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Networking for Social Networking

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By Allyson Greenman, Marketing and Communications Manager for Aspen Advisors

I recently attended a power lunch hosted by the Northern Liberties chapter of the Women’s Power Network (WPN). The WPN is a network for female professionals in or around the Philadelphia area looking to expand their businesses. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming to me, the newcomer. Though at first nervous, I easily assimilated amongst the group and was able to have several one-on-one conversations where I could introduce my position at Aspen Advisors, and vice versa. The women were eager and interested to hear what Aspen is all about; I was able to give in-depth answers about some of our products and services.

Following introductions, we sat down for lunch and geared up for a fun, informative presentation on social networking from Sarah Grey (www.greyediting.com), a local copywriter, professional editor and resume guru. She gave a ton of helpful pointers on how to evolve a business through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Without listing them all, I’d like to share some that I found especially advantageous:

1. Do not mix business accounts with personal accounts. Sounds like a doozy, but it is important to have separate accounts for your business and your personal life. Potential clients should not have access to pictures of your weekend nights out, statuses about how much you dislike your co-workers, your political views (unless you work in politics), etc.

2. When promoting your business, do not spam your followers. Between work email, junk email, tweets and statuses, the last thing people want is to be bombarded by excessive business pitches. Chances are, if you have something worthwhile to say, it won’t need to be repeated.

3. Be in-the-know. Get to know your clientele and network accordingly. Get involved with what they like so you can relate to them on a higher level. They will notice and appreciate that you took the time to follow their interests.

4. Have fun (when it’s appropriate). Make your tweets/statuses fun for your followers. Not everything you tweet needs to be strictly business. Find similarities between your business and something in pop culture and illustrate that, for example. Remember tip #1 and don’t go too crazy.

5. Use correct grammar. I cannot stress this enough. If you know me, you know I am a HUGE stickler about spelling. No one’s perfect, but if you are writing something with 140 characters or less, please proofread it. It will take less than a minute and will mean the world to the integrity of your message. No one will take you seriously if you can’t spell, or do not know the different meanings of “their, “they’re” and “there”.

Obviously, there is a lot more to being a savvy social networker, but hopefully you can use these tips to your advantage. Make time for events where you can network face-to-face and channel your inner and outer “social networking” skills. It’s always good to meet new people in the business world.

Focus on Assessment – Energy

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Productivity is absolutely critical to forecast the success, as such understanding a candidates ENERGY in its capacity is absolutely critical. There are many positions that involve intense workloads, concentrated work hours over short period of time, or repetitive tasks over a long period time that some would find mundane.  If assessment on energy is not done for positions where productivity is absolutely critical and has to be compliant, is reasonable to assume that a long-term fit or immediate fit for that role will be difficult to obtain.

As such, ENERGY can be defined as consistently maintaining a high activity or productivity level or even be defined as simply as sustaining long work hours. It’s important to realize that the definition of ENERGY may be very specific to your own organization. When your organization defines as intense or long hours may be radically different than another company considers intense for long hours.

When assessing ENERGY, you may want to consider any number of competencies that could include the following–how a person puts in extra hours when needed, how they follow through processes tirelessly, or how they prepare for completion. It’s also important to measure if someone has awareness of their low energy and if they can persevere even though they have low energy.

About Rounded Assessment and its Value to Recruiting

Assessment comes in many forms. Our contention is that competencies need to be identified for each position at an organization, and a level of mastery for some or all of those competencies needs to be identified for each candidate that has applied for the role – whether they are internal or external.

It is the hiring manager’s responsibility to then understand which competencies to leverage, which to develop, and which to avoid in order to have the new employee reach desired productivity in the desired timeline. Competence needs to be assessed, but assessing experience, work habits, cognition, intelligence, and other areas are also critical. We believe that the advocacy of a combined assessment, or “Rounded Assessment” is the job of every recruiter. It is not necessarily their job to assess everything, but rather make sure that the assessment is performed and documented so a hiring manager or business leader can make sound decisions.

This blog post is part of a series of posts that are set to release over a long period of time. In each, Aspen provides insight on the elements and assets within Rounded Assessment.

Integrity in the Workplace — Do you have it?

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Written by Dana Civitano-Hendrickson, PMP of Aspen Advisors

Integrity/Respect in Project Teams

What is the key to having a successful project and project team? I believe that the values I was taught – honesty, respect, integrity – are the very key. I’ve tried to apply these same values to my work (in my work habits).   I saw these embodied in the first project manager that I ever worked for.  She led her team by example:  integrity and respect for others, from her belief in building a person up, and enabling them to grow and move up (and out of the organization, if they wanted).

Enabling Your Project Team

To be successful, you need to have the framework in place for your team.  Encourage them to take ownership of their tasks. Let them feel that they have a stake in the projects’ success or failure. Give them the tools – whether it is training, coaching, or productive feedback – to succeed.

