Recently, I was asked to recount my own career progression, beginning with my first position in the field.  My first professional position actually stemmed from an internship I held while pursuing my Bachelors degree.  I hadn’t thought about that experience in a very long time!
 
As I reflect upon that internship now, I realize what a great introduction to the professional world it was for me.  I was fortunate enough to have a terrific supervisor who was more than just a boss but was also a mentor and a role model.  Unfortunately for some students, that’s not always the case.  College career planning offices across the U.S. offer numerous resources to their students on how to get the most out of an internship.  But what about the employers in the relationship?
 
It seems that support and resources to organizations offering internships are often lacking.  Moreover, smaller startup companies are largely overlooked when it comes to internships.  Hopefully, this “do’s and don’ts” list will provide employers some helpful tips and advice to getting the most out of their intern experience.

The Don’ts:

1. Do not hire an intern without a plan in place.  Hiring an intern on a whim and then ‘winging it’ will serve nobody’s agenda.  Your intern will end up wasting time on unproductive tasks, feel underutilized, and probably develop an unfavorable impression of your organization.
2. Do not assign your intern only menial tasks, or expect an intern to be your own personal assistant.  A limited amount of tedious chores is acceptable, but realize that the intern is there to learn and that most college students are very eager and motivated to do so.
3. Do not station your intern in the corner of the office by themselves working strictly on individual tasks.  Learning the dynamics of the workplace and understanding how to interact with others in a team setting is just as (if not more) important as mastering a new task or concept.
4. Do not expect your intern to know the policies and procedures of your work environment.  They should be given some form of orientation similar to any other new hire within your company.
5. Do not assume your intern knows how to perform a task they haven’t been exposed to before.  Sure, they’re bright and can learn quickly, but that doesn’t mean they won’t need any instruction at all.  An internship is a learning experience, and part of your role in the process is to provide the intern with guidance while developing new skills or concepts.

 
The Do’s:

1. Create a professional job description for the intern’s role.  You should try to incorporate SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goals as much as possible.  This allows the intern to know what they are working toward and help them to focus their time and tasks accordingly.
2. Introduce your intern to every co-worker, business associate, or customer with whom you interact throughout the day.  Treating your intern as a valued team member will demonstrate appropriate professional respect, and will increase their comfort level in offering their own ideas or even just asking more insightful questions.
3. Include your intern in every planning or strategy meeting related to the work they’re performing.  Although you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to contribute significantly to strategy development, you may be surprised by the input that a fresh and different perspective can bring.  Also, their participation in these meetings will provide a fuller understanding of ‘the big picture’ and the purpose of the specific work they are performing.
4. Perform a formal evaluation of your intern’s performance at the conclusion of the internship.  It’s probable that the referring school will have you complete a survey or summary as part of their standard process.  However, you should also conduct a performance evaluation following your organization’s standard process.  This will give the intern a more thorough realization of their strengths as well as areas which they need to develop, and it will familiarize them with a typical evaluation process that any future employer might conduct.
5. If your organization doesn’t already have one, think about establishing a formal relationship or internship program with a few of the universities in your local area.  Try to target schools that are known for their strengths in different majors so that you can draw interns from various disciplines who can work in several departments of your organization.  And, don’t feel like you have to develop this all on your own; this would be a great project for an intern to assist with!

 
Most people view internships as field-based learning opportunities for students to better prepare them for work after graduation.  That’s certainly true, but internships can present a tremendous value to employers as well. However, like most things in life: you’ll get out of it what you put into it.  Those employers who groom today’s interns into their ranks will reap the rewards by gaining eager, loyal workers who are both motivated and prepared to become tomorrow’s leaders!

While my last post focused on my favorite of the three time-tested truths of business success: "Quality Counts", this week addresses the truth which I (and probably most people) struggle with the most:
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3. Time is money.
Time is a valuable commodity. Time can be spent, wasted, borrowed, budgeted, saved, or invested. Ultimately, time is a limited resource that we must use wisely to accomplish our goals.
We all know it’s true. Yet most of us struggle with this concept on a routine basis. Of course, there are situations when spending more time (perhaps more than is necessary) on a particular activity or event pays rewards, such as attending your child’s school function or sporting event, visiting with a sick neighbor or loved one, or volunteering to assist those in need. But that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about the time we spend on activities throughout the course of our business day. We tend to lose sight of the fact that time spent on any activity which cannot lead us to accomplishing our goals, is time wasted. We must learn to budget, save, or invest our time wisely so that we can realize a return on that investment.

Every day we are given exactly 86,400 seconds. We can do whatever we want with the time, but at the end of the day, whatever time we have not made the most of gets taken away from us and we never get it back. So…what are YOU going to do with your 86,400 seconds today?!

This week continues the discussion of three time-tested truths of business success, and focuses on my favorite of these truths:
 
2. Quality counts.
A top quality staff, a quality product or service, and high quality treatment of customers and employees. No organization will ever be faulted for maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality.
 
This is my favorite of the three time-tested truths because I’ve always believed that anything worth doing is worth doing right. No person, no company, no product is perfect. There will always be some shortcomings. However, those shortcomings will often be forgiven when there is a high level of quality in some other component of the person, company, or product.
 
A perfect example of this can be found in the Maine-based company L.L.Bean, Inc.  The company’s guiding principle is to keep customers satisfied, even boasting “100% Satisfaction Guaranteed”.
 
