• Meridian Group Presentations



• OnBoarding newly Hired Executives



• Ten Common Benefit Package Mistakes



• Cost of Hiring and Retaining Executives



• The Smartest Candidate in the Room



• Building a Resume that tells your Story



• Building Your Interview Skills

•     “Building a Resume that tells your Story”: Your resume should tell you story with a clear “Picture” of your experience, capabilities, education, skills, and accomplishments in a one or two page summary. Your résumé’s purpose is to get your foot in the door. A resume does its job successfully if it does not exclude you from consideration.  To prepare a successful resume, you need to know how to review, summarize, and present your experiences and achievements in a concise manner. This one-hour presentation will guide you through a review of your resume from the perspective of the hiring interviewer and their company.

•     “Before, During, and after the Interview”: The Boy Scouts have it right. ‘Be prepared’.  The job interview is only a stop along the path of securing a new position.  In some respect by the time you get to the interview if you haven’t done your homework it may be to late to secure the job. This presentation will also talk about: ‘killer resumes’, working with recruiters, and assuring you have the best information possible in presenting yourself in the interview.

•     “Discovering your next Challenge”: This may be time to rediscover your passion for life. It is a unique ability to be able to step back and take a reflective look into one’s past. This presentation is intended to provide a reflective look at what you have accomplished and what you want to accomplish. Looking for a new opportunity is stressful but can be a positive opportunity to review, reflect, challenge, and think outside the box in discovering what you should do with your life going forward. Be careful, this presentation may take you to places you haven’t thought about in some time and may uncover your true passion for building something you are proud of.

•     “How is a Company like An American’s Cup team?”: The power of teamwork is demonstrated at its highest level in an America’s Cup sailing team. There are thirteen positions on an America’s cup boat ranging from the Skipper to the Pitman. Each role makes a unique contribution to the team as well as being an intra-dependent part of the overall team process. Without the teamwork concept, one could never win.  In the same manner you can see the winning ability of an effective management team demonstrated in their ability to work together to provide effective teamwork capabilities for the company. The presentation will look at the key issues for building world-class teams in your company and provide an exceptional advantage in building the success of the company.

•    Speaker Bio: Mr. Sanderson has over thirty-five years of senior executive search, technology marketing, and start-up company management experience. His background includes member of the founding executive team for multiple technology companies including Kinetics Inc., National Semiconductor Security Business Unit, and a division of Novell Inc.  He is President of Meridian Executive Resources a retained executive search firm developing management teams for high growth technology companies.  Meridian also provides senior entrepreneurial coaching and consulting in support of early-stage company funding programs.

The following is a listing of the entrepreneurial and executive development presentations offered by Meridian.  The primary focus for the presentations is early-stage company and entrepreneurial executives intended to support the growth of early-stage companies.  These presentations are offered at no charge.  Contact Sandys@meridianer.com to schedule a presentation.



•    “Funding Message Workshop”, How the funding community views your business plan is not going to be the same as how you see your plan.  There are a number of critical differences from your in-depth perspective gained from building the plan and how the funding group will understand and evaluate your information.  Understanding these differences is central to completing a successful funding effort. The Funding Message Workshop provides a “Funding-point-of-View” analysis and perspective of the entrepreneurial business plan.  The goal is to help you see your plan from the “funding end of the telescope,” helping you know what investors are looking for and assuring your plan and investment opportunity is clearly understood by the funding community.

 

•     “The Eight Steps to Company Funding”, On a regular basis funding groups see a broad range of opportunities for investment. The key to gaining funding interest in your company is to maximize the delivery of your company information, mission, and value. Along with company information investors express their highest level of concern with the entrepreneur’s ability to convey the company’s message and value proposition in a clear and concise manner. The presentation will provide a step-by-step building formula to assure the highest potential for gaining funding for your company.



•     “Deciding to start an Entrepreneurial Company”,  It is more that “do you  have it in you?” in deciding if you should start a company.  This presentation covers the personal, professional, and business issues in building a company from the ground up.  This presentation covers from: Having a great idea, through understanding what the first two years will look like, and all the details that are in between.



•     “Small Business Outbound Marketing Program”, A focused program for consulting & service based groups to develop new client networks and increase their revenue model. The Program provides a pro-active outreach marketing program designed to increase; (1) business visibility, (2) extend contact network, (3) validate professional creditability, and (4) expand market reach.



EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

•    “ Making the Jump to CEO”.  The move from senior executive to CEO is desired by many but successfully made by few.  It takes more than ‘time in grade’ to fulfill the range of responsibilities and involvement a successful CEO bring to the position.  This Presentation provides a personal assessment against the complex elements in the role of CEO as well as a realistic ‘road-test’ of what it is to be where the ‘Buck Stops’.

•     “In-house Hiring Workshop”, Your executives management team was not hired to be HR. But they will be a key part of the interview process of most of the key contributors to your company.  This presentation is designed to improve your executive management teams ability to support and participate in the hiring process for other members of your senior team.

ONBOARDING - protecting your investment in a newly hired executive



How people are treated when they join your organization determines whether they become productive quickly, whether they become engaged and participate in decisions and innovation, and how long they stay with your firm.



According to Harvard Business School Press 64% of new executives hired from outside the company will fail at their new jobs. Coaching for your newly promoted or newly hired executive will assure their success and accelerate their ability to have an immediate, positive impact on business results. Protect your company's investment in new hires and support newly promoted executives with onboard coaching from Break Through Consulting.



Don't assume that employees are just going to "pick up" all the things they need to know to be successful in your firm. What is obvious to you may be very obscure to someone just walking in the door. Make sure you develop a program that has substance and that addresses serious issues effectively. Content might include sessions on the corporate history, the values of the firm, an overview of the strategy and fiscal goals, perhaps an overview of the finances by the CFO, and a greeting from some senior-level executive.



There could be explanations and examples of performance reviews and, with the manager present, the initial expectations of the employee could be discussed, agreed to, and written down. One of the tests of success is when a new employee can tell you the company strategy or general direction and knows the sales level and stock price of the firm. While you may know this and feel it is second nature, new employees most likely won't have any of this knowledge unless you take the time to make sure they learn it. All of these activities set a stage for productive work that's consistent with business goals.



After an intensive one- or two-day session upfront to start things off, subsequent activities may extend over several months at periodic intervals. Some programs include rotational assignments; others may include special projects that are designed to expose the new employee to parts of the company he would not normally have any contact with.



An executive, for example, could be given as assignment to find out something about the manufacturing operations that would require her to actually go to the factory and gather data. This way she sees how other employees work, and begins to get a feel for the culture in action. Scheduling events several months' out gives you the opportunity to get into topics in an in-depth way that short programs cannot.



Another idea: A get-together of all the employees hired in a particular month or quarter, with activities designed to introduce them to one another. This helps new employees build a network that they can use to get work done and to learn about other parts of the organization. There might be a tour or, if you firm has numerous locations, you might be able to have a tour of one of the sites the employee does not work at.



Many recent surveys show that the relationship with the manager is one of the most significant in an employee's work life. Most employee turnover is ultimately caused by that relationship (or lack of it), which makes the ability to assimilate new employees a core competency of managers. An employee's immediate manager controls all career progression, educational opportunities, and the assignment of projects.



So a manager who takes time to discuss issues with a new employee, who shows concern over that person's assimilation and who knows what the employee can do and wants to do, will make wiser decisions and build loyalty over time. The manager should be included in the onboarding process. Some firms have the managers attend a session designed to provide the employee with an initial set of goals — perhaps for the first 30 to 60 days. Others include the manager in team-building exercises or have a luncheon during which the manager sits with the new employee. At the executive level, the CEO can invite new hires to dinner at his or her home or set up a special quarterly new executive dinner and reception. The key is to make sure the manager has a real role in both the formal process of onboarding as well as in the informal one that happens every day.



Research shows very clearly that providing a mentor who can offer insights into the corporate culture, who can explain the organizational structure and help the new employee understand why things get done in the way they do, is a major contributor to increased productivity and lower turnover. These mentors should be individuals who are exemplars of the kind of behavior and results-orientation that your firm would like all its employees to exhibit.



The role of these mentors can be very simple — as simple as going to lunch once a week with the new hire to show her the ropes and transmit some of the tacit culture that is never articulated or often even acknowledged in formal sessions. These mentors are the vehicles to educate the new hire, and they should be trained to serve as listeners who can intervene quietly with a manager if an issue arises. They need to be respected and well-networked in the organization.



Assimilation can lead to smoother operating functions, lower turnover, and better employee satisfaction. And, they cost only a fraction of what turnover and recruiting costs your firm each year. A good program will help you weather both the coming turnover and subsequent hiring boom.