Everyone On the Same Page

With the pace of work, life and everything else around us, it can be difficult to get everyone on the same page.

Ask yourself if your team is always focused and moving in the same direction.  Consider these few items as you think about your team:

• do your team members trust each other?
• do your team members trust you?
• do they listen and understand what they have heard?
• do they understand each other's role in the business and on the team?
• do they have a way to communicate that they each understand?
• do they get the objective of the team?
• do they understand the vision YOU have for the team?

So if you can answer 'yes' to all of the above -totally cool.  Share your ideas and how you did this so others can learn too.

Bonus Question:  can you keep them all on the same page once they actually get there?  no straying to the next chapter or wandering off to daydream land?

Check out this awesome workshop series based on best selling business books that will get your team focused and keep them on the same page!

Shipping Is Not Easy, Is It?

I guess you could say that shipping is easy - get stuff done and send it out into the world of cyberspace.

It is true not easy if you are passionate and focused and want the world to see your best.
This past 6 weeks, having to focus on developing something interesting, and knowing that in the past, perhaps this same process has not worked as well as I wanted it to (my choice not yours...and this is the learning!).  I worked to develop something different, with a twist, that may be a little risky and at the same time I am still very excited about it.

Brava will ship for real in 2 weeks.  You get a sneak preview - and I would love your feedback.

You may think developing this was just as simple as putting some images together and recalibrating my usual mastermind team focus.  Well, when you put it that way, I guess it could be.  

It wasn't.

Here are the things I had to face (and still face):

•   what if I get no response?

◦answer to myself:  plan right and execute the timeline to drive the response

•   what if I am not good enough to do this?

◦answer to myself:  get over yourself, you have awesome team sessions all the time, this will be no different.  Bring yourself to your work - head, heart & hands and you will deliver an exceptional offering.

•   what if it works?

◦ answer to myself: imagine that - doing what you love even more, coaching others for success and seeing them reach their peak.  And, you need to keep doing it.

What do you need to face each and every time you ship?  What do you say to yourself?

What Does It Look Like in Your Head?

Does the inside of your head look like this?
All of my clients have this going on.
And it is awesome to help them clear out the stuff, get it onto flipcharts and really align priorities.
Are you ready for this?  Only the Brave dare check in and set up a time to dump out everything that is in there.....
This will be the best way to stay focused and organized all year through.

Happy Accidents aka the art of listening

Happy accidents can come from anywhere.  I have had the luxury (blessing, gift) to benefit from learning from my clients.  

As a coach, I work hard to ask the right questions, listen to the responses and leave white-space or quiet to allow each of us to digest the information before we move on.

This is truly a wonderful experience and I am grateful the for the lightbulbs and 'ah-ha' moments that develop.  I am even more grateful when I can take the learning my clients have achieved and apply it inwardly to myself or my own business; even share the thoughts with other clients that may be heading in the same direction.

In the last month, from listening, many happy accidents have developed.

• unplugged time - white space days
• dropped projects that weren't focused on my priorities
• unspent money for tools that would not align with my focus
• reached out to new people to share and connect

Now, I am looking for happy accidents everywhere. 

Have you had any happy accidents in the last month?

Time to Develop Your Bench

It's January....and everyone, including you, is working on developing performance plans & annual appraisals,  analyzing employee survey results and figuring out just how they are going to get from here to the end of the year with the team they have on the budget they have with the workload that is already somewhat crushing....

What they (and you) really need is a plan.

This plan is all about Developing the Bench Strength you have on your team....new and emerging leaders need to know they are a priority for developing key leadership skills that will help keep momentum headed in the right direction (forward!) and that they are a valuable part of the team.

Just launching today on MakeItActionable...custom workshops that will help you get this in place for your organization.

Face it - do you really have the time to figure all of this out? - workshops, action steps (that are truly actionable!), feedback, coaching, mentoring and discussion + facilitation and RESULTS!

It's already done for you.  Check it out & let's get this in place right away - waiting will only cause you more pain....let's resolve it right now!

The Year of SHIP

Not this type of ship!

Every year I work to focus on a specific thought, idea and/or bell-weather so that I can push myself, test myself, challenge myself and grow.

2015 will be the Year of SHIP!

This thought has been inspired by none other than Seth Godin - prolific marketer, author, and my favourite blogger every day in my inbox.

Ship means to get your stuff, your art, your thoughts, your work out there....to the world.

The key thought Seth promotes is simple (and this is how I interpret it) - we are talented, we are creative, we get stuff done - show the world.  Whether it is perfect or not is not the reason not to SHIP - get it out there.

My goals over 2015 count a great deal on my activity and mental awareness around SHIP! and you will see me (or hear me) say this a lot....and it means a lot.  To get out there and be bold, be vulnerable and be my own weird self is truly a carry on from 2014 and my Year of the Brave.

So how about you?  What will 2015 bring for you?  What have you decided you will do to make this your best year yet?  What challenges have you set for yourself and what will that mean to the world around you?

PS - thanks Michael Hyatt - we all, my husband and sons included, loved the process on BYE and are  focused on that self-fulfilling prophecy.

Year of the Brave - Next.....

2014 has passed.  The Year of the Brave is over.
What have I learned with this challenge to myself?
Here you go:

• I am more comfortable with being uncomfortable
• I am more focused on achievements that mean something to me and not those watching
• I know more about who I am and what pushes me further
• I am happy, happier than I have ever 
• I know that even when I don't give it my all, I can back up and take another run at things without feeling overwhelm or a failure.
• According to one client, I am happy with the feeling of 'whelm' not overwhelmed.
• It is hard to pull people to do what I need them to or want them to do, it's really about developing trust and having them come with me, along side.
• I work with people who are on my page, I have stopped trying to convert people 
• I am weird, brave and uncoolly geeky....and I accept that with a huge grin on my face and a very light heart!

How about you?  What did you do in your Year of 'xxxx' 2014?

What are you looking for in 2015?