Leaders! Are you Being the Best that you can be? The 3 Building Blocks to Personal Mastery

Some of you will have heard me say this before; leadership is work in progress. By that I mean we are always being confronted with new situations and new challenges to take on. This may be in the form of a team member who requires some additional support and mentoring, a stakeholder who isn’t on board yet or a new project which requires you to learn some new skills or approach things differently. 

There are 2 approaches to all of these situations:

1.    To be reactive and let the situation control and dictate what you do and where you go, or:

2.    To be proactive and take charge, which requires you to first of all take charge of your self. Not until you take charge of yourself can you begin to take charge of others or the task in hand.

One of my fundamental beliefs is that you cannot lead and develop others until you first learn to lead and develop your self. This is so important because the only thing you have control of is you!!

Every human is a free spirit and has choice, so all you can ever do is help those around you make the right choice – for them.

I realise that this may be a revelation for some of you and if you stop and think about it I’m sure you’ll agree.

When it comes to leadership then the first place to start is with YOU!!

If you want to continue to be at the top of your game you have to constantly review where you are and how you are doing.

Being Proactive

This is a discipline based on a number of key principles and practices:

·       Your personal vision,

·       Your personal mission,

·       Playing to your strengths

·       Understanding your limiting beliefs and overcoming them

Another term for this is personal mastery.

Peter Senge says, “Personal mastery goes beyond competence and skills…it means approaching one’s life as a creative work, living life from a creative as opposed to a reactive viewpoint.”

Senge links personal mastery to effective leadership stating, “The core leadership strategy is simple: be a model. Commit yourself to your own personal mastery.”

It is about creating what one wants in life and in work.

Practitioners of personal mastery exhibit the following characteristics;

·  Their vision is more of a calling than a good idea

·  They have a sense of purpose that lies behind their goals

·  They see current reality as an ally, not an enemy

·  They are extremely inquisitive

·  They work with, the forces of change

·   They feel connected to others and to life itself

·  They feel they are part of a larger process that they can influence not control

The Building Blocks

The path to continuous improvement requires self-discipline around three building blocks that I call the 3 C’s:

Competence : Do you have all the skills you need to do your current role? As a leader these tend to be soft skills rather than knowledge based skills. Do you have sufficient knowledge to be able to do your current role or the one you aspire too? How often do you stop and reflect?

Do you know what your next area of growth or stretch is?

Do you engage in regular feedback from those around you?

Confidence : Do you feel confident in all areas of your job and your life? In what situations do you not feel confident? Are you in the driving seat or is someone else? If you are not feeling confident what is holding you back? What limiting beliefs are getting in the way? What assumptions are you making?

Commitment : How motivated and dedicated are you to your role? What de-motivates you? What areas, if any, are you less committed to or tolerating? It is about taking responsibility for the direction that your life is going to take. Are you taking action that moves you forward?

Take some time to explore this. You may surprise yourself and discover how self aware you are or identify your next area of growth.

The path to being the best you can be guides you to being more aware of your beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. It enables you to accept yourself and be responsible for your action, attitude, and thought and the impact you have.

Wherever you are on your journey take time to first celebrate all your achievements, something we often forget to do; and then decide what’s the next stretch for you?

Your decision will not only make you a better leader who inspires others to grow, your improvement will influence others and eventually change the world!

"From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do -- now." 

Epictetus 

Where are you creating your own blocks to further success?

Have you ever wondered why it is that you are not making any progress on an issue?

Or

Know that you can achieve more than you are and can’t seem to breakthrough to the next level?

Or

Notice that you always seem to ‘trip up’ just when something important is at stake?

If you have had any of these thoughts did you actually stop to think through the answer or did you just ‘try harder’ or walk away?

What are the stories you tell yourself about your life, your work, your industry?

We all ‘get in our own way’ and often prevent ourselves from being even more brilliant that we actually are. We do this through our own unconscious patterns of behaviour and limited thinking, telling ourselves:

“It can’t be done”

“It’s not possible”

‘If I do that x (usually something shameful or awful) might happen”

“ In this business the only way to make this happen is y (usually the old tried and tested way)”.

