Quote Of The Week #342
Tag: Benefits of change
5 Essential Skills To Seek Discomfort
Seeking discomfort is leaving beyond the limits of your comfort zone and what you are familiar with…
Leaders who seek discomfort are seeking a challenge, opportunities for change, overcoming fears, for personal growth and improvement.
Below are five essentials skills for leaders to acquire to seek discomfort.
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023 Quote Of The Week #252
Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want By Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy
In Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy suggest that we define a plan for our lives.
They introduce us to the concept of Life Planning and show us how to implement the process.
What is a Life Plan?
According to Hyatt and Harkavy, “A Life Plan is a short written document, usually five to fifteen pages long“.
The Life Plan is personal, describes your priorities, the steps to reach your goals and the legacy you want to leave.
It is a life long process, that can continually be adjusted and improved. A Life Plan doesn’t shield you from life challenges and failures. Instead, it will help you create intention for your life.
It is common to have a career plan but no Life Plan. The Life Plan enables you to:
- Set priorities and stick to them.
- Stop sacrificing yourself, to stop trading health and time for work, career advancement, accolades or money.
- Filter out opportunities. As you get older and as you get experiences, opportunity coming your way will multiply. It is therefore important to know where your priorities lie and what opportunity to choose.
- Avoid distractions, confront and deal with reality.
- Avoid the feeling of being stuck and allow you to keep your eyes on the future.
- Avoid regrets and increase your level of control.
The drift and its consequences
Most people drift away from their dreams because:
- They are unaware that their ideas and assumptions are inaccurate and harmful.
- There is a discrepancy between their beliefs and reality.
- They are distracted, are spread too thin or too busy to focus on their lives and to start prioritizing.
- They don’t understand that there is hope, that they can change and that they have more control over their lives than they think.
When you drift away from your dreams and when you don’t have a Life Plan, you tend to:
- Lack meaning and purpose.
- Waste your time and other valuable resources on meaningless tasks.
- Lose opportunities and their sense of urgency. People who drift away procrastinate and are unable to discern a good opportunity from a bad.
- Experience trouble more intensely because they are unprepared.
- Take a passive approach to life, shift blame and live in regrets.
Designing and implementing your Life Plan
To design your Life Plan, it is necessary to outline your legacy, to set your priorities, get clarity on your objectives and to reserve one day to build your Life Plan.
Outlining your legacy
To design your Life Plan, keep in mind that everybody leaves a legacy, face your mortality and begin with the end in mind.
It is critical to write your Life Plan like you are writing your eulogy, to imagine how you want others to remember you and to stay committed to the process.
Setting your priorities
Getting more clarity on your objectives will definitely increase your commitment. To do so, you must steer clear from external expectations and do what is right for you.
Getting clarity on objectives
- Identify your purpose.
- Project yourself into the future, picture yourself in it and imagine all the different positive outcomes. To make your vision much more compelling, write down in the present tense what you hear, feel, see, smell and taste.
- Find and apply a quote that inspires you.
- Make an honest assessment of your current progress.
- Commit to specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bond goals.
Devote one day to your Life Plan
Hyatt & Harkavy recommend that you schedule one day to create your Life Plan. Needless to say, the Life plan should be implemented starting the next day.
It is necessary to allow yourself to dream, to not expect perfection and to not get distracted.
Implement your plan
Implementing the Life Plan is the most challenging part. It is necessary to:
- Include your Life Plan in your everyday routine.
- Fight the feeling of being overwhelmed by life’s drama.
- Don’t be afraid to say no or to disappoint others.
- Read your plan daily and review it often.
Review
Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want by Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy is an easy to read self-help book that is based on some of their traumatic experiences.
It is destined to increase our focus, to helps us find out what matters most, to acquire meaning and fulfillment in our everyday life, to allow us to prioritize our lives and to contribute effectively,
This book is written for people who are looking for a better direction for their life because they are either:
- unsatisfied with the current state of their lives,
- lack purpose,
- seeking more balance,
- unable to overcome life challenges,
- noticing that their lives don’t fit their vision or dream,
- not reaching their full potential.
The earlier we start creating and implementing a Life Plan, the better.
