Being a long term member of Toastmasters, I have received a wealth of wonderful training in the art of public speaking, team building, and leadership skills.  On March 15th at Douglas College in New Westminster, about 100 Toastmasters from various clubs of the Lower Mainland gathered for a day-long training seminar.  I participated in the “Developing Your Leadership Skills” session and took the following notes.
•    Qualified members
•    Concern for achieving goals
•    Commitment to the team
•    A constructive climate
•    Creativity
•    Organization
•    Strong leadership
•    Members who enjoy their work

Contrast
A set of expectations communicated to others through writing or speech which sets conditions to an agreement.
Ex: members show up to meetings on time, what consequences are there if members don’t show up.  Rules set up beforehand so they know what to expect.

Team Building Process
1.    Discovery (members get acquainted, know each other’s skills, look for different information from other team members)
2.    Formation (members get familiar with each other, leaders come to the forefront, different skill levels develop)
3.    Organization (team will set goals and objectives, leaders surface, develop a plan of action)
4.    Maturity (team is well organized, tackle it’s goals quickly and efficiently)
1965 Psychological Book –
Ex: Appolo 13 the movie
Forming  (get to know each other)
Storming (conflict, power play)
Norming (establish relationship, understand the goal/objective)
Performing (smoothly working quickly and efficiently)
Break up (they finish and go away)
A team takes time to form.  The members need motivation to get to smooth sailing.

Hunger motivates our need for food, etc…

Expectancy Model
Motivation Strength = Perceived value of performing behavior = Perceived probability that result will happen

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

1.    Food, water, sleep
2.    Shelter, security and predictability
3.    Love, acceptance
4.    Respect, recognition
5.    Purpose, direction (Self Realization)

Create a positive environment by
Making expectations clear
Telling members about the benefits
Recognize their work

“In Search Of Excellence” ~ great book by

Rewards:
Money, Recognition, Support, Empowering, Learning, Vacation, Connection, Work/life Balance, Promotion, Challenges , Fun, Evaluations, Variety, Inclusion/ Input to decision, Belong, Community involvement.
How to Reward:
1.    Tell people exactly what is expected of them
2.    Make the reward suit the person’s needs
3.    Reward desired behavior as often as it takes to maintain it
4.    Reward desired behavior immediately
5.    Use reward over punishment
6.    Reward only when it’s deserved
7.    Be a great model
According to Thordat, give rewards once in awhile, not every time, for better results.

Ghandi “Be the Change you want to see”      

Coaching is essential to the success of a team, they give direction and feedback to team members.  Coaching is important, to assist members in realizing their own strengths and weaknesses, and analyze their own skills and thus learn more.

All team needs a coach for guidance, to get through difficult problems or help enhance their performance.  The Coach must delegate.  The Coach is not a cheerleader, but needs to give rewards for deserving action. The goal of coaching is to improve the performance of team members.

The Coaching Process
1.    What are the unacceptable behaviors?
2.    Is the problem worth the time and effort?
3.    Does the team member know what unsatisfactory performance is?
4.    Does the team member know what is suppose to be done and when?
5.    Are there obstacles beyond his/her control?
6.    Does the team member know how to do it?
7.    Does negative consequence follow non-performance?
8.    Could the team member do it if he or she wanted to?
9.    Redirect team member’s behaviour through coaching.
When someone completes a distasteful task, don’t reward them with another distasteful tasks.

A Good Leader
•    Care about the work/ team (demonstrate that you care about the team)
•    Be enthusiastic (talk about goals, project, give progress report to team)
•    Is dedicated (committed member, who others emulate)

Working in the team environment
People are messy
Remember where the team leader’s priorities lie (their job)

If you like to find out more leadership training, there is another full day training this Saturday, April 12 from 10am-3:30pm at the Douglas College at 700 Royal Ave.  You can pre-register at toastmasters.bc.ca/home.php or contact
Joanne Morrison, DTM
Lt. Governor, Education & Training, 2007-08
District 21, Toastmasters in BC
Attitude = Altitude
joannewrd@hotmail.com
604-951-9570    Phone
604-788-9570 Cell
604-951-9504    Fax


   
My dream is to one day host a one-thousand-guest party with a million dollar budget that is done to the nines…. Until then, I can only put on parties at my humble abode in imaginative themes that make me laugh.  While at Vancouver Film School, I often walked by this pen shop, which had super hero masks in the window display: Batman, Ash from Pokemon, Cat Woman, Joker etc…  it became the inspiration for my Super Hero-themed party.  So on Sat, March 29th, I invited some of my closest friends to come dressed up as their favourite super hero (or at the least wear a mask) to my party.  