“This always happens to me”

All of these are stories. They blinker us and these beliefs we have are always driven by fear and often from a place of thinking you are fundamentally flawed, you’re being disloyal, you’re a burden or you can’t stand out

They stop us from seeing what just might be possible.

As a leader in business you are constantly learning and working to be better at whatever you do as the world constantly changes around you. Yet most of us focus on tasks and management tools and techniques. These all help, however, our stories are created in our head. No amount of busyness or management tools and techniques will change the stories. 

What you have to change is your mindset.

Your mind and the way you think is what opens possibilities that will allow you to work smarter not harder. So you need to start by becoming aware of your thoughts – those voices in your head – the unconscious thoughts. I want to stress here that it is about awareness and not judgement. The voice of judgement is usually one of those voices in our head too.

It is about being a little kinder to your self and simply noticing and being curious and often acknowledging how you think. This alone can bring BIG insights to your patterns of thinking and how you may be sabotaging yourself.

Judgement takes us into collapse, guilt, shame, fear and may lead us to giving up and accepting things as they are. Awareness on the other hand, leads us to compassion, curiosity, understanding and growth.

If, like me, you want to be the best you will discover it’s a life long journey as just as you get to where you set out you discover another path to explore. I compare it to peeling an onion to reveal one layer only to find there is more to it, and the deeper you go the more powerful it/you are.

Getting out of your own way

The good news is you can do something about this. One of the best ways is to work with someone like a coach or good mentor. An external person can often see what we can’t, our blind spots, and a good coach or mentor can help you work through it.

Yes the internet will give you some hints and tips, and it may also feed some of your limiting patterns….. and there are some good books out there too. I have found that working with someone has helped me make the biggest progress in the shortest amount of time. It has also provided me with GREAT support.

So, the question is are you ready to take yourself to your next level of greatness?

If you are, be prepared – you just might turn out to be the super star you’ve always wanted to be!!

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

Guatama Buddha

Team Alignment – A 4 Part Health Check

I recently read some research that looked at the winning leadership behaviours that lead to outstanding team performance, particularly when under pressure. One of the top three was alignment, (The other 2 were capability and autonomy).

So, I’ve put together some simple questions to assist you in conducting a quick health check and determining where you may need to put some focus:

How would you describe the alignment of your team?

Are you?

1. Fully functioning, running like a ‘well oiled machine’ where balls are rarely dropped.
2. Managing to get along and just about hit deliverables but it’s all a bit like hard work and you feel as though you have to constantly chase people.
3. You’ve had to re-adjust several timescales and deadlines to accommodate the team. Things just never run smoothly and lots of mistakes are made.

Hopefully you are somewhere between 1) and 2) and if you are 3) what I have to say will still be of value, although it’s probably going to take a little longer to get fully aligned!!

Wherever you are right now these 4 questions will help you determine what needs ‘fixing’. I would recommend you address them in this sequence, as they will also help you prioritise action. The questions are:

1)   Why do we exist?

2)   Where are we heading?

3)   Who does what?

4)   How do we behave?

Why do we exist? The foundation

What is the team there to do? What is their role in the company? Is everyone clear about this?

It sounds obvious, but if you are a team who’s role is to develop new products and there are members of the team who think you are there to develop existing products this can cause some friction albeit subtle.

Ensuring every single member of the team understands what you are there to do can bring great clarity in determining where to focus efforts and what to say no to.

For me it’s the ‘why are we here’? Your teams mission statement and the foundation piece to alignment.

Where are we heading? The guiding system or sat nav

 

Does everyone know in what direction you are heading? It helps if you are all pointing North. How you get there can be varied but if you are all pointing in different directions it’s going to be a longer and potentially exhausting journey.

Your direction may be your strategic goals, your operational objectives, or your company vision – the key is clarity and simplicity. Do your team know what you are going to deliver and the difference it will make? Can you describe it in a couple of sentences? If you find you are rambling, or trying to cover every eventuality you’ll find your team will make their own interpretation, leaving room for missed opportunities, inefficiencies and conflicting priorities.

You may find you have to repeat this several times to make sure it’s fully understood. It will be worth it in the long run!

