The Greatest Gift You Can Give (WT545)

The Greatest Gift You Can Give (WT545)

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by Shirley Dalton | 4 Dec, 2020 | Blog, Leadership

WT 545 The greatest gift you can give

Do you know what the greatest gift is that you can give to someone?

For me, it’s showing them how they can get what they want.

My mission is to inspire, educate and support you to be, do, have and feel what you want.

With that in mind, sometimes the conversations I have with my legends can be perceived as confronting.

I’m okay with that because I know that my intention is to help you get what you want.

It wasn’t until I was 40 years old that I read the secret for getting promoted at work.

I wished someone would have given me the advice when I was 20 and as it happened, I had that opportunity to pass on what I knew to some of my younger colleagues.

It was a Friday afternoon. I called a meeting with half a dozen young guys and said, “Righto boys, Aunty Shirl is going to show you how the world of work actually works. You’ve been demanding pay increases. You’ve been demanding more resources. Here’s the secret: You get promoted and rewarded for what you do and the contribution you make, not on the promise of doing more.”

For the most part, the advice was ignored, except for one young guy. He took on what I shared and started coming to work earlier. He stepped up and took on more responsibility. He used his initiative and he started improving operations. He got noticed and shortly after was promoted to Manager with a hefty pay increase.

Why am I sharing this with you today? Because, as usual, the theme has emerged. Many of the businesses I have been working with have experienced their workers complaining and blaming and not taking responsibility.

I don’t mind being disliked if it means I can help you get what you want. I’m up for the tough conversation and to confront you and coach you.

How about you?

Are you in a position to help others get what they want?

If so, are you up and speaking the truth?

Are you up for telling it how it is and sharing the brutal facts?

If not, consider this week’s thought as our conversation.

The greatest gift you can give is to show someone how they can get what they want. Not having the conversation is doing them and you a disservice.

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Teamwork is Everywhere (WT542)

Teamwork is Everywhere (WT542)

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by Shirley Dalton | 13 Nov, 2020 | Blog, Leadership

Teamwork is Everywhere WT542

The other morning we were on a deadline to get packed up and get moving. Checkout time at the caravan park was 10am. As I looked around the park, I noticed many of the other campers were also scurrying around to pack up and vacate on time.

As I watched (while I packed up of course), I started thinking about teamwork.

Teamwork is everywhere.

Ross and I have our jobs. He takes care of the outside and I take care of the inside.

I was intrigued to watch the other husband and wife teams as they appeared to have their specific jobs too.

A well functioning or high performing team consists of team members who trust each other to do their jobs and do them well.

A high performing team also consists of team members who are not afraid to speak up and hold each other accountable.

A high performing team outperforms a group of individuals any time.

A high performing team also provides support for members when they need it.

Think about your personal teams; your family and friends.

Recall a time when your family or friends were organising a big event; perhaps it was a wedding or a birthday celebration or other festive occasion.

Think back to all the jobs that had to be done by a certain timeframe. Think back to who organised the jobs and allocated them to team members.

Think back to the fights and squabbles that occurred as tension mounted getting closer to the day.

Successful events require a team approach. We can’t do everything by ourselves.

This week I invite you to take notice. Look around and identify all the teams you belong to.

Identify the ones that are high performing and identify what makes them high performing. Do your teams tick the boxes above?

Remember, teamwork is everywhere.

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Let Them Fight (WT540)

Let Them Fight (WT540)

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by Shirley Dalton | 30 Oct, 2020 | Blog, Leadership

Let Them Fight WT540

I find it really interesting that themes seem to emerge from time to time.

The past few weeks I have had discussions with my legends about the challenging times they are experiencing with their management teams.

“We are not aligned Shirl.” “We’re not on the same page.” “All we seem to do is fight.”

My reaction is to get excited.

“Let them fight.” “Get excited when your teams are fighting.”

“Why?”

“Because, number one, it means they are engaged and number two, you can’t get to be a high performing team unless you go through what we call The Team Development Wheel.”

The Team Development Wheel is based on a model that was originally put forward by Psychologist Bruce Tuckman, in 1965, as the 4 Stages of Team Formation. You might know the stages as “Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing”. Later he added a 5th stage called “Adjourning or Mourning”.

We use a sailing analogy with 4 quadrants in a circle. The first quadrant is “Becalmed”. In this stage, the team is just forming or you have new members joining. At this stage people are polite and minding their manners. They are watching and waiting. They are working out who’s in charge and where are we going.

The second stage is “Squalling”. To get the boat sailing you need to have wind and harness it. This is the “fighting” stage, where team members start to fight over roles, different personalities and different ways of doing things. They can also fight because they are feeling overwhelmed or they may be engaged in power plays for the leadership position. The most important thing you can do here is to “let them fight”.  Rather than stopping your team members from asserting themselves, encourage them, however give them the tools to fight clean. Teach them how to construct a Confronting I Message and Conflict Resolution skills as well as Active Listening. It’s so important to help the team move through this stage because you can’t get to the third and fourth stages without going through this stage.