Favorite quote(s)
Living Forward will heighten your sense of what’s truly possible for you in life. If you feel out of balance, aware that your current pace is unsustainable; if you are making great gains professionally but don’t want to neglect personal priorities; if you want to have better focus to succeed financially; if you have gone through a recent tragedy and suddenly become aware that life is short; if any of those are true, this book is for you.
I know that how we lead ourselves in life impacts how we lead those around us. Self-leadership always precedes team leadership. We must have a balanced approach to accumulating net worth in all of the critical accounts in our lives, not just one or two. Ultimately this allows us to make the greatest difference and adds the most value to those around us. It is possible to grow at work without diminishing other areas of our lives. Living forward helps us find and maintain our balance.
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 4 Effective Ways Leaders Induce Change
Change is inevitable and is part of living…
Everybody is continuously subjected to change.
The effective leader who wishes to induce change will start by changing people’s attitude and behavior.
Wondering what are some effective ways leaders use to implement change?
According to Dale Carnegie, leaders must work themselves towards making the request for change.
1. Be sincere
It is important to:
- Know exactly what it is you want to do and what you want the other person to do.
- Not overpromise and underdeliver.
- Forget about the benefits to yourself and concentrate on the benefits to the other person.
2. Be empathetic
Empathy is about understanding another person’s point of view and asking yourself what is it the other person really wants.
Before you even begin inducing change and telling someone that what they are doing is wrong, leaders have to give honest appreciation.
3. Consider the other person’s wants
Leaders must also consider the benefits that person will receive from doing what they suggest and match those benefits to the other person’s wants.
It helps to use encouragement and give the other person a reputation and a valid objective to live up to.
4. Make the request
When making the request for change, leaders must constantly communicate, convey that this change will personally benefit the and suggest ideas instead of giving orders.
The person will generally be happy to do the things that was suggested.
If all fails, let the other person save face.
Last Words Of Advice!
Implementing change isn’t easy because many people will resist it and you don’t see the immediate results.
Be patient with yourself and others!
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 10 Quotes To Inspire Change
This year has been eventful to say the least but went by quickly…
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Indeed, a lot has happened.
For the most part, a pandemic is still being dealt with, social constructs have been thoroughly questioned, and people have globally been demanding change.
Even though change has never been easy to implement, things are slowly changing for the better.
Here are the 10 best quotes to help you operate change within yourself.
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Be the change that you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy
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The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself. – C. JoyBell C.
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Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you smile, laugh, and feel loved. – Roy T. Bennett
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The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind. – Friedrich Nietzsche
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Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. – George Bernard Shaw
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I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change… I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back… – Erica Jong
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Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman. – Maya Angelou
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If you can’t change it, change your attitude. – Maya Angelou
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Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. – Wayne W. Dyer
Last Words Of Advice!
Change is difficult to implement and change first starts within ourselves.
Always remember this:
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. – Mother Teresa
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8 Avoidable Mistakes That New Leaders Make
Congratulations! Your hard work has been noticed, you have been promotef and you have been rewarded with the position youq have been coveting (or not).
Now, it’s time to get to work because with your new role comes new responsibilities and with these new responsibilities come new people, new concepts, new ideas and also new opportunities for mistakes…
Wondering what are the critical mistakes to avoid as a new leader?
1. New leaders wait to be sollicited
A new leader who goes and checks in with the team is relatable, creates a bond and a sense of security.
Even if he or she has nothing special to say, expressing the basic requirements to the team is a good start.
2. New leaders nurture an imposter syndrom
It is quite normal to lack confidence when you first start out.
However, it is unhealthy and unproductive to openly and inwardly nurture an imposter syndrom for long periods of time.
After a while, your team will surely pick up on it and will start to question your leadership.
So, stop doubting yourself and take confidence in your leadership.
3. New leaders struggle with their leadership style
Befriend an employee or discipline a friend? That is the question…
Most new leaders, especially if they are unexpectedly thrown into a leadership position, have a hard time determining their leadership style.
It’s all about understanding your team members, learning to delegate, keeping your role and responsibilities in mind, finding the right balance between relatable, approachable and authoritative.