Despite the hail, snow, and downpour, 16 of my friends braved the weather and came!  We began the party shrouded in candle light to support Earth Hour at 8pm.  My friends’ costumes blew me away, from full on Batman to a very creative Ninja, and Mario from Mario brothers to Elektra.  We enjoyed Granville Island Premium sake, Sushi, watched “My neighbour Totoro” and “Spirited Away”, and shared the extremely yummy Astro boy Chocolate Bailey’s cake tailor made by Ganache Patisserie that was a huge hit with everyone.  My guests were each given a super hero sticker (Pirates of the Caribbean or Spiderman) to stick on whomever they believed to have the best costume!  There were two awards: people’s choice award for an individual, and as a couple.  Greg Chan’s Batman won a sake for People’s Choice Super Hero, and James and Derek, both dressed like Clark Kent/Superman ended up winning the People’s Choice Superhero Couple’s Award!  Their acceptance speeches were satirical & hilarious… beginning with “ I’d like to thank the academy… “

Speaking of my friends, my pal Andrew Annar is an amazing culinary photographer.  In his 9-to-5 he is an Executive with a big pharmaceutical company, but photography is a passionate hobby.  Just take a look at the Astro Boy photos he took at my party!  So if you’re a chef or pastry chef, or a café and would like some tantalizing pictures of your food, please contact me so I can pass you his contact info.  He’s currently working on expanding his photo portfolio.

All my guests walked away with a red goodie bag, with a small figuring (Spiderman, Captain America, Green Hulk) and two small tubes of guest amenities.  The Spiderman toy was the favourite! You can see pictures of this Super Hero Party either on my facebook album or click on picasaweb.google.com/NetworkingQueen/SuperHeroPartyMarch2908

On March 20th, I had a leisurely stroll over to the YWCA downtown location to attend a fascinating workshop. Along with 45 other entrepreneurs, I learned how to better our business lives from the very successful Isabelle Mercier of Leap Zone Strategy, of the Small Business Bootcamp monthly event series put on by Sandra Gibbs of Counting On Us Accounting.  They had invited me to give a speech on “How To Win The Publicity Game” on April 17th at the same venue, and free ticket to hear Isabelle to get a feel for the event.

I have heard Isabelle before at the Small Business Bootcamp retreat in Kamloops 1 year ago, and thoroughly enjoyed her philosophy and brilliance.  She has got to be one of the smartest, funniest, most extroverted and ambitious women I’ve ever met, and I took a liking to her immediately.  She told us how she and her partner Margarita had built an extremely successful graphic design firm in 10 years that had 400% growth each year, which they started when they were only 23 years old.  They shared their struggles with managing their success, dealing with demanding clients who want everything yesterday… and the agony of finally deciding to sell their company. They took the next step by going traveling around the world for 1 year straight, learning to slow down enough to smell the roses, and starting Leap Zone Strategy to teach companies to establish a business process and help with branding. This was their new focus, rather than just graphic design where they were not really able to affect the result for their clients.

In this 90 minute workshop I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about myself and business, and I think you will too if you read on:

There is no such thing as time management ~ you can only manage your energy and yourself.  It is the lack of discipline that gets people into trouble with time.  It is just as difficult to succeed as it is to fail in business.  The profit centre of any business is the efficiency of your team.

Isabelle’s old graphic design company won 2 Benny awards, which are the Oscars for the graphic design industry.  They had Kevin Lawrence as their business coach, and each year experienced 400% growth.  Here are some of the keys to their success in creating growth and momentum.

1)    Plan your time off first: Prepare, de-stress, time off equals perspective, you will go nuts if you don’t have time off.  The more time off, the more momentum you will have in your business, so work around them.
2)    Create Your Ideal Schedule and Declare “Bubble Time”: Focus, have blocks of time that is uninterrupted ~ quality time, no emails, no MSN Messenger ~ to get things done.
3)    Determine Your “Wildly Important” priorities: What is your company’s 1 year goal, quarterly goal (next bite etc), have take action sheets: written and planned, once finished, cross them off; or at least write ½ of a plan because people will panic if there is no plan.  Isabelle said that it should be that 20% of effort that will give you 80% of results… but in real life, it’s usually 80% of effort that gives you 20% of results.  Being DISCIPLINED is key!  Focus on the next 300 feet ahead of you to gain momentum and efficiency.  If you have done something over and over, template it (ex: email, letters, employee training).
Time is our only non-renewable resource, be choosy and spend your heartbeat wisely.  ~Jim Sellner

Begin each day with the question “What is my focus today?”  If by the end of the day, you have not completed something, re-assess!  Clarify momentum by putting little squares at the end of the page.  If you have read Stephen Harvey’s 7 habits of very successful people, you would know the four quadrants of the “to dos”.

First quadrant is Urgent and Important, so Isabelle suggests that you deal with it immediately or bubble time it.  

