Would You Like A Hand To Hold Onto? (WT742)

Would You Like A Hand To Hold Onto? (WT742)

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WT 742 Would you like a hand to hold on to

Sometimes we just need someone to hold our hand.

Ross and I were walking down the stairs to the beach at Dixon Park.

The stairs were wet and slippery.

A young toddler was doing her best to navigate holding onto the railing, which was too high for her to comfortably reach, all whilst holding onto her bucket and spade and step down the stairs all by herself.

Her mum was on the sand with all the things mum’s need to take to the beach, along with baby number two in her arms.

The toddler had made it most of the way down, however the last part was especially wet and sandy and the distress was starting to show – on both the toddler and mum.

Without thinking, I offered my hand and said, “Would you like a hand to hold onto?”

Surprised at first, and with mum walking back to the bottom of the steps, she held my hand and the railing and proceeded to navigate the bottom 5 stairs.

We took our time.

First step. “Yay! Well done.”

Second step. “Awesome, keep going.”

Third step. “You’ve got this.”

Fourth step. “Almost there.”

Fifth step. “Hooray. You did it. Well done.”

And with that, I let go of her hand as she reunited with mum and Ross and I headed off down the beach.

Sometimes we just need a steadying hand and some encouragement to help us do what we know we must and what we can.

How about you?

Are you one to offer a hand of support?

Will you accept the hand when it’s offered?

Or, are you willing to hold yours out when you need one?

There’s no shame in offering or accepting a hand when you need it.

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

Value Their Values (WT737)

Value Their Values (WT737)

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WT 737 Value their values

Ross and I were going to the dentist. He was driving.

I got into the passenger side, or rather fell into the passenger side.

“Whoa! Who’s been sitting in this seat?” I asked.

The seat had been lowered to the floor, pushed all the way back and the back of the seat had been lowered to almost lying down.

“Hmmm. I remember someone moving it”, replied Ross as I attempted to get it back to our normal position.

“I know”, he said. “It was the guy at the car service place. He got in to show me how to fix some of the buttons and gadgets that had moved since we had the last service. I don’t know why he had to move everything. He was a nice guy and a tall guy but he was a guest in the car and as a guest, you shouldn’t move things without asking.”

This comment about whether he should or shouldn’t have moved things, “as a guest” got me thinking about values and how we all have different values and ways of doing things.

The same topic came up later in the day when I was with a coaching client. We’ll call him Mark.

Mark mentioned since completing one of our leadership experiences, that he was much more tolerant of others’ values and ways of doing things.

I think this is something that most of us deal with on a daily basis. Many of us want things done our way and we get frustrated and angry when people don’t follow the rules (our rules).

In fact, in her book, “You Can Heal Your Life”, Louise Hay cites research by Virginia Satir that showed that “there are more than 250 different ways to wash dishes, depending upon who is washing and the ingredients used.”

Louise Hay goes on to say,“If we are stuck in believing there is only ‘one way,’ or ‘one viewpoint,’ then we are shutting out most of life.”

This poses a couple of tricky questions:

  1. Is it okay for your team to do the work how they want to do it or must they follow the process?
  2. If they must follow the process and they don’t, do you just fix it or do you point it out to them and make them feel inferior or guilty or do you look to the system to see if it’s a system problem that could be fixed or is it a people problem?
  3. If it’s a people problem, is it because they are unable or unwilling and if unable, give them more training.

If you fix it, you are robbing them of the opportunity to learn or worse, you could be teaching what we call “Learned Helplessness”, where people learn to become helpless. For example, say your kids pack the dishwasher and it’s not the way you do it, if you repack it and they see that you have done that, you are encouraging them not to do it again and could be affecting their confidence and feelings of self worth.

What we value and how this differs to others can be a touchy subject. When it comes down to it, the most important question to ask is “how important is this in the scheme of things?”. If it’s not a high priority or very important. Let it go.

Value their values.

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I’m A Persecutor (WT724)

I’m A Persecutor (WT724)

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WT 724 I'm a persecutor

In our leadership experiences we look at what Jennifer Elliot called “The Eternal Triangle of Hate”.

You might know this as “The Drama Triangle” or “Triangle of Drama”.

It gets referred to a lot in personal development circles.

The triangle includes three roles:

  1. The Victim
  2. The Rescuer, and
  3. The Persecutor.

The victim’s belief is “I’m not ok. You’re ok. I need someone to come and save me. I’m broken.”

The Rescuer believes “I’m ok. You’re ok, as long as you do what I say.”