4. New leaders lead everyone the same way
Some people are quiet, others are loud.
Some introverted and others extroverted.
Some are all over the place and others don’t require discipline.
Some rather competition and others choose collaboration.
Some enjoy confrontation, some a conversation and others avoid conflict altogether.
Some are just somewhere in that spectrum.
The point is that not everyone is the same or require the same treatment. Therefore, the same leadership style cannot be used with everyone all the time.
5. New leaders tend to power trip and ego trip
That new found power can be elating to new leaders.
It will have them thinking that they can treat people anyway they want to or do whatever they please.
Someone else was in line for the job but you got it and it’s now an opportunity to belittle them?
There is no need to play or keep playing dirty because you have already made it and tomorrow is never guaranteed.
There are people on your team that you don’t like and you want to demonstrate your dislike and your authority?
They may technically be worked for you but the truth is that you are working for them.
If you abuse your power, everyone around you will lose respect for you and your behavior will slowly degrade productivity and team performance.
6. New leaders maintain their old responsibilities
Your responsibilities have changed or have increased?
It can be tempting and reassuring to want to handle every single details and to maintain your old activities in addition to your new ones.
It’s now time to accept the change, to fully take on your new role and to learn how to delegate.
7. New leaders tend to openly criticize
Whether it’s bad talking the person who previously held your position or critiquing the way things were done before you were here, critiquing tend to leave a bad taste in the mouth of your new team.
There is nothing wrong with wanting change and reorganizing things to your liking but you can do this without degrading your predecessors.
8. New leaders are afraid of appearing incompetent
Because of their fear of appearing incompetent, new leaders don’t clarify objectives, speak when they should really be listening, take credit for other’s ideas and don’t ask questions to higher ups.
Last Words Of Advice!
Before fully jumping in your new role and responsibilities, take a few moments to observe your new environment, comprehend the company culture and understand the people you will be working with.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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Designing An Innovative & Effective Workspace
Nowadays, many companies redesign their workspaces to stand out, to create a more balanced environment, to exhibit their brand, values and personalities.
In the last 10 years, employees have admitted that their relationship with work and their workspace have changed.
According to recent studies, only a small percentage of employees have a positive opinion of their workspace and the percentage gets even smaller when it comes to millenials.
Therefore, companies must adapt to meet the needs of this younger generation. That is why these companies are redesigning their workspace in the hopes of attracting and retaining young talents.
Wondering how to design a positive workspace in order to retain young talents?
Benefits of redesigning the workspace
Workspace relates to the physical environment at work and can affect our life, mood, mental and physical well-being. It also involves workers safety, quality of work and of life.
Improving the workspace has considerable benefits for employees. Indeed, employees are healthier, more fulfilled, more engaged and more productive. Indeed, the well-being generated by a positive workspace leads to positive emotions, builds greater relationships, and fosters a sense of purpose.
For organization, a positive workspace drives better customer service, decreases absenteeism, saves time and money on the long-term.
Roadmap to creating the perfect workspace
There are no real roadmap to creating the perfect workspace but there are several criteria that come up when employees talk about improving their workspace.
To grade a workspace, employees take into account their working conditions, their working methods, their ability to focus, their level of productivity, and their creativity.
Building a healthy and innovative workspace
For the most part, companies have considered the following criteria to attract and retain young talents:
1. The startup mentality
Companies can start by updating the apparence of their building, opening up their workspace and creating a startup mentality.
Truthfully, most millennial don’t want to work in traditional workspaces anymore and prefer startups.
2. The healthy work-life balance
Organizations ought to create a healthy work-life balance.
Employees are best able to perform professionally when their personal life is in order. Companies must find a equilibrium between employees well-being and their productivity at work.
3. The use of external services
Integrating innovative and ethical services is a way fro companies to retain talents.
For example, some companies pay for cleaning services, tend to go green, monitor their energetical expenses daily, regularly test for ventilation and air quality. Others offer work out sessions and relaxation rooms.
4. The use of innovative and ergonomic equipment
Incorporating innovative and ergonomic equipment to prevent physical strain, pain and exhaustion increases employees engagement and value.