Second quadrant is Urgent and Not Important, so delegate the task.

Third quadrant is Not Urgent and Important, so plan it or park your idea on the parking lots paper list.

Fourth quadrant is Not Urgent and Not Important, which she suggests you get rid of altogether. (ex: stacks of magazines you’ve been meaning to read)

Isabelle suggest to do the difficult tasks that she calls “Toads” first… the tasks that make you procrastinate, and sucks up all your energy.  Procrastination is the killer of success, so do those “Toads” first!

4)    Learn To Say No: Most opportunities are a distraction.  Planning will help you see, enable you to see.  Saying no to others = saying yes to yourself.  Beware of time robbers, instead of saying “I’ll call you back” say “NO”   And stick to what you say, don’t be one of those people that say “Usually I’m not like that, but I’ll make an exception for you”.
5)    Master The Art of Delegation: Who, What, When.  Effectively communicate the tasks & level of importance, determine deadline (importance), share your expectation for the task, have the other person reiterate back what you’ve just said!  Have the assigned person be accountable to you: I expect an update when you’re done.  Be clear in your communication.
6)    Implement daily and weekly team huddles: Team huddles help increase team focus and energy.  Set aside 1 hour each week (ex: Monday morning): the goal is to plan out the rest of the week and get everyone to stay on track.  At the team huddle, everyone shares their successes in the past week, their focus of the week upcoming (project update for each team member), News (new opportunities, important events), KPI Updates: key performance indicator, Road blocks (state and choose the biggest one to brainstorm as a team), System tweaks (and training opportunities), Values (building brand loyalty), CHEER! At this weekly team huddle, 5 corporate values are put into a hat and team members will pull out a value and say how they have demonstrated this corporate value, and once it’s finished, it ends in a cheer.  
Daily Huddles -11:45am
Share the wins, Road blocks, Values, Cheer
7)    Automate and keep it simple: Don’t do things more than twice, create template (ex: telephone scripts, email autoresponders)  Think once, operate.  Their company uses Maximizer, so all of the information is in one central location and many short cuts are set up to access client info etc.
8)    Reward & Celebrate: Need to see progress for gaining momentum, Celebrate the progress!!!
9)    Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk: When you say you’ll call a client on Friday, call Friday!  Success is all about managing expectations.  When you don’t do what you promise, it’s like a pause in a song, a skip in the beat, people notice!
10)    Well done is better than well said: Stop thinking, start doing.

If you think Isabelle and Margarita from Leap Zone Strategies are brilliant, you should call them at:


I attended a half day professional development event on techniques on how to better teach adult learners.  There was so much content, and our instructor was kind enough to email us notes after the class.  I’m attaching it to this email for your viewing pleasure.  I really enjoyed learned the theory behind the psychology of how people receive information.  I gained some tricks of the trade and also some hands on experience.

See notes (attached)!

I’m currently looking for my next career opportunity, so if you hear of an opening in Special Events, Public Relations, Hospitality, Marketing or Business Development, please let me know.  I’m not a commission sales person, so please don’t present me with those offers.  I’m looking for a long-term career position with an exciting, ambitious, quality company, where they have great people working on amazing projects.  I’m more interested in spending the next 10 years of my life learning about the real corporate life and how business is done and growing as a person than how much money I’m making.  Although now that I live on my own, I’m definitely appreciating more than before the true value of money and how easily it trickles away!   I appreciate & thank you in advance for all the opportunities you may send my way!  


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If you would like to get yourself and your business featured or event featured, please contact Alice regarding Membership Spotlight, and event poster e-blast. The interview and writing is $100, email blast is $200. This goes out to 4,000 confirmed email addresses of professionals and business owners in the Lower Mainland. Only 2 spots per month. If you do not have a professional head shot picture, Michael O'Shea Photography can provide the service at $225. If your business is unknown to us, 2-3 business references with your requests please. As well, $300 for each event poster e-blast. It goes out with our twice a month events calendar.

Who We Are:
The Social Butterfly Club has over 4,000 members in the Lower Mainland, and around the world and we are still constantly growing! Members are business professionals and entrepreneurs from a wide range of career fields and expertise between the ages of 20-70 who love to network, explore and grow personally. The purpose of our club is to create connections; provide information and business resources to our members; and to inspire and enhance their professional and personal lives.  Visit our website at www.socialbutterflyclub.ca

Monthly Humour:

Why Men Are Never Depressed:
 
Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time.

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

Send this to the women who can handle it and to the men who will enjoy reading it.

Alice Zhou
Vancouver's Networking Queen
Tel 604 676-1587
Cel 604 773-5231
alice@socialbutterflyclub.ca
www.socialbutterflyclub.ca