28 Jan
[email protected] Success

Principles and Priorities

Don’t let the priorities of others replace your own top priorities.

How do you decide what’s a priority? We often think of what’s important (items that contribute to supporting our goals and objectives) and also what’s urgent (items requiring immediate attention but may or may not contribute to the success of meeting our goals and objectives). Scheduling time to action both isn’t always easy and can make us conflicted and stressed.

Enter John C. Maxwell. He provides what he views as the three Rs for the Law of Priorities:

  1. Requirement
  2. Return
  3. Reward

To get started he suggests asking yourself:
What is REQUIRED of me? Any realistic assessment of priorities in any area of life must start with a realistic assessment of what you must do. This can pertain to both your personal and work life.  He also says: If you lead others, then what must you personally do that cannot be delegated to anyone else?

Next is:
What gives me the greatest RETURN? As you progress in your career, you begin to discover that some activities yield a much higher return for the effort than others. After determining requirements, focus on choices with a high return on investment (ROI).

And lastly:
What gives me the greatest REWARD? If you do only what you must, along with what is effective, then you will probably be highly productive. But you may not be content. I think it’s also important to consider what gives you personal satisfaction.

He also adds that these questions are meant to be asked IN ORDER. Many of us would love to skip down to #3 and focus on the most rewarding/fun/exciting activities. But no one can be successful who doesn’t possess the discipline to take care of the first two areas before adding the third.

Your biggest challenge may be to identify what’s a true priority and remain focused on tackling those items without letting “gremlins” get in the way, and, it never hurts to start addressing your priorities with a cup of coffee!

Nobody’s life is ever all balanced.
It’s a conscious decision to choose your priorities every day.
–Elisabeth Hasselbeck

21 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

MLK Jr. and Leadership

No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This week we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King was a minister, a civil-rights activist, a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964), a promoter of equality, an inspiration for harmony and growth, and a great leader. He has been quoted hundreds of times, and we wanted to highlight a few:

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
As leaders it’s up to us to rally team members, ensure shared goals are supported, and to create opportunities for collaboration.

Learn a little about the past, and you may end up with a pretty nice future.
Awareness is key! What worked well? What changes could be made to be more effective?

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Not everything goes as planned, expect and plan for obstacles and be persistent.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.
Successful leadership requires courage. Leaders empower themselves and others to go farther than they ever dreamed possible.

People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
Clear and timely communication, inclusion, and building relationships eliminates walls.

And, we’ve shared this before but it’s worth sharing again. 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

May no one rain on your dreams, may you inspire others to never give up on theirs, and may doing “right” always be a priority!

The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

14 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

Are You Still Learning?

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.
—Jim Rohn, Author, motivational speaker

Hopefully as a leader you are committed to being a continual learner.  You’ve grown over the years and are in a leadership role but what does that mean? There are numerous ways to define Leadership.  Part of what PeopleTek promotes is:

We believe everyone is a leader, regardless of title or reporting structures since we all have the ability to INFLUENCE others.

Strong and effective Leaders take others where they’ve never gone before and wouldn’t go by themselves.

And, we also believe effective leaders are continual learners.

Author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn shares the need to commit to self-development and identifies 7 “must have” leadership traits:

  1. Learn to be strong but not impolite
  2. Learn to be kind but not weak
  3. Learn to be bold but not a bully
  4. Learn to be humble but not timid
  5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant
  6. Learn to develop humor without folly
  7. Learn to deal in realities

What were your thoughts when you read through the list? How many have you mastered?  Which could you further develop?

Did any names come to mind (colleagues/clients/bosses) where you thought these traits were either consistently displayed or severely lacking?

It’s the beginning of a new year and the perfect time to establish goals and commit to self development.  A simple start is to pick two areas:
– A strength you already have (how can it be further
developed?)
– An “opportunity” to strengthen (which from the list
left you feeling uneasy?)

Are you still learning? Be a life-long learner!  Having the desire to continually grow your wisdom, knowledge and skill-set prevents stagnation and increases the likelihood of success.

Learning is not a one-time event or a periodic luxury. Great leaders in great companies recognize that the ability to constantly learn, innovate, and improve is vital to their success. – Amy Edmondson

 

07 Jan
[email protected] Leadership

2021 Needs Versus Desires

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…
these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
–Confucius

We dealt with the challenges that 2020 provided us, now it’s time to assess if/how our needs and desires have changed from last year or if they have pretty much remained the same.

Things to consider:

From an individual perspective:

  • Where do you want to be more impactful? (personally and professionally)
  • What development area(s) would help most with your growth? (financially or intellectually)
  • Are there relationships that need to be developed or strengthened?
  • How are your communication skills? Do you over or under communicate?
  • Do you schedule time for you? (To use however you choose!)
  • How could your life be more meaningful?

From an organizational perspective, do your colleagues/direct reports:

  • Support shared goals?
  • Trust one another?
  • Engage in healthy conflict?
  • Hold one another accountable?
  • Collaborate on achieving collective results?
  • Support an agile mind-set?
  • Embrace differences? (values/culture/gender/behaviors/styles)

What are your “needs” for 2021?  What about your “desires”?  How are you differentiating them?  We suggest that you:

  1. Write them down
  2. Prioritize them (and add target completion dates)
  3. Consider any barrier that could get in the way
  4. Document any dependencies
  5. Track your progress regularly (at a minimum, monthly)

    May all your wants and desires be fulfilled!

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
–Napolean Hill