Bill Treasurer's Blog, page 29
February 9, 2016
Are you ComFEARtable? Don’t Get Comfortable Being Afraid!
Many leaders are trying to lead people who are too comfortable doing things the way they’ve always done, and too afraid to do things differently. Some of the team is too comfortable, some are too afraid, and many are both.
Comfort and fear are damaging in the workplace. People who are too comfortable don’t exert themselves any more than they have to. They become satisfied meeting a minimum standard of performance, equating “just enough” with good enough.
At the same time, workers who are too fearful play it too safe. Fearful workers set safe goals, say safe things, and make safe choices. Because fearful workers spend far too much energy preserving what is, instead of pursuing what could be, their preoccupation with safety ultimately becomes dangerous for the business.
Comfort and fear in smaller doses can be good things. Striving to gain comfort with new skills, for example, is a worthwhile goal. At the same time, fear helps workers to focus on preventing and mitigating risks by keeping them vigilant about small issues that could grow into big problems. But in higher doses, and especially when mixed together, comfort and fear become toxic.
They become comfeartable – comfortable being afraid.
Comfeartable workers grow comfortable working in a perpetual state of fear. They develop a high tolerance for misery, often staying in jobs they don’t find gratifying, or worse, secretly despise. Comfeartable workers also include people who dump problems in your lap but offer no solutions for solving them. For these workers, going the extra mile just takes too much effort.
So what’s a leader to do? Make it safe for people to be uncomfortable.
People don’t grow through comfort. They grow by facing challenges, pursuing stretch goals, and attempting new things… all of which are inherently uncomfortable. But doing these things doesn’t require being afraid, just uncomfortable.
As a leader, you have to nudge people outside of their comfort zones while also driving out fear. tweet this
Here are three action items to drive out fear in your workplace:
Identify where people are playing it too safe. How might you be contributing to people’s reluctance to experiment, innovate, and try new things?
Review your area’s goals and objectives. Work with your team to identify the uncomfortable actions that will best serve to advance the goals and objectives.
Identify the specific actions you will take to get outside of your own comfort zone. Don’t just look at your team – look at yourself and your priorities. Get uncomfortable!
Too much comfort and too much fear are bad for business.
As a leader, your job is to support people so they can move outside of their comfort zones. When you get it right, people will become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
How are you encouraging your team to be uncomfortable? Giant Leap’s signature “Courageous Leadership” workshop will teach you how to change your workplace! Contact GLC at info@giantleapconsulting.com to learn more.
Image credit: unsplash
January 26, 2016
Build Your Confidence, Not Your Fear
Fear and excitement prompt the same neurological responses. Think for a moment about what happens to you physiologically when you are really, really afraid. Your heart races, your palms sweat, your breath gets faster and shorter, and your stomach teems with butterflies. Well, guess what? Those same physiological responses happen when you are going to have sex!
Fear and excitement are both high-arousal states. While there are almost no neurological and physiological differences, there is one critical distinction: you experience fear as displeasure, and you experience excitement as pleasure. It follows that you move toward situations that provide pleasure and you avoid situations that provoke displeasure.
What if you could learn to convert your feelings of fear into feelings of excitement? tweet this
It’s possible! By utilizing the idea of a protective frame, you can shift your focus from doing things to reduce fear to doing things that will increase your confidence.
Learn more in this short video!
January 19, 2016
Be Real: Lead From Your HEART
As a practical matter, it’s a good idea to care about your people. When they know you care about them, they will care about you—and your success. In fact, you’ll know that you’re truly a leader who cares when the people you lead start seeking and valuing your input, when they take an interest in your career aspirations, and when they are actively supportive of you. And when your people care about you, they’ll help you get better results.
Much of my book Leaders Open Doors is about the metaphorical doors that open-door leaders create for the people they lead (the thought-shifting door, the door of opportunity, etc). But there’s one more door that you have to open before you can fully call yourself an open-door leader: the door to your heart.
The people you lead need to see that behind whatever shell you portray lives an imperfect being just like them. They need to know that, despite whatever successes you’ve achieved, whatever power you’ve amassed, and whatever perks you get, you’re still “real.” They want to know that however big your britches are, you still have a sympathetic heart that they will always be able to reach. As long as people know that you have a good and open heart, they will let you push them, give them tough feedback, and ask them to do more.
Power works best when it’s anchored in humility. tweet this
Some people just aren’t the feeling type. That doesn’t mean they don’t care. They just don’t show their caring through their emotions. My son, Ian, for example, is not a touchy-feely little tyke. On the contrary, he’s a rough-’n’-tumble boy, often with mud on his face and dirt on his feet, who tends to shy away from sentimental stuff. For example, one day when Ian was jumping on our backyard trampoline with his brother and sister, Alex and Bina, I called down from our deck to let them know I was going away on a business trip. I said, “I love you, kids!” Bina responded, “I love you too, Daddy!” Then Alex chimed in, “I love you too, Daddy!” Then Ian said, “I love your shirt, Dad!”
