Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer

With the tremendous focus on transgender employees in the workplace, I have added transgender woman and outstanding consultant and trainer Elaine Martin to my team.

Of course I do need to write a self-serving blog now and then, touting how my areas of expertise are going to be super hot in 2017. Actually, I do believe in what I am writing. Here are some of the areas where I do have a deep expertise which I believe are going to be major areas within HR in 2017, and I hope my clients old and new will not hesitate to contact me to discuss how I can assist them in these areas.

AREA 1: Transgender employees in the workplace. With many more well known transgender people visible in the world (Laverne Cox, Chas Bono, Caitlyn Jenner, Janet Mock…), with government contract regulations needing to include transgender protections, and with more companies covering gender transition medical costs, more people are now fine about transitioning in the workplace. Does your company have the right policies in place to support transgender employees? And do you have a plan to educate coworkers and company leaders when one of your employees goes through transition? Do take my 12-question Transgender Diversity Organizational Self-assessment.

Blog author Stan Kimer on the phone presenting a power point presentation on his innovative career mapping offering over the phone to a prospective client.

AREA 2: Talent / Career Development. I keep hearing in workshop after workshop that one of the top challenges for HR is recruiting and retaining top talent. Replacing and onboarding a departing employee is very expensive, with costs between 75% and 150% of annual salary. One major reason people leave is because they feel their company is not doing enough to help them develop their skills and talent. I offer an innovative yet proven career mapping methodology that has received rave reviews from my clients that use it. It can easily be clipped on to whatever learning activities you currently have and costs only a few dollars per employee. Link to read an outside article about my process from Ziprecruiter and Take my 11-question Skills and Career Development Organizational Self-assessment.

AREA 3: General Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Execution. Even though my deep expertise is in LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) diversity (see AREA 1 above,) I am conversant in all areas of diversity and keep on top of the ever changing diversity landscape. Key diversity topics now include Global Multicultural Competence, Generational Diversity, Diversity of Thought and more. And to begin 2017, I have a new alliance partner, Kannetic, with an application platform developed with an expert panel of nearly 100 diversity experts (including myself), which provides insight into the impactfulness and effort required to implement various concrete diversity and inclusion actions. No charge one hour demonstration and mini planning sessions will be available to my clients over the next month – contact me to schedule yours! First listing under business affiliations / partnerships.

Knowledgeable consultants with deep expertise in an area and /or with innovative processes and tools can truly help catapult you to HR success in 2017. As a consultant, my goal is to make you as an HR leader shine! So please contact me soon for a no-charge initial consultation to discuss your needs and my offerings in any of these areas: [email protected] or call 919-787-7315.

David Fountain, Duke Energy NC President (Photo from PR Newswire)

Since I often present and talk about leadership via my career development and diversity consulting practice, I always enjoy talks about leadership. Two of the more enjoyable series here in the Raleigh NC area are the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s C-Suite Perspectives and the Triangle Business Journal’s Power Breakfasts. (See a list of blogs with links of previous sessions I wrote about at the bottom of this blog.)

I recently attended the Raleigh Chamber’s latest C-Suite Perspectives on October 21st with the speaker being David Fountain, current North Carolina President of Duke Energy. I enjoyed David’s unique personal approach to his leadership lessons in that he chronologically recounted events in his life and the leadership lessons he learned during each time period.

Lesson 1: The Importance of Clear and Concise Expectations. Growing up in rural Guilford county, his father and all other male relatives before him achieved the highest rank of “Eagle” in the Boy Scouts, and he knew the same was expected of him.

In group rope climbing, the lead climber is indeed responsible for those behind him or her (Photo from Getty Images)

Lesson 2: You are responsible for those behind you. In college, he was involved with Wilderness Leadership trips, and toward the end of his college days, he was leading the trips. He knew that in leading complex rope climbs, he was indeed responsible for those behind him.

Lesson 3: A leader is responsible for mentoring others. After college in his early career days, David was fortunate to have a number of effective mentors who were truly interested in his professional and personal growth. And now as a senior leader, he is likewise responsible to mentor others as he was mentored.

Lesson 4: The importance of sticking with a team. And then a little later in life, David had a few daughters and ended up coaching a girl’s basketball team. That first year they lost every single game going 0-10. But the girls genuinely liked each other, stuck together, committed to growing skills and teamwork, and three years later won their league championship.

Lesson 5: The importance of resilience. And here David shared of a very recent event in his professional life – Hurricane Matthew hitting North Carolina and 1.5 million customers losing power. Several locations included entire substations underwater from the flooding. But Duke Energy committed to the task, people worked long hours, consumers were patient and the state demonstrated reliance and bounced backed.

I thank David for his fresh human personal approach to sharing his leadership lessons.

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Previous Leaderships blogs starting with the most recent:

May 2016: Seven Insights on Leadership, Success and Diversity from Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, C-Suite Perspectives

Feb 2015: Raleigh Chamber of Commerce CEO Harvey Schmitt shares about leadership and collaboration, C-Suite Perspectives

May 2014: Exploring Leadership, Talent Development and Innovation with a Local Senior ABB Executive, C-Suites Perspectives.

March 2014: Leadership Advice from a Senior Lenovo Executive, C-Suite Perspectives

Nov 2012: Career and Leadership Inspiration from Machelle Sanders of Biogen, TBJ Power Breakfast