Fifteen Years (WT780)

Fifteen Years (WT780)

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WT 780 15 Years

Oh my golly goodness!

Today marks our 15th anniversary of Weekly Thoughts and I haven’t missed one single week in all that time.

This is something I am very proud of – my commitment to you.

I don’t want to miss a week because I don’t want to let you down.

How about you?

What or who are you committed to?

Let’s take a minute to reflect on the past fifteen years.

What’s happened in your life?

Where has your journey taken you?

Ross and I travelled Australia and lived in a motorhome over Covid.

We lived in the USA for 7 months.

We lived on the Gold Coast for a year.

Like gypsies, we’ve bought and sold properties, we’ve packed and unpacked.

I wrote and published two books and contributed to 3 others.

We travelled the world and studied with the best of the best, expanding my knowledge and my certifications to become an internationally certified R.A.P.I.D. Results Coach, a Transformational Mindset Coach, an authorised instructor for Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training and the list goes on.

And most of all, we’ve met and worked with the most amazing clients who inspire and teach us every day.

Anniversaries come and go, so this time, I invite you to take some time and not only reflect on the past 15 years, but look to the future as well. 

Who do you want to be in 15 years?

Where do you want to be in 15 years?

Thank you for being part of our community. Your presence inspires me to keep writing one more thought and one more thought and still another thought.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Just Do Your Job (WT779)

Just Do Your Job (WT779)

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WT 779 Just do your job

Every now and again we have a conversation with someone and something they say gives us goosebumps and chills all over.

I call these “truth bumps” because they indicate to us that what we are hearing is the truth.

This week my body tingled with truth bumps.

I was talking with a colleague about making sales calls.

Prospecting is something that a lot of people resist.

We were discussing how important it is to include a request for introductions or referrals.

My colleague even encouraged me to reach out to past Leading Yourself and Leading Others Graduates to check in with them and also invite them to pass on any referrals, which I did.

As were discussing the various scripts, he gave an example from real estate.

“If I was speaking to Joe Blow, who moved away from the area 10 years ago, I would still end the call by asking Joe if he knew anyone locally who might be looking at selling their home.”

And then came the truth bump moment, he continued, “I’m just doing my job”.

Of course he’s doing his job. He is a real estate agent. Real estate agents have to find their own stock before they can sell it.  It’s not like selling computers where you can simply order more when you sell all your stock.

So, how about you? What’s your job and are you doing it?

Do you need a shift in mindset to get yourself to do it?

As I contacted previous graduates of the Leadership experience, it would have been easy for me to cherry pick and to decide who might want to hear from me and whom I thought might not.

Instead, I shifted my mindset and thought, if I delegated this job to an admin assistant, they would  simply send the message to the phone number and not even think about it. And so I did, I didn’t enter into Automatic Listening and make up stories.  In fact, quite the opposite, I did think of all the wonderful leaders I have met and trained and I got a warm fuzzy feeling.

It was wonderful to be back in touch with so many people.

Just do your job, whatever your job is.

Afterall, you signed up for it.

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Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

The Cycle of Change (WT778)

The Cycle of Change (WT778)

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WT 778 Stages of Change Diagram

Are you thinking about changing something or are you wanting prospective clients to purchase a product of service?

If so, you might be interested to know a little bit about the process we go through when we want to change something in our lives.

In the late 1970s, James Prochaska, a psychologist interested in psychotherapy outcomes, noticed a disconnect in treatment approaches—particularly around behaviour change (e.g., quitting smoking, substance use). Traditional models assumed that people were ready to change, and that all they needed was the right intervention.

But many clients weren’t ready, and even effective therapies failed if used at the wrong time. So Prochaska posed a deeper question:

“What actually happens when people change on their own, without therapy?”

He & DiClemente discovered that people don’t change all at once—they go through a predictable, cyclical process of readiness. And importantly, each stage of change requires different support and messaging.

By studying how people prepare for and attempt change (especially self-changers), they mapped out a non-linear, six-stage process:

  1. Precontemplation – No intention to change
  2. Contemplation – Considering change
  3. Preparation – Planning to act soon
  4. Action – Actively making change
  5. Maintenance – Sustaining change
  6. (Later added) Termination – Complete transformation (for some behaviours)

They published this in their 1983 paper, integrating insights from clinical psychology, behavioural science, and public health, hence it was known as The Transtheoretical Model. (Cycle or Stages of Change is much easier.)

Knowing this can help you identify where you’re at with your own readiness to change as well as where your prospective clients might be. It’s also useful for Organisational Change, Coaching and Personal Development and Education and Public Policy because it helps us meet people where they are, not where we assume they should be.

Obviously someone who is at the first stage, “Pre-Contemplation” is not going to rush to buy your service, so they need education and awareness.

Someone who is contemplating change needs to be informed. You could share stories or data or case studies.

When someone is getting ready, they want you to be available, responsive and solution-oriented.

If they’re ready to buy, it’s time to ask for their commitment.

Next maintain the change through an ongoing relationship – follow up, upsell and support their success.

And if they happen to relapse, they may be experiencing doubt, so reconnect and re-engage to rebuild trust.

You can think of your marketing as meeting prospects where they are, not where you want them to be. A pushy sales pitch in the Pre-Contemplation stage won’t work, whereas a warm, helpful message in Contemplation can help move them forward.

Marketing Mentor, Cham Tang, says, “Marketing is developing relationships with people until they are ready to buy”.