A couple of years ago, I purchased a pair of Bean Boots for my daughter for Christmas.  I placed my order in late November with an expected delivery of mid-December.
 
A few days after the expected delivery, I received a small package from the company notifying me of a delay in availability of the boots.  The note of apology came with a beautifully-made keychain (a miniature replica of the Bean Boot).  The delivery date was adjusted to early January.
 
Two weeks later: I received another note of apology (along with a $10 L.L.Bean gift card) for yet another delay in delivery.  This time, the company was unable to project a delivery date.
 
I think it’s safe to say that my experience was not unique and I bet there are a large number of customers who did not receive their intended holiday gifts on time.
 
I’m sure you’d agree that this is the type of snafu that could cost any company a huge loss in customer base.  However, I doubt it had much impact on L.L.Bean.  Customers will continue to shop from L.L.Bean despite it failure to deliver on time.  Why?  Because L.L.Bean offers exceptional quality products and superior customer service.  Sure, they failed to deliver to their customers on time, but they wouldn’t compromise on the quality of their product simply to get it out the door faster.
 
As I said: “No organization will ever be faulted for maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality.”

Wow...Q1 is nearly in the bag!  The end of the first quarter is a common time to evaluate the state of our business…to take stock of what’s important about our work, what makes a difference to others, and what actions truly lead us to success (versus what simply wastes our time!).
 
I believe that almost every successful business person has built an operational foundation on these three time-tested truths:
 
1. People, not technology, make an organization successful.
The best companies hire the best people.  Even the most innovative piece of technology can not replace what hiring the best people can do for an organization.
 
2. Quality counts.
A top quality staff, a quality product or service, and high quality treatment of customers and employees.  No organization will ever be faulted for maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality.
 
3. Time is money.
Time is a valuable commodity.  Time can be spent, wasted, borrowed, budgeted, saved, or invested.  Ultimately, time is a limited resource that we must use wisely to accomplish our goals.
 
Remembering these three time-tested truths can have a profound impact on how we structure our everyday activities.  When we consistently focus on hiring the best people, delivering quality results, and investing our time wisely, we’ll routinely find success well within our reach!

For my family, the winter season means Indoor Track season.  An indoor track is 200 meters around—half the distance of a standard outdoor track.  That means a 2-mile race is approximately 16 laps and a 5k race is 25 laps around the track!
 
While I'm watching my kids run around the track that many times, I can't help but start singing (to myself) the 1980's hit song by Ratt entitled "Round and Round”.  Whether or not you enjoy ‘hair metal’ bands, the song has a very catchy tune that can stick with you all day long after listening to it.
 
The thing about running a distance event on a track is, although you keep running 'round and round' the track, you always end up right back where you started.  We always joke about that!
 
The same can be true of your efforts to attract key talent to your organization.  Chances are, you're following the same process as you always have to hire staff, yet you end up right back where you started—a lot of effort expended, and no key player to show for it.
 
That's because when you're trying to attract top performers, you can't rely upon the same old techniques!  Attracting top performers to critical positions requires a slightly different approach...
 
First, your organization should have a continuous process of creating positive buzz about it.  Social media posts are an easy way to do this, and an essential tool in the talent acquisition process today.
 
Second, encourage every employee in your organization to be an ambassador and to network with the top performers in their field.  From the board room to the conference room to the break room, everyone should spread the good word and encourage their most talented connections to apply for open positions within your company.
 
Finally, it’s often essential to engage the services of a professional search consultant to identify top performers in your specific field or industry.  The search fee involved is a wise investment when you consider the returns a key performer can bring to your organization!
 
Of course, you can continue to go round and round and always end up right back where you started.   Or, you can try something new to attract the top performers your company needs to succeed!
 
You may now go about your day with the tune of “Round and Round” stuck in your head.  You’re welcome!   \m/ (^_^) \m/

One of my all-time favorite movies is Forrest Gump.  I really enjoyed the telling of this fictional story with many references to actual historical events.  And, of course, Tom Hanks is a great actor who helped make this film a tremendous hit.  In the movie, Hanks plays the title character, a pure-hearted, somewhat intellectually challenged man, who gets asked many times throughout his life: “Are you stupid?”.  Forrest always replies with the same words that his Mama taught him: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
 
In simplest terms, I take this to mean that you are only as stupid as your actions.  And your actions are the one thing you actually have control over.  It’s the reason so many people create new year’s resolutions—to give them some sense of control in their lives.
 
New year’s resolutions are really just goals you set for yourself at the start of a new year, and they very frequently center around health.  When talking about health, most people will tend to focus on their physical health, but health can also refer to the general well-being of your: mind, spirit, business, staff, finances, relationships, sales, productivity, etc.
 
Most people create new year’s resolutions with the best of intentions, but then find it difficult to make the time or to put in the effort to act on those intentions. But remember, it’s only your actions which dictate whether you’re stupid, or kind, or...healthy.
 
Changing behaviors forever, or even for a year, can seem like a daunting task.  However, committing to a change for, let's say, a month is certainly manageable.  If you make that commitment and execute on the plan, then you can commit to it for another month, and another...
 
Today is only the last day of the first month of a new year.  So, ask yourself: How healthy were you in January?  Did you meet your goals?  If not, my advice to you is this: 1) Don’t beat yourself up about it; and 2) Don’t give up on those goals!
 
Tomorrow is the first day of a new month.  Approach it with the same resolve and enthusiasm as the beginning of a new year.  And keep reminding yourself: Healthy is as healthy does!