Have you heard the ads that begin, "We know times are hard..." They go on to tell you why you need a new car, a new investment strategy or even a beer. What these pleas never say is what you really need in difficult times is a good support system. A good support system can help you network, affirm your competence, challenge your beliefs and ultimately help you through the tough times. A support system is more than a sympathetic ear.

The key to a support system is to make sure you have a variety of types of "support." People fill different roles in our lives and this will ensure that you always have just what you need to succeed.

Here are some roles you might consider for your support system:

• Role Models are people you admire or emulate.
• Peers share experiences and ideas. These are the people that are "in the same boat" with you.
• Confidants provide warmth and closeness when you share feelings or struggles and as the word implies they hold your trust.
• "Dependables" assist in a crisis and are people you can always ask for help, even at the last minute.
• "Respecters" understand the magnitude and complexity of your work and appreciate your efforts.
• Challengers stretch your perspective and question basic assumptions to push your ideas forward.
• Resourcers link people together or act as networks for others who need help.
• Advisors provide methods to solve problems, achieve goals, or take action.

If you are able to find people who fulfill all or most of these roles you will have a strong support system. While Madison Avenue would prefer you grab for a beer when times are hard, a support system will keep you on track and help you through any transition you face-you could also grab the beer!

These are examples of how personalities play out at work. Your personality is a part of your leadership style and effectiveness. In the past two decades the science of personality measurement in the workplace has developed rapidly. Research reported by the American Psychological Association and the Society for Consulting Psychology confirms that personality is the most important factor in explaining the individual differences between leaders. Consider Cory, he has been told many times that others said things like, "Not sure if he listens to us," "Not engaged in the process." When Cory received his feedback on a personality assessment he had no visible reaction-he was the proverbial deer in the headlights. When the coac h asked him what he was thinking, it took Cory a while to stammer and think his way through his reaction. Suffice it to say he was crushed. He recited word for word awhat went on in every business meeting he had attended over the last few weeks; he gave insightful analysis to the dynamics of his team. He could not fathom that people thought he was not listening in meetings. What's going on? Clearly Cory is an introvert. Extraverts want to talk everything out and in the workplace extraverts are winning the leadership positions. In the general population introverts and extraverts are evenly split with 49% of the population extraverts and 51% introverts. But in the management ranks of Fortune 1000 executives, even those leaders that rate themselves as introverts at home operate as extraverts in the workplace with 71.6% scoring as extraverts. Often introverts are mistaken for shy or socially awkward; one of the most cvommon misconceptions is that they are not able to give presentations or speak in public (think Johnny Carson a famous introvert). The good news is that you can shift your behavior if you want to. Leaders need to be able to show that they are actively engaged in work processes. So if you ar an introvert or you manage one, here are some coaching tips that might help with this issue:

*Send agendas in advance so that introverts have time to prepare and think about topics to be discussed
*Make sure you ask more thoughtful (internally processing) people for comments during the meetings
*Allow for input after the meeting
*If you tend to be quieter in meetings, make sure people know you are engaged by individually connecting with key team members before or after the session to comment on the content of the meeting
*Thank leaders at the end of meetings and add something like; "I have some further thought on this. Could I send you an email when I have a chance to synthesize my ideas?"
*Learn how to interrupt more talkative peopel so you get your voice heard.
For more helpful ideas on introversion and work read "The Introvert Advantage" written by Marti Olsen Laney, it's full of great ideas, also consider a coach.

This is just what Dr. Alex Pentland and his colleagues at the MIT Media Lab have been studying, the way people use nonverbal communication. In his book "Honest Signals," Dr. Pentland gives lessons for business leaders.

Basically, the idea is that people have a second channel of communication that involves around their social relations rather than their spoken words. What Dr. Pentland found is that behavior can be predicted from the "honest signaling behaviors" that people use such as head gestures, voice inflection, and body language. One experiment involved mid-level executives pitching business plans and then rating each other. If the presenter sounded excited the ratings were consistently higher-even with people that should have been listening to more than tone of voice!

Here are some tips to help you get your next idea sold:

Mimicry - Copy the other person's nonverbal cues during a conversation, for instance if he smiles, you smile. This signals that you understand him and are empathetic.

Vibes/Buzz - Participate in conversation with a steady pace; in a dialogue the ideal situation is a natural flow of conversation back and forth-it should not be weighted heavily towards one person or another. As a leader, turn taking in conversations actually strengthens your role in the organization or group.

Attitude - Enthusiasm about an idea or product is essential to its successful implementation.

Consistency - If you want to signal a willingness to accept ideas of others, then vary your speech patterns; however, if you want to convey that you are an expert, keep your speech pattern steady and fluid without big variance in tone or emotion.

The impact of honest signaling to you and your teams is huge. It seems that social signaling predicts outcomes better than strategy, motivation, experience or personal characteristics. Leadership Solutions can help coach your team on the signals they send to their clients and customers.

If you are like many, the New Year brings resolutions to work out or get to a gym. It seems that we all want to be as fit as the athletes we see in the sports world. But by the end of the month, many will stop using those new gym memberships. It is hard for individuals to keep themselves motivated to exercise. Add a personal trainer and the incidents of success go way up. Walk into any gym that trains high level athletes and you will see coaches. Tiger Woods is said to employ four coaches, while at his peak of play Magic Johnson had six coaches. Why is it a recognized way of improving an already stellar athlete? Because it helps high level performers fine tune their game.

This tactic has been under appreciated in the business world. To date, coaching is seen as only for the very few high potential leaders or the "big problem" leaders to try to flesh out issues that are holding a person back. Coaches are not utilized in the business world as effectively as in the sports world.

Leadership Solutions hopes to change that with the introduction of Solutions-Based Coaching. It's a shift in the direction of executive coaching to look at leaders as people striving for excellence in their fields. Sometimes, a leader will have specific very short-term needs that require a coach. This is where Solutions-Based Coaching comes into play.

Managers can select the option of coaching when they want to learn something rather than when the company feels he or she needs to improve. The coaching can be focused on a specific learning objective and customized to targeted goals.

For example, a manager in Topeka wants his team to work more effectively. He signs up for Solutions-Based Coaching and it is decided that in about four sessions his issues can be resolved. In these sessions, he and the coach will:

• Conduct a mini-survey
• Clarify goals
• Make a plan of action
• Estimate the business impact of the team working more effectively
• Refine the plan based on data received from the team
• Execute plan with the coach monitoring progress
• Follow up with additional resources if needed
• Evaluate the impact of coaching

In this example the sessions might stretch over four to six months to allow the manager time to implement the changes recommended by the coach. Unlike a seminar this process does not require travel costs or time away from the office and it can fit around business deadlines and work demands.

Here's one way to emulate the professional athletes and you don't even need to head to the gym. Solutions-Based Coaching can give your business a new efficiency for the New Year.