As a friend of Dress for Success Toronto I would like to invite you to support our first annual "Make a Difference" campaign.
Our organization provides disadvantaged women support on many fronts, including professional dressing services, career development support through mock interviews and our career centre, participation in our Professional Women's Group and mentorship programs. Providing these important services requires more than clothing contributions. Your donation can make a profound difference in a woman’s life.
$50 provides one woman access to our suiting services
$100 provides one woman access to our suiting services & job search support through our career centre
$200 provides one woman access to the whole suite of Dress for Success Toronto programs
$400 provides two women access to the whole suite of Dress for Success Toronto programs
$1000 provides five women access to the whole suite of Dress for Success Toronto programs
I am humbled daily by the amazing women I meet that have benefitted from Dress for Success. I’d like to provide you with a quote from one of our successful Dress for Success participants…
“A suit will last a year or two but it’s the lessons and support we receive that will last a lifetime and help us become successful in our lives and career. Dress for Success was a driving force in my career development. This is about more than just suits; Dress for Success was a part of my survival.”
Helping even one woman means families & the community benefit directly!
Click here to join us in our Make a Difference campaign and make a meaningful difference in a disadvantaged woman’s life this holiday season. Any donation amount is welcome.
Thanks & warmest regards of the season,
Sheila Debly-Magnus
Executive Director
Dress for Success Toronto
We are proud to announce that IMPACT coaching expertise and advice will be featured in a column called “The Coach’s Call” in CICA’s CareerVision newsletter (found on the CASource website). Our first article was published today: http://www.casource.com/memberGlobal/initViewArticleAction.do?id=107061.
I will only do an RFP if I really know the organization well and have a reasonable chance of success due to my relationships.
RFPs are a massive amount of work and are often not read by the senior decision makers.
Understanding the decision process is key. You need to know who is reviewing and deciding at each stage.
You have to work with all of your relationships as well as complete the paperwork or you will be wasting your time regardless of the quality of the submission.
RFPs are counter to idea generation. If you want ideas, you need to start with an openness. RFPs by their nature are exceptionally defined.
RFPs are slanted to big expensive consulting businesses who have teams dedicated to writing RFPs.
If you are small, like us, and you want to respond to an RFP, you need to be innovative and take risks. Be prepared to give them what you think they need not what they ask for.
I seem to be stuck on this concept lately. Maybe because I am getting older. Maybe because I own my own business and have flexibility to decide what I will work on and what I won't. Whatever the reason, I feel the need again to express how important purpose is -- in everything you do.
Purpose comes from within and it is unique to each and every one of us. Purpose is why you do what you do and it is what gives your life meaning. Purpose is doing work you love and getting better at it, helping people, seeing people develop or making a difference. Purpose is not "meeting plan".
As I work through As I work through a "mega" proposal to do a huge piece of work, I get unfocused, I get frustrated, I get refocused. I am tired.
Late yesterday, I somehow rediscovered my purpose. I had temporarily misplaced it as I waded through "mega" proposal to do a huge piece of work for a client. I was trying to figure out how to do what the client asked for. Then I realized, “I just can’t own this. It won’t work and I don’t want to do the work as defined.” After many iterations last night, my purpose allowed me to refocus. I rewrote the proposal, again, made the work much smaller and focused on what IMPACT is good at and what gives us life -- our purpose.
I do what I do because I really enjoy coaching, I am passionate about helping and I love being a little part of helping people be better. That is my purpose and IMPACT's core purpose.
After the rewrite, I wrote to our coaches, "I can now breathe..." I wrote that not because I was holding my breath but because the air had lifted off my shoulders and I felt refreshed.
If the client likes our proposal, it will save them significant money. More importantly, we have stayed true to our purpose and have not been swayed by trying to be everything to everyone in pursuit of the big payout. We all feel good about that.
And the work will be really fun which is the best test of purpose.
You rely on them. You ask them to help you. It is amazing how much this brings people together. Our IMPACT team has always been great. We get along. We like each other. We help each other.
In the past several weeks we have become closer. Why? We have a common goal. We are working on a project that requires all of our expertise. I knew that I couldn’t tackle this project alone. I asked the team to help and, true to form, they stepped up. Guess what? Each day we work through this project, we are more of a team than we were the day before. It makes it all worthwhile.
Simon Sinek has codified how the world’s most inspiring leaders think, act and communicate. And he concludes that they do exactly the opposite of everyone else. In his 2010 TED Talk, Sinek draws his Golden Circle to emphasize how inspiring leaders/ companies communicate from the inside out. First why, then how, then what. “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it”.
As we collectively mourn the loss of Steve Jobs, Sinek illustrates his code with Apple. Apple believes in challenging the status quo (why they do it); they do it thru beautiful design and easy to use technology (how they do it); they happen to make great computers (what they do).
Just this morning I was informally coaching a small business owner friend. She was rushing to write a proposal for a very large Canadian company. Winning this business would be by far, their biggest account to date. As I listened to her talk about how her partner rushed to create a demo product and crunched the numbers so they could offer a great price ...(what they do), I was struck by how, in rushing to explain what we do and how we do it better than everyone else, we really miss the heart of the matter.
The alternative Sinek offers is to get really grounded in why we do what we do. I would add that gaining a deep understanding of why our prospective client does what he does can be profound. What beliefs do we have in common? This is the sweet spot where magic can happen.
I believe that we all need strong champions and challengers in order to live our best life. This is why I coach leaders.
Why do you do what you do? Things will get a whole lot more compelling for you and everyone else if you would take the time to figure it out.
I suggested in my last blog that you focus on moving the middle group when it comes to change. Don’t focus on the people who already do what you want, don’t focus on those who will never do what you want. Focus on the middle – those who want to change and either don’t know how, are lacking confidence or both. Moving each and every one of those people can creat significant change.
How do you move the middle? One person at a time! To move the middle, capture each person's heart and mind. As each individual comes onside, others follow. It is a lot of work at first but it eventually becomes much easier. As momentum builds you suddenly have your change. Jim Collins calls this the "fly wheel effect" and it works. There is no short cut.
Don't try the broad brush. I know it is appealing. It seems more efficient to send everyone on a course or issue an edict from above, but be honest, It never really elicits much change.
Personality tests are a big part of our coaching process. At the early stage of a new coaching relationship, it's important for individuals to get insights into their strengths and areas of opportunities. There are many tests out there, however not every tool has the right impact. One of the tools that we leverage in our coaching practice is The Birkman Method (http://www.birkman.com/birkmanMethod/whatIsTheBirkmanMethod.php).
We recently used it with one of our executive clients. Through a debrief discussion, we were able to focus on the behaviors that get in the way of him delegating effectively. By identifying those obstacles and leveraging what he is actually great at, we were able to help him set very specific goals around delegation. Following a recent meeting with his coach, he was happy to report that he is now delegating more and he is much happier! Now that's a positive impact!
