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Creative Ideas
 
Ask any successful Career Counselor what their secret for success is and three topics always come up:

 

                                                 1. Take care of Sailors always- (follow through)

                                                 2. Have a great attitude and be approachable

                                                 3. Develop innovative programs and tools for their Sailors to succeed

                                                    (There are obviously more, but these are big ones)

 

The first two YOU must master.... Number three we can certainly help with!

 

 

Read your way to Creativity!
 
     Books provide a wealth of knowledge that can spark the next great idea in your program. Some of the best we've seen are:
 
"How to Position yourself as the Obvious Expert..."
By Elsom Eldridge & Mark Eldridge
 
This book offers great ideas to accomplish what the title suggest. The problem is, most people don't have the motivation to do them (that's why these tips work!)
 
A great Navy example is NC1(AW/SW) Charles Tibbetts' OPNAV Newsletter called: The "Navy Career Circular" (view newsletter)
 
 
"Thinkertoys"
By Michael Michalko
 
This book delivers great tools to come up with creative ideas. It only takes one great idea to produce amazing results that can help your Sailors!
 
 
 
 
 
If you don't have a shred
of creative ability, that's OK!!
 
Take someone elses idea and make it better!
 
For example...
 
     Many people believe IBM and Apple were the first companies to come out with the desktop microcomputers . Actually, the first microcomputer produced on a large scale was the Altair 8800 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Where is MITS today?
 
Apple and IBM took a great idea and made it better. This happens all the time in the business world and can work for you as well.
 
Taking a great idea and tranforming it into your own hybrid idea is the easiest way to create an exciting new program!  You never know if your next idea will take you to Apple heights!!
Write a Book
 
As explained in the book "How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert", writing a book can be an excellent way to get information to those we aim to help.
 
It can also be a great resource for Sailors to keep and refer back to. The author of "The Sailors Guide to Success" (click on link to view book) uses his book as a tool during Command Indoc and CDB's to explain benefits to Sailors and how to succeed in the Navy. 
 
Anybody can write a book...
give it a shot and see where it takes you!
  
Design a Workshop
 
    Workshops are one of the easiest ways to put out information to a large group of people. Example workshops can include:
 
A couple ideas to keep in mind about workshops...
 
 1. Bring in guest speakers who have participated in these events
 2. Get senior leadership buy-in to market the event
 3. Bring plenty of hand-out materials on your subject
 4. Be passionate about the info you are putting out! 
 
Use a 12-Month Interview
   
This idea comes from NCC(AW/SW) (Ret) Forrest Powell. 
 
It's called a 12-month interview form and it works like this:
 
Any Sailor who desires to get out or is undecided fills out the form 12 months prior to EAOS. It is then routed up the chain of command for review. This does 2 things.
 
1. It lets the chain know the Sailor's intentions way ahead of time and if they are even prepared to get out.
 
2. It can be a great wake up call to the Sailor. Maybe they are not as prepared to get out as they think!
 
Be proactive in your Sailor's decisions!
 
View 12 Month Interview form
Share your Great Ideas!
 
Email in your ideas along with a picture and command logo (both are optional) and we'll make sure it is posted so other counselors may benefit.
 
Send to: TheCareerCounselingGuru.com