Support the Future Workforce

Businesspersons I speak to lament the unpreparedness of the workforce.  When asked what improvements they would like to see in new entrants to the workforce, the near unanimous reply is help them with the soft skills, communication in particular.  Now, soft skills and communication happen to be in the Outfluence wheelhouse, so we know how to fix that.

Business leaders generally prefer not to spend their money teaching these skills to the workforce.  They believe that these fundamental skills should be taught either at home or in school.  To bring about soft skills and communication improvement we need to reach high school students.  One method for enticing students to want to learn these skills, and an incentive for attracting the attention of busy school administrators who must approve programs such as the Outfluence program You Are Here . . . Next, You Are Hired,  is to ask business leaders to award a number of internships and other benefits to students who successfully complete the program.

This is a clear win/win/win/win - Students win because they gain valuable knowledge and experience.  The schools win because they are meeting their mission.  Parents win because not only do their children advance their personal development but parents will have the option of also participating in the program. Reinforcement at home of the skills learned in school is a valuable learning tool.  Finally, businesses win because they receive an improved workforce and they gain early access to their future workforce.

(Outfluence, LLC is a teaching and training organization headquartered near Washington, D.C. )

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What Not To Do

A videographer arrived at a legal proceeding dressed in tennis shoes, blue jeans, open-collared shirt, and no sport coat. All of the other professionals were attired appropriately in business suits and related professional apparel. During a recess in the proceeding, the videographer engaged one of the parties in a conversation in which he expressed the fact that he only did legal video to keep busy, that his real passion was in making television pilots. He said, in language that matched the subject matter in vulgarity, that he was currently working on a pilot following the tasteless and crude Girls Gone Wild format. By his insensitivity to the environment in which he was working, the videographer silently branded himself as unprofessional, vulgar, and possibly untrustworthy.

The bottom line? Maintain professionalism, no matter what. Be aware of how you come across, to anyone, because everyone is watching.

(This is a story from Outfluence, The Better Way to Influence, which is the basis for our high school program You Are Here . . . now what?".)

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Project Investment, Maximize Potential

So you started your novel, your new business venture, your blog. Congratulations! Did you BEGIN with commitment, with passion, with real inspiration? Are you now wondering ...what happened? Where do I go from here? How can I transform this into a success?

We can help.

The Event: How to Finish What You Start Workshop

FALL 2016  |  Westminster, Maryland

Presented by: Outfluence®, LLC

Three of Outfluence®'s four dynamic success speakers chat together about the agenda for the exclusive upcoming event: How to Finish What You Start, scheduled for Fall 2016 in Maryland. Graduates, employees, companies, entrepreneurs, anybody and everybody is welcome to attend.

To register for this exclusive upcoming event, please visit our store.

We LOOK FORWARD to see you at the workshop!

*Group pricing is available

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Knowledge is Power: Communication History

We enjoy our traditions.  Traditions in communication have a fascinating history.  In America, and in many other countries, business greetings begin with a handshake.  This is a Western tradition with origins in ancient Greece or the Middle East.  They shook hands as a way of making a pledge.  In Russia the handshake is more of a form of male competition - a sign of confidence and power.  In the United States the earliest handshakes were between tribes.  They were open-handed to demonstrate that neither party was carrying a weapon.

Perhaps our favorite communicator is the kiss.  In its earliest days the kiss, or bringing mouths together, signified the joining of two souls.  In ancient Hebrew the word for breath also means soul.  Ancient Egyptians thought of kissing as the giving of breath, or giving life.  The Romans are credited with turning the kiss into a sophisticated form of communication.

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The study of body language gained interest in the latter part of the 20th Century both academically and among the general public.  However, in the history of body language Francis Bacon got us started.  Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, politician and scientist.   In a website titled "all-about-body-language" I found this:   Writing in Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human - first published in 1605 - Bacon had the following to say about gestures of the body when discussing the concept of knowledge of ourselves.

Aristotle hath very ingeniously and diligently handled the factures of the body, but not the gestures of the body, which are no less comprehensible by art, and of greater use and advantage. For the lineaments of the body do disclose the disposition and inclination of the mind in general; but the motions of the countenance and parts do not only so, but do further disclose the present humour and state of the mind and will.

For as your majesty saith most aptly and elegantly, “As the tongue speaketh to the ear so the gesture speaketh to the eye.” And, therefore, a number of subtle persons, whose eyes do dwell upon the faces and fashions of men, do well know the advantage of this observation, as being most part of their ability; neither can it be denied, but that it is a great discovery of dissimulations, and a great direction in business.

In our book Outfluence®, The Better Way to Influence, we added Constant Messaging® to the lexicon.  Constant Messaging broadens the body language concept to include the messages we send to others from what we read, what we watch, our associations, our habits, our vocabulary and more.  

Outfluence® is a communication concept and its power lies in silence.  

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The Hazards of Not Finishing What You Start

It's insane!  Insane, I tell you!  "Unfinished work is debt.  It's debt because we've incurred costs and spent money building stuff but it's delivered no value yet.  It hasn't even started being paid back.  Like debt, too much unfinished work, or unfinished work that has been in progress for a long time, is too much debt and needs to be tackled."  That's what Kelly Waters of Agile Teams says. 

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25% of people around the world, says Joe Ferrari of DePaul University, are chronic procrastinators.  "The law of inertia tells us a body in motion stays in motion.  And the same goes for projects," Joe's research shows, "When you interrupt a task it can be difficult to pick it up again."

What separates people living meaningful lives from those living average lives or failing lives is that the failures don't finish what they start.

If you are a business team leader interested in learning how to finish what you start concentrate in four areas: 

1. Leadership.

2. Diversity.

3. Corporate Etiquette.

4. Performance.

Leaders keep their teams mission-focused.  Creating a corporate culture in a dispersed work environment is critical to persisting toward the completion of a project.  Maintaining enthusiasm and cultivating persistence is the result of an excellent corporate etiquette program.  Performance that is inspired to excel motivates a team to achieve completion.

Outfluence, LLC was formed to accomplish several things, one of which being to teach individuals and organizations how to finish what they start.  So many people with incredible potential fail because they never complete what they start.  The process of achievement often begins at failure.  Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we are ready to accept the message of persistence and completion.  It's never too late to achieve.  If you are individually ready to move forward, or if you are ready to accept the knowledge of an outside force to teach your team how to finish what you want them to start, consider attending our next How to Finish What you Start workshop scheduled for April 2nd in Westminster, Maryland.  Watch this page or visit our website for registration information soon.