Women@Work May/June 2013

Learn to juggle your work and home life, and get involved in a local nonprofit! Details on pgs. 65 and 17

MAY/JUNE 2013

Want to Get Ahead? ď‚&#x; Get a mentor! ď‚&#x; Become a WBE-owned business!

Workplace

Pet Peeves Foolproof

Firing Strategies

Women of Excellence 2013 Award Winners

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Publisher George Hearst III Editorial Janet Reynolds, Executive Editor Brianna Snyder, Associate Editor Brittany Lenotti, Editorial Intern Design Tony Pallone, Design Director Colleen Ingerto, Emily Jahn, Designers Contributing Writers Kristi Barlette, Laurie Lynn Fischer, Anna Zernone Giorgi, Jennifer Gish, Silvia Meder Lilly, Stacey Morris, Anne Saile, Cari Scribner Contributing Photographers / Illustrators Jeanne A. Benas, Colleen Ingerto, Emily Jahn, Philip Kamrass, Tyler Murphy Sales Kurt Vantosky, Sr. Vice President, Sales & Marketing Kathleen Hallion, Vice President, Advertising Tom Eason, Manager, Display Advertising Michael-Anne Piccolo, Retail Sales Manager Jeff Kiley, Magazine Sales Manager Circulation Dan Denault, Home Delivery Manager Business Ray Koupal, Chief Financial Officer TimesUnion.com Paul Block, Executive Producer Women@Work Founding Advisory Board: Anne Saile, chair; Marri Aviza, Kristen Berdar, Debra Best, Nancy Carey-Cassidy, Karin Carr, Andrea Crisafulli- Russo, Heather Ford, Kathleen Godfrey, Lakia Green, Ann Hughes, Theresa Marangas, Lydia Rollins, Curran Street, Gail Wilson-Giarratano Capital Region Women@Work is published six times per year. If you are interested in receiving home delivery of Capital Region Women@Work magazine, please call (518) 454-5768 or visit capregionwomenatwork. com. For advertising information, please call (518) 454-5358.

Capital Region Women@Work is published by Capital Newspapers and Times Union 645 Albany Shaker Road, Albany, NY 12212 518.454.5694 The entire contents of this magazine are copyright 2013 by Capital Newspapers. No portion may be reproduced in any means without written permission of the publisher.

Capital Newspapers is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hearst Corporation.

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Contents May/June 2013

www.capregionwomenatwork.com

@ WORK 10 Bitstream Business tidbits for all

57 Book Review: The Road to Great Leadership?

Doing nothing

14 Tips from the Top Where did your mojo go?

70 The Last Word Helping employees embrace technology

16 I Did It Toy store owner Linda Ambrosino takes playtime seriously

21 On the Cover This year’s Women of Excellence honorees

34 Embrace the Shredder Protecting personal information at the office

36 Can WBE Certification Help Your Business?

Short answer? Yes — in the right circumstances

@ HOME 59 Moms@Work Finding inspiration for motivation

60 Meals on the Go Jeannette Liebers was raised with a passion for great Italian food

65 Juggling Act

Having it all without losing your mind

66 Getting Away Visit charming Camden, Maine

40 Want Your Career to Zoom Ahead?

Find a good mentor

44 65 Roses The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation strives toward a cure

48 You’re Fired!

Some strategies to make employeetermination work better for everyone

52 Don’t You Hate It When ...

Dealing with pet peeves in the workplace

“

pg.

48

There’s a reason I wear very tall heels.

”

– Teresa Fenner Spadafora, a 2013 Woman of Excellence

 ON THE COVER: The Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Women of Excellence. Photo by Philip Kamrass.

6 | women@work

Is your company in this issue?

Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.......................................21, 40 Albany Identity Theft Resource Center...........34 Albany Medical Center...................................44 Best Cleaners.................................................48 CapitalCare Medical Group............................21 Capital District Human Resources Professionals.............................52 Capital Region Human Resource Association....48 Career Choice.................................................40 Career Development Center at Skidmore College...................................40 Center for Disability Services..........................21 Chamber of Schenectady County...................40 College of Saint Rose.....................................65 Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc................21 Communication Services................................48 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Northeastern New York..............................44 D’Andrea’s Restaurant...................................17 Deb Best Practices................................... 52, 70 Empire Education Corporation.........................21 Empire State Development’s Division of Minority & Women-Owned Business Development....36 First Niagara Bank.........................................21 G. Willikers Distinctive Toys............................17 Catherine Gonzales, CPA................................34 Greane Tree Technology.................................70 Janitronics......................................................48 Patricia McDonald, career counselor/life coach....40 McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams, P.C........................................ 34, 65 National Women Business Owners Corporation...................................36 Northwestern Mutual-Albany........................40 The Old Firehouse..........................................17 Pinnacle Human Resources............................48 Radio Disney AM 1460.............................. 40 Rumors Salon.................................................70 Saile Group, LLC...................................... 14, 36 Samaritan Hospital Cancer Center & Women’s Health Center.............................21 Siena College.................................................21 Sweet Mimi’s.................................................60 Tangora Technologies Inc. .............................48 Transformational Conversations.............. 36, 70 Leslie Trosset, social media expert..................70 Walters Group Consulting, LLC......................36 Women’s Business Enterprise National Council....................................... 36 Women Presidents’ Educational Organization.....36 Call 518.454.5366 or e-mail jreynolds@ timesunion.com with your story ideas.

Will Your Business Hoist the Cup? Show pride in your business and develop long-lasting camaraderie among employees by forming a team and competing in the Freihofer’s Corporate Cup, part of the 35th anniversary Freihofer’s Run for Women 5K on Saturday, June 1st.

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Team entry is free for those registered for the 5K and open to small businesses (100 employees and under) and large businesses (100+ employees), the Freihofer’s Corporate Cup features: 7 Great awards including the Corporate Cup 7 A chance to compete alongside Olympians and world-class distance runners 7 A high-performance, female-cut technical t-shirt 7 Free massages, chiropractic adjustments and discounted running equipment

7 Clinics featuring elite athletes 7 Live music both around the course and on-stage following the race 7 Delicious refreshments 7 Not to mention 12 months of corporate bragging rights!

To register and for more information, visit freihofersrun.com/corporatecup.htm

EDITOR’S NOTE

Mentor Moment I

have been lucky. I have had the same mentor for my entire journalism career, a woman I have now known for nearly 40 years.

Her name is Aileen Vincent-Barwood and she was my first editor when I worked at a community newspaper in upstate New York. It was she who patiently taught me the ins and outs of good reporting, smart writing, and, perhaps most importantly, the tremendous power that comes from writing about people’s lives in public ways.

With that power comes great responsibility to get it right. Always.

I only worked for Aileen for 18 months before other circumstances required me to leave — very reluctantly. But I remember our last working lunch together. “Do you think I have what it takes?” I asked her.

“Can I be an editor like you someday?”

“Absolutely, Jano.”

And here I am.

Aileen has sat on my shoulder ever since. I regularly speak to her and write to her about things I’m mulling over. She has been a tireless supporter and, at times, questioner of what I do. Her advice has been priceless.

But Aileen gave me another gift beyond my career and our long friendship: Because of Aileen, I have made a point of being a mentor throughout my career. Yes, I’ve been a boss. But with every employee, I’ve always tried to help teach them, to help them realize what it is they want and need to get to the next level. So Aileen’s legacy goes far beyond me — which is just what she deserves. W

Janet Reynolds Executive Editor jreynolds@timesunion.com

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BITSTREAM Compiled by Brianna Snyder and Brittany Lenotti

Web Surfing @Work D o you know where your employees are spending their time online? In a survey of more than 3,200 people conducted by Salary.com, 64 percent say they visit websites unrelated to work daily.

g

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13timewaste

g

Most popular non-workrelated websites visited Facebook

LinkedIn

41%

37%

Why workers say they spend time on non-work related sites

g

Highest education of workers who spend time on non-work related sites

High School grads

Bachelors

59%

66%

Not challenged by work

No incentive to work harder

Job dissatisfaction

Bored

Masters

Ph.D.s

35%

32%

30%

20%

65%

67%

Desk Time

and Your Health I f you have a job where you sit at a desk for hours on end, your poor posture could end up creating health issues beyond a sore back. Pressure on the spine can also prevent fluids and nutrients from flowing to this area and could result in permanently sloped shoulders. You are also at a higher risk for headaches, as well as neck and shoulder pain.

Proper posture as reported by WomansDay.com means having your arms at a 90-degree angle while typing, with your shoulders down and relaxed and your feet flat on the ground. Don’t lean too far back or hunch forward; your lower back should touch the back of your chair.

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13posture and tinyurl.com/ww13posture2 10 | women@work

Photos: Powering up, © iStockphoto.com/Franck Boston; all others by GettyImages: web surfing, Robert George Young; desk time, Andy Zito; business matters, Image Source Ltd.

“

Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.

”

– Adrienne Rich

Mind Your

Business Manners W

ant to get ahead at work? Consider adopting a few of these tips from Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions and career expert Alexandra Levit on proper workplace etiquette.

Powering W

ant to be More Productive?

Take a Break.

We assume that if we work more hours, we’ll get more done, but research reported in the New York Times suggests otherwise.

Sara C. Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Riverside, for instance, found that 60- to 90- minute naps improved memory

• Stop Casual Rudeness. Texting during a meeting is a sure sign that you’re not interested and not paying attention. test results as much as eight hours of sleep did. Professor K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues at Florida State University, meanwhile, studied elite performers, musicians, athletes, actors and chess players. They found that the best performers practiced for no more than 90 minutes at a time.

Taking a break between work sessions of 90 minutes — perhaps going for a run, taking a nap or just relaxing with coworkers — results in more productivity. Ericsson’s basic idea is that the energy a worker brings to her job is more important toward productivity than the number of hours she works.

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13energy

• Communicate Carefully. Watching what you say and how you say it can make a great difference in the way others interpret what you’re saying. It may come off as rude if you are short when virtually communicating with coworkers.

• Don’t Be Loud. Most of us sit fairly close to our coworkers so keeping the volume of phone conversations and snacking noises to a minimum make a difference.

• Look for Mentors. Having someone you can trust and ask for advice can help you acclimate more quickly to your work environment and have more success.

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13manners continued on page 12 capregionwomenatwork.com | 11

BITSTREAM continued from page 11

Going Up? W

e’ve all heard of the glass ceiling, but have you heard of the glass escalator? The glass escalator or elevator refers to the promotion of men over women in management positions in female-dominated fields.

Womenonbusiness.com writer Carolyn K. Broner suggests that three factors hold women back.

• Though it’s more socially and culturally acceptable for women to work outside of the home, women are still primary caretakers in their families, so

taking on extra responsibilities at work poses greater challenges for them than for their male peers.

• Finally women generally want people to like them, and the idea of be-

ing in a managerial position means making some unpopular decisions and women tend to prefer to avoid confrontation.

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13escalator

We’re Women! We Work Harder!

A

recent study by the Ponemon Institute found that women work harder than men. The study included 274 participants working at companies in various fields around the United States; 53 percent were female and 47 percent male. Researchers found that during a 10-minute experimental trial, women worked for 2.5 minutes and males worked for 2.1 minutes. And during an experimental waiting period only 38 percent of women workers chose to leave their desks, compared to 52 percent of male workers.

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13effort

12 | women@work

Photos by GettyImages: Going up, Datacraft Co Ltd; work harder, Ryan McVay; shake out, Fuse.

• Men, even when they’re working within women-dominated professions, are often pushed toward administrative tracks, according to Broner. On those tracks, they receive mentoring by other men in leadership positions. Also, those making promotion decisions are often male.

Shake It Out S

itting at our desks all day makes us stiff and stiffness leads to achy joints.

Try these exercises to reduce shoulder and neck tension: “Shrug your shoulders in an exaggerated fashion,” recommends PopSugar Fitness, a women’s wellness site. Inhale and raise your shoulders to your ears and exhale, letting them fall. Do this four or five times and follow up with a self-massage -- squeeze the muscles in your shoulders “like you would a wet sponge,” the site says. “Imagine you’re wringing out the tension with each squeeze.”

Also try swaying your head slowly from side to side. Make a half circle with

“

your head by bringing your right ear to your right shoulder, roll downward and frontward, keeping your chin to your chest, bringing your left ear to your left shoulder.

Reverse and repeat in each direction.

And if you’re a jaw-clencher, PopSugar recommends making fists with both of your hands and putting your knuckles just under your cheekbones. “Move your knuckles up and down, then side to side,” the site reads. “Try different places between your cheekbone and your jawbone. Chances are, you will find little pockets of tightness just waiting to be massaged.”

Source: tinyurl.com/ww13stiffneck

” – Ginger Rogers

There’s nothing a man can do that I can’t do better and in heels.