Even if you’re not in sales, think about yourself and your team. In relation to change of any kind, where are you at? Reply and let me know.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

What Is The Missing Link To Team Efficiency? (WT769)

What Is The Missing Link To Team Efficiency? (WT769)

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WT 769 What's the missing link to Team Efficiency

This week I was working onsite with clients looking at their systems.

Like many business owners, they were frustrated because their people were not being efficient.

“How can we improve our efficiency? they asked.

That’s a great question.

What do you think the answer is?

What do you think is the missing link?

If you said “Role Clarity”, you are correct.

“Role Clarity?” “How does that improve efficiency?”

If you think about it, your people come to work to do a good job and feel good about themselves and the contribution they make.

In order to do that, they need to know what they have to do, to what standard.

This is Role Clarity.

You and your people are clear on what they are meant to be doing.

When all team members know where they fit in the organisation and what they are responsible for, you’ll find your business becomes much more efficient.

We can also look at this from another angle.

So many businesses I’ve consulted with do not have a clear organisation chart nor do they have clear job descriptions. (Our preferred method for documenting roles and standards is Key Performance Indicators and Key Behaviour Indicators.)
Without these, people flounder and when they flounder, they become inefficient.

They often end up doing bits and pieces of other roles, which can be quite frustrating for the other and in one business I worked with, the owner was extremely frustrated because she said every job seemed to be done by two people instead of one, hence costing her double for the work.

Whilst having good systems and processes in place, along with well documented procedures and good training and the use of technology goes a long way to improving efficiency, they do not influence efficiency as much as role clarity.

Your assignment this week is to analyse your business or section. Do you have a current organisation structure and if so, is it documented?  Do your people know what they have to do to what standard to succeed in the role?

Reach out if you need some help.

I can promise you, once you are clear and your people understand you’ll find that the chaos, frustration and fighting drastically reduces in favour of a productive harmonious workplace.

And in case you are wondering what the other influencers are, you can check out my Blueprint for Business Freedom, which includes the 3 major areas to focus on:

  1. High Performance People
  2. High Performance Processes
  3. High Performance Potential.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

He’s Not Getting The Job (WT768)

He’s Not Getting The Job (WT768)

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WT 768 He's not getting the job

Recently we had some storm damage, nothing like Cyclone Alfred up north, but enough to have to get the bay windows resealed and fixed.

We used Hipages to request quotes from qualified tradespeople.

One man called straight away on the Friday. We’ll call him Jack. Jack quoted $850 to come and do the work the next day, (Saturday) which was forecast to be raining.

We were a little surprised that:

  1. He quoted without looking at the job
  2. He could get there the next day.

What thoughts would you have about a tradesperson who isn’t booked out weeks or months in advance?

Anyway, Ross told him another person was coming to look at the job on Monday and that he would let him know.

Jack called again on the Saturday to see if he could come and do the job.

Ross reminded him that he had organised another quote for Monday.

Jack called again Monday morning.

He either didn’t hear or didn’t listen.

When Ross told me about Jack, I responded with, “Well he’s not getting the job.”

Jack might have been a good tradesperson.

Jack’s quote might have been fair and reasonable. It was actually half of what we ended up paying.

Jack didn’t get the job because he didn’t listen.

Ross also had a similar experience with another supplier.

Frustrated at the end of a phone call, he said, “I still haven’t finished a sentence”.

Listening is different to hearing.

You use your ears to hear. You use all of you to listen and best of all, your relationships will improve out of sight if you learn to Actively Listen.

Active Listening is a skill and a skill I wish everyone would learn.

When you Active Listen to others you are demonstrating that you heard and understood what they said. This means you repeat back to them what you think they said.
It doesn’t mean you are agreeing with what they say.

When people know that you heard and understood them they can move on and share more with you. They also trust that you did in fact hear them, listen to them and take in what they were telling you.

Your mission this week is to check yourself.

Are you behaving like Jack or the other supplier and not letting your clients, colleagues or family members finish their sentences?

Are you waiting to speak rather than listening?

Are you talking over them?

I sincerely hope not, because you may find that you too are frustrating others and therefore don’t get the job.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

When We’re Ready (WT754)

When We’re Ready (WT754)

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WT 754 When we are ready

This week I was discussing strategy with Mark See, a client turned colleague/friend (as most of my clients do).

In the 10-15 years that Mark and I have known each other, Mark has been very fortunate to have experienced working for a visionary entrepreneur who sold his business to a big corporation which became even bigger.

Mark gets what it means to be strategic.

He’s also forthright with his opinion, so you can imagine the response he got when he told his new corporate leaders that he would take action on a project “When we’re ready”.

He wasn’t resisting.

He wasn’t being petulant or rebellious.

He was actually being strategic.

As Mark says, “When you’re about to execute on a strategy, you can’t go too early and you can’t go too late.”

It’s a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  You have to wait until the time is “just right”, which in Mark’s words are “When we’re ready”.

Being ready means having done the research. It means having all the required resources. It means having the team trained and knowing what they have to do when.

There are so many moving parts to implement new business strategies that it absolutely makes sense to make sure you make your move when you’re ready.

I’m curious. What’s your take on this week’s discussion.

What’s your understanding of strategy and timing?

Are you confident enough to stand your ground and say, “We’ll take action, when we’re ready”.

Thanks Mark for such a lively discussion and for the inspiration for this week’s thought.

It came at the exact right time and I was ready. Grin.

P.P.S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

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