Most employees stay in a sitted position at their desk for hours at a time and don’t partake in physical activities.
Some workplaces are so sophisticated that they have installed sit-to-stand desk and different activities during working hours.
5. The minimization of paperwork and bureaucracy
Companies are able to retain their talents by allowing paperless procedures and reducing bureaucracy, by proposing communication apps, digital platforms for online training and for better communication.
On one hand, employees gain time and increase their efficiency.
On the other hand, companies become technologically savvy, agile and react more efficiently.
6. Learning and development opportunities
Providing training, learning and development opportunities says that your workspace values your employees skills and that it is geared towards innovation and learning.
Training stimulates the mind and opens it up to new and interesting ways of thinking and implementing their task.
Furthermore, training and development activities are an investment and are also the best place to introduce stress relief and stress management in the workplace.
7. The company culture
Hiring talents who will fit in the company culture is benefitial to the workspace.
Besides being competent for a given role, employees who fit into the culture tend to be more positive, perform at the best and treat customer and colleagues better.
8. The positioning of employees
Having employees work according to their strengths and weaknesses can only boost the general workspace.
Positive workspaces are constructed when employees are able to focus on tasks that interest them, are challenging and that utilize their strengths.
9. The inclusion of diversity
Diversity encourages communication, critical thinking, decision making, innovative ideas and personal growth.
10. Leadership
Promoting effective leadership is a sure way to support human basic needs and to promote healthy company culture.
Last Words Of Advice!
Research demonstrates that creating a healthy workspace, keeping employees happy and healthy increases the organization bottom-line and creates a more positive office culture.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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5 Great Examples Of Women In Leadership
There are a few women in positions of power but those few have been selfless, have created movements, and have tremendously impacted History.
These women have had different stories and have impacted society differently but they all created movements, have faced adversity, and broken the traditional rules of a male-dominated society.
Indeed, these women were not afraid of thinking or acting differently, being catalysts for change, bringing distinct perspectives and leadership styles to the table.
They have proven, more than necessary, that leadership has nothing to do with gender.
Wondering who are these women and how have they impacted History?
In no particular order of importance, you will find below a short profile of 5 remarkable women, promoting change around the world.
1. Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama is a Princeton graduate, lawyer and writer of Becoming.
Michelle Obama is also the wife of the 44th President Of The United States Barack Obama. She is the first Black First Lady Of The United States.
Throughout the presidency of the 44th President, Michelle Obama wrote and gave several heartfelt speeches. She initiated several campaigns against Youth obesity with the Let’s Move! Movement in 2010 and acted for the Red Cross in Haiti in 2010.
Her latest speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention revolutionized the role of the First Ladies in the White House and have demonstrated her level of influence.
2. Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza & Opal Tometi
Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza & Opal Tometi were all involved in social works when they came together to create the Black Lives Matter Movement.
After the unwarranted death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the acquittal of George Zimmerman, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza & Opal Tometi wanted to give people the tools to fight for human rights, black rights and to generate change.
The Black Lives Matter Movement campaigns against systemic racism, injustice and violence inflicted on Black People. This movement also militates against police brutality, against the lack of empathy and accountability of the American oppressive system.
3. Tanaka Burke
Tarana Burke is an activist and founder of Just Be Inc., focusing on the health and well-being of young women of color.
Tanaka Burke created the nonprofit organization Just Be Inc. to help women to speak up and stand up for themselves. From there, she started the Me Too Movement to help women victims of sexual harassment and assault.
The phrase Me Too took on a broader meaning after the H. Weinstein cases in Hollywood.
With the phrase Me Too, women around the world have been able to share their stories and tell others that they are not alone.
4. Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany and Forbes 2020 most powerful woman in the world.
Throughout her political career, Angela Merkel has adopted an analytical, quiet and confident leadership style.
Angela Merkel has commanded respect for several years for her ability to run a healthy economy and to render Germany competitive.
5. Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher, also known as the Iron Lady, is Britain’s first Prime Minister.
Margaret Thatcher served her country from 1979 to 1990 and introduced the United Kingdom to her conservative politics.
Her strong opinions generated both hate and admiration among her peers.
