It’s Boring (WT712)

It’s Boring (WT712)

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by Shirley Dalton | 16 Feb, 2024 | Blog, Mindset

WT 712 It's boring

I was talking with a friend this week.

She asked how I was going at the gym.

“OK”, I said.

“Only just OK?” she asked.

“It’s boring”, I blurted out.

“Boring?”

“Yes, I do the same exercises every time and I find it boring. It’s the same with some yoga classes I’ve attended as well. The same thing week after week after week.”

“Hmmm.  Do you think that some people might like that? They might like the security of knowing what they will be doing each time and also improving as they practise and repeat?” she enquired.

“I suppose so, but that’s not me. I need variety. In one way, that’s why I like yoga because you can do so many different poses, depending on what you feel like at the time.”

I’m the same with breakfast. I can only eat the same thing so many days in a week before I get bored and have to change that too.  Ross is happy to eat cereal every day of the week.

The conversation moved on.

We’re all different. We all have different personalities and different needs and wants.

I remember doing a systems project one time with a finance team in real estate. They loved the fact that they knew what they were doing at any minute of the day on any given day. For example, at 9:00am they started the bank downloads. At 9:30am they started reconciling the entries. At 11:00am they stopped for morning tea. Every second Thursday the processed the pays etc. etc. etc.

I was impressed with how much they liked their structure and routine.

I couldn’t bear it.

How about you?

Are you a routine sort of person?

Do you like knowing what’s coming next? (The Counsellors and Advisors in the REACH profiling system.)

Or, are you like me, a Coach or a Driver, who loves spontaneity, variety and change?

Either answer is ok.

It’s about knowing yourself and the people around you and finding ways to satisfy those needs.

I realise now why I loved being on Relief Staff, 40 odd years ago. I travelled around the region and relieved in various motor registries when the permanent staff were on leave. I loved meeting new people. I loved learning about new locations and I wasn’t there long enough to get involved in the office politics and I didn’t know from one month to the next where I would be working. It could all change in an instant. (It’s also where I got a lot of my systems training and mindset from because I could go into any motor registry in New South Wales and do the job. No training required because they were all the same.)

How about you? What is your preference and what ways have you found to satisfy yourself?

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

Strengths-Based Selection (WT711)

Strengths-Based Selection (WT711)

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by Shirley Dalton | 9 Feb, 2024 | Blog, Business

WT 711 Strengths-Based Selection

This week we’re back on the topic of recruitment.

It seems that recruitment and retention is the biggest challenge for businesses at the moment so I thought I would share a couple of tips with you.

  1. REACH profiling
  2. Skills assessment

I use the REACH profiling system because it is a comprehensive ecosystem.

Not only does it provide a number of different reports such as Personal, Communication and Leadership, we can also generate an Interview Companion.

The Interview Companion is gold. It is based on “strengths-based selection”.

In other words, we want to hire people in roles that are suited to their strengths.

We know that interview is the least reliable form of recruitment because applicants tell us what they think we want to hear.

The Interview Companion helps us to clarify the strengths we want for each role, which makes it very easy to see if the candidates’ strengths match the role.

The second tip is to assess the skills either before, during or after the interview.

If touch typing is important for the role, you can test this at https://10fastfingers.com.

If spelling, grammar and formatting skills are important, you can test that too.

Perhaps you need someone who can get their way around Excel. Ask them to complete a couple of tasks in Excel. You’ll soon see how well they can use it, as well as how they interpret instructions.

It’s okay to assess the candidate’s skills, if it’s important to you that they come with skills.

Some companies are happy to train and they need to test for attitude and aptitude. One way to test attitude is to invite the candidate to come to work with you for a few hours or a day.  They get paid, it’s not for free, however it gives you an opportunity to see whether they have initiative.

It allows you to see how they communicate with and relate to team members and customers.

Determining the assessments and criteria can be quite easy if you have taken the time to be clear on what you want from the role and have worked out the K.E.S.A.Q. required for the role.

  1. Knowledge
  2. Experience
  3. Skills
  4. Attitude
  5. Qualifications

And the third and final tip is “don’t be desperate”.  When you’re desperate, you’ll most likely hire the wrong person and then end up having to do it all over again within a few months.

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

Should I Smile? (WT710)

Should I Smile? (WT710)

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by Shirley Dalton | 2 Feb, 2024 | Blog, Mindset

WT 710 Should I Smile

You might think that’s a bit of a silly question.

Should I smile?

You might be thinking, “Yes, of course, you should smile”.

And I agree. It’s nice when people smile at us first or return a smile.

What do you do at the gym and other similar places where people are doing their own thing and sometimes your eyes happen to meet?

Do you smile?

I’m usually the first one to smile or wave.

In fact, years ago, Ross and I were driving home one afternoon, and as we came around a corner, I waved at some of the neighbours on their veranda.

“Do you know them?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then why are you waving?”

“Because I’m having a game. Every time I drive past and see them, I wave. I’m waiting to see how long it takes them to wave back.”

“Whatever”, he sighed.

It took a couple of weeks but they did eventually wave and smile. I didn’t get to speak to them, ever, but we had a good waving and smiling relationship.

So, back to the gym.

I don’t know what to do.

Sometimes I smile at people and they seem to look right through me and that triggers my fear of rejection, so then I look down and tell myself not to smile at anyone.

And I can’t help it.

I smile or at least I want to. My mouth sort of half turns up, as if I’m going to smile but I can’t give a full smile though, until I get some sort of sign that it might be welcome. So I suppose I end up looking a bit goofy.

Occasionally someone smiles back, but not very often.

What do you do?