Who does what? The resources

This is being clear about roles. Who is doing what? Do the roles in your structure allow you to deliver what you are meant to deliver? Where does accountability for delivery sit? How do the roles interrelate? What’s required for the team to run smoothly around the tasks/projects you are delivering?

Is everyone in the right role? Having people fully equipped not only ensures great teamwork it will also increase individual engagement and as a result greater performance.

Are people playing to their strengths? When people play to their strengths there is a sense of ease as well as enjoyment.

How do we behave? The driving path to get you there

What’s the culture you want in your team? How do you want your team meetings to run? How will you make decisions? How do you want it to feel? How will team members communicate with each other? How will problems be resolved?

How often will you review collectively how you are doing? Are you prepared to have a degree of candour so the real conversations take place when they need to and not in the corridor with the people who aren’t involved?

Even the best teams need to stop to reassess.

These questions will allow you as a leader and to quickly review where you are, and be used as a review with the team to identify any areas of realignment.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

Michael Jordan

4 Steps to Identifying the Culture of a Team

It is rare that you have the opportunity to create a team from scratch and select every member yourself. It has only happened to me once. More often we join an organisation or new division and have a ‘ready made’ team in place for us.

 All too often in these situations we focus on getting things done and talking to individuals about what has to be or is being done. Very rarely do I hear of anyone giving some attention to the How of the team - How it operates.

Yet today more leaders are having to:

• ·       Take on newly created positions
• ·       Are asked to achieve more and have broader objectives
• ·       Have frequent shifts in job responsibility
• ·       Must deliver results faster

Personal agility is obviously important in managing these changes. Harnessing the energies of your team sooner rather than later will also help. Therefore, being able to quickly read the culture of a team when you join it, is a great skill to have.

Here are some ideas on where to look so you can see the ‘wood from the trees’.

First let’s be clear about what we mean by culture. It’s the how things get done around here. The ideas, customs and social behaviour of the group e.g. how decisions get made, the look and feel of the space, how ideas are generated and developed.

So here are some simple, but not easy steps to take:

Step One: Identify the Essence of the team

Approach this as if you are an archaeologist uncovering the origins of the team and how it came about, or a historian uncovering the story and folklore about it. In some ways this is the hardest part as the aim is to get a handle on the intangible ‘stuff’.

Questions you might want the answers to are:

·    How and why was this team/department originally created? Was it to create change? Was it to bring about some structure and stability? Was it to grow the market? Create new products?...

·    How was it positioned at the time?

·    What was going on in the broader organisational culture at the time? Was it going through a merger? Was it growing? Was it in crisis?

·    How have customers related to it over the years?

·    How do they relate to it now?

·    What makes it stand out?

·    If there were a documentary or film about it what would it be called?

Step Two: Searching for Substance

In this step you are continuing your ‘dig’ or research and looking at what is in place to substantiate what you may have discovered in step one.

Questions you might ask here are:

·       What is the basis of its relationships customers? Is it to solve their problems? To make them feel better? To make their life easier?

·     What policies and processes are in place? Are they formal or informal?

·     What is the product/service the team produces?

·     What does this look and feel like?

·     How do the team interact? Do they socialise together? Is there a lot of laughter and joking? Do they seem very closely knit? Are they very respectful?

·     What value does the team bring to the organisation?

·     How do people in the team dress?

Step Three: What’s not Working

Here you are looking at what is missing or what isn’t working. This can also give you clues to the culture of a team; for example I worked with a function where team meetings didn’t happen, or if they did they were inconsistent. It helps you in identifying what the culture isn’t rather than what it is and if you are struggling with the steps above it can really shed some light on the situation.

Some questions you might ask here are:

·     What confuses or mystifies you?

·     What values, approaches or topics cannot be talked about? For example can people talk about mistakes, new ways of doing things, success, poor performance?

·     What do people complain about?

·     Are people distorting or failing to see reality clearly?