The Persecutor believes “I’m ok. You’re not ok. You can’t do it right.”

At a surface level, persecutors are often seen as bullies.

Rescuers, also known as co-conspirators feel good when they help or save victims.

This week I gained a huge insight from Benjamin J. Harvey, co-founder of Authentic Education regarding persecutors.

Persecutors criticise and judge. They are argumentative and have to be right. They aren’t necessarily bullies in the traditional sense, but they are hard to work with.  No-one can do it as good as them.

Ben also explained that those of us who are passionate about personal development can get caught up in our own drama triangle – feeling the victim, coaching ourselves then persecuting ourselves for not being perfect.

As I listened to Ben’s explanations, I could feel my head getting redder and redder. “OMG!”, I thought. “I’m a persecutor.”

I can be quite argumentative. I criticise. I judge and I expect a very high standard of work.

I’m not proud to admit that Jennifer Elliot once told me that I was so critical, it was hard to be around me.”

Ouch!

Whilst I was uncomfortable to hear the feedback at the time (many years ago), I also appreciated it. How I was showing up was not how I wanted to show up.  It gave me the opportunity to reflect and change.

This week was another reminder that I’m not perfect. I constantly work on myself to be better.

As one of my clients often says, “When I know better, I can do better.”

So, how about you?

Do you favour one of the roles in the triangle?

Is it serving you?

Perhaps it’s about time you acknowledged how you show up and decide to do it differently.

And so I don’t leave you hanging, rather than being a persecutor, you can focus on listening to others and provide constructive feedback.

Instead of being a rescuer, you can become a facilitator to help empower others.

And instead of being a victim, it might be time to start taking responsibility for yourself, your actions and your results.

I accept this might be confronting, however without self-reflection or feedback from others, it’s difficult to change and improve.

Personal development is one of my greatest passions.

Let me know which role you identify with and what changes you can make.

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Hold The Space (WT723)

Hold The Space (WT723)

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WT 723 Hold the space

The past few months I have been retraining and refreshing with the Gordon Training International for Leader Effectiveness Training.

One of the trainers, Judith Richardson, from the Effectiveness Training Institute Australia (ETIA) made a point that I think is worth sharing.

We were discussing Values Collisions.

Judith said, “It is such a profound leadership skill to be able to hold the space for a team member or other person when you have a different set of values to that person”.

This resonated with me completely.

If you think back for a minute, when was the last time you had a different value or belief to someone and instead of arguing with that person to prove you’re right, you actually put your value aside for a moment and truly listened to them?

This is such a skill to master.

It takes patience and an open mindset as well as requires you to demonstrate your active listening skills.

Remember active listening means you demonstrate that you heard and understood the message, NOT that you necessarily agree with it.

Another point that was mentioned was that if you’re listening and you hear words such as “they should or they shouldn’t”, it’s a big clue that we’re talking about values.

When I think of the words “should” or “shouldn’t”, they are like commands and often it feels like they are coming from an external source.   It could be an authority figure such as a parent or teacher etc.

The words take away choice and often imply compliance, not necessarily that you want or choose to do something.

For this reason, it’s important to notice your own language and instead of saying “I should”, consider whether you are actually choosing to do the thing or not.  If not, think about whether you could assert yourself and say “No”.

If you do want to do the thing, then be aware that you are choosing to do it.  This is more empowering.

So back to holding the space for others. Why do it?

Because when you do, you’ll get to know others better. You’ll develop better relationships with people and you might find that you can actually see their point of view and may just change your own opinion.

This happened to me when we completed a role play around the topic, “Should people be made to attend in-service training if they don’t want to?”

My initial stance was “No” because I’ve experienced times when people have attended my training experiences and haven’t wanted to be there and ended up being quite disruptive to the other participants and myself.

As I held the space for my partner in the role play, she explained that sometimes the people who need it the most are the people who resist the most plus a good facilitator can often help them to see the benefit of learning and make a difference.

As I listened, I started to agree. I too have had this experience when people have been made to attend and at the end of the experience have commented how great it was and how it was the best thing they could have done.

So, your mission this week is to hold the space.

Practise your leadership skills.

Even if you initially disagree with the other’s point of view, use your skills, have an open mind and see what happens.

Let me know.

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Leaders Are Problem Solvers (WT718)

Leaders Are Problem Solvers (WT718)

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WT 718 Leaders are Problem Solvers

I’ve got a question for you.

Do you think being a leader is innate or a learned skill?

I had an interesting discussion recently with a new client on this very topic.

He confidently told me that being a leader is innate. You are born with it.