9 to 5

By Jeanne A. Benas

capregionwomenatwork.com | 13

TIPS FROM THE TOP

Where did your mojo go?

Anne Saile is an award winning CEO, entrepreneur, executive coach, author and owner of the Saile Group LLC, a leadership and business consulting company. For more information, visit www.sailegroup.com.

Photo by Joan Heffler.

By Anne Saile

“

We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under conditions of great courage.

I

”

– Abraham Maslow

often hear women talk about losing their mojo, that their passion for life has faded or their career direction isn’t as clear as it once was. They feel they’ve lost that magic power where everything feels as if it’s going the right way, where each day is lived with a feeling of accomplishment knowing what they do matters.

In an ideal world, we awake each morning refreshed and ready to take on the day’s challenges with our flawless decision-making, endless stream of creative genius, and razor-sharp focus. In this world we’re on all the time. But in all reality, those days can be hard to find.

How many of us have overslept, run out of the house late, and missed a very important conference call that somehow escaped our calendar?

Chaos and lack of focus can take over sometimes and we even start to surprise ourselves with how off we’ve become. A friend once arrived late to an important meeting, stepped out of her car and was horrified to discover she’d left the house wearing two different shoes — one heel higher than the other. She’d lost her focus

14 | women@work

and found herself startled, wondering where the days she’d felt on top of her game had gone.

It’s happened to us all -- be it for a few hours, a few days or even a few weeks.

So what do we do when this happens?

Just how do we get our mojo back?

Here are a few suggestions: 1) Reflect. Take some time to determine what actually triggered your current state of mind. Delve deeper by keeping track of the major things you spend time on each day for a week and rank each task as a motivator or a drain. If you wind up with more drains than motivators, you’re spending too much time doing tasks that deplete you, which in all likelihood is a strong contributor to your feelings of lost mojo.

2) Evaluate. What was your greatest moment? What were you doing? Why did you feel so invigorated? Pinpoint some of the ingredients that go into that time, that job, that relationship and look for opportunities to recapture them. Making a list of those times will help remind you of what you need to shift in your everyday life to feel more fulfilled.

3) Self care. How much sleep are you getting? Are you eating well? Life never looks great when we’re exhausted and overextended. Taking care of ourselves, looking and feeling our best, goes a long way toward getting mojo back.

4) Know when to go. It’s important to know when to leave a situation that’s

draining. When a job no longer brings out the best in you, consider what can be done to find something that makes you feel great. Take time to really think about what you love doing and be creative about how you can begin doing it.

Recently someone who has a passion for learning about the business I’m in asked if she could come work as an unpaid intern. This was in addition to maintaining her full-time job. She said the thought of working at the Saile Group energized her. Whenever we do something like this, that boosts our energy. It elevates our mojo.

5) Write a gratitude list. When we’re running low on mojo, our minds tend to spiral into anxious, over-analyzing messes. Countless studies have shown that we become what we constantly think about. Take time each day to write a list of 10 things for which you’re grateful.

This will go a long way toward resetting negative thought patterns.

6) Forward thinking. Spend time dreaming. Take time to simply think. As one of my friends always asks: Where do you want to be this time next year and what do you need to do to get there?

Virtually all great achievement happens when we take time to stop and think about our next bold move. If you could summon all of your courage and make a change, what would it be and what would you truly love to be doing?

Honestly answering and finding a way to be true to your vision of the future will restore your mojo. W

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I DID IT

Playing for Keeps Toy-store owner Linda Ambrosino takes playtime seriously

By Cari Scribner | Photos by Colleen Ingerto

L

inda Ambrosino spends her days surrounded by baby dolls, building blocks and sand art sets, but make no mistake about it; she’s a determined, successful, dynamic business woman.

Ambrosino opened her first store, G. Willikers Distinctive Toys, in 1984 in Saratoga Springs, followed by her Albany store, Toy Maker, in Stuyvesant Plaza.

Next came Poofberry’s, named for her daughter’s bulldog, in Kennebunkport, Maine. She’s now on the brink of opening another G. Willikers, this one in Katonah, Westchester County.

After growing up in Pennsylvania, Ambrosino moved to Saratoga Springs and attended Skidmore College, where she majored in theater. Her favorite role was 16 | women@work

Get involved!

Do you want to get involved with a nonprofit but aren’t sure where to start?

“Crafting the Ask”

Our next Women@Work Connect is the perfect place to meet some local charities and network with Capital Region professional women.

Mona Golub

Meet area nonprofits and learn how you can volunteer, mentor or be a board member To be a featured nonprofit at this event, call Charmaine Ushkow at 518-454-5792 for information.

Tuesday, June 25 5:30 - 7 p.m.

The Desmond, 660 Albany-Shaker Rd., Albany

Mona Golub will speak on what today’s business donors want, expect and need from nonprofit partners.

VP Public Relations and Consumer & Marketing Services for Price Chopper Mona oversees media and community relations, marketing, customer communications, and the philanthropic endeavors of Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation.

Mona has also conducted business from the nonprofit side, having founded and served as Producing Artistic Director of Second Wind Productions and she is currently serving on multiple boards throughout the year.

FREE EVENT!

Space is limited. Register at womenconnect.eventbrite.com Questions? Call 518-454-5583.

NOSH

NETWORK

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Capital Region Women@Work is a bimonthly magazine designed to help women navigate the world of work.

Women@Work Connect events are held regularly at various locations in the Capital Region.

I DID IT

as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. In college, she took accounting as an elective, and found herself out of her league.

“My first grade was a failing grade and I felt overwhelmed,” Ambrosino says. “But I’m a theater person; I can memorize anything, so I memorized all the rules and mastered accounting.”

Ambrosino worked at the iconic D’Andrea’s Restaurant and then The Old Firehouse in Saratoga Springs, in jobs ranging from bartender to manager.

But the urge to launch her own business came calling, and she started with a simple premise: to open a store that wasn’t already in the city.

“I made a list of what was on Broadway and what was missing, and it was a toy store,” Ambrosino says. “I went down to what was known as the Toy Building in New York City and knocked on doors. It was huge learning experience.”

Ambrosino has never wavered in her dedication to well-made, high-quality, interactive toys, from classics such as the colored bead abacus and Brio trains, to what she describes as “new classics,” such as cuddly Corolle dolls and the kid’s size shopping cart.

“I make sure I have what’s valuable from days gone by,” Ambrosino says. “I watch kids playing in the store and I just love it when they use their imagination.

18 | women@work

They don’t need the toys to talk to them.

They should do the talking. When we bring in a game or toy, we play with it to make sure it’s interactive.”

A

mbrosino opened her first store despite the nay-sayers. “People thought I was crazy to open a toy store, because toys had always been part of a department store,” Ambrosino says. “The only other places were FAO Schwartz and Toys-R-Us. I never wanted to be part of a big chain.”

Ambrosino was also adamant that the business belonged exclusively to her.

“When I went for loans, I wanted my name on them, not with my husband as a co-signer,” Ambrosino says. “He doesn’t need my name as a co-signer. I was meant to be a sole proprietor. I could never sit behind a desk. I’m as non-corporate as you can be.”

Admitting to be a Type A personality, Ambrosino works from 6:30 a.m. until she’s so exhausted she can’t accomplish anything more. Slim and energetic, Ambrosino relies on the treadmill and weights at the local YMCA and long walks in the woods with her Golden Retrievers for stress relief.

Stuyvesant Plaza 1475 Western Ave., Albany NY www.evokestyle.com 518.512.5240

“

”

Life’s too short not to take chances

When asked about the future, Ambrosino chuckles. “Life’s too short not to take chances,” she says. “My business plan is, ‘why not?’ I think I might be at full capacity now. I’ll let you know next year.” W

Ambrosino’s 10 Tips for Success: • Have passion for everything you do.

• Don’t worry about mistakes; you can fix them.

• Treat customers better than you want to be treated.

• Go with your gut.

• Be able to make decisions and stick with them.

• Be kind.

• Use your abilities to teach younger people how to work.

• Find an outlet, whether it’s yoga or a walk in the woods.

• Don’t worry. Be happy.

Fab5

• Always buy quality over quantity.

Photo for Evoke Style by Joann Hoose

Maintaining retail stores during a tough economy has been a challenge, Ambrosino says, but she’s always kept her focus on offering unique products.

“With a small business, you have to be very careful about what’s in the store; you don’t want to duplicate items people can get elsewhere,” Ambrosino says.

“Online ordering has also made it harder, but I live in a town where people make a concerted effort to buy locally. I’ve had people find an item online and then come in to buy it here.”

Ambrosino credits her family, including her husband, daughter and grandchildren, for supporting her work. “My family has allowed me to do it and helped in so many ways,” Ambrosino says. “My three granddaughters come in now, and I watch them play and wait to see what toys they can’t put down. That’s how I do my test runs.”

Ambrosino hopes adults enjoy toys from her stores as well. “I want to see parents sit down and play and draw with their children,” Ambrosino says. “I doesn’t have to be all day, and it doesn’t need to be complicated. Simple crayons and paper are great. A little bit goes a long way.”

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ON THE COVER

Best of the Best

By Brianna Snyder | Group photos by Philip Kamrass Individual photos by Colleen Ingerto

This year’s Women of Excellence honorees story begins on page 22

ON THE COVER continued from page 21

T

he Capital Region is rife with powerful women doing amazing things each and every day in business.

Each year the region celebrates a select few of these women in the Women of Excellence Awards. Presented by the Women’s Business Council and the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce, this is Women of Excellence’s 22nd year acknowledging talented, successful women in the area.

“Women of Excellence [winners] excel at their careers and play big roles in their communities,” says Laura Dehmer, vice president of the chamber. This year’s luncheon and ceremony will be held May 30.

All seven honorees were nominated by their peers and colleagues, and selected by a board of award-recipients from past Women of Excellence ceremonies. The chamber received more than 50 nominees this year, Dehmer says, so sorting through them is quite a challenge for the board of judges.

The Women’s Business Council, an arm

of the chamber, is committed to promoting women’s leadership throughout the region through many different programs.

Women of Excellence acknowledges women in seven categories: distinguished career, excellence in management (100+ staff and volunteers), excellence in management (1-99 staff members), excellence in business, excellence in the professions, excellence in sales or marketing, and emerging professional.

“The Women’s Business Council of the Regional Chamber is extremely proud to recognize and honor these exceptional

women from our business community,” Paula A. Heller, WBC chair, wrote in a press release. “This year’s winners are all highly individualistic and multi-faceted in their accomplishments. They truly personify excellence in their careers, their community and the inspiration they bring to everyone around them.”

“It’s not just that [winners and nominees] do excellent work,” Dehmer says, “Their dedication to not only their organization and companies but the community as a whole sets them apart. They’ve really done something substantial.”

Donna Lamkin – Distinguished Career Chief Program Officer, Center for Disability Services

D

onna Lamkin has devoted her professional life to improving the world for those with special needs and their families. When Lamkin’s daughter was born with Down syndrome, Lamkin was faced with a set of challenges she’d never encountered. “I grew up in a world where people with disabilities were not present,” she says. “For Lauren, I started to become involved.” Thirty years ago, after working for several years in social work, Lamkin began as a part-time consultant at what is now the Center for Disability Services in Albany, where she is the chief program officer. “The field of disabilities appealed to me,” she says. “It suited my personality and really what I believed about social work principles.”

What this award means to her: I think it’s important because it says that the people we represent here at the center — 22 | women@work

people with developmental disabilities — are important enough in this world and [this award] legitimizes their place in society and the work the center does.

Favorite part of her job: Seeing people thrive. The people we provide service to who were institutionalized for years and were considered too disabled to really be considered successful — we see them working in jobs and contributing to communities. That’s a victory.

Advice? Keep your goals in mind.

Surround yourself with people who are smarter and more talented than you are.

Challenge she’s had to overcome: The center merging with another organization was a great opportunity but very challenging, well worth the effort because it has had a stellar outcome.

Moment when she knew she’d made it:

Never! It hasn’t come yet. continued on page 25

on ratu ations C TO THIS YEAR’S WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE!

Thank you for helping to make the Capital Region the place where people get better at life Special congratulations ratulations to our own Donna Lamkin, Chief Program m Officer at the Center for Disability Services for her Distinguished Career nguished C Car areer reer award.

And a salute to alll this year’s winners: Joan Hayner, CMPE E Excellence in Management ement (100+ staff members) em Maryellen Gilroy, Ed.D. d.D. d.

