Blog
Time is Irrelevant (WT486)
We hear people talk of time management and self management. There are any number of consultants and trainers that teach strategies for getting the most out of your day; remember we all have 86,400 seconds in a day and they can’t be banked. One of my mentors, David Bayer explains that, “Time is irrelevant but timing is everything”. What he means by this, is that there is no advantage in becoming overwhelmed with our To Do Lists. From a spiritual point of view, life corresponds with us. If there is something you earnestly desire and have a vision and belief that it will...
What Can a Dog Teach You about Leadership (WT485)
The past few weeks, we have had the opportunity to “dog sit”. It has been a fantastic experience, especially when it comes to implementing the leadership training I provide for others. The first night was a bit rough. I am assuming the dog was missing its owners. He didn’t understand where they were and who these two new people were, so he did his best to assert himself as the leader of the pack. The next morning, Ross and I decided that one of us had to assume the leadership role. Here’s some leadership principles that the dog taught us: There can only be one leader. Consistency is...
I’m Not a Bad Person (WT484)
Sally was sitting in the waiting room of the Doctor’s surgery. Across from her was an older woman who looked like she had experienced some hard times. Her hair was dishevelled, long and grey. Her clothes were ill fitting and her shoes needed mending. She was on the phone talking very loudly, with the phone on speaker. Sally couldn’t help but hear the conversation: “I’m not a bad person,” the lady said. “Why me? I’m starting to lose my faith. All these things have happened to me and it’s been a tough year.” Sally cringed as she listened to the woman’s conversation. “You may not be a bad...
Dogs Don’t Discriminate (WT483)
It was early morning and Ross was driving me to work with a client for the day. I noticed a dog jumping all over a man who was sitting on the cold cement on a blanket. The dog was on a leash and its owner was doing her best to pull the dog away, but it was having none of that. The dog clearly liked the man and continued to strain on its lead; tail wagging furiously and a big tongue doing its best to reach and lick the man’s face. I was intrigued as I watched this and realised that the man appeared to be homeless, or at least he was begging. Next to where he sat, he had two old crumpled...
It’s Reception (WT482)
The phone rang. “Hi Shirley, it’s Reception. Are you guys extending over the long weekend?” I had no idea who Reception was, nor to what she was referring. I had to ask her, “Reception. Reception from where?” She didn’t give me the answer I was looking for. “Are you guys extending over the long weekend?” she repeated. My mind was racing. What reception? What about the long weekend? Then it suddenly dawned on me. She was the receptionist at the caravan park we were staying at. I was working onsite at a client’s premises and normally wouldn’t have even answered the phone,...
You Need a Driver (WT481)
I’ve mentioned a few times about the REACH profile. In the past few weeks, I’ve worked with a number of companies where the executive team have completed their profiles. It has been really interesting to see the results. In some companies, they have at least one of each profile (Counselor, Coach, Advisor and Driver), whilst others are missing a Driver. You need a Driver. A Driver is focussed on the “what”. They are results and outcome focussed and they will push us to get things done. Without a Driver, we can tend to take it a bit easy and may not accomplish as much as we are...
Clean Up Your Mess (WT480)
Years ago, Ross and I attended a week long conference with Jack Canfield, best selling author of The Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference was called "Breakthrough to Success" and was based on one of his other best selling books "The Success Principles – How to Get from Where You are Now to Where You Want to Be". One of the lessons Jack taught us was to take 100% Responsibility for ourselves and our actions. It was confronting at the time and yet so liberating. This week in our leadership experience, I shared a similar exercise with...
Chicken and Chips (WT479)
This week, I facilitated Days 1 and 2 of the Leading Yourself and Leading Others experience. One of the topics is an Introduction to the Assertiveness Model. There is a big difference between being Assertive and being Aggressive. Sadly, a lot of people confuse the two. If you’re acting in an Assertive manner it means you get your needs met but not at the expense of others (win-win). Whereas if you act in an Aggressive manner, you get your needs met and you don’t really give a continental about others’ needs (win-lose). I was horrified whilst waiting in a shopping centre car...
Know What You are Competing For (WT478)
This week, I trialled a new activity for self-awareness with some participants for an in-house training session. Participants had to share their preferences for how their colleagues could best work with them. To make it fun, participants had to select some items without realising that the number of items they selected equalled the number of things they had to share about themselves. The instructions were simple, “Take as many items as you like.” It was really interesting to see how the participants turned this into a competition. They competed for items which backfired on them...
What Game Will You Play (WT477)
Have you ever thought about the type of player you are, when it comes to games? It’s an interesting concept and something I encourage you to do because “How we do anything is how we do everything”. In the last few weeks I dipped my toe into using social media to promote my next leadership experience and I found I had to challenge a few limiting beliefs. One of those beliefs was that I had to get everything right in order to advertise. If I was paying for ads, I wanted to make sure that I got a return on my investment. I had to reframe my belief and expectation to that of...