Step Four: Reflection and Analysis

This is where you get to put all the pieces together to see what picture develops. What is the predominant orientation of the team? It’s important at this stage you identify what is actually happening rather than what you think it should be. When I do this I take a balanced scorecard approach, it’s one way of keeping it simple. So here it is:

Areas to Consider	Which Category Best Fits your Analysis?
Structure and Process	1.    Structures and processes are built around the needs of customers (either internal or external) 2.    Structures and processes are there to bring stability, control or efficiency 3.    Structures and processes are there to support innovation and learning
Results	1.    Results are achieved by being goal focussed, driven and working as a team 2.    Results are driven by vision and inspiring people 3.    Results are based on breaking rules, continually improving being non conformist
Relationships	1.    Relationships are based on us all being equal and banding together 2.    Relationships are based on having fun and being playful 3.    Relationships are based on community and closeness – best friends
Learning & Innovation	1.    Learning and innovation is based on loyalty, job security and not rocking the boat 2.    Learning and innovation is slow based on research, analysis, planning and learning as you go 3.    Learning and innovation is more about employee autonomy and a pioneering approach

Now, you may well be reading this and saying well teams do all of these things! In truth, and in my experience that is very rare. True they may do a number of these things, however, the skill I talked about earlier is to identify which ‘style’ in each quadrant is the most dominant and there is usually 1.

The trick with this is to not spend weeks analysing it. You can do this in the first week or 2 and often the first team meeting (if you have one) will give you lots of clues.

A cautionary note

It helps if you know your own preferences. This way you can remain objective. If you find you are having an adverse reaction to how things are done, they are likely to be operating in a way that is not to your preference.  This may be good or bad news, depending on why you have been brought in.

 For those of you who are task focused you may be asking why bother?  There are 3 clear benefits.  You will:

1. Be able to harness the strengths of the team quicker 
2. Be able to see where team effectiveness can be improved 
3. Be able to integrate new members to the team quickly

All of which will enable you to deliver better results.

"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start." 

 Nido Qubein 

Do you need to re invent yourself?

I hope your answer to this question is no!

I have read a few articles recently that suggest that managers and leaders need to reinvent themselves to be able to manage their careers successfully. 

Whilst I do believe that as a manager and a leader you have to adapt to your situation I don’t believe you have to ‘reinvent’ yourself. And I guess it’s this word that jars with me. Inventing something to me is about creating something new. The Oxford English dictionary defines it as: devise, originate, fabricate which I don’t feel are words that define authenticity in a human being.

Your Brand

I do believe we all have a brand. This brand is what people say about you when you leave the room, the impact you make and the qualities people see in you. 

Understanding your brand begins with self awareness. It’s understanding what motivates you – your values, your strengths, how you are perceived and your aspirations and then utilising these to your advantage.

The starting point is therefore to understand who you are so you can communicate your brand confidently and congruently. Having a clear personal brand will allow you to:

§  Positively manage your impact

o   When you are clear about your identity and the impact you want to create you can more effectively behave in a way that is aligned to your brand.

§  Clearly articulate who you are and what you are about

o   When you are clear about your brand you will be clear about your values, your purpose, your skills and the value you bring to any organisation, or team.

§  Connect your ability to the reputation you have/want

o   When you are clear about your brand and who you are you can clearly express what you are expert at, what you do best and what you are the ‘go to’ person for in terms of your experience and skills.

§  Identify areas in which you may need to develop and/or manage yourself more effectively

o   When you are clear about your brand and the reputation you want to create you will easily be able to identify skills, experience and behaviours you need to develop to consistently fulfil this.

o   When you are clear about your brand and the reputation you want to create you will easily be able to identify skills, experience and behaviours you need to manage to deliver your brand consistently.

§  Differentiate yourself from others

o   When you are clear about your brand you will easily be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors and communicate what makes you unique

The good news -- and it is largely good news -- is that everyone has a chance to stand out. Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills. Everyone has a chance to be a brand worthy of remark.

If you are interested in discovering your own brand with relative ease call me and I’ll share with you my approach to achieving this. Or download my ‘Personal Branding Demystified’ booklet.

‘Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else.’

Judy Garland

Networking - Talking to Random Strangers

I was inspired to write this blog after watching a TEDx video of Heather White a networking expert. 

I know Heather, so maybe I’m biased, and what I like about the way she works is that she makes it (Networking) very practical. So if, like me, networking fills you with dread watch this video, it only takes 10 minutes!

If you still need convincing this also links to my last blog about practice. If networking is a topic or activity you are resisting, then maybe networking is the very thing you need to practice.

