Hardison’s Tips 5 Ways to Get Ahead as a Coach!     In a blog, I shared the “#1 greatest lesson for executive coaches” – to get over our own egos. To make the coaching about our clients, not about ourselves. If you took this advice to heart and are applying it, you are on your way to being a great coach! There’s another piece of advice I have for you that is critical to being a successful executive coach. Get ready, this is going to sound a little harsh. Most of the executive coaches I meet are great coaches and horrible business people! They have no understanding of the business side of coaching. Additionally, they believe that because they are a good coach, clients…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 31, 2021 Advanced Methods After you feel comfortable with basic delivery methods, you can begin to explore some of the more challenging ways to present and facilitate learning experiences. Role play: Role playing allows participants to act out a behavioral role. This exercise, done with small groups or large groups, allows members to expand their awareness of varying points of view, and provides an experiential learning opportunity. A role play can be used in several ways; to solve a participant problem, clarify or sharpen an issue, or demonstrate a skill approach to a task. Importantly, it gives people an opportunity to practice a skill or approach in a safe environment and use the experience later on the…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 30, 2021 – LEASING VS. BUYING -2 • If you don’t maintain the vehicle in good condition, you’ll have to pay excess wear-and-tear charges when you turn it in. So if your kids are apt to go wild with the magic markers or you’re a magnet for parking lot dents and dings, be prepared to pay extra. • If you decide that you don’t like the car or if you can’t afford the payments, it might cost you. You will probably be stuck with thousands of dollars in early termination fees and penalties if you get out of a lease early—and they’ll all be due at once. Those charges could equal the amount of the lease for its entire term. • With…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 30, 2021 Choosing Your Delivery Methods Now it’s time to determine what methods you will use to deliver your presentation. We will begin by covering basic delivery methods. Once we have a good foundation and grasp on the basic methods we will delve into more advanced methods. Basic Methods Lecture: If you must lecture occasionally, use multimodality to keep your audience’s attention. Face animation, hand gestures, and voice tone are strategies that can enhance your presentation and make the delivery more interactive. Allow the opportunity for questions from the participants. Ask for a show of hands to the questions you ask. Further Tips to liven up a Lecture: While time-honored lecturing may be considered a boring way…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 29, 2021 – LEASING VS. BUYING -1 The choice between buying and leasing is often a tough call. On the one hand, buying involves higher monthly costs, but you own an asset—your vehicle—in the end. On the other, a lease has lower monthly payments and lets you drive a vehicle that may be more expensive than you could afford to buy. But, you get into a cycle where you never stop paying for a vehicle. With more people are choosing a lease over a loan than they did just a few years ago, the boom in leasing isn’t stopping anytime soon. The Upside of Leasing On the surface, leasing can be more appealing than buying. Monthly payments are usually lower because…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 29, 2021 PRESENTATION SKILLS Structuring the Information A great presentation will be crafted in a simple and logical format that allows your audience to keep pace with you and retain key points of your message. Having a natural flow to your presentation will help you remain calm, stay on topic and avoid awkward silence. Keep in mind that the aim of your presentation is to educate and inspire. When structuring the flow of your presentation, keep in mind the 3 A’s: Audience, Aim, Afterwards What do you know about your audience? Your audience should determine the content and approach of your presentation Find out what they know; use their words and terms A group of youth interested…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 28, 2021 – Creating a Sales Process  Component 2: Sales Compensation Plans Ideally, a compensation plan should encourage your salespeople to perform at their best while still making sure that the goals they need to hit are realistically within reach. In reality, these plans are often created by leaders who haven’t personally dealt with compensation tied to performance, so they don’t always understand how salespeople think and behave. This results in plans that either favor base salary too heavily or commission too heavily. On both ends, these sales compensation plans can fail to drive the right behaviors — and sometimes even encourage the wrong ones. Meanwhile, a 50-50 sales compensation plan (i.e., a salesperson’s compensation is based 50% on salary and 50%…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 28, 2021 Five Kwanzaa Celebrations Around the Country Kwanzaa is more than an end-of-year display of deep orange and burnt burgundy Dutch wax-print fabrics, and righteous images of fruit bowls sitting near wooden cups. It’s an edifying lifestyle choice. “More people are starting to focus on who they are, and what they want their families to experience — empowering cultural stories that get our brains from up under the foot of oppression,” said Janine Bell, the president and artistic director of Elegba Folklore Society in Richmond, Va. The holiday — observed by people of all ages and religious affiliations — resonates in a year of racial upheaval and the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 30,000 Black Americans,…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 24, 2021 – Creating a Sales ProHARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 24, 2021 – Creating a Sales Process    The sales world has been evolving for years, with traditional tactics like paper marketing and face-to-face sales meetings slowly giving way to more digital-first strategies that reflect the desires of the modern buyer. By 2019, 81% of buyers were doing online research before committing to a purchase, showing how important a persuasive and informative online presence has become in the quest for increased sales growth. This years-in-the-making digital transformation was turbocharged by the pandemic, which pushed more transactions online — a change that will almost certainly be permanent. If it wasn’t already clear to sales leadership that the days of traditional sales tactics have ended,…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – December 27, 2021 A KWANZAA SPEECH On Thursday, January 5, 2017, a Kwanzaa celebration was held at a venue in downtown Worcester. It was a makeup of the celebration postponed the previous Thursday because of inclement weather. Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community, and culture. It is celebrated every year from December 26 to January 1. The name is derived from the phrase “matundayakwanzaa, which means “first fruits” in Swahili, the most widely spoken African language. There are Seven Principles to Kwanzaa; 1. Umoja (Unity) 2. Kujichagulla (Self-Determination 3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility 4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) 5. Nia (Purpose) 6. Kuumba (Creativity) 7. Imani (Faith) The program consisted of a…

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