Impress Your Boss!!!
These are scary times. People are losing their jobs. You need to do your best at work to help assure employment and satisfaction from your organization. Impressing your boss helps.

There are no shortcuts to making a lasting positive impression. Hard work, respect, and sincerity are key factors. You will be sure to impress a boss in any work setting by following these steps.
· Meet deadlines. An employee who delivers quality products or services in a timely manner will always be a plus in the boss’s eye. Show a good work ethic by being on time yourself.
· Respect your boss’s time. A good employee reduces dead time, managing time with the tools they need to perform their jobs.
· Be positive. For every two complaints or suggestions for improvement you make to your boss, be sure to point out four positive things. Avoid petty gripes entirely. It’s very hard to work in a negative environment. Always look on the bright side.
· Be sincere. No one enjoys being manipulated, especially your boss. Your boss will be pleased if you are honest and consistent in your performance and only question when there is a concern.
· Keep your work area clean. Having a clean desk with all your papers in place is a start to being organized and is an especially good way to show your boss that you have your work in order.
· Never assume. If asked, “when you get a chance,” it would be wise to request a specific target date. It is okay to probe your boss if you don’t understand a given assignment. Being clear and precise shows professionalism and caring for your work.

Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
Success depends on more than IQ or technical knowledge. Emotional Intelligence has been a business term since Daniel Goleman reintroduced the concept in the ‘90s. Studies link emotional intelligence to effective leadership and superior job performance. Emotionally intelligent people are:
- Likely to use emotions to understand people and ideas
- Skilled at using emotions to communicate
- Recognize the role emotional intelligence can play in your career.
Here are five tips to pump up your emotional intelligence!
1. When making decisions, think about the emotional reactions of those who will be affected. This can lead to a better choice or implementation strategy.
2. Use active listening skills to understand others – not just their words but the emotions behind the words.
3. Attend to body language – it’s not just what you say but how you say it.
4. Empathize – once you understand what others are feeling you’ll be better able to relate.
5. Seek feedback. Seeing ourselves from others’ eyes helps us find better ways to communicate, improve the impressions we make, and be more sensitive to others.

Highly emotionally intelligent people soar because of these skills. You can too.

Lakeesha Flowers, Human Resources Specialist

Recruiting the Millennial Generation
They're hardworking and enthusiastic, but they won’t settle for just any job!
Use your millennial employees as recruiters. Use fresh employees into their careers who can describe what life is like at your organization. Discuss some unorthodox topics, like flextime policies and workplace daily life along with the traditional metrics of company success.
Give Flashier Presentations – PowerPoint is out. Millenials wan to see stimulating presentations that are similar to websites. Consider short videos with employees saying what they like best about their job.
Have Easy Online Job Applications – Millenials like applying via an anonymous, digital interface. They want to apply on their own time, in their everyday clothes. Millenials feel more secure applying online. They feel it’s riskier to write a Social Security number on a paper application than on a secure website.
Connect employees to issues they care about – the Millenials’ exposure to the 9/11 terrorist attacks left them with an unyielding desire to find substance in their lives. They want to make each day count. Meaningfulness has many interpretations, which means you could adopt a local charity and still not attract a crowd of Millenials. Assure these restless people that they can work at the same company for 30 years and have a myriad of jobs, experiences, and opportunities.
Take a clue from Google. While traditional companies shy away from training employees who might fly the coop, Google puts its strongest young recruits into management positions and gives them two years of hands-on training as a way to attract the best and brightest.

What’s in it for a Mentor?
If you’ve ever had a co-worker or colleague consistently go the extra mile to help you achieve success, then you have probably been mentored. But have you ever thought about the benefits of being a mentor to someone else?

When we mentor, we are a career coach and advocate. We give advice, teach others about our field, and, at times, are a friend and a sounding board. Here are a few reasons to reach out and mentor someone:

• 
  You’ll be fulfilled knowing you’ve helped someone prosper.
• 
  Mentoring develops your own leadership skills of recognizing and nurturing abilities.
• 
  You may learn new information, technology, or gain insight from protégés, who often are new to the organization and have fresh perspectives to share.
  
• You will be seen as a “go to” person.
  

How do you get started?
Be a mentor to everyone! This doesn’t mean taking everybody under your wing. Just make one of your goals promoting everyone’s success . Be a good role model of your organization’s values.
Support your co-workers on projects or by giving positive feedback, and suggesting resources.
Be available for questions and keep confidentiality.
Not only are mentoring, teamwork and altruistic behavior great for your organization’s bottom line but you‘ll also learn more while developing your pool of resources and a professional network. You might even find one of these interactions evolves into a mentoring relationship that satisfies and rewards both you and your protégé in the long term. It is amazing how much you get when you give!
(From Lakeesha Flowers, HR Specialist)

Do you need a Leadership Coach?

You may be a brilliant negotiator, a financial whiz or a technical genius. But do you have what it takes to manage other high-level employees?

If your communication skills have been a sore spot during your annual reviews, a coach might be able to help. Coaches aren't just for executives who are struggling to get the job done. Middle-managers, in fact, might be prime candidates. Leadership coaches often work with managers who have been highly successful, and now need to get to the next level.

Dr. Mimi Hull can get you where you want to go! Contact us today for a free consultation: DrMimi@Hullonline.com - 407-628-0669

Getting Help!

It’s the holidays! You are overloaded. How do you get help at work?

Create the right atmosphere. Don’t rush in with emotional complaints about the stress you feel. Explain the situation calmly and clearly. Know exactly what you want others to do.

Use specific assertive language like “I need your support with this and would like you to...” Taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings allows you to present yourself as a mere mortal who sometimes needs help. It is harder to dismiss a human than it is to dismiss an idea!

Suggest what’s in it for them. Use phrases like “I can see how this will improve your visibility...” Speak to their motivations. If helping you enables them to achieve their aspirations, they are more likely to assist you.

Barter: “If you will do this for me, I will do ... for you.” Be prepared to negotiate; think of a contingency plan that will take some pressure off and give you a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Thank them for their efforts. Everyone likes recognition, and in this case they have really put themselves out for you, both in terms of time and effort.

Give recognition. Let people that matter know how helpful your colleague was to you and what part they played in your success.