Show Them the Big Picture (WT493)

Show Them the Big Picture (WT493)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 6 Dec, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT493 Show Them the Big Picture

This week, I’ve been focussing on leadership. I’ve been creating training videos for the next launch of our membership site as well as the quiz I invited you to take.

It’s amazing to me how things show up at exactly the right time.

Leadership is about knowing yourself and knowing your people. It also requires you to develop great people skills so you can communicate well and influence your team so that they can cooperate and achieve the outcomes.

As I was talking with one of my colleagues recently, I mentioned how important it is to share the big picture with the team.  Some will call this “vision”, however that’s not exactly what I’m referring to.

What I mean by this is to help your team understand how what they do is important to the success of the business. Show them where they fit in to the workflow. Point out the critical tasks and measures they need to achieve for the overall outcome. 

It occurred to me that often the team are taught to focus on the tasks they have to do and they may not understand why the tasks are important. 

If we don’t show them, how can we expect them to think and to problem solve if they can’t see the big picture. 

So, something to think about this week.

Have you shown your team the big picture?

Have you taught them how to think?

What Can a Dog Teach You about Leadership (WT485)

What Can a Dog Teach You about Leadership (WT485)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 11 Oct, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT485 What Can a Dog Teach You About Leadership

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:

  1. There can only be one leader.
  1. Consistency is key, especially if you make new rules.
  1. Praise and reward go a long way.
  1. You must be present and give people (and dogs) attention, lest they start looking for it in ways you would prefer they didn’t.
  1. Adaptability and flexibility are also key skills for success (survival).
  1. Gestures work better than yelling.
  1. Teaching new skills requires patience and good communication skills. Not everyone speaks your language.
  1. If somebody does something wrong, it’s best to discipline them straight away, in a firm and caring way.
  1. You must plan for and allow time for fun.
  1. Systems and routines help to maintain order and increase efficiency.
  1. Clean up your mess as you go.
  1. It’s ok for the leader to learn new skills as well.
  1. Sometimes you have to change the environment to change behaviour.
  1. How you structure your teams and choose your personnel can have a huge impact on the results. (The dog next door influenced our dog to dig holes so they could socialise together, and get up to all sorts of mischief, not to mention the possibility of truanting.)
  1. Your team know when you’re out of sorts. (I was sick with a cold over the weekend and he sat by my side the entire time, giving me great comfort and support.)

Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks? I certainly did.

The dog we looked after was an 11 month old puppy, full of beans and energy and lots and lots of love.  The more attention he got, the more pats (Touch love language) and belly scratches, the better he behaved and the more fun we had.

Makes you think, who really was the leader and who learnt the tricks?

Clean Up Your Mess (WT480)

Clean Up Your Mess (WT480)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 6 Sep, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT480 Clean Up Your Mess

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 participants.

We were discussing how it is never too late to clean up your mess. In other words, you can always say sorry or assert yourself, even if you think the moment has passed.

Here’s a couple of questions from the exercise.

Starting with “If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for ………. I would ………..”

What are you doing that is not working that you need to do less of?

What are you doing that is working that you need to do more of?

What are you not doing that you could try on to see if it works?

What will you commit to doing as a result of this exercise?

In other words, what mess are you responsible for and what can and will you do to clean it up?

When will you do that?

Let me know what your commitment is by commenting on this post.

It’s amazing how much we can achieve when we know we are being held accountable.

Are you willing to clean up your mess this week?

Chicken and Chips (WT479)

Chicken and Chips (WT479)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 30 Aug, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT479 Chicken and Chips

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 park this week, having just taught this concept,  to hear a woman screaming abuse at an elderly man, “Chicken and chips! I told you. Chicken and chips, not f……..ng fish and chips.” 

“Wow!” I thought to myself, “If only someone had taught you the difference, there would be no need for this drama and angst and upset. That sort of behaviour does no one any good.”

The man was doing his best to run away and she kept running after him, screaming at the top of her voice.

I cringe when I witness this sort of behaviour because it is so unnecessary and really, chicken and chips is not the end of the world.  

