Blog
You Don’t Need To Say That (WT666)
Have you ever noticed that the words we choose and how we say things can have a remarkable effect on others? I was just typing an email to a client and I started to type, “I called you yesterday and left a message”. As soon as I typed it, I realised, I don’t need to say that. The effect of saying that could make the receiver feel bad. She might feel guilty because she didn’t call me back. She might feel annoyed and frustrated because I reminded her that she didn’t do something. She might be angry with me for being passive aggressive and making her wrong. By typing that, I ran the risk of...
The Goldilocks Zone (WT665)
I love it when my peeps embody what they have learned. By embody, I mean they live it; they act it as opposed to having what we call “propositional” knowledge, where we think we “know” something but aren’t yet doing it. They actually do something with the knowledge. For the sake of privacy, we’ll use the names Jim and Jane. Jim and Jane work together. Both are leaders and managers. Jim is an Advisor personality. Jim is a great risk mitigator because he considers all the information and ramifications of different scenarios. He needs to research and think about things before making a decision....
Sometimes You Have To Sacrifice (WT664)
Most mornings, when Ross and I have breakfast, we play Wordle on the iPhone. It’s amazing how much of our school English grammar and spelling lessons come back as we attempt to work out the word for the day. We often start with a word that has at least two different vowels so we either eliminate them or find that they are in the word. We look at the possible endings for the word. Sometimes it could be “ed”, “er”, “ey”, “et” etc. And sometimes, we have to sacrifice a letter that we know is not in the word but could help us work out some more letters. We acknowledge that we are sacrificing an...
Thanks Lady (WT663)
Last weekend Ross and I decided to go for a motorbike ride. We love the beach so thought we would head down the coast and have breakfast. It was a beautiful morning until we arrived at the destination to find that the café appeared to be closed. A lady was walking her dog as we got off the bike. “Excuse me, do you know if the café is open?” I asked. “I don’t”, she replied. “Even though the lights look they are on and I’m a local, I don’t know.” “Oh well, not to worry”, I said. She thought for a minute, then said, “Actually, the surf house around the corner has just opened up a little café...
It’s Not On The Run Sheet (WT662)
Last week I was challenged to walk my talk. It was the last 90 minutes for the Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience. We celebrate with a graduation party. I ordered some beverages and a cheese platter and asked them to be served in the room because last time they were left outside the room and someone out of our group helped themselves to a couple of beers. I poked my head out of the room at the agreed time to see the events person walking away. “Excuse me”, I called. He came back. “I asked for this to be served in the room on a trolley please.” “I can’t give you my trolley”, he...
Cheer Leader or Drill Sergeant (WT661)
What’s the best way to motivate you? Do you prefer the cheer leader or drill sergeant? What’s the difference and why is it important? Let me give you an example. One time I was at the gym. It was a small ladies gym, in the back of the owner’s house. The owner had employed a young girl to assist with training. There was only enough room for about 4 ladies to train so it was quite cosy and everyone could hear and see what was going on. I was on the rowing machine. It was 6:00am. I was moving very slowly and deliberately as I wanted to concentrate on getting my technique right. The young girl...
How It Lands (WT660)
How often do you give feedback to someone about something you’re not happy with and end up in a big argument? Until I learned some amazingly simple communication skills, that’s what used to happen to me. Not backward in coming forward, I often expressed how I felt. Nothing wrong with that and in fact, we encourage you to share how you’re feeling and what’s going on. What was wrong with it was the way I expressed it; the language I used and we’re not necessarily talking about swearing. “Why didn’t you put the butter back in the fridge?” “You did a terrible job of typing that document.” “Great...
Technical Skills OR Leadership Skills (WT659)
Here’s an interesting little fact that I learned recently from Paul Findlay, CEO for the REACH Ecosystem in Australia; the average leader is in a leadership position for about 10 years before receiving any leadership training. Wowza! How often do we hear people discuss how important leadership is and experience the dire consequences of poor leadership and yet our leaders are not receiving the training they need to succeed in their roles? This topic came up a couple of times this week as I coached executive leaders from different industries. One leader owns a very successful coffee...
When You Are Learning (WT658)
What are you like when you’re learning something new? Do you have patience with yourself and your teacher or are you like me and chuck a temper tantrum until you master it? This week in The Loyal Lieutenant Masterclass Series, I had to remind participants that they are learning and that I don’t expect them to submit perfect work. If they knew how to do the thing they were learning to do, they wouldn’t need to attend the class. In fact, one of my favourite quotes is from Aristotle, “For the things we have to learn before doing, we learn by doing them.”...
Confront the Brutal Facts (WT657)
I don’t know where this saying came from, however this week it has popped up for some of my clients and myself. The phrase in and of itself can be confronting. “Confront the brutal facts.” What are “the brutal facts”? Brutal facts are things we may or may not know that are getting in the way of us achieving what we want to achieve. We use the word “brutal” because there can be no denying the facts, even though on some level that’s exactly what we want to do. Brutal because sometimes that’s how we receive the feedback. One time I was complaining to Ross about how unhappy I was with something...