Thanks and Gratitude

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”
–Brian Tracy

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
–Buddha

Happy Thanksgiving!

While the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving the last Thursday of each November, other countries and cultures also celebrate similar holidays, most having different festival dates and holiday names, but all with the same intent – to give thanks.

Did you know Canada may have been the first to celebrate Thanksgiving, way back in 1578?

Other examples of celebrating thanks include China’s Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Pongal in India, Chusok in Korea, Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam, the Jewish Feast of Sukkot, and in Germany there’s Erntedankfest.

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.
–Henry Van Dyke

Giving thanks and expressing gratitude is healthy in both our personal and professional lives!

Take time to reflect on the positive.

  • What / whom do you appreciate? Who appreciates you?
  • What inspires you? How do you inspire others?
  • Is there pleasure and enjoyment at home? What about at work?
  • What have you accomplished? Who’s shared in those accomplishments?
  • As a leader, a friend, a family member, or a co-worker, let others know how they add value to your life and thank them.

We all can value our personal and professional relationships, and we all have the ability to motivate, influence, inspire, and appreciate others.

And, in the words of John Hersey:

Thankfulness breeds success.

Leaders lead by example. Share what you’re thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

QwikTip and QwikCoach

PeopleTek’s Strategic partner, E-Coach, specializes in online coaching tools.

QwikTip for Managing Change and Celebrating Success.

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

Did You Know?

Graduates of PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey Earn:

  • IT Professionals: 19 priSM CPD credits
  • Human Resource SPHR/PHR/GPHR: 19 HR (General) credit hours
  • Project Managers: PMI – up to 37 hours / 3 PSM level points
  • Executive Coaches: 18 ICF CCE’s (Core Competencies) & 5 ICF CCE’s (Resource Development)

Additionally, the Journey is approved for PMI re-certification credits.

Do You Trust Your Team?

Individuals and organizations continually rate trust as an issue among co-workers, across organizations, with higher ranking leaders, and sometimes even with clients!

Matter of fact, in the majority of assessments we conduct for teams and organizations, trust is the number one topic that is identified as a “need”. Does this hit a chord with you? Do you feel more could be accomplished, that collaboration would be greater, and goals more readily attained if levels of trust were stronger? Do you trust your team?

When people honor each other, there is a trust established that leads to synergy, interdependence, and deep respect. Both parties make decisions and choices based on what is right, what is best, what is valued most highly.
–Blaine Lee

Our team just completed the Five Behaviors Of A Cohesive Team Assessment (derived from Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions Of A Team. We’re currently in the process of debriefing each component, and although we scored high as a team, there were a few scores that caused reflection, and trust was one of them. (The evaluated components include building trust, mastering conflict, achieving commitment, embracing accountability, and focusing on results).

Transparency, Honesty, and Vulnerability

These traits are what Lencioni has determined to be key ingredients required for a team to be trusting and truly cohesive. In the assessment, team members score the team (not individuals) on trust related questions, and a summary of the compiled results provides specific areas to address, with suggestions for growing trust levels.

Team members provide their perceptions relative to the team’s ability to:

  • Admit weaknesses and mistakes
  • Ask for help
  • Accept questions and input regarding areas of responsibility
  • Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at negative conclusions
  • Offer and accept apologies without hesitation

Despite scoring high, we felt we could become even stronger, brainstormed possible solutions to do so, and committed to speaking up if we deviated from our commitments. The intent? To not dilute our ability to become an even stronger, higher performing, more trusting team.

Trust is the foundation for success and fosters the flow of new and creative ideas. And as Warren Bemis says: Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. You need to trust your team in order to succeed.

How would your team score itself in the transparency, honesty, and vulnerability categories?

QwikTip and QwikCoach

PeopleTek’s Strategic partner, E-Coach, specializes in online coaching tools.

QwikTip for Getting Along With Peers

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action! Start to trust your team and lead them.

Did You Know?

Graduates of PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey Earn:

  • IT Professionals: 19 priSM CPD credits
  • Human Resource SPHR/PHR/GPHR: 19 HR (General) credit hours
  • Project Managers: PMI – up to 37 hours / 3 PSM level points
  • Executive Coaches: 18 ICF CCE’s (Core Competencies) & 5 ICF CCE’s (Resource Development)

Additionally, the Journey is approved for PMI re-certification credits.

 

Salute! Recognizing Audie Murphy, Leader and US Hero

Audie Murphy and Courageous Leadership

Veteran’s Day was November 11th, so it seems to be the perfect time to once again recognize Audie Murphy, one of America’s most noted and decorated soldiers from World War II.

Talk about courageous leadership! Mr. Murphy earned 33 awards and medals from the U.S. Army, as well as 5 decorations from France and Belgium. And, he was only 21 when the war ended!

From all accounts his childhood was not an easy one. He helped raise his 11 siblings and learned about responsibility and accountability at a young age.

