Character Counts
Honesty is the Best Policy
by Eileen Nonemaker
Eileen’s long, successful career in sales and sales management makes her an easy choice for those leaders and managers who are responsible for generating revenue and achieving corporate goals and have no time to waste getting there. Clients appreciate her ability to help them quickly select, assess, train and develop their sales teams whether they are selling products or services. New teams get brought up to speed quickly and experienced teams develop what is necessary to perform at the next level. Through goal setting, skill refinement and the development of accurate forecasting skills, she has helped both individuals and teams develop strong success strategies. Utilizing her formal training as a business coach and consultant to supplement her natural ability to connect with people, Eileen gains the trust and respect needed to interact with both leadership and team members. When coaching individual clients, Eileen becomes a 'lady on a mission' to help them succeed. Eileen is able to help them stay focused on their objectives and establish goals that take them to that next level in their personal and/or business lives. Her coaching typically involves teaching people how to set measurable goals, how to look at goals objectively and how to re-evaluate them periodically to stay on track. Eileen’s goal as a coach is to help her clients find the right balance between career and family so they have the best of both worlds.
During a recent interview, I was asked why building character today is important. I responded… "With character we have purpose and vision and the ethical guidelines to aid us in making decisions on a daily basis. Building character in youth and maintaining the tenants of character throughout their development, promises a society of adults who live their lives based on principles. The ethics I learned from my parents and teachers has helped me understand my role in this development and guide me through difficult decisions."
One of the early values I adopted was to trust and be trusted. In April my sessions with the third graders will be focused on the pillar of TRUSTWORTHINESS.
Trustworthiness means:
- Be honest
- Don't deceive, cheat or steal
- Be reliable - do what you say you'll do
- Have the courage to do the right thing
- Build a good reputation
- Be Loyal - stand by your family, friends and country
- Think "true blue"
This week we will be solving an HONESTY crossword puzzle. Some of the words in the word bank are cheat, conscience, exaggerate, lie, mistakes, steal, promises and truth. Both of my classes know that I am a big "definition" person and that one of my favorite books is the dictionary. Therefore we will discuss the meaning of the words before we solve the puzzle. When completed, we read each puzzle clue aloud with the correct word in the sentence. In this way the context of each word is reinforced. Hopefully by the end of April, the five weekly sessions will offer the repetition, via different exercises, to make an impact on their thought process. At the end of each session, the students give examples of how they exhibited any one of the six pillars in the last week or so. Again, verbalizing and repeating what they are doing right.
In the adult world, we appreciate honesty and reliability from friends, family and business associates, as they appreciate those qualities in us. As we at Paradigm work with organizations to develop their business strategy, we help them define their values. Values help develop the internal "rules of the road" for behavior in an organization. Values are to be those things that are sacred. When the values of an organization and its teams include honesty and reliability there is strength in the vendor and client relationships. There is internal camaraderie and strong team interaction. And just as the law of attraction provides, these organizations will draw honest employees and partners, and these businesses will grow.
It is my goal through the character coaching to help develop future owners, employees, vendors and partners, as well as future parents, neighbors and community members who will be trustworthy and encourage those with whom they interact to be the same. Every fifteen minute session is a baby step toward a brighter future.