Bill Treasurer's Blog, page 27

Five Key Characteristics of Goals That Motivate

As a leader, you want to set clear and achievable benchmarks for your team. Consider these five key characteristics to create goals that motivate!

1.     Clarity

Clear goals are SMART:

Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.  When a goal is clear and specific, people know what needs to be done and what is expected. Included in clarity is communication—make sure to leave the door open if questions arrive throughout the process of completing the goal. Making goals clear is not just for the employee—it also helps you, the leader, to know what to expect and when to expect it.

2.     Proper Assessment of Task Complexity

For goals that are highly complex, we have to be sure to give people sufficient time to meet the goal and provide the time to practice or learn the skills that are necessary for success.  The purpose of goal setting is successful achievement, so you have to be careful that the conditions around the goal support that success rather than stifle it. Be sure to give an employee access to any information or individuals that can help them along the way.

3.     Feedback

Incorporating feedback into the goal setting process allows for expectations to be clarified, difficulty to be adjusted, and recognition given.  In particular when a goal is long-term in nature, it’s important to set benchmarks that help people gauge their success and see their achievement. It is also helpful if you can create an open feedback line to ensure communication about the given task does not go stale. If there is a question or misunderstanding, you want it to be addressed!

4.     Commitment

For goal setting to be effective, the goals need to be agreed upon and understood.  While this doesn’t mean you negotiate every goal with every employee, there is value in engaging the people working towards the goal in crafting it.  When we help to create the stretch goal, we are more connected to the challenge, and more willing to commit.  The harder the goal, the more commitment is needed.

5.     Challenge

We are often motivated by achievement, so we’ll judge a goal by how difficult we perceive it to be.  If it is too easy, we won’t give it as much attention and energy.  However, it demands us to stretch ourselves in order to achieve the recognition of a job well done, we are more likely to be motivated to excel. Challenging ourselves and others is one of the key ways to encourage growth and set employees up for leadership in the future.

Creating goals that motivate (rather than stifle or exhaust) can be difficult, especially when the tasks at hand are complex or in uncharted territory. By considering the five key characteristics of goals that motivate, you can create an environment of enthusiasm and set your team up for success.

 

How to Have the Courage to Embrace Millennials and Succeed

Keep Calm and have the courage to Maximize Millennial Power

Guest post by Dan Negroni

Millennials are the Power. In the next decade, they will be the most prevalent and dominant generation in the workplace. Technology is changing the world at hyper speed and millennials are the definition of innovation. New apps, inventions and modalities are changing how, when and where companies are conducting work. How leaders and managers navigate this shift will determine whether or not companies succeed. And this “how” comes down to one thing: courage.

It takes courage to trust this emerging generation, who see the world differently than boomers and gen Xers. It takes courage to really be a leader and hand over responsibility to the youth, who have much less experience. It takes courage to delegate tasks and have faith in the talent and work ethic of young workers. This courage is necessary! You must have the courage to embrace your millennials, adapt to the new way and create kick-ass results. How do you cultivate the courage to embrace millennials? Here are 3 steps:

Set the outcome and let your millennials determine the method

            Just like the saying goes, “there’s more than one way to skin the cat.” As a manager, you may be accustomed to working in a specific fashion. While you may feel inclined to force your millennial workers to work the way “you do,” this shows a lack of courage. Millennials are savvy with technology. They’re ambitious and creative. If they can get to point B using a different route, let them! In fact, encourage it.

It’s your job to make sure the job gets done and to guide and mentor along the way. Millennials do operate differently…and that’s ok! Embrace their differences and creativity. Allowing your millennials to work in an unconventional, yet effective matter shouldn’t matter. This will strengthen your “courage muscle” and allow for you to delegate more and micromanage less.

        2. Be their friend

Unlike in the past, the person you are at work, online and at home are essentially the same. Millennials don’t think twice about this because they grew up in the digital age, as the same person everywhere they went. They had the luxury to do so, and we provided that luxury. As a boomer or Gen Xer, you must make an effort to connect with your millennials on a personal level. Ask them questions about their passions, hobbies and interests. Get to know them on a real level. Show that you care by creating authentic relationships.

It takes courage to open up and take off the authoritative mask and be vulnerable. But this will go a long way with your millennial workers. Being vulnerable takes courage, and it will make your millennials more comfortable. Start by asking questions!

