Kent Blumberg

How a congratulations email works

I read the "People in Business" section of the paper with great interest. My local paper puts the names in bold font, making it easy to spot people I know.

Why do I bother? Because people love to hear they have been noticed. 

Reduce your FOPP* time

Time is the only thing you cannot create, borrow, steal or buy. If you waste your time Fixing Other People's Problems (FOPP time), it's gone. Gone for good. If you own or run a business, FOPP time, time spent doing things your subordinates should be doing, keeps you from focusing on the growth you so earnestly desire. If you'd like to spend less FOPP time and more Growth time, try these suggestions.

Class: Networking for the shy and the not-so-shy

You have heard that referral marketing – networking – is the most powerful way for entrepreneurs and small business owners – like you – to build business. But you just can’t bear the thought of all those meetings, all those strangers, all those phone calls.

What are you to do?

Join us for a six-week teleseminar with Kent Blumberg and learn the secrets of networking for the shy and the not-so-shy. Learn why you might want to become a Comfortable Networker. Re-frame the goal of networking from Get to Give. Gain five key networking skills, learn how to bring your strengths to the party, practice spotting and using personality styles, and make it all happen in real life. Try out your skills in a safe class environment, and then put them to work out in the world. Turn your fear into Excitement about networking. Learn to Initiate encounters, rather than just respond.  Move from “could do” to “am doing.”

Knowing what drives you and others increases your effectiveness

Knowing what's important to you makes it easier to decide "what's next" for you.  Knowing what's important to others makes it easier to persuade them to do what you need them to do, to give them meaningful recognition, and to communicate your ideas in a way they will understand.

I often work with executives who are confused about which of many possible next steps makes the most sense for them.  As long as they are looking only at the next step it's often impossible to decide which to choose.  Once we sort out what's really important to that person, however, the choice becomes clearer.  My job is to periodically remind them of the core motivators we have discovered and ask them which next step seems to most honor those motivators.

On the other hand, my business owner clients sometimes encounter an employee with whom they just can't seem to connect.  Rather than fire that person and try to find someone else for the job, a bit of understanding about values and motivations might be just what the doctor ordered.

Here are a few tools to help you sort out what's important.

Invest in all areas of your life for enhanced effectiveness

I work with business owners and entrepreneurs, helping them achieve their business goals.  Inevitably, that means we work on other areas of life, too.  You see, we bring all of ourselves to our work.  If we are dissatisfied with any other area of life, it will inevitably impact our ability to meet our business goals.

The Wheel of Life (see the picture to the left) is a great tool for exploring our level of satisfaction with eight areas of life and deciding where to increase our investment of time, energy and money.

Here's how you can use the wheel in your life.

Join Toastmasters and hone your speaking and leadership skills

[Update:  Corrected author name on Toastmasters blog at bottom of post.}

Looking to improve your public speaking skills?  Need to learn how to think faster on your feet?  Hoping for some leadership practice, too?  Consider joining Toastmasters.

Leading Millennials

Lately the issue of how to motivate and lead the newest crop of college graduates (the millennials, I believe they are called) has been top of mind for some of my baby boomer clients.  And I've had the chance to talk with a few 20-somethings who are struggling with how to work with us older folks.

This is an important thing to get right.  There are far fewer of these young workers than there were when we baby boomers graduated from college.  Competition will be stiff for the really good ones.  If you want to attract and retain the best, you will want to know more about what floats a 24 year old's boat.

Wanting to learn more myself, I turned to LinkedIn and asked, "If you are 20-something, what would you advise a 50-something manager about how to help you engage in the organization, flourish and contribute?"  Here's what I learned.

Teasing out core values in a job interview

Two of my favorite bloggers, Phil Gerbyshak and Steve Roesler have been talking about how to discover what job candidates are passionate about. 

Phil suggests asking the candidate what she is passionate about, to see how excited she gets.  Phil's idea is that you want to hire someone who can actually get excited about something.

Steve agrees that "simply finding out if someone can 'get passionate' about a topic is telling."  He adds the step of asking the candidate, "How would you see that kind of excitement carrying over into your work."

Here's a third way to use a candidate's passion to discover a bit more about what makes her tick.

9 Keys to Successful Delegation

All of us delegates tasks and outcomes.  Even sole proprietors have suppliers and service providers who require direction.  Few, if any of us, can get through life without asking others for help.

But delegation can be scary.  It's tough to let go of control and trust others to get stuff done.  We might think only we can do something well.  Sometimes that's true, but most often it isn't.

If you are going to have leverage in this world, you simply must delegate.  Here are nine simple ideas to help you delegate more effectively.

Please throw out your performance review system

My opinion:  annual performance reviews are hammers looking for nails to pound, and hurting employee engagement, productivity and health in the process.  If you have any say in the matter, please throw out your performance review process.

Here's why I believe that, and some alternatives you might want to try.