His father deserted the family, and his mother passed away while he was still a teen, so he decided to enlist in the military in his mother’s honor at the age of 18.

He fought in nine major campaigns over three years, and his ground tactics and leadership impressed those in command, resulting in his rank of private rising to that of battlefield commission as a second lieutenant.

At the age of 19, he witnessed his best friend get killed in southern France (in Operation Dragoon) by a German soldier pretending to surrender. This resulted in Murphy charging and killing the Germans that had killed his friend; he also commandeered the German’s machine gun and grenades, which earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.

He was considered a hero for his numerous courageous actions, and was awarded three Purple Hearts and one Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery that a soldier can receive (the most prestigious of his 33 awards).

After the war, he was honored on the cover of LIFE magazine in the July 16, 1945 issue, and he pursued a variety of careers, most notably that of movie star. His most famous movie was To Hell and Back (1955), which set box office records for Universal, with the record finally broken by Jaws in 1975. (In addition to his 44 film acting career, Murphy was a rancher and businessman, and a songwriter).

Murphy was also was an advocate for returning Vietnam Vets, and heavily campaigned for the government to spend more time and money on the care of veterans. He had suffered from nightmares, anxiety, loss of temper, depression and insomnia, so fully understood the impacts of post traumatic stress, and the need for help.

Audie Murphy’s life ended at the early age of 46 in a plane crash. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, and reportedly his grave site has more visitors than any other site, with only one exception – that of former President John F. Kennedy.

Saluting all our men, women, and animals that give (and gave) so much to keep us safe!

QwikCoach

PeopleTek’s Strategic partner, E-Coach, specializes in online coaching tools.

For those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

Did You Know?

Graduates of PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey Earn:

  • IT Professionals: 19 priSM CPD credits
  • Human Resource SPHR/PHR/GPHR: 19 HR (General) credit hours
  • Project Managers: PMI – up to 37 hours / 3 PSM level points
  • Executive Coaches: 18 ICF CCE’s (Core Competencies) & 5 ICF CCE’s (Resource Development)

Additionally, the Journey is approved for PMI re-certification credits.

Feedback Is For Champions

As the year winds down, there are a few things to do before the year comes to an end. We need to take a checkpoint on the status of our goals and begin to set goals for the new year.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.
—Ken Blanchard

We also need to assess development planning actions, and one that is not always consistently conducted is the need to provide, and request feedback.

Have you provided feedback to your staff or team members? Has your leader provided you with feedback? Assuming yes, was it constructive and helpful?

The Importance of Formal Feedback

If you’re a leader with direct reports, you need to commit to providing formal feedback monthly, in addition to providing timely feedback as required (Ex: recognition for a job well done, unproductive behaviors, missed deliverables, etc).

How many times have you wanted to provide someone with feedback, but were reluctant to do so for a variety of reasons? What’s your biggest obstacle?

A good way to get started is to remain fact-based and have specific examples that support your point.  This removes the emotion, with the examples providing clarity.

It’s Not All About the Giving

Truly great leaders spend as much time collecting and acting upon feedback as they do providing it.
—Alexander Lucia

Feedback must be both given and received. Providing quality feedback is a gift and requires courage; receiving it also takes courage along with the willingness to listen. As leaders, we may be more comfortable giving feedback than receiving it. We all have perceptions as to how our co-workers, direct reports, business partners and customers would evaluate us, but few of us actually solicit feedback on a regular basis. So what can we do?

You can start simple. Ask others these 3 questions:

  1. What do I do that you like, and want me to continue doing?
  2. What am I doing that you want me to stop?
  3. What could I do better?

You may also want to consider using a formal 360 feedback program that provides much greater detail, but the questions above are a great start.

When’s the last time you completed a formal feedback process?

We suggest utilizing a coach to help you understand the candid, honest, and constructive feedback you’ll receive. Determine what you’re especially effective at, find out how you could be even more effective, obtain suggestions on how your behaviors could be enhanced, and update your development plan accordingly.

We view giving feedback as part of our job and have scheduled meetings (one on ones, performance appraisals) that lend themselves to discussing the positive behaviors and accomplishments, as well as the missed goals and opportunities.

Self-improvement takes time, courage, ambition, and the desire to change. Are you ready to take the next step and obtain formal feedback?

QwikTip and QwikCoach

PeopleTek’s Strategic partner, E-Coach, specializes in online coaching tools.

QwikTip for Becoming a Better Team Member

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

Did You Know?

Graduates of PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey Earn:

  • IT Professionals: 19 priSM CPD credits
  • Human Resource SPHR/PHR/GPHR: 19 HR (General) credit hours
  • Project Managers: PMI – up to 37 hours / 3 PSM level points
  • Executive Coaches: 18 ICF CCE’s (Core Competencies) & 5 ICF CCE’s (Resource Development)

Additionally, the Journey is approved for PMI re-certification credits.