Excellence in Management ement (1-99 staff members) em Faith Ann Takes Excellence in Business Sabrina Mosseau, BS BS, RN, OCN Excellence in the Professions ofessions ofes Teresa Fenner Spadafora dafora da Excellence in Sales or Mar M Marketing arketing arketing Kelly Brown Matejaa Emerging Professional al

www.cfdsny.org

Congratulations

Colonie Senior Service Centers

Faith A. Takes

2013 Woman of Excellence

to

Owner & President, Empire Education Corporation

2013 “Women of Excellence” Excellence in Business Award Recipient

congratulates Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber’s

Emerging Professional

Kelly Brown Mateja Director of Programs and Services Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc.

And congratulations to all of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber’s

2013 Women of Excellence

For their achievements and success in their professional careers and dedication to community service.

Your determination and vision has helped thousands of students achieve their goals.

Hiscock & Barclay congratulates the recipients of this year’s

Women of Excellence Awards LLP

80 State Street / Albany NY 12207 / (518) 429-4200

WWW.HBLAW.COM

ON THE COVER continued from page 22

Kelly Brown Mateja – Emerging Professional Director of Programs and Services, Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc.

K

elly Brown Mateja loves her job.

“People who do my kind of job — we do it because we love it, not for glory and certainly not for money,” she says. As the person facilitating awareness events, overseeing daycare programs and other services for the Colonie Senior Service Centers, Mateja gets to provide for, interact and engage with great people. “I always joke that a part of CSSC’s compensation package includes ‘warm fuzzies,’” she says.

What this award means to her: I‘ve been fortunate throughout my career to work with truly amazing women. I have the opportunity to spend my days in contact with some pretty powerful role models. This award is a recognition that I’m applying the lessons of all those phenomenal role models.

Favorite part of her job: It’s differ-

ent every day. I’m never doing the same thing two times in a row.

Advice? Understand what your values are. When I took this job, it was with the understanding that they would support me, a woman with a young family. There are certain things I’m not willing to sacrifice to succeed professionally.

Challenge she’s had to overcome: Being a working mom. I don’t think you’re ever going to get that 100 percent balance between work and family. You only have so many hours in a day.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

When the wife of a man with early-onset dementia tells me that our adult daycare has saved her life, allowing her to continue to work while we care for him.

Those are the moments when I feel I’ve really accomplished something special.

Faith Ann Takes – Excellence in Business President, Empire Education Corporation

W

hen Faith Ann Takes founded Empire Education Corporation in 1985, she ran just one school. Today, she presides over three different colleges — in Albany, Manhattan and Pittsfield.

Takes was born and raised in Albany and started her career as a teacher. But frustration with the system led her to venture out on her own. Now, she helps people get the skills they need to enter (or re-enter) the workforce. “The best days are when I see students [graduating] who really felt like they didn’t have any hope and who suddenly have new hope and new lives,” she says.

What this award means to her: It’s really meaningful because not only are we accomplishing our main mission — which is to educate people and get them into the workforce — but we are also doing a good job at the business

makes me happy.

Favorite part of her job: Bringing along new managers. I like to see somebody come along in the company. I like seeing them grow.

Advice? Be resilient. There’s going to be times when you get knocked out, but if you can get up and keep going eventually you will prevail. Trust your gut instincts. They’re usually right.

Challenge she’s had to overcome: The biggest challenge [in this industry] is the overregulation. We recognize it’s a part of what we do, but it is extremely challenging.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

I think my moment that I felt most accomplished was with the opening of our NYC school in May 2010. That was a dream, to bring my product to New York. That was sort of the highlight of my career. continued on page 27 capregionwomenatwork.com | 25

We congratulate our CEO Joan Hayner Excellence in Management (100+ staff members)

CapitalCare salutes the 2013 Women of Excellence honorees.

Your leadership inspires us all!

Congratulations to the amazing women who are recipients of the 2013 Women of Excellence Awards!

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ON THE COVER continued from page 25

Joan Hayner – Excellence in Management (100+) CEO, CapitalCare Medical Group

T

he health care industry seems to change almost daily. Joan Hayner, who oversees all business operations at CapitalCare Medical Group, has lived that change first-hand for the past 15 years.

About 120 people of CapitalCare’s total staff of nearly 600 work under Hayner in some capacity. The secret to managing a huge staff? Hire the best people you can find. “Give them interesting, challenging work to do,” she says. “I really work very diligently at hiring highly-qualified people to do the work and then get out of their way. Don’t be afraid to hire people smarter than you and make sure you keep them challenged. Make work interesting every day and the work will get done.”

What this award means to her: It is an honor to be recognized by my peers for the work done day-in and day-out to

improve care delivery for our patients, for providing an excellent working opportunity for our employees, and for inspiring other women at the early stages of their careers.

Favorite part of her job: The joy that is found when a team effort leads to success.

Advice? Hire the best people you can find, give them challenges to fulfill their professional aspirations, and recognize their efforts.

Challenge she’s had to overcome:

Proving that I could command a topic, commit to a task, and handle the work/ life balance of being a mother and rising CEO has always been a challenge that I’m not certain my male peers felt as strongly as I did on their career paths.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

January 2004, when the physician leadership of CapitalCare named me CEO.

Maryellen Gilroy – Excellence in Management (1-99) Vice President for Student Affairs, Siena College

M

aryellen Gilroy had “a really positive undergrad experience,” and after an internship in grad school at the student union of her school, she was inspired. She joined the staff of Siena College in 2000, and she’s loved every year she’s been there.

“I get to work with Siena students, who really are exciting and every year is different so the students make it interesting,” she says.

What this award means to her: I was incredibly humbled by receiving this award. I was very, very moved by the fact that it came from my staff. It means a lot.

Favorite part of her job: Being part of the Siena community. It’s really a wonderful place to work. We really have such a great group of people in student affairs and they’re always working on behalf of the students.

Advice? You have to work hard. It’s long hours, but I also think hard work pays off. Take advantage of new opportunities when you’re faced with them and don’t be afraid even if you feel like you have a lot on your plate.

Challenge she’s had to overcome:

There have been many. I think for anyone who is on a trajectory in their career, it’s always a balance [between work and life].

You have to nurture those parts of yourself that keep you refueled and fresh in your job. In order to do your job professionally, you need to take care of yourself.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

There’s been a whole lot of lucky breaks along the way. It’s a combination of being in the right place at the right time I feel very privileged by having been able to have a great education and support of family when I was younger. continued on page 29

capregionwomenatwork.com | 27

AT E R G BUILD Congratulations to all "Women of Excellence" in the

.

S S E N E R A AW

Capital Region. It has been our

ho those w gnizing o c le re b o n d an table, Honoring gh chari t. u y. a it ro n th u th t m y e munit We g ut com our com munity.

It’s abo e s m to u o a c c k c e y a b n of a en b nd have giv the life nd beyo ings. above a enriches g It eat Th r in . o G s g e s o n D a caus e . m good involved ttle for Getting on’t se w ly p you sim

privilege to know and work with you for nearly 25 years.

Congratulations to Teresa Spadafora and all the 2013 Women of Excellence.

First Niagara Bank, N.A.

Sage congratulate s the 2013 Women of E xcellence

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ON THE COVER continued from page 27

Teresa Fenner Spadafora – Excellence in Sales and Marketing Branch Manager, First Niagara Bank

E

very job is a sales job, says Teresa Fenner Spadafora. If you’re not selling products, you’re selling ideas. Or you’re selling yourself. Spadafora loves sales, and hand-picked and hand-trained her team at First Niagara Bank in East Greenbush, where she’s been for three years. “I love to help small businesses because I come from a family of smallbusiness owners,” she says. “I know how much work that is, so that’s why I’m a banker.”

What this award means to her: It’s a validation that the way I do things works and that success can be defined on many levels.

Favorite part of her job: Effecting change. I like that I can help my employees get to whatever the next level is for them. I like to help people in front of me.

I get to do that every day, somehow.

Advice? If you’re pursuing a job and don’t have all the qualifications on the hirer’s wishlist, remember that it really is just a wishlist. If you know you can do that job, go after it. Don’t not do it because you don’t have five years’ experience. Don’t let the wishlist get in your way.

Challenge she’s had to overcome:

Being a short woman. There’s a reason I wear very tall heels.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

Everybody has whatever their definition of success is. In my head, this became my definition of success: I wanted a lovely dining-room set. They’re a lot of money and totally unnecessary. Finally, I had enough money to buy it for myself and the moment I got it, I sat down on the floor and cried. It’s a silly little thing, but it meant so much to me.

Sabrina Mosseau – Excellence in the Professions Administrative Director of Medical Oncology and Women’s Health, Samaritan Hospital Cancer Center and Women’s Health Center

S

abrina Mosseau took a big risk when she built the women’s health and oncology center at Samaritan Hospital Cancer Center seven years ago.

She remembers thinking “If it fails, I’m done.” But when her mom called her to reassure her, Mosseau knew she’d be fine. “She said, ‘You’re safe and I got your back,’” Mosseau says. “I was scared until that minute.” Now, the center is thriving and Mosseau, who’s been an oncology nurse since 1998, loves her work and her patients. “I’m a big, big idea person,” she says, “but the reality is that there are amazing people in the cancer center.”

What this award means to her: It means it’s a celebration. It means joy. I can turn around and really say that all of the work and really being able to do good in the community [paid off]. It’s a shared

award. I wish I could bring everybody on stage with me.

Favorite part of her job: The ability to influence change. At the end of the day, you ask yourself what’s right for the patient. If you do that, you’re going to do great. You’re going to do the right thing.

Advice? Be courageous. Be courageous enough to surround yourself with people who aren’t like you. Be courageous enough to own up to a mistake.

Challenge she’s had to overcome:

Doing more with fewer resources and less money in light of greater need. That’s a big challenge in health care.

Moment when she felt she’d made it:

When I took over as director of the cancer center in women’s health and I built the oncology center, coming home to my mom and my husband, who were both there saying “good job.” continued on page 30 capregionwomenatwork.com | 29

ON THE COVER

continued from page 29

The 22nd annual Women of Excellence Awards Luncheon takes place May 30, 2013, 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Marriott Hotel on Wolf Road in Albany.

Sponsors are KeyBank, MVP Health Care, the Times Union and Capital Region Women@Work. Women of Excellence Unplugged, a panel discussion with the award winners, will take place on Sept. 17 at the Century House in Latham.

For information, and to register for both events, visit acchamber.org.  W  30 | women@work

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Embrace the

Shredder Protecting personal information at the office

9,000 people contacted the Albany Identity Theft Resource Center for help in a case of identity theft in 2012.

H

ype may suggest the business world is going paperless, but the reality is the paper still piles up fast around an office. And that means appropriate document-shredding protocols should be part of every business owner and manager’s work life.

Catherine Gonzales, an Albany-based CPA, has been in accounting since 1969 and runs her own accounting business.

She’s shredded her fair share of documents. And she’s not slowing down that practice, even if paper documents diminish as people and business begin to favor electronic recordkeeping.

“I think people should shred a lot more,” Gonzales says. “If you have a paper trail, it’s only easier for somebody to get hold of that information and use it to steal an identity.” You’re responsible for your clients’ sensitive data, and it’s critical for business owners to be hypervigilant in shredding any information that leaves clients vulnerable to identity theft.

Bruce Wagner, a lawyer with McNa34 | women@work

mee, Lochner, Titus and Williams P.C., in Albany, advises businesses to hold onto their important documents (such as tax returns) for up to 10 years — maybe even forever. A safe or lockbox might be a good investment for document storage.

But anything with a name, address, birthday, and — this is the big one — a Social Security number on it should go through the shredder before reaching the garbage.

Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Albany Identity Theft Resource Center, agrees.

“With all the attention we’re paying to online data breaches and that medium, we’re losing a little bit of these low-tech best practices,” she says. “And they’re still relevant.”

Clients and individuals are not the only ones at risk of identity theft. According to BusinessIDTheft.org, a resource for victims of business-ID fraud, criminals can manipulate registration documents with the state to gain access to your business’s good name. With those stolen credentials, a thief can easily deceive potential

vendors, customers and clients — all under your name. National Public Radio reported last year that this kind of fraud has become more prevalent in the last two years. But the problem is underreported, in part because companies don’t want to appear vulnerable to data breaches.

Gonzales shreds everything before she throws it away. “Nothing goes out of my office with a client’s name or Social Security number on it,” she says. “I’m responsible for anything that I have so anything that comes into my office from a client, I’m responsible for its security while it’s here.”

Make it a routine. Shred old documents on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis.

Don’t let them pile up.

These three experts gave us a shredder’s rundown. Here’s what they had to say.

Shred anything with your or a client’s name and address on it.

“Those address-label stickers that you get? I just shredded those this morn-

Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Anne-Louise Quarfoth.

By Brianna Snyder

ing,” Gonzales says. “And I don’t think I’m paranoid. I think I’m a little bit more cautious, but that’s because I’ve seen clients who’ve had their identity stolen.” If someone has your name and address, that’s enough information to pinpoint you on the Internet. From there, it won’t be tough to nail down your birthday. And birthdays and zip codes are often enough to bypass many low-security phone systems and web logins.

