31 Mar
PeopleTek Coaching Change, Leadership

Change – Resistance or Acceptance?

“An effective change leader does not try to resolve people’s feelings but listens to them. When leaders listen, acknowledge, and support people experiencing their difficult feelings, they will themselves begin to move through them”.
– Drs. Dennis Jaffe & Cynthia Scott

Dear Leaders,

Do you agree that change is both a challenge and an opportunity? That it’s a source of stress and excitement? That change is an ongoing process rather than an event?

The rate of change continues at a rapid pace with the familiar becoming blurred. As an individual how are you adapting?  What about as a leader? Change impacts us differently; some are energized and flourish, others become almost immobilized and have difficulty dealing with simple daily tasks.

With change the status quo no longer exists; clarity may be replaced with ambiguity, and a climate of mistrust and suspicion may surface as jobs and positions are redefined or eliminated. We need to recognize that there are phases to the change process, that anxiety levels and uncertainty increase, that productivity is likely to suffer, and that job satisfaction may diminish.

The phases of change start when what was known and stable gets disrupted.

Expect to experience:

  • Immobilization
  • Denial
  • Anger
  • Bargaining
  • Depression
  • Testing
  • Acceptance

Strong leaders become enablers of change by:

Being aware of the phases of change
Knowing which stage you and your team are in
Communicating frequently with as much information as possible
Sharing “who” will be impacted by “what”
Highlighting the benefits of the change
Promoting change as a need to grow vs. being an obstacle
Watching for and acknowledging decreases in productivity and job satisfaction levels

By understanding, anticipating, and responding to the change phases you will feel calmer, more in control, and help others more readily accept change.  Remember, change is a journey and can provide new and exciting opportunities!

21 Mar
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Self-Reflection and Leadership

“You don’t need to have direct reports to be a leader. Being a leader means you influence individuals or teams, with or without authority, and frequently without being part of their reporting structure.”

Dear Leaders,

Do you agree with the statement: “there is a need for self-reflection in leadership”?

Before you answer, let’s first clarify that you don’t have to have direct reports to be a leader. Being a leader means you influence individuals or teams, with or without authority, and frequently without being part of their reporting structure.

Leadership is also not limited to the business arena or the public sector; it also exists for children on the playground and in school.

Why? We all have the ability to influence and make an impact on others. Given this, we most likely want to be the best we can be. We also need to understand and leverage that others have strengths in areas where we can grow.

That’s where self-reflection comes in. We need to understand how we perceive and feel about ourselves, know and utilize our strengths, and recognize and address our development opportunities. Equally important is the need to understand how others perceive us and why.

This doesn’t always feel good, and sometimes we may be surprised that others find a strength in us we weren’t aware of (or even found it to be a fault). Maybe you’ve been given feedback that was an “ouch”. We don’t need to agree with it or necessarily action it but we do need to process it and give thought to where that perception originated from. This is especially true if you’ve heard it from more than one person.

Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, values, and culture all impact who we are and how others view us. In order to develop and nurture trusting relationships, we need to understand our behaviors and how they help us obtain our desired goals or derail us or stand in the way of achieving them. (Remember that trust is considered the primary value for successful professional and personal relationships).

We need to invest time in ourselves to validate who we are and create a plan to become our “ideal self” or the leader we want to be. We need to pay attention to those around us and  understand how they are feeling and what they are thinking. This isn’t a one-time initiative; strong leaders continually work on becoming even stronger. They work to maintain open lines of communication, ensure goals are shared, anticipate change, and they LISTEN.

Do you take the time to self-reflect?

10 Mar
PeopleTek Coaching Career

Take Control Of Your Career

“Trust not what inspires other members of society to choose a career. Trust what inspires you. From this decision alone will come over a third of your satisfaction or misery in your life.”
–from The Lazy Person’s Guide to Success

Dear Leaders,

The economic climate continues to lag, job opportunities are limited, and job security is a thing of the past. Have you been impacted? Has your career path been altered or your retirement plans changed? If yes, you’re not alone.

We talked previously about personal branding and the need for providing value and being recognized for your contributions. You need to determine what you want to be known for and deliver levels of excellence to promote yourself.  This is a good start but more can be done.

Meade Dickerson, Certified Executive Coach provides the following tips to take control of your career:

Understand the health of your company and anticipate and be ready for change.

Create a plan in case you get laid off or your hours cut. (Having a 6 month emergency fund is recommended).

Control your work budget; think in terms that it’s your own money and make spending decisions accordingly.

Join networks! (Even if it’s only through online groups).

Be open to a new career; keep your resume updated and be clear about your strengths and weaknesses.

Engage a career coach; they can help you validate your “wants” and “strengths”.

Our work life impacts our personal life, our relationships and our mental and physical well-being. Strive for a position where you’re a good fit for it, and it’s a good fit for YOU!

03 Mar
PeopleTek Coaching Career

Personal Branding

Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. It has been noted that while previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging.
–Wikipedia

The Importance of Branding

We’ve all heard about how important branding is for our company, department, or business. The ultimate branding goal is for the name to become synonymous with the product. We won’t mention specifics but here are a few examples:

  • When you think of a copy machine what name brand comes to mind?
  • When you think of the term “soft drink” what beverage comes to mind?
  • When you think of quality standards and metrics what comes to mind?
  • What about laundry detergent? Toothpaste? Computer hardware? Financial services giant?

We were just judges at a college case competition based on Google growing market share in China. Guess what? One intent was for Google to become a verb and have everyone “google” what they were looking for. Now that’s branding!

Personal Branding

Branding in business is very powerful; this also holds true from a personal perspective.

What do you want to be known for?

When your name is mentioned what do you think people think of? Is this what you want? What steps have you taken for your name to be aligned with some form of excellence?

The first place to start in your personal branding efforts is to understand your “magic dust” (ie. your gifts, what you excel at).

Do you want to be known for your technical skills? For developing and or nurturing others? For your finance knowledge? For providing a vision and strategic direction? For task and goal attainment? For service to your community? The list is limitless – identify what YOU want to be known for and what you’re passionate about.

Does Your Career Align With Your Personal Brand?

Next step – realistically assess if you are in a position or on a career path where you can promote your personal brand. This can be tough. Add to that a time frame. Are you on the right track or do you need to rethink or change what your ideal job or career is?

We sometimes get caught up in the financial benefits associated with a job instead of considering the actual work. Have you ever known anyone that wanted a promotion yet you knew they would be miserable in that role?

Are You Promoting Your Personal Brand?

On the other hand, let’s assume we are in the right line of work. Are we sufficiently packaging and marketing ourselves so others see the value we add? Do they see our passion, our contributions, and our excellence?

Sometimes we’re fortunate enough to have another person, maybe a mentor or a boss, promote our accomplishments, but in most cases, it’s up to us. Share your accomplishments! Make sure others know the value you provide!