        3. Speak up early and often

In the most connected world, we’re actually more disconnected than ever. Miscommunication causes huge issues in the workplace. As a manger, it’s up to you to set things straight. You must actively communicate with your millennials. You must give the sweet and the not so sweet.  Millennials want to learn and grow so teach them, honestly.  Show appreciation for a job well done and acknowledge your team on a weekly basis. Let your millennial workers know when they make a mistake and be constructive in your feedback. You set the example by being bold and telling the truth, confessing your mistakes and being transparent in everything you do. Speaking up with your millennials takes courage. Start small and build your way up! This is how you build courage and authentic relationships with your team.

Be courageous and seize the great opportunity millennials are offering. Embrace their creative ways, be their friend and communicate with fierce honesty and caring that teaches!

 

Need help understanding, engaging, and retaining your millennial workforce?  Dan Negroni, Author, Speaker, Attorney, Kick butt business consultant, coach, and proud Dad of a few Millennials delivers actionable solutions.  Different from all other millennial experts, Dan’s empowering business approach at launchbox, creates quick value and seamless connections with millennials and management each on their own terms.   Using unique content and delivery methods that audiences respond to immediately he leverages results from the inside out.   Allow millennials to be your secret weapon and maximize your commitment to them to innovate, create a culture of engagement and grow your businesses today. To start click here to grab your copy of Chasing Relevance: 6 Steps to Understand, Engage and Maximize Next Generation Leaders in the Workplace or call them at 858.314.9687 for a free Coaching Assessment

 

Leading Change in Your Organization

Great leaders are able to ignite change in their organizations and effectively combat the resistance that often keeps changes from being implemented. Though resistance is a natural and inevitable part of the change process, it still gets in the way. What follows are some ways to help people embrace change more fully.

People don’t resist change, they resist loss. Here are some losses that will prompt change resistance:

Loss of Control: Change is often “imposed” from the top. People feel that they have little choice (i.e., control) but to accept the change. Getting people’s input early on when the change is being contemplated will mitigate the loss of control.

Loss of Competency: People know how to navigate “Point A.” It is known and familiar. “Point B” will require new skills, which means that – for a little while – people will feel incompetent. Training must support change.

Loss of Relationships: Organizational changes often impact reporting structures. “Re-orgs” almost always impact or disrupt the network of existing relationships.

Loss of Security: When the path to success changes, people become insecure about their future. People need to see how embracing the changes will provide them with stability.

Below are 6 powerful strategies for leading your team to implement positive changes:

Create Urgency: People need a reason to change. The more compelling and urgent the reason, the faster they’ll change. Set aggressive deadlines and hold people accountable to meeting them.
Create Community: The more people involved in the change effort, the easier it will be to make it happen. Socialize your change idea and bring people in to the “shaping” process. This will help them put skin in the game.
Develop and Share the Vision: Because change equates with loss, you’ll need to be explicitly clear about what the future holds, and why it is a better place than where they reside today.
Let People Clear the Path: To clear out the old way of doing things, people will need permission to take risks and be innovative. Support them by empowering them to “own” the problems and define the solutions.
Get Quick Wins: Build momentum and enthusiasm by going for some early wins. Identify “low hanging fruit” opportunities, and celebrate small milestones. Quick wins will help people build confidence for the bigger challenges.
Connect the Change to the Culture: There will be greater change resistance to changes that are perceived as incompatible with the culture. Be explicitly clear about how the changes reinforce and/or build upon the company’s core values.

As Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” By helping your organization to change for the better, you will be laying the groundwork for future changes and greater success.

 

 

5 Keys to Building TRUST

In my work as a courage-builder, I describe three distinct types of courage: TRY Courage, TRUST Courage, and TELL Courage. TRY Courage is taking action to do something you’ve never done before. TELL Courage is being a truth-teller, especially when it’s hard to assert your truth. TRUST Courage involves disarming yourself, being vulnerable, and releasing your need to control or “be right.”

Since leadership is a relationship, and no relationship thrives without a solid foundation of trust, I decided to share some ideas for building trust. They’ll help you unlock the potential in any relationship.