Clean out (and shred the documents from) your purse, wallet and briefcase, and get rid of those old insurance cards.

“You would be surprised at how many people still carry their Social Security card in their wallet,” says Velasquez. “But you learn that lesson after you lose your purse or it’s stolen.”

Prevent having to go through that difficult lesson by regularly clearing stray pieces of paper with phone numbers and addresses on them, old bills or receipts and expired cards from your purse, wallet or briefcase.

“Medical I.D. theft is another form of identity theft that’s growing,” Velasquez says. “They steal your I.D. and use your insurance benefits.” Velasquez says this is an “insidious” crime and the consequences can be dramatic: not only can it put you in a challenging financial situation, but it can also mess up medical records.

Review your documents.

Regularly review bank statements and records for irregular activity, and keep your own spreadsheets and accounts of finances. Compare them closely to ensure there are no deviations or questionable activity. Most trouble comes from an accumulation of criminal activity that goes unnoticed. And the deeper it gets, the harder it is to dig back out, according to BusinessIDTheft.org. W

S.H.R.E.D. Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Albany Identity Theft Resource Center, suggests this simple mnemonic device: S.H.R.E.D., which stands for:

• • • • •

Strengthen passwords Handle personal identification information with care Read your credit reports annually Empty your purse or wallet Discuss these tips with friends

What kind of shredder should you buy?

Our experts say the likelihood of an I.D. thief going into your garbage and re-assembling strips of shredded information is low — but not impossible. Our experts recommend a “crosshatch” shredder — the kind that turns your documents into confetti.

Can WBE Certification Help Your Business?

Short answer? Yes — in the right circumstances

A

re you certified? If you are, then you know that having your business certified as a WBE, or Woman Business Enterprise, can provide access to contractual opportunities with corporations and government agencies that must meet annual goals for WBE participation. If you’re not certified, you may be missing out on valuable opportunities to connect with potential clients who want and need to work with businesses like yours.

Having WBE certification insures procurement agents that your claim to be a true woman-owned business is legitimate. To have your business qualify for WBE certification, you must be able to demonstrate that 51 percent of your business is owned, managed, and directed by a woman or women on a daily basis. The woman owner(s) must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident alien.

If your business fits the basic defini36 | women@work

tion of a WBE, then it’s likely worth your time to pursue certification. “There are state standards, federal goals, and many private corporate programs that set aside projects and funds specifically for the use of WBEs. Only with the correct certification can you successfully bid and be awarded these projects,” says Anne Saile, founder and president of Saile Group LLC, a full service WBE-certified management company in Albany that focuses on the industrial and commercial construction markets.

Not all WBE certifications are the same, however. The type of certification you choose to pursue depends on the type of goods or services you provide and where they can be used. If you plan on working with government contracts, you’ll have to contact each specific entity to determine its requirements. Some local or state governments insist that you have a certification from their own agencies to comply

with specific regulations. Other state and local governments, along with some federal agencies and large corporations, accept a national third party certification.

In the U.S., the federal government ranks as the largest purchaser of goods and services, so opportunities are numerous in every conceivable category. By law, federal agencies must set a contracting goal to award 5 percent of their business to WBEs, so it’s a potential win-win for agencies to partner with WBEs. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

New York State WBE Certification New York State offers its own WBE certification through the Empire State Development’s Division of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Development (DMWBD). This certification is necessary if you want to sell goods or provide services to any of the New York State

Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Igor Mojzes.

By Anna Zernone Giorgi

agencies or authorities as a prime or subcontractor. Some corporations also accept this certification.

Lisa Giruzzi, author, speaker, and owner of Transformational Conversations, a consulting firm in Albany, earned New York State WBE certification earlier this year, hoping to secure more local contracts. “It’s important to have an intention as to why you’re doing it. For me, just having it was not a motivator, but to actually see if I could get more localized business and know what that would mean — more time at home and less time on the road — then I could see the value above and beyond just having the certification.”

As well as meeting the general criteria of a WBE, a business seeking New York State certification must be operational for at least one year, have no more than 300 employees, and be independent of other businesses. In addition, New York State WBE certification is only available if the individual net worth of every woman owner in your business does not exceed $3.5 million.

If you are applying for New York State WBE certification at the same time you are doing so with the City of New York and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (each of which have their own certifications), you can use New York State’s “One Stop Standard Application” to apply for all three certifications simultaneously.

“If you want to do business with government, and you are a legitimate woman or minority owned business, there is a huge incentive to be certified,” says Ruth S. Walters, owner of Walters Group Consulting, LLC, a full service government consulting firm in Albany, which is New York State WBE-certified. “You are seeing requests for proposals, RFPs, coming out saying the State agency must make good faith efforts, and we’re looking for perhaps 10 to 20 or 25 percent participation by women and minorities. So, agencies are being measured on it; the government is being measured on it; as well as prime and subcontractors are being measured on it.”

National Third Party Certification Acquiring national WBE certification from one of the third-party certification organizations is important if you plan to pursue contracts with larger corporations in private industry. Having an independent unbiased organization award certification promotes objectivity and integrity in the process.

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), a national nonprofit, is the largest third-party WBE-certification organization in the U.S. WBE certification is administered by 14 WBENC Regional Partner Organizations. This certification is accepted by over 800 major corporations, non-profits, and many local, state and federal government entities.

The Women Presidents’ Educational

Where to Start: Local Government Certification Many local agencies or departments accept New York State or national certification. Some area entities, such as the following, require their own unique certifications: • City of New York tinyurl.com/ww13nyc • Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tinyurl.com/ww13portauthority • New York City School Construction Authority tinyurl.com/ww13construction New York State Certification The New York State Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) Certification Program is administered by Empire State Development’s Division of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Development (DMWBD) tinyurl.com/ww13certification

Organization (WPEO) is the partner organization of WBENC for New York, Southern Connecticut, Northern New Jersey, Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. “Some corporations do accept New York State and/or New York City certification but, for the most part, private sector companies are looking for our third party certification because it’s recognized for being very high quality,” says Marsha Firestone, founder and president of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), and founder and president of the WPEO. An additional benefit of WBENC certification is its reciprocity, so that if you are WBE-certified by WBENC in the New York area, the same certification is valid in other parts of the country, Firestone says. continued on page 39

Third Party National Certification • Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) WBE certification by WBENC is administered by one of WBENC’s 14 Regional Partner Organizations.

The Regional Partner for New York State is the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization (WPEO). wbenc.org/Certification/ wpeo.us/certification.html • National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC) WBE certification by NWBOC is initiated through the NWBOC website: nwboc.org Federal Certification The federal government does not have a standard WBE certification program. Every federal agency and department has their own criteria, so you must contact the entity with which you want to work. Contact information for every federal department and agency is available at: tinyurl.com/ww13fedcertification

capregionwomenatwork.com | 37

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The National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC) is another non-profit organization that offers third-party national WBE certification.

After submission of documentation to NWBOC, a review committee assesses the application. Both WBENC and NWBOC require site visits as part of their respective WBE certifications.

Photo: © iStockphoto.com/laflor.

Prepping for the Process Preparing an application for any type of WBE certification can be daunting.

The initial process usually requires the submission of a detailed application and supporting documentation that can be time consuming to collect.

“It’s a little easier to put your hands on the paperwork earlier in the business. For example, one thing they’re going to look at is all your existing contracts and leases.

For a startup, after a year, that’s not that hard. But, if you’ve been in business for 10 years, that’s more complicated,” Walters says.

While specific certification requirements vary, typical required documentation may include copies of: professional and business licenses, leases, contracts, and agreements; past income tax returns; financial documents, including those showing debt, balance sheets, and profit and loss; employee resumes; business structure documents; history of the business; and business plans. The annual recertification process is less detailed.

Saile recommends simultaneously applying for any certifications for which your business is qualified. “The applications ask for much of the same information, so determining which certifications you want and applying for them all at the same time provides some benefits as well.

Not only are you in application-mode, [but] you can reuse a lot of data and narrative, as well as more easily monitor recertification dates,” she says.

Sole proprietors who don’t have a support staff to help them may find that working with a partner can facilitate the

process. Giruzzi hired a consultant to work with her on WBE state certification and hold her accountable for following through. “As a sole proprietor, you have to schedule all your time. You have to do all your own things. But, to have someone outside of your business saying, ‘This is the time that we’re going to work on this,’ was how it got done.”

Certifying organizations typically offer assistance and clarification of requirements prior to your submitting the application. The NWBOC even sells an application kit for organizing and submitting materials to help simplify the process.

Making the Most of Your Certification When your business earns WBE certification, you’ll have an advantage that will make your organization more appealing.

However, certification does not guarantee that the RFPs will come in droves.

It’s likely that your certification will allow your business to be included in the organization’s database of WBEs and offer you notification of contracting opportunities. However, it’s up to you to use your networking skills to identify potential clients and establish yourself as a WBE with whom they want to partner.

“For the Saile Group specifically, our certification was critical to our success.

Because of our strong focus in the industrial construction market, we stand out as a unique business not only because we offer comprehensive solutions, but also because we are a WBE that is certified to sell construction, industrial, and commercial goods and services. Some industries have sparse options when it comes to certified WBEs, the construction industry being one of them,” Saile says, “...Our certification positions us to be a recognized supply option, gain access to opportunity, and lead the market in this industry.”

As a small business, you’re likely to

work as a subcontractor to a large corporation that has a government contract and needs you to contribute toward WBE targets. “I was on teams to look at some of the financial practices and some of the internal control systems of [certain state government] entities. The fact that I was a WBE on a bigger team really made me attractive. Not only did I have the skills and the experience to do it, but the fact that I was certified gave the prime extra credit in going after that opportunity,” Walters says.

Certifying organizations such as WBENC, and its partner organization WPEO, sponsor programs for certified WBEs to network with purchasing agents. In matchmaking venues, WBEs can meet one-on-one with purchasing decision-makers to build relationships that may lead to contracts.

“Clearly, being certified does open doors for you. It doesn’t open them all. I always tell our WBEs that, part of what they have to do is work the process,” Firestone says. “You’ve got to go to the programs; you’ve got to interact with the corporations; you’ve got to get them to know who you are; you have to follow up; you have to be professional; you have to know what you need to know to win them over. You have to understand their business.” W capregionwomenatwork.com | 39

Want Your Career to

m o zo Ahead?

Find a good mentor

N

avigating the road to career success can be a lonely journey.

Making decisions about professional goals and priorities can be overwhelming at any stage of your career.

However, the road ahead may not seem as daunting if you can identify and maintain a relationship with a career mentor. Having access to the experience and advice of someone at a different stage of the journey can keep you headed in the right direction.

Mentoring is a relationship that is unique from other career and professional interactions. “Mentoring focuses on the future, the possibilities, and the path that is going to take you to where you want to be. It’s about development,” says mentoring expert Dr. Lois J. Zachary, president of Leadership Development Services, LLC, a Phoenix-based consulting firm, and author of The Mentor’s Guide, Creating a Mentoring Culture, and The Mentee’s Guide.

Different from career counseling or career coaching, in which an educator might help you develop strategies for a specific issue, mentoring relationships tend to develop into long-term associations that foster growth and development. “The mentor is more of a facilitator rather than an authority. That person may be authoritative and have more experience, but their role is to help the mentee get to deeper places of insight and

help build their capacity to find answers for themselves,” Zachary says.

Set Goals for the Relationship Before you attempt to identify a mentor, determine your goals and objectives for the relationship. What do you want to achieve? Are you trying to develop a plan for professional growth in your current organization? Or perhaps you are trying to change careers. In addition to ensuring a more meaningful experience, this self-examination will help you identify a mentor who can support your objectives.

“You always want to keep your goals in mind and know what you want from a mentoring relationship. If you don’t have that in mind, you’re probably not going to get what you want,” says career counselor Penny Loretto, associate director of the Career Development Center at Skidmore College and owner of Career Choice, a career counseling practice in Queensbury and Saratoga.

Being aware of the direction that you want to go is important since it can change along your career path. “You may say, ‘This is what I really want to do.’ Then perhaps you start doing it and realize that ‘I don’t like this, but I like what she’s doing.’ You can start out with an informational interview

and find out if you really do like what she’s doing,” says career counselor and life coach Patricia McDonald, who practices in Albany and Manhattan. “If you do like her job, then you can make that person into a mentor who will then educate you and help you along to get into whatever they are doing.”

That’s the strategy Ilana Smith, director of development for Northwestern Mutual-Albany, used earlier in her career when she decided to pursue a transition from customer service to sales. “There was a specific person there that I reached out to about how to get into sales. That person was a big catalyst in my career in helping me to change to that side of the business,” she says.