Like many people, Ian is uncomfortable showing his emotions, and that’s perfectly fine. Unlike his brother and sister, Ian has never been one to come up and spontaneously kiss me on the cheek. However, sometimes he does slap both of my cheeks, pull my face toward his, grit his teeth, and smoosh his forehead into mine as hard as he can. I consider this his way of showing me that he cares. The important thing is to show your caring heart in whatever way you can. Just make sure you check with HR before smooshing somebody’s head!
Here’s some practical ways you can infuse your team with compassion and caring:
Get out of your office. Don’t cloister, walk the halls, and dedicate a few hours each day to not looking at a screen of any sort.
Smile more. People won’t approach you if you’re a perpetual grump.
Set up and post a LinkedIn profile so people can view your educational background and career history if they want to.
Display a few pictures from your life outside work and/or your family.
If your company sponsors a softball league or folks get together for trivia night, join in the fun. Participating in casual activities should help defrost you.
Use these words liberally and sincerely: “thank you.”
Does your team have a compassionate leadership model?
Do you personally lead with humility?
Please contact Giant Leap at info@giantleapconsulting.com to learn about our leadership workshops, including our team interventions and assessments.
This post is an excerpt from Leaders Open Doors by Bill Treasurer.
Image credit: condesign
January 12, 2016
Reaching Your Goals Begins Here
Most people perform better when they are heading toward a goal. But it is important to understand that the goals must motivate. If your goals leave you feeling inadequate, stressed out, or over-worked, then you will lack the motivation to complete them.
Goals that motivate have specific characteristics:
Clarity. Clear goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). When a goal is clear and specific, people know what needs to be done and what is expected.
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, if 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.
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.
Task Complexity. For goals that are highly complex, we have to not only give people sufficient time to meet the goal, but actually provide the time to practice or learn 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.
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.
Once the goals are defined, each goal should be “drilled down” with specific objectives and measures. Objects can be thought of as the yardstick; measures can be thought of as the exact location on the yardstick of each goal area; and both short-term and long-term objectives and measures should be defined.
Remember, the goal is the outcome you want to achieve. The measures are how you’ll get there. (tweet this)
When determining your objectives and measures it can be helpful to ask, “How will we know when this goal is achieved?” “What, exactly, will be different around here when the goal is attained?”
I appreciate this simple statement from Sir Edmund Hillary:
“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.”
Is your team achieving its goals? Does everyone pursue goals with accountability and ownership?
Contact Giant Leap at info@giantleapconsulting.com to learn about our leadership workshops, including our Goal-setting and Accountability course. This post is excerpted and adapted from the course notebook.
Image credit: geralt
December 22, 2015
Bringing The Holiday Spirit
Leadership requires sound judgment. But there’s a big difference between having sound judgment and being overly judgmental.
Sometimes when you’re too judgmental, you become intolerant. You pre-judge a situation and that gets in the way of connecting with others.
In this 2-minute video, Bill shares about a day he went to a Christmas parade with his kids.
Something happened that quickly shifted him from having a holiday spirit… to being overly judgmental.
Watch it now!
December 15, 2015
Bringing the Holiday Spirit
Leadership requires sound judgment. But there’s a big difference between having sound judgment — and being overly judgmental.
Sometimes when you’re too judgmental, you become intolerant. You pre-judge a situation. And that gets in the way of connecting with others.
In this 2 minute video, Bill shares about a day he went to a Christmas parade with his kids. Something happened that quickly shifted him from having a holiday spirit… to being overly judgmental.
Watch it now!
What can you do to bring the holiday spirit into all of your interactions all the time — not with judgment but with goodness?
The post Bringing the Holiday Spirit appeared first on Giant Leap Consulting.
December 8, 2015
So You Want To Be Mentored?
Mentors are supremely important to an aspiring leader. They are the voices whose feedback reaches our heart and head. They are the steady hands that firmly hold us accountable to our own potential. They are the polishers of our conscience, the magnifiers of our potential, and the encouragers of our self-worth. Mentors, in short, matter.
A survey of Fortune 500 companies found that 96% of executives credited mentoring as an important development tool, and 75% said mentoring played a key role in their career success. Benefits to being mentored include:
Planning and achieving career goals.
Improving and expanding your network.
Understanding the culture of the organization, its practices, and the strategies needed to negotiate them.
Handling people at all levels and perhaps understanding particular people or clients you are working with.
Developing interpersonal skills.
Proactive dealing with issues and day-to-day problems.