KEEP PROMISES: The best way to gain the trust of those around you is to DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU’LL DO! It is preferable to honestly say to someone, “I can’t right now, I’m swamped” than to take on more than you can handle. A good rule of thumb is to under promise and over deliver. People trust people who keep commitments, so keep your word!
KEEP CONFIDENCES: What does it feel like when you tell someone something in confidence, and then they turn around and tell someone else? If you’re like most people, you get steaming MAD when this happens! No one trusts a gossiper, so resist the temptation to join in when everyone else is whispering secrets. And keep in mind—what may seem perfectly neutral to you may be sensitive to someone else, so always ask before sharing any personal information relayed to you with others.
WHEN YOU  MAKE  A  MISTAKE,  FESS  UP: Sometimes relationships suffer and sometimes mistakes offer a great way to build trust.  When you do something (or someone) wrong, don’t hide it.  Admit it, say you’re sorry with sincerity, and watch the trust grow! Seeing that you are honest with yourself about your faults will help others trust that you are honest with them, too.
KEEP GAINING SKILLS: It’s important to keep gaining, and deepening, your skills. People trust competent people. Think about it: who would you trust more to be your brain surgeon, a resident doctor on his first day on the job, or a seasoned doctor with years of experience? In today’s changing world, this key is increasingly important. It may be a hassle to keep up-to-date with the latest in your field, but it’s 100% necessary.
BE WILLING TO TRUST FIRST: For people to trust you, they have to know that you trust them. Instead of waiting for the other person to “prove” themselves to you, why not just trust them first? Chances are, when you offer trust, you’ll get trust in return. Building a relationship involves a certain amount of risk, but nothing worthwhile is ever risk free!

“The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust.” —Abraham Lincoln

Contact Giant Leap at info@giantleapconsulting.com to learn about our leadership and trust workshops.

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Four Skills for Open-Door Leaders

My bet is that the leaders you most admire are the ones who left you better off than they found you by creating opportunities that helped you grow.

How?

By being open to you, valuing your input and perspective.
By being open with you, telling you the truth even if the truth is difficult to hear.
By helping you be receptive to new possibilities and experiences and new ways of perceiving and thinking.

Open-door leadership involves creating or assigning opportunities in order to promote growth. By promoting the growth of those they lead, leaders increase the likelihood of their own success and advancement. They also increase the likelihood of creating other leaders, which is essential to building a lasting leadership legacy.

People and organizations grow and develop to the extent that they capitalize on opportunities to do so. Opportunities are important to leaders because they’re important to the people they lead. Opportunities are the venues where people can try, test, better, and even find themselves. The leader’s job is to match the opportunity to the person and to help the person—and the organization—exploit the opportunity for all it’s worth. Open-door leadership is about noticing, identifying, and creating opportunities for those being led.

Leaders create leaders by opening doors of opportunity that have a positive and lasting impact on the behavior of those they lead.

Want to be this kind of open-door leader? Start by studying and applying these four skills.

Know your employees: Have extensive knowledge about the backgrounds, needs, and desires of your employees. Invest time in getting to know them beyond the tasks they get done for you. Ask them directly about their career goals and aspirations— what do they want to get out of this job? Keep in mind the goal isn’t to intrude or interrogate. It’s to gain 9 Introducing Open-Door Leadership insight into their goals, strengths, and motivations. We’ll talk more about this in the coming chapters.


Match suitedness: Draw connections between the opportunity and the developmental needs of your employees. This involves constantly being on the lookout for opportunities that can advance your employee’s careers. Then, when opportunities are identified ask yourself, “Whose growth and development would pursuing this opportunity most advance?”


Envision the desired results: Have a clear picture of the desired benefits that given opportunities present for the employees and the organization. Once an opportunity is assigned, do some “future-casting” with your employee, thinking through the potential benefits—to the employee and the organization—that could emerge if the opportunity is successfully accomplished. Also give some thought to the actions that will have to occur to maximize the probability of success.


Provide ongoing support: Genuinely want, and support, your employees’ success. This skill is an outgrowth of the other three. When you really know the aims of your employees—when you’ve assigned them to a juicy opportunity that’s ripe for their skills and worked with them to develop a clear picture of a successful outcome—you almost can’t help but take a strong interest in their success. Stay involved by periodically asking what support they need from you, removing barriers that might block their progress, and offering encouragement and guidance when they hit roadblocks and bottlenecks.

The more you cultivate these skills, the more you will see opportunities to open doors for others.

Learn more about Open-Door Leadership here

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Courageously Fearful

I’m an ex-high diver. Every day for seven years I would climb to the top of a hundred-foot high-dive ladder (the equivalent of a ten-story building) and stand atop a one-foot-by-one-foot perch. Then, after a quick prayer, I would leap into the air like an eagle taking flight. Except eagles soar upward. I never did. I would always go down, careening at speeds of over fifty miles per hour into a pool that was only ten feet deep. Fifteen hundred high dives, all done with no parachute, no bungee, and no safety gear. Just me and a Speedo. Keep in mind,  I am profoundly afraid of heights.