Mentors in the Workplace There are numerous ways to identify and secure the right mentor for

Photo: altrendo images/GettyImages.

By Anna Zernone Giorgi

your goals. In some instances, the right mentor may be right there in your workplace. “If you want to stay in an organization, there’s a lot to becoming successful within that organization. So, if you want to stay there, it’s good to find someone there,” McDonald says.

For Donna Gronau, an elementary school teacher in Shenendehowa and North Colonie, a workplace mentor played a pivotal role in her getting a permanent teaching position. While a student teacher, Gronau had a generous mentor who advocated for her to be interviewed for a teaching post. Her mentor also arranged a mock interview and offered coaching for the screening process. “It was incredibly uplifting to know that someone I admired and esteemed to be the epitome of teaching excellence was my number one cheerleader, sticking her neck out to get me a chance to win my first teaching job.”

While workplace mentorships can be beneficial, remember that your first responsibility is to do a good job and refrain from causing conflicts. In-office mentoring requires sensitivity with

regard to the organization’s political culture, office etiquette, protocols, and how your boss relates to your mentor, McDonald says. “You have to be very astute so that you’re not ruffling feathers in the workplace [with your mentorship].”

Outside Sources Many professionals find willing and helpful mentors outside of their workplace. If you are seeking a mentor on your own, begin with your networking resources. Meetings of your local professional trade association, chamber of commerce, or business groups are prime spots for identifying and meeting professionals who may not be in your immediate network.

Following up a casual conversation with a request for an informational interview can help you determine if a particular professional is compatible and has the qualities you desire. It’s also important to discuss your objectives to ensure that a willing mentor will have the time and energy to devote to your relationship.

Formal mentoring programs can assist in helping identify and match you with

an appropriate mentor. Colleges often support recent graduates by matching them with an alumnus willing to mentor. Your local business council or chamber of commerce also may offer mentoring programs.

The GenNEXT Executive Mentorship program is offered as a shared initiative between the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber and the Chamber of Schenectady County. The program matches mentees with mentors for a six-month mentoring commitment. Participants often keep in touch on their own after the requisite time period.

“It’s an opportunity for individuals to get matched with seasoned professionals, who are often higher-level executives that they normally wouldn’t have access to,” says Addy Waldie, business council manager at the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber. “A lot of our matches aren’t in the same industry. So they’re getting exposure to new industries, senior managers and executives that they wouldn’t normally meet and they have an opportunity to build that relationship.”

Alexa Eaglestone, account executive at Radio Disney AM 1460, has participated as a mentee in the GenNEXT program twice. In her experiences, having a relationship with someone outside of the workplace can be advantageous. “There is a benefit to someone not being in your workplace,” she says. “That person can give you an outside perspective regarding any challenges you may have or advice you may need.”

You also can secure a mentor via

capregionwomenatwork.com | 41

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social media such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Online matching services such as The Career Mentor at thecareermentor. com allow for long-distance mentorship using tools such as e-mail or Skype.

Monthly fees are paid to the service, not directly to the mentor. Free one-month trials are also available.

Depending on your objectives, virtual mentoring may be useful. “We’re living in a global society now and most faceto-face mentoring relationships have a virtual component,” Zachary says. “The trick here is that you’re going to have to develop a relationship and it’s really important to be able to do that whether it’s virtual or it’s face-to-face.”

Photo: Jupiterimages/GettyImages.

Optimize Your Opportunity Once you establish a mentoring relationship, make the most of it. If you have an opportunity to get one-on-one time with an experienced professional, make sure you show your appreciation by making your time together meaningful.

Participants in the GenNEXT mentoring program are encouraged to take an active role in ensuring the success of their mentorship. “We like to have our mentees be open-minded and be learners. They need to be prepared. They need to take responsibility for the relationship. They can’t put all the weight

on the mentor to reach out and contact them,” Waldie says. “They have to take ownership for what they are doing. They need to be prepared to actively learn and ask questions.”

In addition, it’s important to be willing to contribute to the mentoring relationship, says Smith, who has been a GenNEXT mentee four times. In doing so, she has helped one mentor identify potential job candidates and another discover the value of using social media.

“It has to be a mutual commitment. I think you have to be willing to give,” Smith says. “As a mentee, you can offer a different perspective.”

A mutual commitment also helps to foster a sense of trust. “One of the key things is to develop a sense of trust between the mentor and the mentee. You get more commitment on both sides,” Loretto says. “The mentor is going to really want to help and assist someone that they feel comfortable with and that they trust.”

This is especially important for women who want to succeed as mentees. “As women, we have a need to make personal connections. So much of that is important in mentoring relationships. Women often hold out on some of the big issues that they need to discuss,” Zachary says. “Women have to be willing to be vulnerable.”

This can be useful for women who

understand that mentorships can offer professional as well as personal career building. “[Mentoring] also offers personal growth. If your mentor has been immersed in a career for a few more years than you have, they are at a point where they know how to have that work-life balance work. … I see that as something I have to learn. So, that person can offer me another resource that is not only professional growth, but personal growth,” Eaglestone says.

Some mentoring relationships go the distance. Once in the classroom, Gronau’s mentor continued to offer her time and encouragement as Gronau developed confidence and teaching expertise. It’s a long-term relationship that Gronau has appreciated in her 25 years as an educator.

“Mentoring can go on for years. It’s just something that establishes and develops into a relationship, and maybe develops into two people eventually being more colleagues than mentor and mentee,” Loretto says.

Other mentoring relationships may reach closure in reaction to changes in your career path. “It’s important to close the relationship in a way that it’s part of a dynamic learning process,” Loretto says, “so that even though you are bringing it to closure, part of closure is opening up another door.” W

DREAM JOB AHEAD

capregionwomenatwork.com | 43

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

65 Roses The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation strives toward a cure

By Laurie Lynn Fischer | Photos by Emily Jahn

T

hree brothers had cystic fibrosis in 1965, when most people with the disease didn’t survive childhood.

Their mother was on the phone, fundraising for medical research. When she hung up, her 4-year-old said he knew what she was doing. “You are working for 65 roses,” he said, mishearing as children often do — and so a theme was born.

Today, dozens of roses fill vases at CF benefits in the Capital Region and nationwide.

“Ninety percent of what we raise goes to research,” says Donna Clark, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 44 | women@work

Get involved: of Northeastern New York — the AlbanyColonie Regional Chamber of Commerce Women’s Business Council’s 2013 Charity of the Year.

Clifton Park native Christopher Kvam knows firsthand the value of that research. He has lived longer and better, thanks to the CF Foundation.

“When I was diagnosed at age 4, my parents were told I likely wouldn’t graduate from high school,” the 32-yearold Shenendehowa alumnus says. “Fortunately, the success of medical research and drug discovery projects that the CF Foundation has financed and conducted

You can help the CF Foundation by liking them on Facebook, planning, participating in or volunteering at fundraisers, joining a board and drumming up donors.

Phone: 518-783-7361 Address: 16 Wade Road, Latham Website: cff.org/Chapters/neny/ E-mail: DClark@cff.org Facebook: Search for “Northeastern New York Cystic Fibrosis Foundation” or visit tinyurl.com/nenycff to bring you to our Facebook page

Local Fundraisers • Great Strides Walk each May in Bethlehem, Albany, Clifton Park, Grafton Lakes, Glens Falls, Hudson, Salem, Plattsburgh, Oneonta and Fonda. (May 4 & 5 and May 18 & 19)

Independent. Proactive. Committed.

• Golf Tournament at Colonie Country Club on June 17 • 65 Roses Gala on July 19 – opening day of the Saratoga track — at Fasig Tipton thoroughbred racehorse auction site • Cycle for Life on August 25 in Cambridge

have enabled me to take full advantage of the opportunities life has presented to me. Without them, there’s no question that I couldn’t have completed law school, or worked as an assistant district attorney. Drugs like Kalydeco have made it easier for me and my wife to think about having children.”

W@W: What is cystic fibrosis?

Clark: A genetic disease affecting the lungs and pancreas. Mucous in the lungs causes infection after infection. People with CF are always coughing. You wouldn’t know they have a disease by looking at them. You don’t see what they go through at home just to get out the door in the morning.

W@W: When is onset?

Clark: You’re born with CF. Babies are treated from birth to keep their lungs as healthy as possible. With more than 1,800 mutations of the gene that causes CF, the disease may cause life-threatening illness at any time.

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W@W: How common is CF? Clark: 30,000 people in the U.S. have it. It’s considered an orphan disease. Drug companies don’t invest in it. We’re buying the science. We call it venture philanthropy.

W@W: What’s family life like for people with CF? Clark: One in 30 people unknowingly carry the gene that causes CF. If both members of a couple are carriers, there’s a chance their children will have it. Typically, men with CF can’t have kids. I met a couple who were screened. One parent was shown not to be a carrier, but they had a child with CF. They were devastated because they thought they were safe. They only screen for the most common mutations. continued on page 46

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NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

“

30,000 people in the U.S. have [cystic fibrosis].

It’s considered an orphan disease.

continued from page 45

W@W: How has treatment changed?

Clark: In the 1950s, you pounded someone’s chest and back for hours. Now, there’s a vibrating vest. It loosens up the mucus so they can expel it. Most patients wear it at home twice a day for 45 minutes to an hour. They take many pills in between — antibiotics and enzymes, among other things. In the end stage, they have to be healthy enough, yet sick enough to get onto a lung-transplant list.

They get a new lease on life when they get a new pair of lungs, but some people don’t make it that far to get a match. A lung transplant is risky. The body may reject it. You have to go through a whole different set of therapies to help the body accept it.

W@W: When was the CF Foundation founded?

Clark: In 1955. Back then, if your child was born with cystic fibrosis, you were told your baby wouldn’t live to see kindergarten. These parents didn’t accept that nothing could be done to save their children. They were the first group of parents to find doctors to research this.

W@W: Are prospects better now?

Clark: Absolutely. The average age for someone with CF is 38. I’ve met two women in their 60s with CF. Newborns are now screened for it. A baby born today has the benefit of all the science that’s been funded through the CF Foundation for better treatments and

”

drugs. Last January, the FDA approved Kalydeco. It is a game changer. It’s the first drug ever to address the disease at the cellular level. Instead of just treating the symptoms, it’s stopping those problems from even occurring. It makes 4 percent of the CF population basically symptom-free.

W@W: What lies ahead?

Clark: The cure is clearly on the horizon.

Albany Medical Center’s accredited CF Care Center will hopefully be a site for a study of Kalydeco and another drug that could potentially treat 80 percent of the CF population. W

The Download on Donna Clark Title: Executive Director, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Northeastern New York Family: Married; three children, ages 7 to 22, and a dog.

Lives in: Slingerlands Education: Plattsburgh State, B.A. in communications and journalism First job: Babysitting Toughest job: Desk assistant at Channel 10 WTEN newsroom Best decision: Marrying my husband Surprising fact: Afraid of bridges Guilty Pleasure: Watching Mad Men with girlfriends

DONNA CLARK at the Cystic Fibrosis Care Center at Albany Medical Center

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You’re Fired!

No manager likes to terminate an employee. Here are some strategies to make this task work better for everyone.

T

he old business maxim, Heather Tangora says, is to hire slow and fire fast. But even after 17 years of owning her own home automation company, that’s still easier said than done.

“Letting someone go, terminating a position, is the hardest job,” says Tangora, owner of Tangora Technologies Inc. in Delmar. “It’s personal, especially being a small-business owner. There’s a lot of trust, and you’ve kind of developed a relationship of working together. And so, 48 | women@work

when it’s time to part ways, I’d definitely say it’s the most difficult thing to do.

You’re up the night or week before thinking about it.”

It’s not a situation Tangora faces frequently. She’s had to let employees go about half a dozen times in nearly two decades of business. But she says she’s never gotten used to it.

According to a 2007 survey by SurePayroll, an online payroll service, 61 percent of small-business owners said

they find it difficult to fire an employee, and 78 percent of those surveyed said they kept an employee on staff longer than they should have. Reasons for not firing an underperforming employee included not being able to find good replacement candidates, fear of retaliation or hurting an employee’s feelings, not wanting to take on the stress of firing someone and empathy for an employee’s personal situation.

But human resource experts and busi-

Photo: Dave Kirwan/GettyImages.

By Jennifer Gish

ixty-one percent of small-business owners said they S find it difficult to fire an employee; 78 percent said they kept an employee longer than they should have.

– 2007 SUREPAYROLL SURVEY ness owners say it’s important to deal with troublesome employees quickly because an individual’s problem can quickly morph into an organizational one, causing low workplace morale and questions about the business owner’s ability to lead.