Making you more capable to manage your current role and future career.
Know The Responsibilities
As the mentee, you must know what you want to achieve from the relationship and set goals. It is important to clarify your expectations of the mentor and create a schedule for meeting with the mentor. It is your responsibility to drive the relationship!
“Your mentorship will only be successful if you are committed to your own development.” info@giantleapconsulting.com to get started.
This post is excerpted from: Just Between You Me: A Workshop On Mentoring.
So You Want to Be Mentored?
Mentors are supremely important to an aspiring leader. They are the voices whose feedback reaches our heart and head. They are the steady hands that firmly hold us accountable to our own potential. They are the polishers of our conscience, the magnifiers of our potential, and the encouragers of our self-worth.
A survey of Fortune 500 companies found that 96% of executives credited mentoring as an important development tool, and 75% said mentoring played a key role in their career success. Benefits to being mentored include:
Planning and achieving career goals.
Improving and expanding your network.
Understanding the culture of the organization, its practices, and the strategies needed to negotiate them.
Handling people at all levels and perhaps understanding particular people or clients you are working with.
Developing interpersonal skills.
Proactive dealing with issues and day-to-day problems.
Making you more capable to manage your current role and future career.
Know the Responsibilities
As the mentee, you must know what you want to achieve from the relationship and set goals. It is important to clarify your expectations of the mentor and create a schedule for meeting with the mentor. It is your responsibility to drive the relationship!
Your mentorship will only be successful if you are committed to your own development. tweet this
Choose a Great Mentor
Many employees and managers complain about not having a mentor. Such people are usually waiting for the company to assign a mentor to them. But mentoring works much better when the mentee takes responsibility for choosing a mentor. The first place to start is: get yourself a mentor!
Five key characteristics of great mentors are:
Content Dragon: Look for someone that others respect. A mentor should be someone who can be looked up to as a role model of the company’s values and ideals.
Broccoli Pointer: A mentor is someone who is capable of pointing out embarrassing things about how you are “showing up” at work. Think of it this way, if you came back from lunch with broccoli in your teeth, a mentor wouldn’t be shy about pointing it out!
Independent Loyalist: While a mentor is someone who is loyal to the company, he shouldn’t have drunk so much of the organizational happy-juice that he can’t think independently. Pick a mentor who has a mind of his or her own.
Storyteller: A great mentor is a master storyteller. When you’re struggling with an issue, your mentor should willingly share a story about a similar struggle that he faced in the past.
Lifelong Learner: Pick a mentor who constantly strives to be a better leader himself. Ask the mentor who he or she considers to be his or her mentor(s).
Are you ready to get started? Then take the first steps!
Seek out someone, establish a schedule, and invite them to be a part of your personal growth.
Remember, it is the mentee who drives the relationship! Set goals. Create a schedule. Accept feedback. Most of all, be committed.
Do you need help taking the first step toward being mentored?
Giant Leap Consulting can lead a workshop or webinar on mentoring for your company. We can also provide guidance on structuring a mentoring program. Contact info@giantleapconsulting.com to get started!
This post is excerpted from Just Between You and Me: A Workshop on Mentoring.
The post So You Want to Be Mentored? appeared first on Giant Leap Consulting.
December 1, 2015
7 Ways To Improve Your Professionalism
Here at Giant Leap, we understand the need for professionalism — and in fact, we offer an entire workshop focused on that particular topic, which highlights the following 7 characteristics. These focal points are designed to help you and your company improve professionalism across the board.
#1 Character
It all starts with who we are, and how we conduct ourselves. Character is the defining attribute of professionalism.
A key aspect of professional character for anyone — leader, employee, or even client — is integrity. Like bridges, people with high integrity are those who aren’t missing elements of good character. They are honest and ethical in all their dealings, not just at times when it is convenient or when they are being watched. When you have integrity, there’s a high degree of congruence between the values you espouse and your actual behavior.
Remember: the best test of your integrity is how you behave when nobody is watching.
#2 Caring
Are you invested in your work? Go-getters, the best (and often most professional) employees, take an interest in strategy and direction. They seek out tough job assignments. They take responsibility for their own careers. They strive to learn new skills and capabilities to deliver higher levels of value. They want success for their teammates and themselves. In short, go-getters care — they give a rip!
#3 Clothing
Be conscious of your professional image. The way in which you physically show up (clothes, hair, tidiness, etc.) will certainly make an impression on the people you meet and those with which you work. A professional appearance is also a way to express consideration for others and a desire to keep them from feeling uncomfortable.
#4 Customer Service
A keymark of a professional is how they treat their customers. Exceeding the expectations of customers should be a part of every company’s mission statement. Great customer service is based on building relationships. Some tips for relationship building include:
Make friends with clients. There’s an old saying, “Get a customer, make some money. Make a friend, make a fortune.”
