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Don’t Give Up Give Over (WT524)
Twenty plus years ago, when Ross and I were in America for a training course, we went to a special spiritual type of shop where I purchased a tiny set of Indian American Oracle cards. The cards have beautiful artwork of American animals and their Indian totems. One of the cards that often seems to show up for me is a picture of a graceful white swan swimming on calm waters. The words on the card read, “Don’t Give Up, Give Over”. I love this card because it reminds me to give up the fight; to let go of the stress; in other words to surrender, and the past few weeks that’s...
I’m Not Interested in Your Personal Life (WT523)
You’ve heard me mention the REACH profiling system a number of times. This week, I was privileged to see one of the profiles in action. I was talking with a new acquaintance who was explaining his philosophy on hiring and working with staff. “I can’t stand it,” he said. “I hired this person and every morning I had to waste an hour while we talked about her kids, the dogs, what she did on the weekend, etc. before she would start work.” I smiled to myself as I thought, “Wow! This is typical Driver behaviour”. “And if that wasn’t enough,” he continued, “I then had to thank her for everything...
Let’s Talk About Culture (WT522)
I’m curious. What’s your definition of culture in the workplace? Who do you think is responsible for culture? Do you think culture is important? Can you change it? These questions and more came up for me as I attended yet another hair salon on my travels. Overall hairdressers/hair stylists perform the same tasks wherever I go and I have to say, since COVID-19, I am eternally grateful for hairdressers. One round of Ross colouring my hair was enough for both of us. Anyway, we digress. Let’s get back to the tasks performed in a salon. In my case, that’s a cut, colour, some highlights and a...
You’ve Got to Be In It to Win It (WT521)
Firstly, I want to thank everyone for entering to win 12 months access to our Leading Yourself and Leading Others Online Membership, as a way of celebrating 10 years of Weekly Thoughts. When it comes to life and winning, you have to be in it to win it. Congratulations to our 7 winners: Annie Luke Lynda Corrine Ryan Anne Michael In case you are interested in how we chose the winners, we actually didn’t. The universe chose for us. We simply assigned a number to each entry and then each day, Ross loaded the numbers into a random number generator on the computer and the number...
We’re Celebrating 10 Years of Weekly Thoughts (WT520)
Do you ever surprise yourself? Wow! This week I'm celebrating. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I could commit to writing a Weekly Thought, EVERY WEEK FOR 10 YEARS. I have to say I've surprised myself. I'm also really happy with myself and I'm proud of my achievement, and more importantly, I am GRATEFUL. I am grateful that you have been on this journey with me, whether we've just met or you've been here since the beginning. THANK YOU for being there. I love receiving your feedback, especially when a thought resonates with you. I love my community and I just love sharing what...
Two Types of Trust (WT519)
This week, I was talking with a colleague and he asked me a rather unusual and interesting question. “Shirley, do your clients have to trust you before they engage you?” I didn’t have an answer for that straight away, so I “percolated” on it for a day or two and then shared the following with my colleague: There are two types of trust that are needed: Clients have to be able to trust that you can help them achieve the outcomes they want. This means they have to trust that you have the experience and training, etc. plus previous examples of how you have helped other clients, and ...
Look at Me Look at Me (WT518)
Most days Ross and I enjoy a walk together, usually in the morning or middle of the day. Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and although the temperature was only 13 degrees Celsius, we felt warm with the heat of the sun. We came upon a bridge over the Lachlan River in New Norfolk, Tasmania. The bridge was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. As we neared the bridge we saw a young man walking towards us. He was a large man. In fact, he took up most of the width of the bridge, leaving no room to pass. We waited politely for him to cross. Both Ross and I...
Keeping Yourself Accountable (WT517)
This week, we started our first virtual LIVE online Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience. I was so thrilled and delighted that the group passed their very first homework assignment. “Big Deal”, you might be thinking. Yes it is a big deal. It’s a very big deal. In over 10 years of facilitating this experience, there have only been about 3 or 4 groups that have actually passed some of the homework and only one group that passed ALL of the homework activities. By doing the homework, participants learn what it means to be both a member of a team and to lead a team. One of the key...
What’s Your Pillow Talk? (WT516)
The past few weeks, I’ve been focussing on my business and digging deeper into who it is I serve and how I can help, and of course, that means digging into the language I use to help my ideal customers identify themselves. I was first introduced to the concept of Pillow Talk by Lisa Sasevich. Pillow talk is different to marketing speak from marketers and copywriters. Pillow Talk is the language your customers speak. It’s what they say to each other when they are laying in bed talking to each other. For example, “Honey, I don’t know how we’re going to pay the mortgage this month. I...
Feedback – Giving and Receiving (WT515)
Firstly, a warm welcome to our new Weekly Thoughts readers. I’m so thrilled to write to you each week. I trust you’ll find the messages helpful, inspiring and educative. We’ve been going almost 10 years and I’m so grateful for all our readers. Thanks for showing up. This week, we’re talking about being open to both giving and receiving feedback. I was coaching with a client this week, and we'd almost finished the call when he mentioned one last topic. I was looking at the time and knew that if mentioned the thoughts I had, we would definitely go over time and I also had a presentation...