“The No. 1, let’s call it a mistake, is their heartstrings come out. They know the economy’s bad, and they feel like they just can’t cut this person [out] and put them out on the street,” says Rose Miller, president of Pinnacle Human Resources in Latham. “It really comes down to how generous can you afford to be in running your organization, because that’s your job.

“What a manager or an owner needs to know is they need to look at the whole picture. When you have a nonperforming employee, what’s an even more important reason to eliminate that dysfunction or fix it is how the functional people perceive your non-action,” she adds. “That reputation that develops is so much worse than the dysfunction that is happening.”

B

ut first, a good boss needs to try to address the dysfunction. In the majority of cases, a firing shouldn’t come as a surprise. And for legal reasons, it’s important to give employees a fair and documented chance to improve.

At Best Cleaners, CEO Catherine McCann starts with setting clear expectations during the job interview. When a new employee is hired, the employee and his or her manager sign the job description so the expectations are agreed upon and clear.

Once the employee is on board, the employee has annual and biannual reviews — both in writing and through conversations — where the employee gets to

offer feedback, too. “There’s also verbal conversations daily, weekly, monthly, where you’re talking to employees about the good and the bad, and those are all documented as far as taking notes,” says McCann, whose business includes 11 storefronts and eight delivery routes in the Capital Region as well as a textile restoration operation that covers all of New York state.

If there’s a problem, McCann says expectations for improvement are set with 30-, 60- and 90-day goals. “Our expectation is within the first 30 days there is significant improvement. If there is, you’re off the plan and away we go,” she says, adding that if not enough improvement occurs within the first month, the employee then gets another 30 days to improve.

“The second month of the plan is a bit more stringent. There are everyday targets and discussions, and then by the third month if it’s not working, we’ve already talked about different positions in the company or do they need to look at other employment.”

A performance improvement plan also forces managers to become more involved in an employee’s success, says Chris Patrie, human resources director for Janitronics, a cleaning and facilities service based in Albany with offices across the state and throughout Vermont. And, adds Patrie, who’s also the government affairs chair for the Capital Region Human Resource Association, it allows the underperforming employee a chance to voice her needs. Sometimes, managers learn someone else along the productivity chain was serving as a roadblock or that the employee simply needed different or additional tools to do the job.

“We need to work hard to keep some-

body,” Patrie says. “It’s harder to keep somebody than it is to let them go.

You hired them for a reason. What has changed? Let’s get down to the real reason.

We look at ourselves first: ‘Have I done everything to make this person successful?’”

And once expectations have been outlined, if an employee hasn’t met them, it is critical to follow through with the laid-out consequences. A manager who doesn’t is like the parent who threatens to punish a child if he doesn’t comply by the count of three, and then counts to three several times without doing anything, Miller says. Other employees will pick up on the lack of follow-through, and it will make that manager or owner look like a leader without a spine.

“You do have to do what you said you’re going to do, and that’s being a leader with integrity,” Miller says.

S

ometimes, of course, it’s not a matter of an underperforming employee but rather a mismatch for the company. Libby Post, who has owned Communication Services, an Albany-based marketing and political consulting company for 29 years, says she remembers long ago having an employee who had a completely different perspective about expectations. It was a bad fit from the start.

“Four to six weeks after we hired them, and it was just clear that it wasn’t working out, I just said, ‘This isn’t working out for you. This isn’t working out for me.

Thanks for your work, but we’ve just got to do this,’” she says. “There have been times when it’s been difficult. There’s no two ways about it.”

What often holds an employer back from firing someone is fear. The conversation is difficult, and it’s easy to imagine an employee having a bad reaction, whether it’s uncontrollable sobbing or capregionwomenatwork.com | 49

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26%

Sadness

7% Relief

22%

Anger

Typical Reactions to Being Fired 

Understanding/ Empathy Surprise

Photo: Guillermo Perales Gonzalez/GettyImages. Infographic by Emily Jahn.

Other leaping across the conference room table in anger.

Miller says that it’s important to keep those “exit meetings” brief and to have a script written out, so the manager doesn’t get sidetracked by emotions or unexpected reactions from the employee. Managers can always say to employees that the conversation is also difficult for them, and so they’ve brought along some notes so they don’t forget to cover something important. That also can humanize the manager in the eyes of the person receiving the bad news. (See graph.)

But likely the biggest sense of relief after terminating an underperforming employee will come from those workers around him or her, who may have been picking up the slack or feeling resentful that their former co-worker wasn’t being held to the standards maintained by everyone else. When underperformers are allowed

to skate by, 14% Patrie calls it “sanctioned mediocrity.”

Tangora says she tries to keep communication open at her company, which sometimes means pulling all parties together to discuss issues. “You hear the grumbling, and it gets through the grapevine, and you just hope it gets back to you,” she says. “When it does, you have to respond and react. I don’t want to be negative, but it hurts the morale of the employees if they feel like they have to carry this person’s weight.”

And that’s why it’s important that business owners, who may be in knots over the idea of sending a person into unemployment, remember the big picture. “It’s kind of a mantra. If the business doesn’t survive, then no one has a job,” McCann says. “So when we’re

21% Source: surepayroll.com

looking at an individual who 10% isn’t performing, we have to remember that there’s a 100 other individuals that are performing that rely on our company for their livelihood. So we have to protect them, and the company must go forward.”

After an employee is fired, it’s important managers have conversations with the remaining staff members, without going into detail, to let them know a labor decision was made and that their jobs are not in jeopardy. “The most important thing is what HR reps call the survivors, the employees that are left in their employ,” McCann says. “They need to understand that they’re quality.

They’re safe, and we respect them, and we’re making these choices for the better of the company.” W capregionwomenatwork.com | 51

Don’t You

Hate It When …

Dealing with pet peeves in the workplace

L

isten. Hear that? That clip, clip, clip from across the room? It’s your colleague two cubes over clipping his nails — again.

Now take a whiff. Oh yeah. That’s tuna — and garlic. Your team leader has tuna noodle casserole leftovers for lunch — for the third day in a row.

As horrible as that meal smells, you sometimes imagine bringing something similar. Maybe then your meal wouldn’t get swiped from the communal fridge the way your turkey, aged cheddar and cranberry mayo sandwich on an organic, whole-wheat pita does at least once a week.

Welcome to the office, a place full of productivity, promise and pet peeves.

“People in general tend to be self52 | women@work

centered,” says Ann Reis, founder and president of Capital District Human Resources Professionals in Averill Park. “As much as we talk about the importance of teamwork and common value in the workplace, personally I don’t see a lot of people who really get it.”

We all have pet peeves — that’s part of being human — but they can really come out in the workplace. According to a poll from Fitness magazine and Yahoo! Shine, 79 percent of workers have job-related pet peeves.

Given the hours we spend at the office — and, therefore, living with colleagues’ annoying pet peeves — little things can make us more on edge and more easily irritated, says Jacqueline Whitmore,

etiquette expert and author of Poised for Success: Mastering the Four Qualities That Distinguish Outstanding Professionals. So when your cube mate hasn’t showered in a couple of days or the woman across the way speaks loudly on the phone, your blood pressure rises faster than last quarter’s spending.

Several polls examine pet peeves in the workplace. According to Ask Men, banging on the desk, stealing from the fridge, nail-clipping, constantly eating and “farting” (remember, this is a men’s magazine) are all in the top 10. The findings of that Fitness magazine/Yahoo! Shine poll, which was more women-centric, found body odor, a coworker who steals credit for your ideas and a colleague engaging

Photo: Fuse/GettyImages.

By Kristi Barlette

Seventy-nine percent of workers have job-related pet peeves.

– Fitness Magazine

in loud personal calls filling the top spots. The food thief also showed up here, too, with 27 percent of respondents listing that as their No. 1 frustration.

P

art of the problem, says Debra J. M. Best, an Albany-based HR expert and consultant, is that people often act and react without considering those around them. This goes back to the selfishness Reis mentioned earlier.

“People need to think ‘What would the CEO/owner think of me?,’” cautions Best.

Would he or she like that you’re gossiping, or regularly leaving the copier out of paper or ink? Probably not.

For years, Best has heard clients complain about all the aforementioned behaviors. Also on her list of oft-expressed irritants?

Leaving dirty dishes in the sink at work, letting food rot in the fridge, having a fight with your significant other on the phone or wearing heavy cologne (see box for more).

Some of the common complaints — such as body odor or a colleague arguing with her spouse — can be hard to combat, since they’re sensitive issues, but others are easier to handle.

Leaving an anonymous note can be tempting, says Whitmore.

It saves you the embarrassment of that face-to-face conversation, but it’s passive-aggressive and unprofessional.

Instead, talk with your colleague, in person. Humor can work.

For example, the next time you see a colleague eating something pungent at her desk say “Whoa, Janie, that’s why they make break rooms.”

Humor works best with people you know fairly well (they’re less likely to get offended). But no matter how close you are, be sure to keep your tone light and nonconfrontational, say experts.

Addressing a concern in a polite, professional manner is never a mistake, says Reis, but ask to talk in a neutral location (a conference room, rather than either of your offices) and make sure it’s a convenient time to talk. If your coworker is on deadline, she’s going to be distracted — and perhaps irritated — during your conversation. This will not benefit either of you.

“Approach them with the same level of respect you want to be approached with,” says Reis. continued on page 55

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continued from page 53

A non-accusatory conversational style is key, and that includes avoiding negative non-verbal cues such as crossing your arms or rolling your eyes. Explaining to your colleague why you are bothered and what can be done to ease your irritation is better than going on the attack, and accusing him of being insensitive or unaware.

“If you have to work with them, side by side, it’s almost like a marriage,” Whitmore says. “If you don’t talk about it, they won’t know what they are doing is offending you.”

If the chat doesn’t go well, or you really are uncomfortable speaking with your colleague directly, talk with your direct supervisor or the human resources department (that’s why they’re there). Remember, though, to be reasonable, and realize that pet peeves are part of any communal experience, workplace included.

“There are some things you have to let roll off your back,” says Whitmore. “But if it’s impeding on your productivity or if it’s keeping you from getting your job done, it’s your job to say something.” W

Pet Peeves — and How to Handle Them Debra J. M. Best, an Albany-based HR expert and consultant, shared some of the complaints she’s heard consistently from clients and potential solutions.

 Eating someone else’s lunch or food out of the fridge The signal for appropriately sharing food at work these days is to put the food out on a tray or plate in the kitchen area to share. If not, the food in the fridge is not for sharing.

Put your name/initials on your food, coffee creamer, etc., also as a signal that it’s not in the fridge to share.

It’s really sad when the company has to place a surveillance camera pointed at the refrigerator to isolate the lunch thieves. (It’s done more often than you think, and, yes, employees are terminated for that kind of theft!)

We Asked, You Answered We asked readers of the Times Union’s On the Edge blog to answer this question:

What is your single biggest workplace pet peeve?

gossip

send company-wide e-mails 15%

other

Annoying coworkers who ...

12%

10% take credit for others’ ideas

15% are loud on the phone

14%

10%

2% 5%

eat constantly

8%

have stinky food

9%

steal food have body odor

clip their nails

 Letting your food rot in the fridge

 Body odor

FYI, all of the parents in your workplace will appoint themselves to clean out the fridge and throw everything away in it, good or bad — which is discouraging to the non-rotting food owners.

Know your own hygiene needs and how frequently you need to wash to ensure that you don’t affect your co-workers.

 Leaving your dirty dishes in the sink Every single place I’ve worked has the sign over the sink: “Your mother doesn’t work here, so clean up your own mess.”

I wish my mother had worked there; she’s sterilization-standards clean!

 Having a fight with your significant other on the phone so everyone can hear Use your paid time off, walk out to your car, roll up the windows and have your fight there. Don’t undermine your workplace credibility with your personal-life baggage.

 Wearing heavy cologne Not only boundary-encroaching, but more and more people are allergic to scents.

 Bad breath Yes, shared workspaces make this an issue, too -- be kind when setting boundaries, or ask for help to do so.

 Cutting your nails or flossing your teeth Use the bathroom.

 Heating up and eating garlic-heavy food Save it for home, not work. It will stink up a workspace for hours.

 Burning popcorn or toast This happens when you walk away from the appliance. Don’t walk away.

It not only stinks up the workplace, but it’s also a fire hazard.

capregionwomenatwork.com | 55

OVERWHELMED BY WORK AND DEMANDS OF FAMILY LIFE? LOOKING FOR BALANCE?

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BOOK REVIEW

Read this book if …

You want to either become a leader or want to take your career game up a notch and become a more effective leader.

The Road to Great

Leadership?

Doing nothing

Do Nothing! How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader, by J. Keith Murnighan, Penguin Books, 224 pages, $26.95

By Janet Reynolds

J.