Stage three is “Sailing”. In this stage, team members are working together and working on refining and improving systems and processes. They are getting to know each other better and finding ways to resolve their differences.

The fourth stage is the “Spinnaker Run”. In this stage team members become what we call “interdependent”. This means they can rely on you to do your job and do it well; they trust you. They also trust you that if they fall overboard, you will bring the boat around to save them. In other words, you have each other’s backs. There is mutual support and respect and productivity is high.

The fifth stage, “Adjourning or Mourning” is when the team disbands. This could be because a project has completed or the team is no longer needed or team members leave. There is usually a period of adjustment at this time.

The important thing to take away from this week’s thought is to not get upset when team members are fighting (not physically fighting, of course). Rather, give them the skills to fight fair and to fight clean. One of my beliefs is that “there is nothing that can’t be cleared up in conversation”. If you won’t have the conversation, you’ve got no hope of resolving the conflict.

If you’re up for it, this week I encourage you to share the model of Team Development and ask your team members where they would place your team on The Team Development Wheel. Draw a circle. Divide it into 4 sections and, like a clock face, ask them to write their initials on the outside of the wheel for where they think the team sits and then discuss the differences in scores.

You might be surprised at what you all learn about each other.

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Understand the “No” (WT539)

Understand the “No” (WT539)

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by Shirley Dalton | 23 Oct, 2020 | Blog, Leadership

If you’re like me, I’m guessing you don’t like to hear the word “No” when you make a request.

In fact, I don’t know too many people who do, unless of course, they have read “Go For No” by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz, but that’s a whole other Weekly Thought.

Today, I want to focus on understanding what’s behind the “No”.

Salespeople are taught to keep questioning until they understand the reason for the “No” and then, if they can, help the prospective customer overcome their objection, to make the sale.

I’m intrigued that we don’t do this with our employees.

For most of us, we simply get frustrated and do our best to either convince our employees or worse, order them to do what we want.

This week I had the opportunity to observe an employee’s reaction to a request to hire more people.

“No!”

“Why not?”

“If we do, they won’t stay.”

“Why won’t they stay?”

“They want a permanent position.”

The penny dropped for me when I heard this. The employer was offering to hire a “casual” employee. I knew that the employer wasn’t attached to having a “casual” employee, rather they were looking to find the best solution to ensure that clients were being looked after without overworking or overwhelming the current employees.

“What if we offered permanent part-time, instead of casual?”

Now we got an entirely different response.

Name, I can’t stress enough how important it is to listen, really listen to understand what people are telling you.

The misunderstanding here, like most misunderstandings, occurred because we hold a different perception.

Your job this week is to understand the “No”.

What’s really behind the “No”?

I encourage you to put your “Patient Hat” on (patient as in giving someone time, not seeing a doctor – just so we’re clear) and take the time to really listen and understand the “No”.

You might be surprised at how quickly you get to a “Yes”.

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Permission to Speak Freely (WT535)

Permission to Speak Freely (WT535)

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by Shirley Dalton | 25 Sep, 2020 | Blog, Leadership

WT535 Permission to Speak Freely

This week Ross and I hired a room at the local library to create some training videos for a 9 Day Business Freedom Challenge I’m about to launch (for just $9 if you’re interested).

Following my Blueprint for Business Freedom, the very first step is to Know Yourself.

As part of the challenge, participants are encouraged to raise their self awareness by asking team members and family and friends to give them some feedback about how they show up in the world.

I referenced the military term “Permission to Speak Freely”.

All too often I find that people at work will not speak freely. This distresses me because I have the belief that there isn’t anything that can’t be cleared up in conversation. (Yes you can reword that to be in the positive, however I like it expressed that way.)

Time after time I attend meetings for clients and team members speak freely to me and yet when they have the opportunity to address their colleagues or managers, they fall silent.

As leaders it is our responsibility to create a safe space.

If we don’t encourage our people to speak up, we lose the opportunity to understand what’s really going on and to be able to resolve any issues.

It’s too late after people have left. I remember when Ross resigned from one of his positions, his immediate supervisor actively avoided conducting an exit interview, even though Ross requested one. The supervisor was not open to hearing the feedback. Of course Ross has completed our Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience so he was able to assert himself without being inflammatory, however he wasn’t afforded the opportunity.

What’s happening in your organisation?

Are you actively encouraging people to speak freely or are you unconsciously telling them that you don’t want to hear the feedback.

My best clients are those who are open to the feedback. They don’t always like it however they listen and then take action. I’m the same. I don’t necessarily enjoy receiving negative feedback, however I do appreciate it because it gives me the opportunity to improve and to fix things.

So you have permission to speak freely to me.

Are you up for the challenge? Will you give your team the same permission?

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