Becoming a high diver was a culmination of a series of things I did to engage with, learn from, and ultimately dominate my fear of heights. Many of the lessons I learned from this experience are chronicled in my first book, Right Risk: 10 Powerful Principles for Taking Giant Leaps with Your Life (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003). The book’s front cover has a picture of me diving while on fire. No kidding.

I’m so convinced of the importance of courage to business success that in 2002, after working as a change-management consultant for over a decade, I founded Giant Leap Consulting, a courage-building company. Our mission is to help people and organizations to be more courageous so that they can take whatever “giant leaps” they’re facing. Through the work Giant Leap has done with thousands of workers and renowned organizations, we’ve developed a track record of helping people to be more courageous at work.

Courage is not limited to extreme feats of bravery. There’s a more tempered, everyday experience of courage that is accessible to everyone. It takes courage, for example, to…

deliver upward feedback to your boss,
volunteer to take on a challenging project where others have failed,
fess up about a mistake that you or your company made,
give a presentation to your boss’s boss,
enforce new performance standards on tenured or seasoned employees.

If you aim to have a thriving career, or make a true difference at work, or lead other people, you should start by committing yourself to working with courage. Courage isn’t just for daredevils. It’s for everyone!

THE 5 P’S OF RISK TAKING

Risk taking is, for better words, a risky business, albeit a necessary factor in successful decision making.

Use these 5 P’s to help guide you on your path towards choosing the RIGHT risks to take.

PASSION: By arousing the strongest, most untamed parts of our nature, and stirring up the wild mustangs in our soul, our passion gives us the raw energy and wherewithal to suffer through the anguishing moments that often accompany right risk.

PURPOSE: Purpose serves to harness our passions and give them direction. Ask, “How will this risk make me a more complete person? How will this risk further my life’s purpose? How will it help me get to where I want to go?”

PRINCIPLE: Right Risks are governed by a set of values that are both essential and virtuous. As mentioned, risks are essentially decisions, and when facing a decision of consequences, principles form a set of criteria against which the risk can be judged.

PREROGATIVE: Right-risk takers view the power to choose as a privilege, and then honor it as such. By consistently making choices at a conscious level, they are better able to make superior judgment calls at an instinctual level — in fast-moving situations.

PROFIT: A Right Risk should come with a real potential for gain. Risks are, well, risky. And in exchange for assuming the potential risk of hardship, you are entitled to some real and unequivocal upside Notice, however, that Profit is the fifth “P”. It’s the criteria that should be assessed last.

OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN FACING A RISK:

Downside & probability: What could go wrong and how likely is it that it will?

Upside & probability: What could go right and how likely is it that it will?

Controllable & uncontrollable factors: What important factors can you control? What important factors are beyond your control?

Reversibility: If you make a decision and it starts to go bad, how reversible is it?

Contingency plans: What plans can you put in place upfront so you can act quickly if the decision goes south?

Early indicators: What are some early “red flag” indicators that the decision needs to be reconsidered?

 

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Risk Is Always There

Though risk may be easiest to observe in macro level trends, it often hides unseen in the normal routine of our everyday lives.

Risk is ever-present but only noticed when we stop to think about it. Consider the risks you face in your own life:

Do you regularly drive 10 mph over the speed limit? While talking on a cell-phone?
Do you smoke?
Are you obese or overweight?
Did you ever care for someone with a communicable disease?
Did you ever engage in risky or unprotected sex?
Have you ever converted from one religious or political belief system to another?
Did you ever move away from home?
Have you ever left one career for an entirely different one?
Have you ever strongly disagreed with your boss but bit your lip and said nothing?
Is there something that you really want to do but fear has prevented you from doing it?

As your answers likely suggest, almost everything we do (or fail to do), on some level, involves a risk.

Whether it is leaving home, fighting for our beliefs, confronting the schoolyard bully, or simply trying something new, risk-taking is as elemental to life as inhaling and exhaling.

Yet, given risk-taking’s central role in the human experience, it is strange that there is no guide for improving one’s risk-taking abilities. Instead, we are left to grope through our risk experiences likemapless explorers.

Solution: Take the Right Risks

The right risks are focused, and rich with meaning. Unlike ego-based risks, they transcend the bipolar fields of gain and loss, and are instead anchored to a higher purpose. Rather than feed one’s ego, Right Risks strengthen one’s character. They are fulfilling not because they are fun and exciting (although they often are), and not because they are materially rewarding (although they can be), but because they transport us from where we are to where we want to be.

