Blog
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...
Time in Your Mind (WT656)
You know how every so often someone says something and it really resonates with you? Well, I was at a new yoga class this morning and the yoga teacher made a comment that I thought I’d share with you. “We spend a lot of time in our mind each day, so we’d better make sure it’s a nice place to stay.” Wow. This resonated because of the work I’ve done with David Bayer regarding suffering. Bayer’s mission is to end all human suffering. What he means by that is our psychological suffering. There is no suffering in the experience. If we look to nature, there is no suffering. No psychological...
You Have To Get Down (WT655)
For the past week or so Ross and I have heard noises in the ceiling. Both too scared to get up and have a look, we called in the pest experts. They came, climbed into the roof cavity, agreed there was something there, either a rat or a possum and laid baits and traps. Each night we would hear the animal leave and then arrive back each morning between 4:30am and 6:00am. Each day the pest people came to check the trap. Nothing had moved. “Should we move the trap closer to where we think they are?” Ross asked the pest person. “No. They’ll come get the apple if they’re hungry”, replied the pest...
Don’t Allow Yourself to Be Bullied (WT654)
“Everywhere I go, I get bullied”, cried Jane. “Don’t say that”, I replied. “Because that’s what you’ll manifest.” Our words are so important. They are commands to our unconscious minds. Let’s make a pact that this year, we will be very mindful about the language we use, especially when describing ourselves and our situations. Bullying doesn’t just occur in the workplace. It can happen with suppliers as well. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied into accepting a product or service you don’t want. You are the expert on you. You know what you want and don’t want. It’s okay to say “No”, when you...