5 Great Examples Of Women In Leadership Click To Tweet
Last Words Of Advice!
Despite efforts to maintain the status quo and biases keeping women and minorities out of certain spheres of influence, women are rapidly climbing the leadership ladder.
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12 Ways To Build A High Performance Culture
The company culture depends heavily on the leader’s personality, character and vision…
The culture of the company affects every level of the company and determines:
- How you act and operate.
- How decisions are made.
- How you treat your customers, employees.
- How your employees treat each other.
- How you handle failures and celebrate successes.
- The acceptable code of conduct.
- Why certain things are required.
A highly performing company culture increases engagement, retains good employees, satisfies their customers and has better results than any other company.
That is why leaders have to hold themselves to very high standards and realize how much their behavior impacts their workplace.
Wondering how to create a high performance culture?
1. Assess the current state of your company
Leaders have to purposefully create and maintain a healthy workplace culture.
However, they must first be a living model for the culture that they want.
Leaders must take a good look at themselves when assessing the state of the culture: if the culture is unhealthy, then the leadership is unhealthy.
2. Define your why
Leaders must clearly define their purpose, personal mission statement and the vision for your company.
Building a high performance culture is subjective to the leader. It is important for leaders to have an initial idea of who they are, what they want and where they are going before they start hiring.
3. Define your core values
Core values are fundamentals beliefs, a set of principles that leaders follow and that guide then through life.
For example, a company can be based on the core value of radical honesty. In such culture, employees don’t sugarcoat anything, are able to tell the truth no matter the circumstances.
4. Define your version of success
It is important for leaders to define the short term and long term goals, to give their employees a definition of success so they know what to aim for in the long run.
For example, success can be meeting deadlines and hitting results.
Success can also be defined on different levels of technical competencies or on leadership abilities.
Leaders must be realistic about their goals and set clear expectations for employees. Setting unreachable goals will only demoralize your team.
5. Apply the Golden Rule
The Golden Rule is the principle of treating people the same way you want to be treated.
Because leaders are role models, they have to become culturally sensitive and inclusive.
6. Empower your employees
There are several ways that leaders can empower their teams within the company. They can:
- Play to employees strengths and place them in the right roles. Help employees gain awareness and achieve their highest potential.Â
- Acknowledge hard and good quality work.
- Allow employees make mistakes.
- Trust in employees decisions making skills. Employees will then feel confident about their abilities and stay engaged.
- Encourage training. Employees perform better when they are confident about their abilities.
7. Give your employees a sense of ownership
Employees take more pride and respect more what they do when they have ownership over their work.
Giving a sense of ownership will help you develop great leaders who will in turn inspire and motivate.
8. Promote innovation and change
Innovation is necessary for the survival of each and every company in today’s economy.
When leaders promote innovation and change, people will be more likely to grow, to adapt, ask questions, to try new things and adopt a change mindset.
9. Value transparency
Leaders must encourage a transparent and open culture where information flows freely.
For instance, letting your employees know how well your company is doing will improve trust. Of course, there will be gossip around the health of the company but overall employees will believe that you have their best interest at heart.
10. Practice collaboration
Leaders promote and encourage autonomy and collaboration within their team.
They allow their teams to have fun at work. They have broken down traditional workplace structure, simplified workplace processes and looked after their employees well-being.
11. Appraise customer satisfaction
High performance cultures are hard to come by.
Leaders continuously conduct customer satisfaction assessments because these assessments give a direct indication of team performance and the health of the company.
12. Monitor your culture
There will always be things to improve in a company but it important to strive for more. It is up to leaders to:
- Nurture, develop and sustain the culture.
- Deliver a set of tools to drive performance.
- Show that the health of the company matters.
- Give regular updates on how employees are doing in regards to their individual and collective goals.
Last Words Of Advice!
Most leaders, when trying to improve their cultures, focus on metrics and not on the people. If your culture is not where you want it to be, remember that:
- One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.
- You need to focus on the positives.
- You just need to take on step at a time. For example, start by sharing your goals or by being transparent about the current status of the company.
- If you don’t think you can practice of implement the culture that you want, find a manager or a human resources person who has the skills that you are missing.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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