Leaders developing leaders.

Leadership

What’s Your Magic Dust?

The meaning of life is to find your gift.  The purpose of life is to give it away.
—Pablo Picasso

Are you familiar with our term “magic dust”?  Some think of fairy dust or Peter Pan’s Tinkerbell flitting about.  Not exactly!

Think in terms of what you’re good at.  What comes easy to you? What unique skills and abilities do you possess that impact your level of effectiveness? What do you like doing? (Chances are you’re good at it).

How do you use and apply your special gifts? Do you make others aware of them? Better yet, do you use them to help achieve results and to develop others?  These skills and abilities are our gifts, and that’s what we call “magic dust”.

Our “magic dust” differentiates us from others and often guides us to the type of work or career we find fulfilling. It’s fairly easy and natural to identify what we don’t like doing, and we generally know what we are not good at, but we’re not always aware of why we feel we had a great day at work and just in general feel good.

Are you able to define a good work day? What gives you a sense of accomplishment? Does it include leading others or contributing to their success? Leadership can be formal (ex. direct reports, matrix management, project manager, mentorships, etc), or it could be informal, where your skills lend themselves to you taking “charge”.

This could be related to your ability to build relationships, achieve common goals and objectives, apply your technical savvy, or simply that you are respected, appreciated, and looked up to.

What leadership qualities do you bring to your team or organization?  Are you able to integrate your gifts/strengths both in your career and in your personal life?  It’s great when your ambition and talents serve you rather than enslave you!

This may sound funny, but we have worked with leaders that excel at what they do, are acknowledged and rewarded for their accomplishments, but they quite simply don’t LIKE what they’re doing!

Hopefully that does not apply to you! What made you choose the position you currently have? Do you find it motivating and energizing?

Knowing what you enjoy and where you add the most value will energize you. Using those gifts and skills will increase your level of fulfillment, and sharing them with others will add to your sense of purpose.

What’s your “magic dust”?

Over the years, I’ve learned that a confident person doesn’t concentrate or focus on their weaknesses – they maximize their strengths.—Joyce Meyer

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

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, Institute for Personal Leadership)

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

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

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

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

Trust In The Workplace

When there is trust, team members are able to engage in unfiltered,
constructive debate of ideas.—Patrick Lencioni

How would you rate workplace trust within your organization? Are team members comfortable:

  • Admitting and owning weaknesses and mistakes?
  • Asking for help?
  • Offering and accepting apologies without hesitation?
  • Sharing their knowledge to help others grow?
  • Supporting shared goals where the team will be recognized as a team, rather than as individuals?

Trust issues continually score high as a “need” for individuals, teams, and organizations. This pertains to relationships with colleagues, peers, and bosses, and can also apply to strategic partners and vendors.

Why do you think that is?  Common responses include:

  • What’s in it for me to be vulnerable?
  • If I share my knowledge, I won’t have a “leg up” on others.
  • I prefer to work solo rather than in a collaborative mode.
  • It’s intimidating to speak up and I’m adverse to conflict

Below are some tips for increasing workplace trust:

  • Assess whether there are any reasons others may not trust you.  Work on them!
  • Do you consistently display the behaviors you wish to see in others?
  • How is your current work culture? What changes could be made to make it stronger?
  • Select a highly trusted leader; identify the behaviors you feel make then successful and add them to your “tool-belt”.
  • ASK your team for their ideas about improving trust.
  • Listen and be responsive! Author Patrick Lencioni says “Transparency, honesty, and vulnerability are the key ingredients required for a team to be trusting and truly cohesive”.

What actions can you implement to improve workplace trust?

One of the most valuable things you can do to create higher levels of trust is to trust others more.  Don’t wait for them to prove themselves to you. Trust them.– K. Eikenberry

A Leader; A Legacy

President Bush solidified his legacy of principled, pragmatic, and compassionate leadership.
— Gov. Larry Hogan

The world has lost a great leader. U.S. Republicans, Democrats, Independents and even those with no party affiliation, as well as foreign leaders, expressed their condolences with the passing of George H.W. Bush.  He is mourned and his accomplishments celebrated.

A simple summary of his life was that he was dedicated to a lifetime of public service and a desire to make the world a better place.