When entertaining, know what you can and can’t do from an ethics standpoint.
Learn and acknowledge birthdays. Send people birthday cards.
Send handwritten thank you notes. Mailed, not emailed.
#5 Communication
What you say and how you say it will go a long way to communicate whether or not you are a true professional.
Before meeting with a client for the first time, set yourself up for good and friendly communication. Do upfront research on that person — Google them, use LinkedIn, get to know as much as possible about them. Make a good first impression by looking people directly in the eye, shaking their hand (firmly), and saying their name enough to memorize it. Don’t jump into the business conversation. Find out what they like to do, their passions or interests, and start with that.
#6 Composure
Composure means handling stress maturely. It involves being level-headed when dealing with pressure. When in conflict, remember that there are always three sides: my side, the other person’s side, and some place in the middle that has pieces of each side. Usually the middle is the truth.
The ability to courageously maintain composure amidst conflict is a key marker of professionalism.
#7 Commitment
Professionalism requires commitment. It requires maintaining professionalism when it’s temping or easier not to. With clients, show your commitment by following up soon after meetings to recap the outcomes and commit to your action items. It shows you’re conscientious and engaged.
As an employee or leader, YOU must commit to stepping it up!
Commit yourself to the 7 C’s and you will see a difference in how you are perceived and, more importantly, how you feel about your own professionalism.
Interested in learning more about Giant Leap’s professionalism workshop — or other courses? Email us at info@giantleapconsulting.com!
Image credit: Unsplash
7 Ways to Improve Your Professionalism
Here at Giant Leap, we understand the need for professionalism — and in fact, we offer an entire workshop focused on that particular topic, which highlights the following 7 characteristics. These focal points are designed to help you and your company improve professionalism across the board.
#1 Character
It all starts with who we are, and how we conduct ourselves. Character is the defining attribute of professionalism.
A key aspect of professional character for anyone — leader, employee, or even client — is integrity. Like bridges, people with high integrity are those who aren’t missing elements of good character. They are honest and ethical in all their dealings, not just at times when it is convenient or when they are being watched. When you have integrity, there’s a high degree of congruence between the values you espouse and your actual behavior.
Remember: the best test of your integrity is how you behave when nobody is watching.
#2 Caring
Are you invested in your work? Go-getters, the best (and often most professional) employees, take an interest in strategy and direction. They seek out tough job assignments. They take responsibility for their own careers. They strive to learn new skills and capabilities to deliver higher levels of value. They want success for their teammates and themselves. In short, go-getters care — they give a rip!
#3 Clothing
Be conscious of your professional image. The way in which you physically show up (clothes, hair, tidiness, etc.) will certainly make an impression on the people you meet and those with which you work. A professional appearance is also a way to express consideration for others and a desire to keep them from feeling uncomfortable.
#4 Customer Service
A keymark of a professional is how they treat their customers. Exceeding the expectations of customers should be a part of every company’s mission statement. Great customer service is based on building relationships. Some tips for relationship building include:
Make friends with clients. There’s an old saying, “Get a customer, make some money. Make a friend, make a fortune.”
When entertaining, know what you can and can’t do from an ethics standpoint.
Learn and acknowledge birthdays. Send people birthday cards.
Send handwritten thank you notes. Mailed, not emailed.
#5 Communication
What you say and how you say it will go a long way to communicate whether or not you are a true professional.
Before meeting with a client for the first time, set yourself up for good and friendly communication. Do upfront research on that person — Google them, use LinkedIn, get to know as much as possible about them. Make a good first impression by looking people directly in the eye, shaking their hand (firmly), and saying their name enough to memorize it. Don’t jump into the business conversation. Find out what they like to do, their passions or interests, and start with that.
#6 Composure
Composure means handling stress maturely. It involves being level-headed when dealing with pressure. When in conflict, remember that there are always three sides: my side, the other person’s side, and some place in the middle that has pieces of each side. Usually the middle is the truth.
The ability to courageously maintain composure amidst conflict is a key marker of professionalism.
#7 Commitment
Professionalism requires commitment. It requires maintaining professionalism when it’s temping or easier not to. With clients, show your commitment by following up soon after meetings to recap the outcomes and commit to your action items. It shows you’re conscientious and engaged.
As an employee or leader, YOU must commit to stepping it up!
Commit yourself to the 7 C’s and you will see a difference in how you are perceived and, more importantly, how you feel about your own professionalism.
Interested in learning more about Giant Leap’s professionalism workshop — or other courses? Email us at info@giantleapconsulting.com!
Image credit: Unsplash
The post 7 Ways to Improve Your Professionalism appeared first on Giant Leap Consulting.
