Kit Prendergast, PCC
Kit brings you a wealth of expertise and experience as well as a wonderful spirit, energy, and a gift for inspiring you to create the life you truly want for yourself.Kit's Tips & Books
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Tag Archives: Relationships
LinkedIn Tip: Start With A Powerful Headline
The headline at the top of each LinkedIn profile is my favorite part. Along with your picture, the headline tells me a lot. In a glance, I can see what your areas of expertise are and therefore how we might connect or even work together.
Take your time in developing a powerful, effective headline. Don’t just use your current job title which is the default from LinkedIn. It’s so boring! Instead, identify your skill sets (what you want to be known for) and then list them with a straight vertical line between them. Look at my own LinkedIn profile for an example http://www.linkedin.com/in/kitprendergast.
You can also use a “benefit statement” approach which allows you to put the benefit you bring to others into one sentence. This works particularly well if you are promoting one highly specialized skill like website design, real estate sales etc.
Either way, make sure that your headline is concise, engaging and value-driven. This first impression can make all the difference in opportunities arriving at your door!
Maximum Success with LinkedIn
Maximum Success with LinkedIn: Dominate Your Market, Build a Global Brand, and Create the Career of Your Dreams, by Dan Sherman, The McGraw-Hill Companies, New York, New York, 2013.
If you are a professional at any stage of your career journey you will find this book invaluable. LinkedIn has become the indisputable leader in connecting professionals together to maximize business and career success.
Sherman has a delightful way of writing this easy-to-read book. Each chapter (starting with “Love at First Click”) takes us through how to design our profile so that others can find us easily, know what services we offer, how to contact us and what the final benefits will be in working with us. Pick up this book and read it over the weekend. And then send me an invitation to connect. I always enjoy learning what my colleagues are doing and LinkedIn is the ideal way to do that. It’s easy, free and powerful!
Posted in Kit's Resources & Book Reviews
Tagged communication, Networking, Relationships, social media
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Remembering Names the Easy Way
Remembering people as individuals is the cornerstone to building powerful personal and professional relationships. Start with remembering their name with a word picture. Our minds usually think in pictures. And it helps to exaggerate your picture so you will remember it quickly. Remember this picture is just for you – don’t share it.
Now that you remember someone’s name, let’s have a meaningful conversation with this person. Pretend you are at a business event and you are talking to someone new. Practice on them. Stop any distractions by maintaining good eye content with the person. Listen closely and really hear what they are saying. Be curious and focus, focus, focus!
- Listen for information about these six general areas: where they live, family and friends, paid and community work, travel adventures, unique interest and finally their ideas.
- Ask about any other areas that you are curious about – be interested in them as an individual.
Now create a word picture in your mind to remember what you just heard. Dale Carnegie calls this “conversation links”. Create a picture – the more exaggerated the better- that links together these pieces of information. Dale Carnegie trainers give hysterical examples in the live training. It works! You don’t forget the picture or the individual and their unique story.
Three Ways to Begin to Influence Others at Work!
Are you ready to have more influence at work? Maybe you are new in your position or maybe you are an “old timer” and now are itching to make some organizational changes that could take your department or company to a new and improved performance level. But are you a person of influence? Do others look to you for clarity on the company’s future and direction on how best to meet performance goals? Are you sought out for your ideas, your wisdom, your ability to manage organizational change and finally to fully engage and motivate others?
You may have some homework to do to become that kind of influential leader. Here are my favorite three ways to start.
- Practice your speaking skills (with individuals, small groups & large audiences)
- Sharpen your writing skills (share your ideas, connect with others)
- Invest in experiences and reading (to expand your awareness, interests & conversation)
And now watch others in your workplace . . . how do they persuade, inspire and influence others? What is it about them that speaks to others in an unique way? You can learn so much from just observing them in action!
Posted in Inspirational Leadership, Kit's Tips
Tagged Career, Leadership, Relationships, strengths, teams
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Three Tips to Increase Your Self-Awareness
How self-aware are you – really? During a typical day are you tuned in to your emotions (positive & negative) when they are actually occurring? Can you label these feelings and do you know why they are being triggered right now? And most importantly, do you take the time to learn from these insights and consciously use this learning to improve in your career?
Sounds easy . . . but actually this level of awareness takes constant practice. Here are three tried and true ways to “self-coach” yourself to increase your self-awareness a day at a time.
- Slow down! Give yourself permission to simply be in the moment. Focus on what you are doing right now, minimize the distractions and let yourself concentrate.
- Next check-in with your feelings each hour (or more frequently). What are you feeling physically, emotionally and mentally? Label these feelings in your own words.
- Ask yourself what these emotions are telling you – what personal values, concerns, hopes or worries are being triggered?
Now the important part . . . listen to your own intuition to gain some insight into how you might approach a challenging issue or situation at work. What is coming up regularly and why? Challenge yourself to be curious. Allow yourself to step back, think, and perhaps take another path to solving a problem. Be open to learning from the best teacher you know – yourself.
Posted in Inspirational Leadership, Kit's Tips
Tagged Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Relationships, strengths
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