If she had learned how to assert herself she might have been able to calmly express her disappointment, anger or annoyance. For example, a three part Confronting I Message describing the unacceptable behaviour, how it makes you feel and the tangible concrete effects is often enough for people to change their behaviour. In this instance, the woman could have said something like, “I’m really disappointed. I ordered chicken and chips, not fish and chips. I don’t like fish and I don’t want to eat this.” She could also add, “Are there other options?” 

Whilst I cringe, I also can’t blame the woman because most of us have not been exposed to better ways of communicating – me included. I too was a hot head until I learned these skills in my early 20’s. 

How about you? 

Do you think you act in an assertive or aggressive manner?  Perhaps you err on the side of Passive or Passive Aggressive.    

The way you communicate with people really does a make a difference to your relationships and results.

You Can’t Make Your Team Compete (WT475)

You Can’t Make Your Team Compete (WT475)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 2 Aug, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT 475 You can't make your team compete

As a leader, it’s your job to get the best out of your team. This doesn’t mean you are a slave driver and that you crack the whip to milk every last minute of productivity. 

Rather it means that you help your team to reach their full potential. When they are actively engaged and enjoying themselves, productivity will naturally be high.

This week one of my coaching clients was sharing how she and her sister have been enjoying an exercise challenge.  She was miffed when her sister pipped her at the post before the deadline. She was also miffed when she had finished a workout yet didn’t receive the credit because the recording device had run out of battery. 

This story and experience opened up an entire discussion about how to engage your team. 

When I suggested creating a competition between team members, her initial reaction was, “You can’t make your team compete”.

Maybe the word “challenge” is more appealing as you set up a challenge to get a certain amount of work finished by the end of the month or attain a certain target. 

As we discussed it further, we both had examples where we had been engaged in friendly competitions at work. Winning a prize wasn’t always the motivator. At times it was simply knowing you had put in the effort and “won” that was most satisfying. 

When my clients used to meet me in my office, the first thing they often did was to share their success stories and get to “Ring the Gong”.   It was our favourite thing to do – to celebrate the wins. 

This week I’m challenging you (ha ha) to come up with some fun and interesting ways that you can engage your team. What friendly challenge can you give them that will have them run toward the finish line? 

Not only can you “make your team compete”, in many cases they will thank you for it because it just might be the thing that spices up the week or the month.

Accountability – Your Team Actually Want It (WT472)

Accountability – Your Team Actually Want It (WT472)

Blog

by Shirley Dalton | 12 Jul, 2019 | Blog, Leadership

WT 472 Accountability - Your team actually want it

As a leader or supervisor, it’s our responsibility to ensure our team are on task.

When they lose focus, come in late or produce poor quality work, it’s up to us to find out what’s going on, and if necessary, have THAT conversation with them.

It’s often uncomfortable and something we put off and yet it is our job to hold people accountable.

The interesting thing though, is that people actually do want to be held accountable.

Why? Because it shows we care.

Secondly, people do want to achieve and they want to know you are watching and interested in their performance.

Thirdly, it’s often easier for us to be accountable to someone else rather than ourselves.

Talking with a client this week, she shared how she made sure that she did her homework because she knew “Shirley will ask and hold me accountable” (and of course I did). 

She also realised that she has her own cheer squad for some personal goals and this helps motivate her to complete her actions because she knows the cheer squad are watching and they will know if she doesn’t fulfil her commitment. 

As you read this you might be disagreeing, (as Ross did). “No, Shirley, my team hated me holding them accountable. They hated it when I confronted them and encouraged them to get back on task.” 

“Perhaps, however at the end of the day, if you asked them what sort of leader they would prefer and who they respected the most, I can tell you, it would be the one who held them accountable and helped them to fulfil their potential.” 

Grudgingly, Ross agreed. 

What do you think? 

Are you willing to step up and hold your team accountable to experience the difference or will you continue to be N.I.C.E. (Nothing In me Cares Enough to tell you truth)?

Pin It on Pinterest