Are your risks transporting you? Do your people pursue risk with accountability and ownership?

Contact Giant Leap at info@giantleapconsulting.com to learn about our leadership and risk workshops.

Image via Pixabay

 

To Risk or Not to Risk, that is THE Question!

 

To live is to risk. Risk-taking is as essential to life as breathing. It is the oxygen of such things as innovation, entrepreneurialism, leadership, wealth creation, and high adventure. Without risk, there can be no scientific progress, economic expansion, or community activism. At a more personal level, remove risk and there is no personal growth, career advancement, or spiritual development (faith, after all, is a big risk). Personally and collectively, all progress, advancement, and momentum depend on risk. Like air, it is both nourishing and lifesustaining. And, like change, risk is constant, inescapable, and inevitable.

To risk is to live. As a vehicle to personal progress, taking risks is the surest way to get from where you are to where you want to be. The most fulfilling times in your life—the times you felt most alive—have undoubtedly been when you surprised yourself by doing something you never imagined you could, something hard, something scary. Though most of us have enjoyed the accompanying rewards of an intelligently taken risk, most of us have crashed-’n-burned under an ill-considered one as well. By definition, to face risk is to be vulnerable and exposed to harm. Consequently, we spend a lot of time trying to avoid risk by “playing it safe.” Chances are, anytime you have passed up a big opportunity, stayed in an unsatisfying situation, or failed to stick up for yourself, avoiding risk had a lot to do with your behavior.

In a world that continually reminds us about how unsafe it is, it is difficult to maintain a “play it safe” approach. From terrorist threats, to stock market gyrations, to corporate implosions, we are buffeted by the reckless risks of others. In an increasingly compressed and frenetic world, we are like billiard balls being smacked around in somebody else’s poolhall hustle.

Ironically, those who play it safe may be in the greatest danger. When we don’t take risks we get stuck in a rut of safety. Over time, we become trapped inside our own life, like a pearl confined to its shell. Life becomes stale and boring. We grow resentful at ourselves for letting our grand passions languish. We tell ourselves, there’s got to be something more out there for me. But we know we’ll never find it unless we take more risks.

Here are a few questions that can be used when you aim to take more risks:

For the sake of what? In other words, what are you hoping to achieve by taking more risks?
What are you ready to lose? When you “take” a risk, you have to be prepared to sacrifice something in return. What are you willing to let go of in order to gain something through the risk?
What if you don’t risk? Every risk can be divided into two: the risk of action and the risk of inaction. If you don’t take the risk, what negative impacts could result from your inaction.

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An Effective Manager is an Organized Manager

To be organized is to reduce distractions and remove the unnecessary from your life. So stop attending to that stack of junk mail and start delegating those non-critical tasks!

Here are five steps to getting organized:

1. SHINE YOUR SPACE! – Nothing says “weak manager” like a disorganized workspace. Getting organized starts by creating an uncluttered workspace. Clutter is death!

2. MINIMIZE DISTRACTIONS – According to Psychology Today, it takes workers 25 minutes to return to a previous task after being distracted. So start focusing on your work and stop focusingon things like junk email and personal calls.

3. CARRY A NOTEBOOK – WRITE STUFF DOWN! TAKE NOTES – at meetings, with clients, with your boss – shows that you’re serious about results and outcomes.

4. KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES – What does it matter if you dedicate a week of exceptional work in creating a color coordinated timeline that cross-references every detail needed if it is such a low priority that nothing will ever be done with your chart? That sounds like you just wasted your time. So prioritize your work. Keep asking yourself, “What’s the most important task you should be working on NOW?” Complete a time log. Is your time spent advancing the business? Remember: Everything you do comes with an opportunity cost. Use a calendar system (MS Outlook, DayTimer, etc. Convert phone calls into emails.

5. FOCUS ON ONE TASK AT A TIME – Are you guilty of talking on the phone and typing an email at the same time? How effectively are you really at listening to the person on the phone? We are not as good at multitasking as we want to believe. It is more productive to focus on the task in front of you and complete it well the first time before moving on to the next.

Here are some quick tips on how to avoid multitasking:

 Turn off the email alert on your computer when staring a conference call.
 Turn off your screen when meeting with a person in your office.
 Put down your phone when talking with someone in real life, really stop texting.

To learn more about Giant Leap Consulting’s leadership programs, contact info@giantleapconsulting.com

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