31 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

The Critical “C’s”

The key to an ideal workplace, in one hyphenated word, is this: self-awareness.
–Neil Blumenthal

Awareness continues to be our theme and we suggest conducting a self assessment in what we call the Critical C components.  Rate yourself 1 – 10 in each category (10 = highly effective); any area that scores less than 8 can be considered a target growth area:

SCORE
Clarity                                   _____
Communication                  _____
Coaching                               _____
Courage                                 _____
Compassion                          _____

In the past we’ve only talked about 5 Critical C’s, but we ran across a quote by Zig Ziglar that said “you must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change“, so we’re adding 3 more:

SCORE
Choices                                _____
Chances                               _____
Changes                               _____

Some may be easier to rate than others; ask colleagues, trusted friends, and even family members how they would rate you. It’s a simple form of feedback that may provide you with some great insights. It’s also a great starting point to identify where you are today, and gets you thinking about where you want to be.

Determine what’s most important to you and listen to your inner voice. What behaviors can you modify?  Eliminate? Incorporate?

We all benefit from increasing our awareness levels as it enhance relationships, improves results, and drives us to be a more effective leader. Where will you start?

Working together on solving something requires a high level of humility and a
high level of self-awareness.–Paul Polman

24 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

What Are You Doing For Others?

Average leaders focus on results, and that’s it. Good leaders focus also on the behaviors that will get the results. And great leaders focus, in addition, on the emotions that will drive these behaviors.
–Hitendra Wadhwa (professor, Columbia Business School / Founder, Mentora Institute)

This week in the United States we once again celebrated the life and memory of Martin Luther King, Jr, a minister, a civil-rights activist, an advocate of nonviolence, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964).

Dr. King influenced so many without being arrogant, without being a bully, without looking down and speaking poorly of others, and without being divisive.  Quite the contrary, his focus was on peace and unity, and one of his most famous quotes was “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

He was a leader that held true to his beliefs, and promoted the behaviors required for everyone to be judged on their personal qualities, (not their color) and that violence not be responded to with violence, but rather with actions of peace.

Dr. King shared his “I Have a Dream” speech (and vision) at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He wanted to create a national movement to promote equality and economic opportunities for everyone, and that people would not be “judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Professor Wadhwa provides the following insights from Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I HAVE A DREAM” speech:

  • Great leaders do not sugar-coat reality
  • Great leaders engage the heart
  • Great leaders refuse to accept the status quo
  • Great leaders create a sense of urgency
  • Great leaders call people to act in accord with their highest values
  • Great leaders refuse to settle
  • Great leaders acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers
  • Great leaders paint a vivid picture of a better tomorrow
  • Great leaders know it’s always right to do what is right

And we’ll add one:  Great leaders want to make others be their best; they take others where they have not been before, and would not go by themselves.

What are you doing for others?

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.–MLK

17 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

One Thing

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
–Vince Lombardi

If you had to pick just one thing you wanted to achieve or change in 2019, what would it be?

It could be related to your professional life (for you as an individual, or for your team/organization), or it could be related to your personal life.

From an individual perspective:

  • Where do you want to be more impactful? (personally or professionally)
  • What areas would you like to see grow? (financially or intellectually)
  • Are there relationships that need to be developed or enhanced?
  • Does communication need to be addressed – is it insufficient or lacking clarity?
  • Is there a commitment to continual learning?
  • Does complacency have any role?
  • How’s the home / work balance?

From an organizational perspective, do colleagues:

  • Trust one another?
  • Have open lines of communication?
  • Engage in healthy conflict?
  • Commit to decisions?
  • Hold one another accountable?
  • Focus on achieving collective results?
  • Does the work culture support the agile mind-set?
  • Is risk taking encouraged?
  • Are differences appreciated and leveraged? (strengths/behaviors/styles/values)

It all starts with awareness; what do you envision for 2019? How do you plan to make it real, and are there any barriers preventing success?

What’s one thing you want to achieve or change?

We can help!

The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.
–Anthony Robbins

10 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

Confidence, Courage, Success

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which
we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Do you agree that leadership requires courage and confidence?  We do. So much so, we created the word “courageability” and defined it as “The single most important attribute any leader must have in order to be effective and successful”.

Not only is courage required for leaders to be successful, it must be supplemented with confidence.

Leaders are expected to be confident regardless of the situation. They are expected to be authentic (sharing what is meant and felt), they take risks to achieve results (and expect others to do the same), and they must “Take others where they have not been before and would not go by themselves”.

Success Magazine provides the following about CONFIDENCE:

1. Persevere
Take a step toward pushing your big idea off of the ground. Failure is inevitable. Don’t let it stop you from acting on your dreams.

2. Practice self-care
Words have the power to damage our self-esteem and leave us reeling. When this happens, list your strengths and remind yourself of the value you have to offer.

3. Push back
Today, build your confidence muscle by haggling five times. Ask for a complimentary drink at lunch, or request a loyalty discount from your cable provider. Revel in your newfound bravery and commit to negotiating once a week.  Note: This is hard for many!

4. Be good enough.
Perfectionism is good until it inhibits you from completing a task because you’re hung up on the details. Eliminate the word perfect from your vocabulary and accept that sometimes good is enough.

5. Be the calm.
A good leader knows the next crisis is just around the bend. Prepare for the bad times by anticipating various scenarios and planning your response.

They sound pretty simple but we all know that situations will arise that will challenge us. “Gremlins” may have us doubt ourselves and erode confidence levels.  Be aware of them. It doesn’t hurt to re-evaluate plans, but don’t over-think them. If it feels right to you, it probably is.

Bottom line – lead with courage and confidence!

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
–Winston Churchill

03 Jan
amplified awareness compass
[email protected] Leadership

How Aware Are You?

Awareness is the ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns . . . it is the state or quality of being aware of something.—Wikipedia

What plans do you have to kick off the New Year? Having defined goals and objectives is always highly recommended, but we suggest that in addition to having clear and communicated goals, you commit to amplifying your awareness levels.

Highly successful leaders are not only aware of their own styles, skills and gaps, they are also in-tune with the styles, skills, gaps, and professional desires of those they lead and interact with.

Additionally, they are keenly aware of their work culture. Why is this important?  The group culture impacts behaviors, attitudes, satisfaction levels, and the comfort of the environment, all which impact the ability to obtain results.

Things to ponder:

  • Every work culture has differing styles – are they all appreciated?
  • Is there tension or cohesion within the group?
  • Does the leader (perhaps you) recognize the style differences and address conflict if it exists?
  • Is the reason for the work/tasks/goals understood and supported?
  • What does the team value most?
  • Does there seem to be negativity in the break room?
  • Do people speak up or have they gone quiet?

Per Wiley’s Everything DiSC assessments, there are 8 components that uniquely define us as individuals, which then defines the style and culture of our team. The styles are measured by how we “live”:

  1. Challenges
  2. Results
  3. Actions
  4. Enthusiasm
  5. Collaboration
  6. Support
  7. Stability
  8. Accuracy

Note: How these components are distributed across the team will impact the overall culture.

How aware are you? Understanding group behaviors, fears, emotions, preferences, priorities and needs positions leaders and teams to be highly motivated and successful; don’t neglect awareness levels!

Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change. –Stephen Covey