’s a quick team-building exercise you can do at your next staff meeting to orient your team toward the leadership moments – big and small – that people in your group are causing. It’s a quick and high-impact way of generating examples of how you and your colleagues have noticed each other leading change.

“Recognizing Leadership” Activity Instructions

1. Create

Provide everyone a piece of paper with their own name on it. Instruct the group to pass their individual sheets to the person to on their left, allowing that neighbor to record an example of how they have witnessed you leading change. Group members continue to pass the sheets around the room, allowing colleagues to add a comment on a way they’ve noticed the each individual leading change.

2. Share

Once everyone has had a chance to write on each of the sheets of paper, collect all of the sheets and redistribute them so that everyone receives someone else’s sheet.  Each person takes a turn reading out loud one or two examples that are recorded on their partner’s sheet.

3. Deliver

After everyone has had an example or two read about themselves, return the sheets to their owners to keep. Encourage everyone to review their own sheet for themes, asking themselves, “Which leadership capabilities do people seem to notice?” and “What are areas might I continue to develop?”

I’d love to hear how your exercise goes. Please share your stories…

Choosing video capturing software

/ Susan Hendrich / 3 Comments

Choosing video capturing software

Joe: “Help! I need to make a movie to show how our new software program works!”

Susan: “No worries, Joe. There are numerous software programs out there that let you record your mouse clicks and even create interactive “try it yourself” activities!”

Here are three video capturing software applications that I like: 

The quick review:

I much prefer Captivate, as the editing capabilities are far superior to any other product I’ve used. But, Camtasia is easiest to grasp for a new learner. The HyperCams and CamStudios of the world really are not sufficient for enterprise application. But, hey, can you beat forty bucks? 

Now, I’m curious as to your experiences and preferences with screen capturing software…

Globalize your On Demand Business

/ Susan Hendrich / 2 Comments

Check out these excellent writing tips from IBM on how to “Globalize your On Demand Business” 

Style tips

The following style suggestions can help ensure your information is clear for all types of audiences:

  • Write sentences as short and simple as possible. Try to keep sentences to 25 words or less.
  • Make sure that lists are complete and can stand by themselves.
  • Use a complete sentence to introduce a list.
  • Make list items complete sentences or complete phrases.
  • Make list items parallel in structure.
  • Avoid slang, jargon, humor, sarcasm, colloquialisms, and metaphors. For example, use “estimate” instead of “in the ballpark.”
  • Be succinct. Eliminate unnecessary text and redundancies.
  • Do not use Latin abbreviations.
  • Avoid negative constructions. For example, use “It is like the previous request” rather than “It is not unlike the previous request.” Or, use “Log on again to reconnect” instead of “You cannot reconnect without logging on again.”
  • Avoid ambiguity.
  • Use an appropriate and consistent tone.
  • Choose examples that are appropriate for the intended audience.

Grammar tips

Appropriate grammar enables easier, more accurate translations and enhances audience understanding:

  • Write in active voice whenever possible and use the present tense.
  • Avoid the infinitive (to create), present participle (creating), and past participle (created) forms of verbs in the beginning of sentences. These verbs are less direct, and the subject of the clause is not always obvious. Completing steps could mean “When you complete the steps” or “Because you complete the steps.”
  • Avoid noun strings. Limit compound phrases to no more than three words. When a compound phrase is used, be sure that it has only one meaning and that the phrase is used consistently.
  • Make the subject of a verb phrase clear. Avoid complex sentences where several adverbs or other modifiers are used. If you use complex sentences, it is particularly important to include whatever words are necessary to make the subject clear. Do not omit the word “that” from clauses. The use of the conjunction “that,” while technically optional in some sentences, is never wrong and makes the sentence easier to translate and clearer for users whose primary language is not English. For example, use “Verify that your directory service is working” rather than “Verify your directory service is working.”
  • Avoid using words in multiple grammatical categories (verb, noun, adjective). In English, many words can change their grammatical category. In most other languages, the same word cannot be a verb, a noun, and an adjective. (Use “during the restore operation” instead of “during the restore.”)
  • Avoid ambiguous pronoun references where the pronoun can possibly refer to more than one antecedent. For example, in the statement “If there is prompt text for the completed field, it does not change,” it is not clear if the “prompt text” does not change or the “completed field” does not change.
  • Use simple and clear coordination so the reader can tell what the relationships are between the elements of a sentence. For example, “the file or result field definition” could mean: “The result-field definition or the file,” “The file definition or the result-field definition,” “The file-field definition or the result-field definition,” “The definition of the file or of the result field,” or “The field definition of the file or of the result.”
  • Ensure the elements of a sentence are parallel. Words, phrases, and clauses should be grammatically equal. Use “network management, databases, and application programs” rather than “network management, databases, and writing application programs.”
  • Avoid using too many prepositions in a sentence, but do not omit prepositions or articles that are necessary. The sentence “This is a list of the current status of all event monitors for this process” could be rewritten to “This lists the current status of all event monitors for this process.”
  • Do not use the dash parenthetically (as in “It is at this point – the start point – that designers and writers meet”). Translators, however, accept the dash being used to show an extension of a sentence (as in “The most important people in IBM are the customers – they pay us”).