In situations like this, it can become awkward.

And to get more complicated, some days people return a smile and on other days they do not.

I find it really uncomfortable to not smile.

For me, smiling and saying “hello” is a friendly gesture.

I like to acknowledge people; let them know I’ve seen them, they’re important.

When we travelled in the motorhome, we were surprised and delighted at how “friendly” people from Tasmania were; even the young kids would walk past, look up at us, smile and say “hello”.

When we travelled back and stayed on the south coast of NSW, it was a totally different experience. We kept looking at people to smile and say “hello” but the majority of people just looked away before our eyes could meet.

So back to my question, should I smile?

Do you smile or are you the type of person who prefers not to make eye contact?

What are your thoughts on the topic?

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

Let’s Talk About Systems (WT709)

Let’s Talk About Systems (WT709)

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by Shirley Dalton | 26 Jan, 2024 | Blog, Systems and Processes

WT 709 Let's talk about systems

The past few Weekly Thoughts have focused on mindset and leadership.

This week we need to talk about systems.

I’ve been working with a couple of clients the past few weeks, helping with recruitment and creating new finance systems. It’s been a big reminder to me of the value of having systems and processes that others can follow when key people are absent.

Let me give you some examples.

Client #1 – a key support team member resigned after having worked with the company for 3 years. A team of sales professionals relied on the support and whilst they are actively recruiting for a replacement, the sales team now find themselves having to complete the administrative tasks as well as focus on sales.

Client #2 – it’s the end of the school holidays and a long term employee wanted to take a week’s leave to enjoy with her children. The employee works in the finance team. Obviously not everyone in the team has the same permissions to access the company finances so the employee ended up logging in just about every day to complete some tasks.

These companies represent most of the companies I work with.

Most are small, family owned businesses, unlike the then NSW Department of Motor Transport, where I was employed as a 17 year old typist.

After a few years working in the one motor registry, I transferred to what was known as “Relief Staff”. This meant that I travelled around NSW, relieving workers who were on holiday or sick leave.

Every motor registry had the same systems and processes so I could turn up at any registry and do the work.

I was shocked when I left the government to work in small business.  “Where’s the relief staff?” I would ask. “What do you mean my work will be waiting for me when I get back?”

This never happened in the motor registry.  The relief staff did the work and for the most part, when we finished each day and balanced the cash register, we went home and forgot about work until it was time to do it all over again the next day.

This doesn’t happen in small business.

There isn’t the luxury of extra staff because there aren’t enough offices or roles to keep someone employed relieving for 11 months of the year.

So, talking systems, processes and procedures, the best ones are those that are documented in such a way that anyone could follow the procedure and get the desired outcome, even if they have never done it before. They might be slower at first, but at least they could finish the task.

What are your systems, processes and procedures like?

Are you using looms or other screen capture applications to show people what they need to do?

Are you using programs like otter.ai to transcribe an audio or video recording?

Are you using document management systems like TKO to keep all of your procedures in one place, that’s available 24×7?

Are you automating your processes or still wasting time doing things manually?

It’s time to talk systems and if you’re interested to follow the method I use when I consult with systems clients, you can purchase a copy of my book The Loyal Lieutenant: How The Second-In-
Command Brings The CEO’s Vision To Life by going to https://shirleydalton.com/books or you can search Amazon for an electronic copy.

It’s time to talk to systems.

Let 2024 be the year you get yourself, your team, your work and your business systemised, so you too can go on leave and fully rest and recharge without thinking about work.

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

The Trick Is Not To Resist (WT708)

The Trick Is Not To Resist (WT708)

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by Shirley Dalton | 19 Jan, 2024 | Blog, Mindset

WT708 The Trick Is Not To Resist

OMG! I’m SUPER excited.

I got up early this week to join a webinar training with David and Carol Bayer talking about Imagination, Visualisation and Actualisation (IVA).

I want to share the most important point I took away from the training, “the trick is not to resist”.

What this means, is that when we are imagining and visualising the things we want, in what David and Carol refer to as the 4th dimension, we often start comparing that to our current 3rd dimension reality of the 5-senses and therefore we start “resisting” what we want to manifest.

Resistance can take the form of “control”.  We can’t see “how” it can happen, so we don’t believe or have faith and therefore we actively work against ourselves and stop it from actualising.

Another form of resistance comes in our feelings of not being worthy or deserving. As David says, “everyone has the right to imagine” and Carol says, “there are no rules in the 4th dimension”, so our lack of self worth actually prevents us from creating what we want.

Today’s message was a powerful one for me and I trust it will be for you too.

Carol gave examples of people whose “situations” included being homeless for a period of time but that didn’t stop them from creating what they wanted.  If you’re current situation doesn’t match what you desire, no problem. Simply say to yourself and anyone who asks what you are doing, “I’m in the process of building my ……….”(fill in the blank for whatever it is you want).

For example, Jennifer Lopez slept on the couch in her studio after leaving home because she didn’t want to go to college. She wanted to be a dancer. Paul Mitchell was homeless while he was building his shampoo business (in his mind) until the 4th dimension rearranged things for him to string things together and manifest.

It’s one thing to imagine and visualise and feel what you want to create, the trick is not to resist what you are creating.

As Carol and David say, we are constantly creating because we are constantly thinking, speaking, feeling and imagining.  Most of us however, are usually imagining the things we don’t want or speaking about the things we don’t want and therefore that’s exactly what we create.

It’s time to understand how the world works. It’s time to understand how our bodies and minds work and how we are vibrational beings.

The trick is not to resist.

Goosebumps.  How about you?

What are you currently building? What are you currently working on?

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

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