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BOLD GROWTH: FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEADERS
Inspiration is the Spark that Elevates You and Your Team
This article is one of the most-read posts from the Impact blog archive. By Amy Franko Have you ever had someone in your life that makes you feel as if there’s nothing you can’t do? Someone who moved you to be more and do more than you ever thought possible? That’s inspiration . . . it can be hard to describe, but we know it when we feel it, and we know it when we see what an inspired person or group of people can do. When we have leaders who are inspirational, we become connected to them, we see the possibilities of what a team can do together, and we can create amazing results. My good friend and customer loyalty expert Cindy Solomon taught me that it’s our job to be a spark of inspiration, to light that fire within the people on our team and those around us. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of leadership. But most of us think of inspiration as something we’re born with – we’re either inspiring or...
Next Stop: Austin! Talent Management Exchange
At Impact Instruction Group, we know it's important to stay ahead of the curve. That's why we make it a point to be a part of some of the industry's top events. We're hitting the road again in July. Our Founder & CEO, Amy Franko, is attending the Talent Management Exchange in Austin this week. Will you be there, too? Be sure to connect with us during the event. In the meantime, check out a video welcome, highlights of our services, and resources just for you on our Talent Management Exchange page.
And the APEX goes to… us!
Impact Instruction Receives Award for Work with Thirty-One Gifts At Impact Instruction Group, we pride ourselves on creating learning experiences that deliver business impact. When our work garners industry recognition, it’s icing on the cake. We’re delighted to share the news that we’ve received a 2015 APEX Award of Excellence in the category of Publications - Education and Training. This award recognizes our work with Thirty-One Gifts’ order entry system training. Impact Instruction worked with the company to deliver a broad spectrum of training, which elevates the brand through the learning process and emphasizes the fundamentals of their unique selling techniques.With a theme of “simple, easier, faster,” the training empowers the company’s 102,000 independent sales consultants with the know-how needed to put their virtual office tools to work. APEX Awards are based on excellence in graphic design,...
Being a Leader of Impact and Influence
30,000 days to play the game of life. At the time I came across that number while reading Arianna’s book on the third metric, I was celebrating a milestone birthday, having turned 40. I did a quick calculation. With that number, that means I’ve used about 15,000 of my 30,000 days. (I’m hoping if I play my cards right, I might squeeze in a few more beyond that 30,000 number.) It made me stop and think. As I move through the 30,000 days that make up my life, how often have I stopped (or at least slowed down) to consider my impact? And am I making an impact with the people and in the ways I truly want? Conversations about impact and legacy often come later in life, as we look back at what we’ve accomplished and contributed. What if we looked forward instead? What if we looked forward and consciously designed our path of impact and influence? I had the opportunity to talk on this topic of creating a life and...
Go Fast or Go Far? Building Strong Teams
Each year in the Spring and Fall, I volunteer in a world that's very different from the one I spend much of my waking and working hours in: as an assistant coach to 20 grade-school girls in an after school program called Girls on the Run. Girls on the Run teaches life and leadership skills within the context of a running program. At the end of 10 weeks, several hundred girls from programs all over the region celebrate their accomplishments by participating in a 5K. As you can imagine there are all types of backgrounds, abilities, personalities, and emerging leadership styles. We have outgoing and shy, talkative and quiet, those comfortable out front, and those who prefer the middle of the pack. While running is sport that hones individual mental and physical skills, these girls are also experiencing what it means to be supportive and encouraging in an inclusive, collaborative environment. They’re...
A Woman You Should Know
Congratulations to Amy Franko, Founder & CEO of Impact Instruction Group, for being selected as one of 12 outstanding women for the WELD Women You Should Know 2015 Calendar. An Excerpt from the Calendar: Amy demonstrates resonant leadership in many aspects of her life. Her entrepreneurial vision for Impact Instruction Group, her ability to inspire and connect women through WELD, and her passion for mentoring girls in her community are but a few examples of Amy’s dedication to developing and inspiring the women around her. Early in her career, Amy left her mark as a top sales leader for IBM and Lenovo, leading a $10 million sales territory across the state of Ohio. She launched Impact Instruction Group in 2007 and quickly built a strong organization, serving Fortune 1000 companies across the country. With that growth, she has also recruited, retained, and led multiple team members. Amy has proven...
Setting Realistic Deadlines
Tips on ensuring your project doesn’t go off task and over budget Deadlines are a critical component to any project – and a major source of stress if not set and managed correctly. I recently listened to a colleague share about how her company’s deadline to launch a new software system was pushed up – again – for the fourth time, and it’s nearly 10 months behind schedule. Their entire department was literally scrambling to make changes to make it all work. A delay at this level causes blocks in the production system, extreme pressure on the project team, and ultimately increases the cost of the project substantially. This situation made me think about how many times we don’t set realistic project deadlines. Although setting deadlines is only one component of an overall project management plan, there are ways to prevent major deadline disasters with proper planning and anticipation of what may come ahead....
View Your Career as a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder
By Amy Franko A woman will average 10.7 jobs in her lifetime, according to Fast Company. I decided that the “.7” could be attributed to those of you out there doing the work of at least two people, or a job we’d rather forget! Let’s say your career spans 30 years (and for many women, careers will be longer). That calculates, on average, a move to a new job every 2.8 years. My own career path reflects this. In 15 years, I’ve grown my career with six companies and have had seven unique job descriptions. For many of us, our beliefs around how our careers will unfold were hatched by watching our parents work at the same place for their entire career, and perhaps in only a couple of jobs that entire time. To a large extent their careers were planned. And if they were designated as “management material” they were swooped up, placed on the “management track” and away they went. Our experience is now entirely...
Your Leadership Identity: What Are Your Leadership Habits?
This is the final article in our series on creating your leadership identity, based upon principles from Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, by Lois Frankel, Ph.D. Be sure to read the full series, available on our Emerging Women Leaders blog. It was Aristotle who said that we are what we repeatedly do. Our seemingly small actions, done day in and day out, eventually create who we are. Our small actions, done day in and day out are also known as habits. Who you are as a person is reflected in who you are as a leader, so it makes sense then that your habits have a big stake in your leadership path and ultimate success. With the right habits you stay on course. With the wrong ones, it’s easy to end up off the path and in the weeds! A focus on habits seemed to me a perfect way to close this series and help set you up for success moving forward. Each article in our Leadership Identity series laid out...
Your Leadership Identity: Do You Think Like a Leader?
This article is part of our women’s leadership series on creating leadership identity, based on principles from Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, by Lois Frankel, Ph.D. Be sure to refer back to the previous article of this series, on how your responses to workplace situations and people shape your leadership identity. With the building blocks of your leadership identity, you have learned how to market, act, look, respond and sound like a leader. You have learned how to play the game of business. Now it’s time to complete the puzzle with this last building block -- you must THINK like a leader. Since starting Impact Instruction, I’m often asked about the lessons I’ve learned, not just in being an entrepreneur but also in becoming a better leader. A big lesson I’ve learned is the power of how I think. Mindsetaffects every decision I make, from company strategy, to my leadership style, to team...
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