Ask, Don’t Tell

A project manager, or any manager for that matter, should ask — even though they are really managing — a team member to perform a task or action to provide a deliverable.  By asking, the PM allows the team member to feel as if they are part of the team and not just another cog in the wheel.  Ask for their opinions or thoughts on how best to accomplish that deliverable. If a team member comes up with a great idea for something, recognize them and do it in front of others! This should be for any contribution, no matter how big or small.

Lead By Example

Your team must see how you interact with others.  They must see you holding yourself to the same standards that you expect them to exhibit. If your team members see this and can trust you, they will then begin, or continue, to be invested in the project and in the organization.  This is a key factor.

Get to Know Your Team

People like to feel valued.  They need to feel as if they are part of a team. My father had a kidney transplant.  Our VP knew this.  From time to time he would see me in the hallway and ask how my dad was doing, what his progress was in his recovery.  This meant a lot to me that my VP, someone who is running an organization of over approximately 200 people, would remember my Dad!  Get to know your team…at least some small item about them.  It could be a bit about their hobbies, their family or their interests. At the start of each project call, go around the horn and ask each team member how they are, about John’s family or Sue’s hobby.  It will foster a team environment and a sense of community. It will show that you respect them enough to remember and to ask about it.

Whether it is a new ATS system or recruiting process, a merger or separation, these principles can be applied equally across any project in any organization or company.  They are universal.

Focus on Assessment – Adaptability

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Adaptability is maintaining effectiveness and parenting environment’s when different tasks responsibilities and/or people are present. This dimension has become much more relevant in recent years as companies have become more global,  use matrix hierarchies, use more project teams, and increase their outsourcing.

Additionally, adaptability is reported in the ever-changing world of mergers and acquisitions. In employees ability to shift to a new culture, focus, or value proposition of the business, can certainly weigh in on their retention or ability to promote.

When considering the competencies related to adaptability, several competencies can be assessed. A few include how a person adjusted corporate change, I wanted ask to management styles, how they adapt to different teams were different groups, and how one can transition from one group to another well.

When considering adaptability as part of the assessment for an imposition, consider whether or not adaptability will BEA relevant part of the role. His new leadership is going to be present, if a merger is pending, or a cultural shift is coming, you will  likely need to add adaptability of the candidates into the assessment.

About Rounded Assessment and its Value to Recruiting

Assessment comes in many forms. Our contention is that competencies need to be identified for each position at an organization, and a level of mastery for some or all of those competencies needs to be identified for each candidate that has applied for the role – whether they are internal or external.

It is the hiring manager’s responsibility to then understand which competencies to leverage, which to develop, and which to avoid in order to have the new employee reach desired productivity in the desired timeline. Competence needs to be assessed, but assessing experience, work habits, cognition, intelligence, and other areas are also critical. We believe that the advocacy of a combined assessment, or “Rounded Assessment” is the job of every recruiter. It is not necessarily their job to assess everything, but rather make sure that the assessment is performed and documented so a hiring manager or business leader can make sound decisions.

This blog post is part of a series of posts that are set to release over a long period of time. In each, Aspen provides insight on the elements and assets within Rounded Assessment.

Focus on Assessment – Persuasiveness

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Persuasiveness is using appropriate interpersonal styles and communication methods to gain exceptions of an idea, plan, activity, service, or product from prospects and clientele. This dimension has a “outward” orientation within or outside an organization. It can replace the concept of individual leadership for many positions and, of course, for sales positions. It is important to recognize that taking orders and selling/persuading are not the same thing. When assessing persuasiveness, you should be listening for evidence that the candidate has actually caused someone to change his/her mind.

When evaluating persuasiveness, you must realize there are several competencies that should be evaluated. Competencies such as how one works with different types of buyers; how one uses different sales approaches in order to address a problem; or how one uses training to improve their own persuasiveness is very important. It’s also important but a person understands failure and appreciates winds when persuasiveness is being assessed.

Be sure to think about the type of function or servicing, and what the end goal would be on how to use persuasiveness. Someone can persuade somebody to buy a product may not be as good as persuading someone to buy an idea.

About Rounded Assessment and its Value to Recruiting

Assessment comes in many forms. Our contention is that competencies need to be identified for each position at an organization, and a level of mastery for some or all of those competencies needs to be identified for each candidate that has applied for the role – whether they are internal or external.

It is the hiring manager’s responsibility to then understand which competencies to leverage, which to develop, and which to avoid in order to have the new employee reach desired productivity in the desired timeline. Competence needs to be assessed, but assessing experience, work habits, cognition, intelligence, and other areas are also critical. We believe that the advocacy of a combined assessment, or “Rounded Assessment” is the job of every recruiter. It is not necessarily their job to assess everything, but rather make sure that the assessment is performed and documented so a hiring manager or business leader can make sound decisions.

This blog post is part of a series of posts that are set to release over a long period of time. In each, Aspen provides insight on the elements and assets within Rounded Assessment.