Here’s why many claim President Bush (41) was the most accomplished U.S. President:

  • A World War II veteran and Navy pilot
  • Two-term congressman
  • Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  • Ambassador to the United Nations
  • Vice President of the United States
  • 41st president of the United States
  • Father to the 43rd U.S. President
  • Helped end the Cold War
  • Instrumental in German unification
  • A lifetime Public Servant

Below are comments from both Domestic and International Leaders:

  • A true patriot and statesman who embodied decency and selfless service
  • A man of the highest character
  • His legacy of public service may never be matched, even though he’d want all of us to try
  • Sound judgment, common sense, and unflappable leadership
  • Through all that he accomplished, he remained humble
  • He loved his country and lived a life of courageous service
  • You did not have to agree with President George H.W. Bush to respect him
  • He served our country with dignity, integrity, and a commitment to American values
  • His administration was marked by grace, civility, and social conscience
  • He showed political wisdom and foresight, sought to make informed decisions even in the most difficult situations

There is no better summary than what son Neil Bush shared: This is the end of an amazing life.  And from the U.S. Navy: Fair winds and following seas, Sir. We have the watch.

May he Rest In Peace.

George H.W. Bush’s lifetime of service and decades of dedication to honor and duty leave an indelible mark on our nation and on our hearts.– Gov. Larry Hogan

What’s DiSC?

Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint (and awareness).
— Lewis H. Lapham

Words matter; styles and behaviors also matter. Are you familiar with the DiSC model and how our behaviors and preferred styles impact our degree of effectiveness?

The DiSC theory was developed by psychologist William Marston and focuses on four different personality traits: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C). An assessment was then created that identifies and provides an understanding of our preferred behaviors in specific environments.

There are four basic dimensions of behavior in the DiSC profile.  They are:

D –   DOMINANCE   People who display the Dominance behavior shape their environment by overcoming opposition and challenges in order to accomplish results.  They like control, and they don’t like being taken advantage of.

I –     INFLUENCE  People who display the Influence dimension enjoy interacting with others. They shape their environment by persuading and influencing others and by building alliances. They like being involved and being recognized, and they don’t like rejection or loss of approval.

S –   STEADINESS  People with the Steadiness dimension of behavior are accepting of other people’s ideas, and they like a predictable environment with methodical approaches. They like security and stability, and don’t like sudden change or the loss of security.

C –   CONSCIENTIOUSNESS  People with a high Conscientiousness behavior value quality and accuracy, they analyze situations, and seek tactful, diplomatic interactions. They like accuracy and order, dislike a lack of procedures and standards, and may not be open to critical feedback.

If you’re thinking that all four behaviors add value, you’re absolutely right. Each of us has elements of each, but to differing degrees, and an ideal, well rounded team would be comprised of all 4 styles.

This is a very brief overview, but now you have a baseline understanding of “What’s DiSC”?. What behavior(s) do you most identify with? What about your colleagues? Do you want to take it to the next level?

The DiSC model is a very practical and user-friendly theory of human behavior. It creates a common language and a framework to better understand ourselves and others. It is completely non-judgmental with no good or bad categories, or high or low scores.

Why Career Coaching?

Coaching Is The Universal Language of Change and Learning.–CNN

Why is Career Coaching gaining in popularity? Generally speaking, the value of coaching is now being realized.

20 some years ago, companies most often utilized a coach to help manage/address toxic behaviors. That still exists, but more commonly today, career coaching engagements occur so high-potential performers become high performers as well as more influential, inspiring, and impactful leaders.

Joy McGovern, Ph.D shares:

  • Career coaching translates into doing
  • Doing translates into impacting the business
  • This impact can be quantified and maximized

Coaches frequently help their clients with leadership/management skills and behaviors, and with enhancing communication styles. The coaching engagement includes having a clear purpose, exploring improvement opportunities, agreements for action, and a commitment for change.

The coach validates perceived strengths, and will likely discuss behaviors that may be under-used or over-used. They listen, they inquire without passing judgment, and they increase awareness levels.

The coach/client engagement also includes exploring possibilities. The coach provides guidance for moving forward, they are a sounding board, and they remind the client of their purpose and commitments.

The value and benefits of coaching have been reported as:

TANGIBLE BUSINESS IMPACTS
Productivity
Quality
Organizational Strength
Fewer customer complaints

INTANGIBLE BUSINESS IMPACTS
Improved Relationships (with direct report reports, senior leaders, peers)
Improved Teamwork
Reduced Conflict
Increased Organizational Commitment

In summary:
Career Coaching=Career Development=Organizational Bench-Strength=Greater Results

A willing executive/leader is someone who enters into coaching voluntarily, with enthusiasm and the desire to examine their gaps as well as their assets. This implies that willing executives/leaders are those who are open to self-discovery and personal growth, and who want to be coached; otherwise, coaching is a dead-end street.—Christine Turner

 

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