I could feel my eyebrows lift.

He expanded on his reasons why this was so.

During his career, he had often been promoted to leadership and management roles.

He had had no formal training and had performed well.

“Well, I think we’re going to disagree on this”, I said.

“I teach leadership skills.”

“Oh”, he replied.

“If you think about what you told me about how you were promoted, much of it was because you solved problems. You didn’t wait to be asked. You just got in and did it.”

He agreed.

Leaders are problem solvers.

And I agree, some people do this naturally, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t learn to become leaders or improve their leadership skills.

It comes back to The 4 Stages of Learning. We don’t know what we don’t know (Consciously Incompetent).

If you’ve never had the opportunity to solve problems or you didn’t know that that was one of the criteria for leadership, how could you demonstrate leadership skills?

Once you do become of aware of it, you can now start solving problems.

No-one is fighting you for the leadership role.

We all want leaders.

We want people to take charge; to make us feel safe; to take responsibility; to hold us accountable.

In our Leadership experiences, we have a particular activity that demonstrates this very well. During this activity the group of individuals become a team.

Someone steps up as leader and often it’s the person who doesn’t see themselves as a natural leader. It’s the person who has little confidence in their ability to lead.

As we debrief the activity, they are genuinely surprised (and a bit proud) of what they achieved. This one activity helps them transform their identity to accept that they are indeed, a leader.

Leaders behave differently to followers.

Leaders can learn communication skills. How to say things so that they land well for the listener.

Leaders can learn to understand their people better.

Would you consider yourself to be a leader?

Are you a problem solver?

If you’d like to know more, check out some of the skills that are included in our Leadership Fundamentals experience. Conduct a little audit for yourself. Click here to find out.

If you celebrate Easter, I wish you a very happy Easter. If not, happy holidays.

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

P.P.S. Our next LIVE online Leadership Fundamentals experience starts Tuesday 14th May, 2024. Click here for more information. Early Bird promotion where you pay for Silver and receive Gold finishes on Sunday 14th April, 2024 so be quick.

Another Year – It’s a Wrap (WT705)

Another Year – It’s a Wrap (WT705)

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WT 705 Another Year - It's a Wrap

Well, here we are again at the end of another year.

As we look back over the year, I encourage you to focus on the good and positive and be grateful for all that 2023 brought you.

Even the things that were not to your preference.

As David Bayer says, “Life is always working for us, even if at times, it is not to our preference”.

When I think about this mantra, I’m reminded that the Universe or God or Infinite Intelligence (whatever name you prefer) is working tirelessly to bring us what we want. 

From our perspective here on earth, we can’t see all the moving parts that have to be organised in order for us to get what we want.

In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I sternly reminded Mary (not her real name) to “shut up and let the universe do its job”.

Mary is a great student who actions the feedback. She’s not one to blame or argue, rather she acknowledges her role in co-creating what happens in her life and within a few weeks she rang me to tell me all her good news and how the Universe had delivered.

Remember, our job is to know the what and the why and take inspired action. Our job is not to know the how.

We simply can’t know all the moving parts, let alone control them, so as Esther Hicks says, “Hand it over to the General Manager”.

If you’re up for another great read along these lines and looking to increase your prosperity in 2024, then I highly recommend “The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity” by Edwene Gaines or even better, it’s a great listen on Audible or other similar program.

As you close 2023 and look to 2024, invest some time to write down what you want for 2024 and then close your eyes and imagine receiving what you want. As you close your eyes, feel what you’ll feel when you have it. Hear what you’ll hear when you have it as well as see it.

The quickest way to bring what you want is to feel as if you already have it (because you do) and be grateful for the gift that’s on its way.

Let me know what’s on your bucket list and let’s cross them off at the end of 2024.

As an example, Ross and I have booked a trip to South Africa in April 2024. So far I’ve registered for a 4 day course and booked the airfare.  I can’t wait to see how the Universe delivers an amazing trip for us as we cross off our bucket list item to visit a game park and see the animals up close.

Thanks so much for being part of my community this year. I look forward to continuing the journey with you in 2024.

Happy new year!

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

P.P.S.  START 2024 BY DEVELOPING YOURSELF AND GROWING

BRAND NEW 10 Week online Leadership Fundamentals experience starts Tuesday 16th January 2024. Sessions are LIVE and led by myself. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t find 90 minutes a week to improve yourself and your leadership skills.  You don’t have to be in a formal leadership position at work. These skills are life skills.  If you’re interested, contact me and let me know and we’ll organise a time to chat. Be part of another great team and get the results you want.

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