Networking Insight

5 Tips to Help Your Team be More Creative by Mark Miller

5 Tips to Help Your Team be More Creative

By Mark Miller, Co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life

In today's challenging economic times, creative thinking is more valuable than ever. Not creative for creativity's sake -- creativity to solve real business problems. Many of the ideas of the past are no longer relevant. As a seasoned leader shared with me recently, "The half-life of ideas is decreasing rapidly." So what's our response? We need more and better ideas. The good news: creating new, value-added ideas is what teams do best. However, creativity in a team environment is not automatic. There are some things that leaders can do to increase the creative output of their team. Here are a few ideas to get you started . . .

Expect it -- When you establish the role of your team, be sure to highlight the expectation that the team will create fresh, new solutions to the problems you face.

Train it -- The skills of creativity can be learned. To learn them, they must be taught. Schedule time to conduct training for your team. This can take many forms. It can be as brief as a micro session on effective brainstorming (before your next brainstorming session) to multi-day training sessions and everything in between. The point is simple -- train your team on the skills of creativity.

Practice it -- Creative thinking and problem solving are skills -- just like golf, tennis or a foreign language.  Like any skill, you get better with practice. Look for opportunities for your team to practice the skills you've learned. Practice builds competence and competence builds confidence.

Recognize it -- The actions that you reward will be repeated. That's human nature. That's one reason you need to recognize not just the successes but the effort as well. Not every creative endeavor will be successful. That's normal. If you've been operating in a culture in which creativity has not been valued, recognizing creative effort will be even more critical. People are paying attention. They want to know if it's really safe to voice new ideas.

Model it -- People always watch the leader -- whether we want them to or not. Do your people see you embracing creative ideas? Do they see you engaged in the process of creating new ideas? You can accelerate the adoption of creative thinking as a skill if you personally get in the game. If you don't, you'll need to temper your expectations of groundbreaking new ideas from your team.Teams are probably at their best when they're engaged in the creative process. They are leveraging their collective wisdom and experience to create what previously did not exist. One of the most satisfying and productive things leaders can do is create the conditions to harness this creative potential. Start today and get ready to be amazed at what your team will do!

Author Bio

Mark Miller, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is vice president, training and development, for Chick-fil-A. During his career he has served in corporate communications, restaurant operations, quality and customer satisfaction, and numerous other leadership positions. He began his Chick-fil-A career in 1977 working as an hourly team member. He is the author of The Secret of Teams and is the coauthor of The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do with Ken Blanchard.

Follow Mark Miller on Facebook and Twitter

For more information please visit http://greatleadersgrow.com and http://greatleadersserve.org.  

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10 Signs that You Hit it Off with Someone

When you meet someone for the first time, you knwo right away if you hit it off. For obvious reasons, you want to connect favorably with new people on a regular basis. As a result, you will be in a good position to build a diverse and sustainable network.

Below are 10 signs that you hit it off with someone:

 1. The person asks for your business card after you have a conversation

2. The person offers to connect you to someone in his/her network

3. You offer to connect the person to someone else in your network

4. The person asks if you can have a follow-up meeting

5. The person is engaged in the conversation and asks good questions

6. You are excited about meeting this person

7. You see a professional opportunity with this person

8. You realize that you could talk all night long with this person

9. You are excited about your next conversation

10. You discover several commonalties such as interests and people you both know.

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Social Networking Humor

7 Reasons as to Why You Should Regularly Stay in Touch with Your Network

In order to build long term relationships, you need to stay in touch with your network. Without frequent touches, people may forget about you and not take their relationship serious with you.

Below are 7 reasons as to why you should regularly stay in touch with your network:

1. Business Referrals – It is important to stay top of mind with your expertise so referrals may come your way, which could turn into new business

2. Business Opportunities – The more people know you the more new business opportunies may come your way

3. Event Invitations – Your network may invite you to special events because they respect and trust you

4. Job Opportunities – Some of your contacts may share new job opportunities with you since they will have a good understanding of your skill set and industry experience

5. Meeting Invitations – You may be asked to attend special meetings with potential clients or industry executives

6. Media Exposure – As opportunities arise, someone in your network may refer you to a media source that is covering a particular story

7. Personal Branding – With regular communication, your network will experience your personal brand, which is critical for relationship building

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Greater Chicago Networking Extravaganza - Set for 5/23!

The annually anticipated Greater Chicago Networking Extravaganza (GCNE) is set to take place this year on May 23 at the Metropolitan Club!  In addition to interactive presentations by my partner, Lillian Bjorseth, and me, we have assembled a panel of professionals who leverage networking to grow their businesses.

Panelists include 1) Elliot Richardson who is the founder of Small Business Advocacy Council and 2) Vicki Kunkel who is an educator, evangelist, and former journalist.

The GCNE also offers a variety of sponsorship opportunities to increase your exposure and visibility at this well-attended event. You will be featured immediately on the Greater Chicago Networking website home page and sponsorship page and included in the event marketing. 

For more details, go to www.greaterchicagonetworking.com.

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Develop a Strategy to Build Your Network

Building up your network can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a plan in place.  It is easy to spend countless hours on ineffective activity while trying to build your Rolodex.

Rather than aimlessly trying to figure it out, it is important to put a plan in place.  By doing so, you will be able to meet more of the right people in less time. Your time is valuable so use it wisely.

