loyalty rules!

 

In brief:  You’re at the half-way point and ‘loyalty’ will get the through to the end goal.

Around this half way-stage in the JMEC program it’s natural for team members to feel a bit stressed out. Teams are challenged to produce very professional business plans, but the magnitude of the task now comes home to everyone. The clock is ticking by and finding time to meet the commitment to JMEC becomes a personal  ‘pressure point’ for all.

Perhaps your team’s plan may not be looking too good? You have a ‘sense of panic’ and you hope for clear leadership, but only perceive more uncertainty within the team. A solid and defined business proposal is proving elusive!

If some of these frustrations sound familiar, then I can tell you that many of the teams I have worked with in the past have run into the very same kind of ‘brick walls’. This is the most difficult stage in the program, but it’s not time to lose heart!

An important aspect of the JMEC team experience is working together under pressure.
There is one key word I would suggest you focus on – and that word is: LOYALTY.

• being loyal to your team
• being loyal to your plan
• being loyal to your project client

… and of course being loyal to yourself!

Remember the reasons why you signed up to do JMEC and how you wanted to gain from the experience? Focus on the benefits and self–improvement ‘payback’ that you will achieve by staying committed to the very end.

In my experience, real breakthroughs can somehow ‘magically’ emerge when you begin your final review and edit. With editing, a much clearer focus on business strategies will most likely emerge as you find ways to prioritize or discard large chunks of research and those ‘unrealistic’ ideas that just don’t stand up. Simplify to clarify, it really does work!

The best way of getting there is by keeping LOYAL with your own personal goals.

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mentor, may I ask…? (part 4.)

In brief:  To finish up this series of postings, I’ll mention two other areas where you should first be looking to the mentor for guidance.(1) JMEC Rules:

Try as they may, it’s nearly impossible for JMEC to prepare participants for every type of scenario the team may encounter. Generally speaking, its unlikely that you will face a situation where you need some additional clarification on how the JMEC program works or how the team is expected to operate. If such a need arises, the JMEC staff are always ready to respond. However, with up to ten teams in the field, their resources are also a bit limited.

So first check with your mentor and particularly, if they’ve mentored on JMEC before! He or she can most likely offer you good direction. If not, they can seek the information on your behalf.

Example: I remember one time being copied by my team on an email they sent late one night to the JMEC office seeking ‘contact information’ for the JMEC judges. I immediately responded giving the very strong ‘advice’, that no team is

does your mentor bring the coffee?

 

Here’s a short posting and hopefully the accompanying graphic is self-explanatory! This is a summary of the ‘fun’ Q&A approach that I used to explain what teams might expect from a mentor.  (… no! they’re not expected to bring the coffee and pastries to the team meetings).

Of course some mentors may feel comfortable in some areas and maybe not so in other areas. Every team’s experience will be different and every mentor has his or her own style, but hopefully this helps to set the stage as it were?