Despite social media, networking is still a skill that will help you professionally and personally, it is an essential element of your job and your career.  

Your career and business performance will depend on you having the right connections and visibility.

Mindset

This is the key for me. If your mindset is right everything will follow. Do you enter networking thinking;

 This is a great opportunity and I’m clear about what I want from it.

OR

 **** I hate this and let’s just get through it/ no one is interested in me, or, what I have to say.

The thing to remember when networking is events are only an opportunity to meet people, and only meet people. Any relationship building will happen beyond that event.

If I do go to an event I usually get clear in my head the purpose of going and what I want the outcome to be and being really clear about this. It may be as simple as reconnecting with someone. If you go in expecting nothing you’ll come out with – you guessed it – NOTHING!

Trust

People buy and enjoy working with people they trust. This can only begin to happen once you have met someone. You may be able to create interest through social media, however it’s my belief real trust starts to be built when you meet face to face.

Start building a network that links to your ambitions.  Your connections should include having a sponsor, a mentor or coach or role models; it should also include knowing the best recruitment agencies or headhunters and having an updated CV.

You never know when you are going to need support or advice. It may be knowledge, information about a particular sector, career advice or simply emotional support. Whatever it is this will only happen once you have built and earned trust.

Getting Started

Begin by creating a compelling reason to get out there under your own steam:

• What is the purpose of you networking? Is it for career development, winning new contacts/business, to position yourself as an expert, to learn…

• What are your aims/intentions?

• What sort of contacts do you need and how many?

• Where are your priorities?

The Principle of Queues

If you are still wondering whether to watch this clip Heather talks about the principle of 4 types of Queues. This is a great way to practice networking and building confidence even in social environments.

She’ll even give you some tips on how to create a conversation and how to get away from one!!

It’s all about people. It’s about networking and being nice to people and not burning bridges. …………………………. in the end it is people that are going to hire you.

Mike Davidson

Overwhelm – What is your capacity?

How often do you feel you are being inundated with ‘stuff’?

How often do you feel you are drowning?

How often are you faced with something that causes a strong emotional effect on you?

These are all moments of overwhelm and the question is not how do you stop them happening but how do you build your capacity to handle them effectively. So take a moment to assess your current level of capacity. What happens to you mentally, physically and emotionally when you are overwhelmed?

If these situations happen everyday then you have a great opportunity to start today to build your capacity. If they don’t happen that often then you have a very well developed capacity or, maybe you are coasting.

It happens to us all at different stages in our life. It may be caused by a new promotion, an increase in responsibility, taking on a new project or committing to something you haven’t done before. When you are faced with it how do you respond? My guess is it’s more of an Oh *@*@! Moment than a WOW this is fabulous! Moment.

Choice

We always have choice. Doing nothing is a choice we make, whether consciously or unconsciously, and often doing nothing is an unconscious choice we make. Until of course we realise it……

Which of these do you do when overwhelmed?

1.    Retreat: This may be you backing off and relinquishing your responsibility, handing it over to someone else. It may involve you not facing reality, in the hope that it will go away. Often this results in the situation just getting ‘bigger’. This may be real or perceived and the resultant situation is one of stress and may involve you working harder and/or longer.

2.    Invest: You decide that the only way to overcome this is to learn more about it – it being the topic you are faced with. It may be that you invest in resource, someone who knows how to deal with this or simply ‘throw bodies at it’. After all there is safety in numbers! You may decide to reorganise the work or streamline things or re prioritise what needs to be done.

3.    Reflect: This is often the most difficult thing to do, to consciously step back from the situation and ask yourself some searching questions:

a.    How did I/we get here?

b.    Does this support my/our longer-term goals?

c.     Is this an invitation for me to personally grow? How do I build my capacity in these situations?

d.    How can I lead this differently?

Opportunities for growth

These situations are always opportunities for personal growth and I know my own initial reaction is – I don’t know anything about this!!!! However, I also know when I stop and reflect I begin to recognise what I do know. I then begin to notice what I can do in the situation and where the real opportunities may be for me to learn, practice and grow.

So where are your opportunities for growth?

“ Play for more than you can afford to lose, and you’ll learn the game.”

Winston Churchill