Start by asking yourself, “Who do I want to meet?”  Once you can answer that question, you are ready to focus your efforts.

Below is a strategic plan to help your build your network:

• Decide who you want to meet and why
• Develop a personal introduction that is tailored to who you want to meet
• Ask friends and close business associates for introductions to your target contac
•  Research which events to attend based on who is the target audience
• Find opportunities to speak in front of your target contact at an event

Whatever action steps that you take, remember to put a plan in place so you can maximize your efficiency. Networking works well when you are strategic about who you meet.

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Chicago EFactor Event - Legal Aspects for Entrepreneurs 2/21

Below is information about an event that I am co-hosting with EFactor.

Legal Aspects for Entrepreneurs

An interactive workshop covering crucial tax and legal issues facing entrepreneurs and their companies during the business lifecycle from start-up, expansion and exit.  

Our legal experts will give your professional advice on these and many more topics:

• Getting the initial structure rightRewarding employees with equity
• Exit routes
• Spouses as shareholders
• Research and Development tax credits
• Equity or debt financing from investors
• Having a group of companies 'Cleaning' up a group to maximize tax reliefs (or to avoid losing them)
• Inheritance tax issues with companies and groups
• Liquidations - when it all goes wrong

A key part of the workshop will be the opportunity to discuss with fellow entrepreneurs tax and legal issues they are facing and what solutions they found to be the most beneficial. You will be able to learn from others as to how to avoid legal mistakes and solve the problems you are facing now without spending large amount of money on legal help.

Speakers Include:

• Greg Grove, Principal, Much Shelist 
• Alexandra Dowling, Associate, Jenner & BlockDate: 2/21/12

Date: February 21, 2012

Time: 6:30-9:30pm

Location: VentureSHOT, 744 N. Wells St., Chicago

Price: $10 Early Bird, $15 regular, $20 at door

Host: EFactor

For more details and to register, go to EFactor.com.

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Nine Successful Outcomes of Great Relationship Building

Building relationships takes time to see the results of your efforts. With consistency and patience, you have the opportunity to have successful outcomes for your networking activities.

Below are nine successful outcomes of great relationship building:

1. New clients are obtained

2. New partnerships are formed

3. New employees are hired

4. Capital is raised

5. New friendships are born

6. Your personal brand’s credibility has been enhanced

7. New opportunities present themselves to you

8. You build a very diverse network

9. You are approachable, which opens up doors

What other successful outcomes have you experienced?

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How to Evaluate Your Leadership Style By Ken Blanchard

How to Evaluate Your Leadership Style

By Ken Blanchard, Co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for LifeToday

I'm going to give a short, one-question quiz. Here's the question: How do you rate as a leader?I don't ask this question flippantly. It is a question I've asked countless people at the leadership seminars we conduct. As leaders, most people rank themselves as being very close to a minor deity or at least Mr. or Ms. Human Relations. Seldom do leaders give themselves low marks. Strangely enough, when the tables are turned and people are asked to rank their boss's leadership style, we often find many supervisors graded as being adequate, merely OK, or at worst, office autocrats who depend heavily on the often-referenced "seagull management" technique as their sole line of attack -- they leave their people alone until something goes wrong, and then they fly in, make a lot of noise, dump all over everyone, and fly out.

More often than not, we find that leaders lull themselves into thinking they are top-flight leaders because they think they use a supportive or coaching style, which someone told them are "good" leadership styles. Not too surprisingly, this isn't the way they are seen by those in their department, office or store.

To get a true and accurate answer about the question above, it is necessary for you as a supervisor to honestly determine how your employees perceive your leadership style. These are the folks who know you best. They have first-hand experience with your leadership style and operate on their own perceptions about it. They are the best judges of your managerial effectiveness. However, getting an employee or subordinate to give his or her honest feedback on your leadership style is difficult. People fear being the messenger who will get shot for bearing bad news. Hence, they are naturally reluctant to be totally candid.

Employees are sharp observers. In the past, they may have gone to their leader and made an honest suggestion such as, "Ken, I think our Thursday afternoon meetings are a waste of time." If the supervisor answers with an outburst by saying, "What do you mean a waste of time? Are you kidding? Those meetings are important," it doesn't take a genius to figure out that one thing the leader doesn't want to hear is the truth.

It is important to remember that when people you supervise tell you what they honestly think about your style of leadership, they're really giving you a gift. When someone gives you a gift, what is the first thing you should say? "Thank you," of course! Then it's a very good idea to follow up by saying, "Is there anything else you think I should know?" When a person learns that you won't become defensive or hostile when he or she gives you an honest evaluation about your style, you'll find that you'll be given many nuggets of truth which are extremely valuable. My advice would be to encourage people to give (feedback) at the office, and to give often!

Just remember, what you think about your own leadership style really doesn't matter. In addition, there is no one correct style, nor is there a "good" or a "bad" style. Rather, style is judged by those immediately influenced by it. It's your people's response to your style that matters. If you are getting the right response consistently -- high productivity and morale -- then you're doing just fine. If not, then perhaps it's your style that needs changing, not your employees.

Author Bio 

Ken Blanchard, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is cofounder and chief spiritual officer of the Ken Blanchard Companies. He is the author or coauthor of 50 books that have sold more than 20 million copies, including the iconic One Minute Manager®. Connect with Ken Blanchard on Facebook and follow him on Twitter here and here.

For more information on the book please visit http://greatleadersgrow.com.