Keith Murnighan’s book, Do Nothing!, sounds counterintuitive: The way to become a successful leader is not to take on every detail yourself and pull your team up with you. The path to great leadership is to step back and do nothing.

Now that idea may sound like a gimmick, a catchy title designed to sell books.

But by the time you read this book, you will be convinced, thanks to Murnighan’s methodical and carefully documented outline for this business strategy, that this is a plan that makes a great deal of sense.

The basic idea comes from nature’s playbook. You may not remember much from physics class, but it’s likely you remember that nature, as Aristotle noted, abhors a vacuum. It is a reality, Murnighan says, that plays itself out day in and day out in the workplace, as managers and other leaders, worried that their team isn’t doing what it should and concerned how it will reflect on them, jump in to do whatever project is underway. They fill the vacuum — and in so doing inadvertently teach their team a

plethora of bad habits and ensure that they, the leader, will not be as highly regarded and will be working too hard. Not exactly a winning combination.

Instead, Murnighan shows readers the value of stepping back and empowering employees to perform their tasks. He outlines various steps to make this happen — start with your goal and work backward, relinquish control, learn to trust are just a few. The ultimate outcome, he says, is that your employees will be happier and more productive, while you look impressive as a leader for having such a wonderful team, and you have more time to do what leaders should be doing in the first place — strategizing and planning the next Big Idea.

Getting to this place of leadership isn’t easy, especially since it means taking on some behaviors that seem counterintuitive and, frankly, will not be echoed by other managers in your workplace. But the rewards, Murnighan shows, are well worth it. W

Instant Recall:  “This is what great leaders do. They don’t work; they facilitate and orchestrate.”  “The Leadership Law: Think of the reaction that you want first, then determine the actions you can take to maximize the chances that those reactions will actually happen.”  “Great leadership is not possible without trust: it is absolutely required.”

Notable Quote: “[E]ven though we often think of leadership as an individual activity, it is actually a social activity.

A particularly apt way to think of this is an old Hopi Indian saying: ‘One finger cannot lift a pebble.’” capregionwomenatwork.com | 57

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MOMS@WORK

Silvia Meder Lilly, an Albany resident, enjoys the challenges of dual careers in the education and restaurant fields and is the mother of three boys. Other passions include friends, food, travel, books, writing and running.

Finding Inspiration in the Day-to-Day

By Silvia Meder Lilly

W

hat inspires you to get out the door on days when the combined weight of work, children, family and life’s commitments threaten to bog you down? When you’re faced with responsibilities that feel overwhelming, how do you motivate yourself to take on the next task — much less do it with a smile?

An article published last year in Psychology Today suggests three ways to best find inspiration: act, start small and work with others. Sounds simple enough, right? But how do we take those three strategies and turn them into the inspiration needed to accomplish the myriad tasks working mothers need to do daily?

While it may seem logical that we act when we have already been inspired, this isn’t always the case. There will be occasions when finding the internal drive to take a first step leads to the reward of true inspiration. Action can also begin as a mental exercise. Perhaps taking a moment to visualize where we ultimately want to be can provide the inspiration to make a move, however small, in the desired direction.

Once that initial step is taken, aligning ourselves with people who have similar aspirations and who can support and motivate us is another good step. By eliminating the undesirable influences in our lives, we maximize our chances to move forward.

Here are a couple of strategies I use to

help get me going on days when staying in bed seems all too inviting. Maybe one of them can work for you.

I’m a runner, but on days when I dread hitting the gym or the streets for my run, the right playlist — which these days includes Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire — can make all the difference. An hour’s worth of music you love can be a great go-to auditory inspiration. Whether you’re weeding the flowerbed or taking a walk, the right music can set your pace and help the time fly.

If you’re more a visual person, you might use Pinterest for a little inspiration.

A place where people can create boards where they pin their favorite photos of everything from food to fashion, Pinterest is a place to collect images of anything you love. Collecting and sharing ideas on this virtual bulletin board can provide motivation that translates from online to real life.

If I were to begin a board for images I find inspirational, I would begin with a sculpture by Salvador Dali called “Woman Aflame.” This magnificent statue depicting a woman’s flaming spine, along with the drawers that attempt to hold the various mysteries of her womanhood, amazes me and I gain strength from Dali’s perception of my gender. Do you have a mental picture that you draw strength from? Have you “pinned” it yet?

Or maybe you’re a words person.

Two writers who inspire me are Anna Quindlen and Joyce Carol Oates.

Quindlen, a former Pulitzer Prizewinning New York Times columnist, has been my ultimate writing role model for decades. Her capacity to appreciate life’s simplest moments while remaining aware of the world at large makes her my writing heroine.

Oates, whose novels I’ve read over the

“

By eliminating the undesirable influences in our lives, we maximize our chances to move forward.

”

years, is a masterful storyteller with an impressive ability to blend the macabre with quiet humor. She’s an upstate girl with a sensibility about “normal” that is incredibly nonjudgmental and inclusive.

But my ultimate inspirations? Women I know who have lost a job or a house, or an emotional partner, or a breast, or a parent, and yet still move forward in their lives with acceptance and joy. They are the ones I most seek to emulate and learn from in my own life. W

Working can be challenging for any woman. Add children into the mix, though, and the formula changes again. In Moms@Work, authors Silvia Meder Lilly and Mary Malone McCarthy share their insights on working and raising a family. They will alternate column duties, and you can find them in between issues blogging at blog.timesunion.com/momsatwork. capregionwomenatwork.com | 59

MEALS ON THE GO

This

Provincial Life

Jeannette Liebers was raised with a passion for great Italian food

By Brianna Snyder | Photos by Tyler Murphy

J

eannette Liebers grew up in a boisterous Italian family, whose love for food rubbed off in a big way. “We would sit at the dinner table and talk about what was for breakfast,” Liebers says. “We just always talked about food.”

Despite a familial love for food, Liebers got her start in publishing. But she left her career in 1993 to pursue a culinary degree at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Boston. “It was a lifelong dream of mine,” she says. “I had traveled to Europe and Italy and really discovered that passion. … I discovered what food should look like and taste like.”

When Liebers first moved to Saratoga Springs 10 years ago, she started her own catering business and personal-chef service. She also began teaching cooking classes in people’s homes. Finally, though, “after 20 years, I’m opening a cafe,” 60 | women@work

WHERE SHE GOES,

Jeannette’s Must-Have Pantry Items LEMONS — “a great way to add a good punch of flavor to a chicken dish.

It also spices up drinks and I use a little lemon zest in my baking. You get a ton of taste out of a little bit of lemon.”

DEPENDS ON

WHERE

SHE STARTS

PLAIN, LOW-FAT YOGURT — “Yogurt goes a long way. You can throw it in pancake or muffin batter.” Or use it with grilled chicken or pork for various sauces or marinades.

Really good ROMANO CHEESE BROCCOLI — “with a little lemon, it’s perfect.”

Liebers says. Sweet Mimi’s is expected to open this June in Saratoga Springs.

Top Tip for “I’ve been working on it for about a year now,” she says. “And all of my cliHealthy ents are so excited because they can just Cooking come to me now anytime and get what I’ve always brought to them.” The cafe “It’s taking will be a breakfast and lunch place, open things in from 7:30 to 2:30, and serve “a classic moderation, American breakfast with a Mediterrano matter how good nean slant.” it tastes.

Provincial Italian and Mediterranean Everything in food is Liebers’ specialty. It was her focus moderation, in culinary school. And Mimi’s will also using your serve baked goods — Liebers took a fats sparingly. three-month intensive baking course at Don’t deprive the Culinary Institute of America in 1998. yourself of the things “We’re going to be serving very you love healthy food, very classic, yummy food,” most. Just she says. And though she won’t be offereat it in ing personal-chef services anymore after moderation.”

Mimi’s opens, she’ll continue to cater and teach cooking classes at the cafe in the evenings.

“What people really want to learn and do today is make healthy cuisine, quick and easy, that pleases everyone,” she says, “I have three children, so I understand it’s tricky to find things that work for everybody.”

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MEALS ON THE GO

continued from page 61

Dinner in 30 minutes Mediterranean Fish Stew Fabulous flavor. Comes together in less than 30 minutes. Healthy, hearty and delicious.

Great for a quick dinner or entertaining.

Can be used as a first course or main course paired with a green salad and crusty bread.

Can be economical as well.

Ingredients: 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced 1 cup clam or seafood stock/broth 1 cup white wine 1 cup chicken stock 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes fresh tarragon a pinch of real saffron salt and pepper fresh parsley 2 pounds fresh cod or haddock Method: Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a Dutch oven, saute onion in a bit of olive oil for 8 minutes or until translucent over medium heat. Add garlic and gently heat without burning. Add the liquid ingredients Into pan followed by the fresh tarragon and a large pinch of saffron.

Add the diced tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.

Season the fish well with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the Dutch oven.

Cover and place in oven for 20 minutes.

Serve into individual shallow soup bowls. Garnish with fresh flat parsley.

Serve with crusty bread.  W 

Orecchiette with Peas and Caramelized Onions & Quick Cassoulet: See these exclusive recipes from Chef Liebers at capregionwomenatwork.com capregionwomenatwork.com | 63

Capital Region Women@Work is the in-print component of an innovative network of local women in managerial and executive positions.

HealthyLife magazine brings you stories and advice geared at living a balanced life, and nourishment of your mind, body, and spirit.

Life@Home is packed with inspiration to help you make your house a home.

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Juggling Act

Having it all without losing your mind

By Janet Reynolds

Y

es, the world of two-career families — an economic necessity in many families just to make ends meet — is placing challenges on women, their partners and their families in ways never before experienced. While roles in the home have changed somewhat as women’s numbers in the workforce have increased, in many families it is still the mother who acts as commander-in-chief of most families’ schedules and private lives — after putting in a full day of paid work elsewhere. (This reality was noted in groundbreaking work by UC Berkeley sociology professor Arlie Hochschild in The Second Shift, first published in 1989, reissued in 1997 and still relevant today.)

The studies and research are revealing.

Here’s a sampling.

On family-friendly policies:

Photo: Marili Forastieri/GettyImages.

• All but Switzerland and the U.S. guarantee paid leave for new fathers.

• Of the 13 advanced countries with consistently low unemployment rates, the majority provide paid leave for new mothers, paid leave for new fathers, paid leave to care for children’s health care needs, breast-feeding breaks, paid vacation leave and a weekly day of rest. The United States only guarantees breast-feeding breaks.

— Future of Children, futureofchildren.org

On general working conditions: • 71.3 percent of women with children are in the workforce.

• Three out of four working mothers work more than 30 hours a week.

• 86 percent of working mothers say they “sometimes/frequently” feel stress

• 40 percent of working mothers say they “always feel rushed” — National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, 2012; Pew Research Center, U.S. Bureau of Labor, Harvard Business Review

Ask most working mothers to respond to these stats and you’ll hear a variation on this theme: Tell me something I don’t know.

The question is what to do about it.

College of Saint Rose Psychology Professor Kathleen Crowley has spent a great deal of her career studying this issue. (As the single mother of two sons, she also lives it.) She will help lead a discussion on the topic June 4. (See box for details.)

Crowley summarizes the strain this way: “Women at different stages in their lives have different pressures between home and work balances. Men do too but to a lesser extent,” she says. “Because women still have many of the primary responsibilities for the house, that’s where the stress and strain come from.”

Crowley says change needs to occur both at work and at home. At home, Crowley suggests women let go a bit. “Women need to want to let go of some of the parenting priorities and expect their partners to step up and take more of that,” she says.

Additionally, many of today’s working mothers are reluctant to give up time with their children. “Most career women in our society today realize they won’t have the same amount of time with their

kids as they would if they stayed at home, but most are not willing to minimize time with their children to an hour a day. That’s where a lot of stress comes from for working moms. They want to be intimate with children and be the primary caretaker.”

Clearly something has to give. And in the workplace, Crowley would like to see more women — and their partners — demand change.

“There have to be personal changes and societal and structural changes,” Crowley continues. “Women and men together need to demand changes together. Until we press for those structural changes in public policy that will influence businesses to become more family-friendly, they won’t do it.” W

The Mother Load: Managing the Family-Work Balancing Act Want to get some concrete tips on how to better juggle your work and personal life?

