Highly Engaged or Becoming Disengaged?

Check out this infographic - the percentages speak for themselves. 

    Think about your top performer - where do you need to help them?

How about your lowest performer - where do you need to help them?

Need to learn how to do this...or see if you are on the right track - reach out, let's chat.

Emerging Leaders Unite

You are an emerging leader.  You are really always an emerging leader...if you are not, you must have stopped learning along the way somewhere.

If you are new to leading in your organization (department, own business, team), then there are many activities in which you can participate to get going developing your leadership skills.

Here are a few ways to tap into the smarts around you  - all with leaders uniting for a common purpose:

1. Get a mentor:  many companies have mentoring programs so that you can build a relationship with another leader who has travelled the path you would like to travel.  Their main role in your professional life is guidance, to build relationships, open doors and help you navigate the waters of the organization.
2. Get a coach:  coaches work with you to help you achieve the goals you have set out for yourself - sometimes this is a skill-development goal, sometimes it is a numerical or business-related goal.  A coach can provide you with a sounding board, a safe space to explore ideas and hold you accountable to your commitments and action steps to reach your goals.
3. Get involved:  search out opportunities in your community to learn from others, join the conversations and become connected & self-aware at the same time.

Did you see what I did there?  I focused you on determining what to do to unite with other emerging leaders - with the common purpose of growing themselves as leaders too.  All 3 above ideas would not work if the people involved were not leaders themselves and of course, not open to learning from others....see always emerging!

A Rant...reprised

OK.  So I need to say this today.  This has been driving me crazy and I need to send a wake-up call out there.

GET OUT OF YOUR BUSINESS NOW!

I mean it.  You need to step outside of your business, stop working IN it all the time and work ON it!
Really, how on earth can you see what is going on, what the future of your business is or  if you are still on track with your mission by staying buried under the day-to-day tasks that really should go to someone else but you keep hanging onto them because no one else will do it like you do it - or so you think!

Can you tell I am frustrated?  I hear over and over again how hard it is to keep businesses moving forward, except there is no thought to actually checking to see the progress of the business.  When I ask how the business is being marketed or if there is a marketing plan I get 'the deer in the headlights' look.  Or, if I ask what the forecast is for the rest of the year, you would think I asked them to fly to the moon

Business needs leaders.  Business teams need leaders.
Innovation and new revenues streams come from leaders and their teams who are not afraid to challenge the status quo; from leaders who are not afraid to invest in themselves and their team to develop new ways of thinking, find new opportunities to leverage the strengths of others - inside their industry or from outside their industry.

Why are you not investing time and money in your own development? 

When you develop a new product or service it costs money.  You are the extension (and sometimes, the face and the feet) of your business - why are you stuck IN it and not working ON it and ON yourself? 

What is stopping you? 

Are you afraid to admit you don't know everything? 

Are you worried what people will think of you? Are you too busy (doing what I am  not sure) to take a few minutes to evaluate how you could be a better leader for your business and your team? 

Are you afraid to find out that you could do things differently, be challenged, given new perspectives and actually have to change your old ways for new, more productive and exciting possibilities that can make you even more successful?  Now that is a scary thought! 

You could actually be more successful if you decided to take action.  

When will you decide to tack action for yourself.....and work on you - the best part of your business, the reason why your business exists?!

Sure, it's a rant....and sometimes I just need to get things out.  I see it often, what I have described above, and while I would go to great lengths to ask the same questions of my clients (not in a rant of course), I felt the need to share this here.

Leadership is not easy.  Leadership is action.  Leadership is developing other leaders.  When are you going to take action to develop yourself....and along the way, your business and your team?

Bridging E-Learning to the Real World

E-learning continues to evolve as a go-to tech solution for onboarding, training and documentation of learning in workplaces around the world.

There are some great ways to use e-learning for tracking completion, quizzing/performance tracking, and of course, hours put into usage.

• E-learning is relatively low cost, once developed.
• E-learning is available on demand - wherever and whenever you need it, just sign in
• E-learning is accessible
• E-learning is awesome for technical training or mandatory training like policies.

Unfortunately, as with most things tech, they end up focusing on individual learning, scoring performance for an individual...and if everyone does not complete the assigned programs there is always a gap in who knows what, and when.

The disconnect comes with the fact that there is a lack of application - once I leave the computer, I may never use what I have just learned, or have to relearn from someone else.  Couple that with the fact that you basically have to hold me hostage so that I will complete all assigned modules by the given timeframe and I am already not in a learning space in my head - I am more focused on clicking through screens, passing the test (if there is one) and getting on with work.

What if we could make it so that we took the online learning and applied it into our work immediately - wouldn't that make learning a priority?  Even better, what if we were able to have a discussion with our team on what we are learning and create actions or commitments that would help us apply this in our workplace right away?

Imagine that?!  I can....and so can you.  I can show you how.

(I want to be perfectly transparent here - I work with Actionable Workshops as a key resource and tools that compliment my coaching practice.  I LOVE them, and my clients do to because they can see the measurable changes in their leaders and their teams....not to mention how this affects the way they conduct business.)

Join me at the Art of Inspiring Conversation, or drop me a quick email and I will happily take you on a tour of Actionable Workshops - a great way to bridge e-learning into real world application.

It's My Birthday

Today is a great day for reflection & celebration.

And Gratitude - 

I am grateful for the life I have...

that I can get up everyday, healthy & happy, with a wonderful husband and amazing kids + family, friends and so much more.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

Make It Stick

You have a great leadership development program.  Your Learning & Development Team spends a great deal of time working to facilitate great classes.  And yet, you still don't see the principles practiced with the team.

The words sound good, there is just no translation to a shift in culture.

What do you do now?

You find an innovative and inspiring way to create conversations.

In my practice, and with my clients, I focus them on tools and workshops that are actionable...and they come from Actionable Books.  You can see the details here & even sign up for a free workshop (value $300).

My practice is now 'powered by Actionable Books' - it is how to practice the coaching you get.  Plus you get to (and I get to) see your results translated into feedback, commitments from your team and changes in behaviour.

Ready to start?  Let's talk about your next step to make your Leadership Programs stick.

Are You a Dancing Guy or a Leader?

This set me smiling, brought tears to my eyes and made me think about how I nurture followers.

Have a great day!

I'm Baaaaaaackkkkkkk

Life is full of mistakes.
That is how we learn.
And so, with this latest mistake, I have decided to move my blog back here to Blogger.

Here is what I learned in attempting to change this location:

1. my website platform does not yet support the amplification I need
2. I would have had to spend more time, instead of less time, posting and feeding the feed - Blogger has that all wrapped up in one easy spot with a neat little feeder
3. you don't know until you try
4. you should really map out your steps before taking the leap (although I do talk about excellent versus perfect.)
5. and own it, fix it and move on.

So - I am back - and with a revamped blog, website and links.

Feedback always welcome!!