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September 29, 2008

Leadership Development in Alaska

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 12:13 am

For two days, I enjoyed the company of twenty emerging leaders who have been selected as part of the Leadership Anchorage Twelfth Year cohort.  We converged on the Birchwood Camp facilities with a burden of uncertainty: what would these people be like?  Would the weather be dreary?  What were we going to encounter?

That experience is now in the rear view mirror.  To a man and woman, everyone invested full attention and interest in the activities that moved us from strangers to friends.  This took some masterful facilitation which was offered by Jim Mackenzie, director of the program.  The group now has a foundation for eight months’ of participation in project completion, personal portfolio development (think of it as scrapbook for the business professional), mentorship… and GROWTH.
I have a new circle of friends now.  The views are international, cross-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-racial…  eloquent. Many of the comments play in my thoughts as I think about the weekend.  If this group is representative of the ‘new generation’ of community leaders, we are in for a treat! The visionary wants to focus on detail; the stressed fellow wants to reconnect with himself; a community activist wants to sort out how to deal with governmental barriers.  One woman formed her goal for the program, wanting to work on change, with compassion.
Thinking ahead by eight months, I foresee a story of challenge and growth, both individually and as a group.   We will learn from one another.  Best of all, we will establish friendships for life in support of Anchorage as an enviable place to live — for all communities.
Leadership Anchorage 2008 – 2009

September 20, 2008

Snapshots of Change: The 10% Solution

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 8:54 pm
The news hour is replete with tales of failing financial institutions, rises in unemployment numbers, and inflation of prices at the pump, grocery, utilities, and other sources of the supplies we consider necessary for life in the U. S. I long to talk to elders who observed the leading indicators prior to the Great Depression, to compare and discuss today’s level of preparedness for large-scale set backs in our economy.  More to the point, how do our companies – and we as individuals – cope with adversity?  Adversity is a prompt for change. And change is not often immediate: it is usually a transition.  If we observe the need for change early enough, that transition may be more orderly, less disruptive to our lives.Tools that help during periods like this include introspection, ability to set achievable, observable (measurable) goals, mentoring relationships, and opportunities to interact with others through direct acts of sharing or giving.  Those opportunities include volunteering your time and talent.  While volunteers focus on giving, they open a channel for receiving.  What do you get from the act of volunteering?  Self respect, for one thing.  A smile when the receiver of your time and focus responds.  A sense of connection, or community.Are you giving? In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner describe a tool for assessing your commitment to an activity.  You can use it to test the fit between your desire to give to your community and your actual investment in volunteering.  Keep a calendar for a week or a month, writing in your activities: if we are defining volunteering as giving of your TIME and talent, this should be easy!  Then add the hours and divide by 168 (the number of hours in a week) or 720 (hours in a month).  Is the percentage 10% or greater?  Kouzes and Posner suggest that if you are truly committed to something, you will devote at least a tenth of your time to it. Now, 16.8 hours a week of structured volunteering would be tough for most of us… but what it you considered time with neighbors, kids, elders, teams and troops, clubs, and so forth?  Count the time you do things for others that (1) are not income producing and (2) are not done from a sense of duty.  Chances are good that 16.8 hours is a realistic measure of volunteering.Why go through this exercise?  It is only a first step… the second is to begin to notice the ROI, Return on Investment.  Do you feel more connected?  Respected?  Needed?  Satisfied?  Look for the signs of being valued by others: this is your ‘return’ for what you give.  When the economy gets tough, when downsizing seems more the norm than expansion and growth, when natural disasters hit, you have a tool for maintaining focus and connection.  I interject Kouzes and Posner’s measurement tool in many seminars and lectures, as I find it useful in my own life. It gives me a reality check when I think I am investing enough energy to accomplish something of importance to me.  How close to 10% am I in terms of putting effort into that activity or goal?  It helps me stay on track when CNN proclaims that Wall Street is broken, that Galveston is flooded, when the PFD fund has lost mega dollars.  Check it out for yourself — try the 10% Solution. Mary M Rydesky

September 13, 2008

Videoconferencing Etiquette

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 10:46 pm
At a recent conference, a presenter lamented the lack of training available to users of videoconferencing equipment. He did not know of the courses I offered in Anchorage this last year for health care providers (and others) using video for patient visits, consultations, and distance learning. In the Resources section of the Transition Management site, there are a few documents we developed as overviews of considerations. Take a look – then post your comments in response. Have any tips to add? Let us know–

Mary M Rydesky

September 12, 2008

Seasons Change, and So Do I

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 9:20 am

The weather bodes of cold and wet.  At present, it is cooler, and rain comes daily.  Leaves, yellow and restless, gather on the lawn and prepare for a transition.  Interesting that their journey is such a vivid illustration of life, career, company existence…the journeys in which we participate without much reflection on their effects on us. Have you noticed that companies have childhood, adolescence, middle age, old age, and in some cases, death?  I recall research from the 60s and 70s in which the corporate life cycle concept was addressed, and have watched for evidence of it  since reading those early articles.

The point at which our careers intersect with life stage of company can yield success or frustration.  Where are you – where is your company? If you are in your early career and your company is in old age, how are you affected by each other?  If you are experienced in your career, and work in a middle aged company, is your productivity more stable or less?

September 5, 2008

Craving Expectations

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 10:41 am

Ever notice that looking forward is preferred over looking back in time? We anticipate an event, then groan at the clean up.  We develop strategic plans for companies, careers, and communities, investing great effort in the process – but the effort put into acting on those plans often seems twenty times as tiring.  And when it comes to looking back – perhaps when preparing the annual report –  we often find that all we intended to achieve did not materialize.  No wonder we prefer looking forward!

Presently, US citizens listen to or watch the political conventions and see a display of hopefulness.  The message is that the past has been unsatisfactory and that new players and new plans will achieve much more – to the greater good. Yet, the candidates are untested – not unprepared – they are willing to tackle jobs they cannot know, through times and experiences they have not yet experienced.
So too, are we.  We change in response to conditions.  The economy and the weather both give us opportunities to adapt. We handle some of the changes without much thought or with such practice that little attention is required in the process. But other changes are much more demanding and they consume us.  Have you considered how change and transition differ?  Might be worth it – and this ‘blog’ is a place to start.
Welcome to the blog for Transition Management, a consulting firm addressing change in companies and careers.  Let’s engage!

September 4, 2008

Welcome

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 2:41 am

Welcome to a dialog spot made available by Transition Management.  Interested in organizational behavior and administration?  Organizational development?  Learning management?  Visit frequently: these themes will be constant in our conversations. Post your responses, start new conversations!

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