Come to the free Women@Work Connect breakfast June 6, 7:30-9 a.m., at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Sponsored by McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams, the event will include time to network and get tips that really work from other working women. College of Saint Rose professor Kathleen Crowley will speak, along with April M. Dalbec, Amy S. O’Connor and Michelle L. Haskin. All registrants will be registered to win a getaway to Cranwell Spa and Resort. Must be present to win. To register, go to womenatworkevent.eventbrite.com. capregionwomenatwork.com | 65

Getting Away:

Camden, Maine

THE SCHOONER OLAD sails in Penobscot Bay. Photo by Bruce C. Hopkins

By Stacey Morris

M

aine offers no shortage of charming towns along its coast. But Camden possesses one particular advantage: its enviable perch over Penobscot Bay. The 40-mile-long body of water dotted with hundreds of islands has been attracting commerce and tourists to Maine’s mid-coast for centuries. There are other places to take in the New England experience, but there’s something about the mix of lobster boats, puffins gliding above the masts of windjammers, rocky shorelines, and clapboard historical landmarks that makes you want to return ... even if it’s not exactly a straight shot from anywhere to get there.

Even during Colonial times, Camden was a hub. Because of its easy proximity to Boston via ship, the harbor became a bustling center of commerce during the 66 | women@work

1700s as a shipbuilding center. Steamboats began operating on Penobscot Bay in 1823, bringing in tradesmen and religious revivalists. The region was further bolstered by the lime industry at the quarries surrounding Camden.

By the latter part of the 19th century, however, the region was becoming known as the perfect summer spot.

Summer colonies sprang up along the coastline and were populated by affluent families from New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Its reputation as a Shangri-la was solidified in the ’50s when artists and writers began to move to the area. Camden is home to fewer than 5,000 year-round residents, but the population more than triples in summer months. Although it’s a six-hour-plus car ride from the Albany area, the clean, salty breezes off the bay, endless bounty of fresh sea-

food, and well-preserved Colonial history all add up to one foregone conclusion: It’s worth the trip.

Must-See Schooner Olad 1 Bay View St., Camden (207) 236-2323; maineschooners.com What better way to get an unfettered view of Maine’s famously rocky shoreline — replete with harbor seals, historic lighthouses and hidden mansions — than aboard a towering schooner named after a Norse sea god? Don’t miss out on the historic, two-hour tours given aboard this restored, classic yacht built in 1927.

Owner-captain Aaron Lincoln says no two tours are ever exactly the same since he sails where the wind is most favorable.

That could mean hugging the shore-

line or venturing out to zig-zag around islands such as Mark Island, a bald eagle rookery. Lincoln is a Maine native and can answer just about any historical or maritime question fired at him. He also offers extended trips with different themes such as the Full Moon Cruise or the Lobster Bake Cruise. Custom charters are also available. Schooner Olad sails from mid-May through mid-October. The ship holds 22 passengers so cruises fill up fast during peak season. Reservations are advised. Prices start at $37 per person for a two-hour tour of Penobscot Bay. Farnsworth Art Museum 16 Museum St., Rockland (207) 596-6457; farnsworthmuseum.org This 20,000-square-foot museum is a showcase to Maine’s role in American Art. Its collection of more than 10,000 works includes some of America’s greatest, such as Frank Benson’s 1937 painting, “The Lobsterman,” and Eastman Johnson’s “The American Farmer.” The Farnsworth also has one of the largest collections of works by sculptor Louise Nevelson. Its Wyeth Center features works by Andrew, N.C., and Jamie Wyeth. Aside from the main building, the museum’s library, the Farnsworth Homestead, the Olson House, and Julia’s Gallery for Young Artists, make it easy to delve into an afternoon of cultural exploration.

The Outdoors

Fort Knox State Historic Site and Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory 711 Fort Knox Road, Prospect (207) 469-7719; fortknox.maineguide.com Tour the very nooks and crannies where soldiers and generals fought to settle northeast border disputes with the British and Canada. The fort is set on the Penobscot River and was erected to protect the river valley from invading troops.

Considering that Fort Knox (named after Major General Henry Knox, America’s first Secretary of War) took 25 years to be constructed, it’s not surprising that it’s said to be one of the best-preserved forts on the New England sea coast. On the same property is the Penobscot Narrows Observatory, where a one-minute elevator ride takes you to the pinnacle of one of the world’s tallest public bridge observatories, offering bird’s-eye views of the Penobscot River Valley. The grounds are open yearround but the fort and observatory are open daily from May 1 through Oct. 31.

Best Family Attractions The Maine Lighthouse Museum 1 Park Drive, Rockland (207) 594-3301 mainelighthousemuseum.org More than just an homage to a lost culture, the Lighthouse Museum has the largest collection of Fresnel lenses in the world, replicas of light ships (floating

lighthouses), and other artifacts that preserve the legacy of New England lighthouses and those who took care of them.

Stop by for a visit and you’ll be captivated by Director Dot Black’s recounting of the famous Abbie Burgess story. Burgess was born in 1839 on nearby Matinicus Island, eldest daughter of the lighthouse keeper. At the age of 16 she became a local legend when her father left her in charge so he could travel to the main land to get medicine for her ailing mother.

Despite a ferocious storm that flooded the island and made it impossible for boats to land at the island for a month, Abbie managed to save the farm animals, care for her mother and siblings, and keep the lighthouse flame lit. “People remember that story long after visiting here,” says Black, whose late husband and U.S. Coast Guard officer Kenneth Black founded the museum. “We sell copies of Keep the Light Burning, Abbie like crazy at our gift store.” The museum is open daily Memorial Day weekend through October.

Point Lookout Bowling Center 67 Atlantic Highway, Northport (207) 789-2012 visitpointlookout.com/ bowling-center.shtml You don’t have to be a resort guest to enjoy an afternoon or evening of bowling recreation in this newly-built bowling alley with eight lanes, two large-screen televisions, billiards, air hockey, an

Camden Hills State Park 280 Belfast Road, Camden (207) 236-3109; maine.gov Much like Disney World, you could spend days exploring this mammoth attraction and never see it all. But unlike Disney, this 5,500-acre state park is a sanctuary of natural tranquility, with 30 miles of hiking trails, mountain bike paths, and horseback riding trails. Climb to the top of Mount Battie and you’ll be rewarded with panoramic views of Penobscot Bay. But you don’t need to be an avid hiker or an amateur triathlete to enjoy the park. Bird-watching, picnicking, and camping on the designated campgrounds are all valid ways to soak in the natural surroundings of one of the most scenic spots in a state noted for being scenic and unspoiled.

THIS STATUE OF “EVE” by John Adams Jackson can be found at The Farnsworth Museum.

Photo courtesy The Farnsworth Museum capregionwomenatwork.com | 67

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POINT LOOKOUT Resort Summit at sunset. arcade, and snack bar. The center is sometimes booked for private parties, so it’s recommended to call ahead to confirm availability.

Photo courtesy Point Lookout Resort

Best Spots For Couples Cellardoor Winery 367 Youngtown Road, Lincolnville (207) 763-4478 mainewine.com Probably one of the most enchanting wineries on the eastern seaboard, Cellardoor is a converted 200-year-old farm on 68 acres. Sample Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer on the barn deck overlooking the vineyards. The winery is open seven days a week, and tastings are free. The 1790s barn has been restored and contains a gift shop, retail store, and tasting bar. The campus also includes a restored farmhouse with a state-of-the-art winery, a kitchen for cooking classes, a second tasting room, and an art gallery that features a new artist every month.

Cellardoor holds Pairings 101 classes June through October, and other special events, including their “Pop the Cork” fundraiser on June 27 featuring wine, food, dancing, and music by ’80s favorite Foreigner.

Wine Tour with All Aboard Trolley 21 Limerock St., Rockland (207) 594-9300; meetthefleet.com Make wine-tasting a movable experience by hopping aboard a white trolley for a tour of the Camden region’s mid-coastal wineries where you can tour vineyards, learn about the wine-making process, and sample wines. The trolley even stops at some Camden area hotels and inns.

Tours operate Monday through Friday, May through October.

Accommodations Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center 67 Atlantic Highway, Lincolnville (207) 789-2000; visitpointlookout.com Set on a wooded mountainside, the resort’s 380-acre campus is dotted with one-, two- and three-bedroom cabins.

They may look rustic at first glance, but they have all the trappings of a hotel suite, plus a screened-in porch. At the top of the resort’s property is 50,000 feet of

conference space, and their main building at the foot of the property houses the Copper Pine Cafe, an indoor bowling alley, and a fitness center. And the outdoors offer plenty of opportunity for cardio workouts. Walking the paved road to the summit will get your heart pumping as well as any Stairmaster. There are also marked hiking trails through the woods to a scenic view of Night’s Pond.

Dining Angler’s Seafood Restaurant 215 East Main St. (Route 1), Searsport (207) 548-2405 anglersseafoodrestaurant.com You may not want to have fried seafood at every meal during your vacation, but you’re in Maine, you’ve got to do it at least once. Angler’s delivers an unforgettable experience, and not only because the lobsters are just-caught. The selection is dazzling.

Start with a cup of clam chowder or scallop stew and progress to an entree of stuffed lobster, fried Maine shrimp or the bountiful Angler’s Platter. The massive menu also has lobster salad, steamed mussels, fried smelts, an array of broiled options, prime rib, and vegetarian scampi.

In Good Company 415 Main St., Rockland (207) 593-9110 ingoodcompanymaine.com This cozy bistro with soothing decor is known for its late-night dinners and original drink menu (don’t miss the

signature Blueberry Mojito). The menu is a laundry list of intriguing appetizers (Easter Egg Potatoes with Romesco Sauce, Smoked Paprika Deviled Eggs, and Spring Radishes with Sea Salt and Butter), as well as unusual entrees (Maine Shrimp Cakes with Avocado Cream and Blue Cheese-Roasted Beef Tenderloin).

And who could argue with their mission statement: “We believe one must eat and drink only good things that are genuine and simple, in moderate amounts, and in good company.”

When To Go Best time to visit: Summers are undeniably delightful, but they’re also when Camden is at its most crowded. If you prefer temperate weather, minus the peak-season crowds, check out the scene in Camden during spring and fall.

Worst time to visit: There’s the running joke about Maine having two seasons: winter and the Fourth of July. But it’s true that Maine winters are notoriously harsh.

Unless you have a fondness for plummeting mercury, biting winds and winter sports, it’s best to cross off the months of November through March when planning a visit.

If You Go Camden is approximately 350 miles northeast of Albany. For more information, visit mainedreamvacation.com and penbaychamber.com. W capregionwomenatwork.com | 69

THE LAST WORD

How do you counsel an employee who struggles with new technologies?

Compiled by Brianna Snyder

K

nowing what to do in sticky situations is one of the hardest part of being a manager. Each issue of W@W we’ll feature a tricky issue with answers from area HR professionals, managers and business owners.

If you have a question you’d like answered, drop us a line on Facebook, www.facebook.com/capregionwomenatwork, or send an e-mail to bsnyder@timesunion.com. Your question will be kept confidential.

Providing clarity is the most important thing when dealing with any change because a confused mind does not act.

When dealing with something new, people often feel that it is just easier to do it the old way rather than risk making a mistake or they think that the new technology will actually take more time.

My advice is to over-communicate and provide ‘hands on’ technical support to allow people the freedom to fail in a safe environment.

– Lisa Giruzzi, author and speaker, YourCommunicationAuthority.com 70 | women@work

Technology, more than ever, is key to conducting business successfully, whether you’re an employee or the owner of a company. For that reason, being open to lifelong learning is also the key to success, no matter where you work. New technology-learning sites like Grovo are making it even easier to learn how to use and leverage new technology. Finally, never ask an employee to do something you haven’t done yourself.

– Debra J. M. Best, SPHR, Deb Best Practices

– Marri Aviza, owner, Rumors I run into this all the time with my clients, especially women. Two women, in particular, have enjoyed breakthroughs that involve mobile devices and social media. When I explained to the women how important social media is to their business, they felt compelled to tackle the challenge. With smart phones and texting already under their belts (they have kids!), incorporating social media apps to their repertoire was an easy transition.

Finding their voice and engaging with their customers in a meaningful way has been their reward!

– Leslie M. Trosset, founder & president, Web Design & Online Marketing Manager For anyone struggling to embrace a new technology, my recommendation is to put your fears aside and jump right in and get using it. The more you use a piece of software (i.e. Microsoft Excel, Twitter, etc.) or hardware (i.e. iPhone, Android, MacBook, etc.) the better you will become at its mastery.

– Annmarie Lanesey, owner, Greane Tree Technology

Illustration: © iStockphoto.com/artvea.

Question:

First and foremost, you have to set people up to win. There’s no such thing as a bad or dumb student, just a bad teacher … But there’s a difference between ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’: ‘Can’t’ means ‘I don’t know how to do it. Show me;’ ‘won’t’ is an attitude of indifference. We can’t have that indifference, whether it’s in technology, customer service, or any challenge that we have in our business.

Once you understand that people are diverse and they don’t just learn one way, you have to know what their hot button is or how to get the information they need to them. New learners are nervous, scared, apprehensive, but depending on the person, they get through that stage pretty quickly and then they get compliments for their good work. What gets rewarded gets repeated.

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