Tag Archives: career development

Total Engagement Consulting Receives Certification as an LGBT Business Enterprise

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Press Release: June 2, 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Stan C. Kimer
Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, Inc.
www.TotalEngagementConsulting.com
Office: 919-787-7315

Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer Officially Certified as an LGBT Business Enterprise

The NGLCC’s Supplier Diversity Initiative has Helped Hundreds of LGBT Business Owners Connect with Corporate America, the Government and Each Other

Total Engagement Consulting becomes only the second certified company in the state of North Carolina

Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, Inc. is now officially certified as an LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) owned and operated business through the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s (NGLCC) Supplier Diversity Initiative (SDI). The NGLCC is the nation’s exclusive certifying body for LGBT owned and operated businesses.

“America’s top corporations are eager to do business with the LGBT community,” said Justin G. Nelson, President and Co-Founder of the NGLCC. “Our community has a demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit and is a $743 billion consumer market.”

The Supplier Diversity Initiative began in 2006 in response to Corporate America’s growing to engage more deeply with the LGBT business community. Today, the NGLCC has over 120 corporate Supplier Diversity Partners who recognize the LGBTBE designation when making procurement decisions and ensuring diversity in their supply chains.

The NGLCC is the business advocate and direct link between LGBT business owners, corporations, and government, representing the interests of more than 1.4 million LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs. They are the only national certifying body for LGBT Business Enterprises.

Even though there are now 225 businesses certified as LGBT Business Enterprises, Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer is only the second such certified business in the state of North Carolina. “I am excited be certified by the NGLCC and strongly feel that my increased access to NGLCC’s corporate Supplier Diversity Partners will help drive exponential growth in my business,” said Stan C. Kimer, founder and president of Total Engagement Consulting. “And I also feel proud to be a diversity pioneer in the south and often to refer to LGBT Diversity as ‘the new diversity frontier for the New South.’”

After a successful 31-year career in IBM in various staff, management and executive positions, including four years as IBM’s global corporate GLBT Diversity Manager, Kimer founded his new consulting practice in October, 2010. His three service offerings areas are:
• Diversity Management with a specialization in LGBT workplace and marketplace
• Employee career development using an innovative “career road mapping” methodology
• General organizational effectiveness and project management consulting

In addition to his consulting practice, Kimer serves on several community boards including as President of the North Carolina Council of Churches and on the City of Raleigh’s Human Relations Commission.

Career Road Mapping for Enterprises and Professions – Part 1

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Full utilization and retention of human resources is one the most strategic areas that companies need to improve. This will include providing employees a clear picture of rewarding career paths that can be built within the corporation or within an operating unit. Can employees see career progression of current successful employees in the enterprise and then connect the dots to see how these examples apply to them? Are they then afforded the encouragement, career planning and skills building activities to grow their careers?

I have developed a unique and innovative approach of building career roadmaps within an enterprise or a profession group that will fully engage participants. The first step is to identify 20 – 30 successful professionals currently within the job area. The pool should be diverse representing a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and routes to their current positions. Participants create one page career maps that highlight their job progression and very importantly, the skills their built with their various roles. (Or I could create the maps from resumes and interviews with participants.)

The second step is for me in my consultant role to analyze and “data mine” the collected maps for 5-7 key career development themes which can be packaged and presented to employees or professionals within a job area. Overall career development concepts can then be added to the presentation to provide a foundation, concepts such as:
• The importance of each individual taking ownership of their careers and taking the time to assess their own strengths and ambitions
• Combining both short term and long term career planning
• Making job decisions analytically instead of emotionally
• The importance of engaging a good set of diverse mentors

An additional step can then be taken. All the skills developed by the road map participants over their careers can then be groups into categories, and then learning activities identified for the skill groups for professionals to add into the career development plans.

I will continue to expand on some of the concepts within this blog in future entries.