Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Intentional’

Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M1 — Creating a Guiding Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , on February 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today we take a closer look at our vision. Are you an innovative leader, or more conservative? Are you ready to buck the trends in your industry?

Think back to when Phil Knight, of Nike, changed the market for athletic shoes. He focused on making athletic shoes “cool,” which was a world away from how Nike’s competition was marketing their shoes.

Leaders like Knight blaze new trails. They lay out a vision that functions as a compass, guiding the way for their organization, and keeping it from straying from the path to success.

Nike doesn’t bank on the actual attributes of its shoes. It banks on the cool factor created by the sports stars who wear them. In essence, the shoes have become a status symbol and a fashion statement.

Phil Knight is no longer at the helm of Nike, but his vision lives on. The company still invests heavily in — and banks on — sports stars continuing to wear and showcase Nike shoes, reinforced by catchy slogans crafted by advertising experts. In fact, these days, it’s really more about the attitude connected with the shoes, not even the shoes themselves.

Certainly, if I showed you the Nike Swoosh, “Just do it” would flash into your mind. This is a powerful image built by a visionary leader whose legacy continues.

Today, spend some time thinking about visionary leaders like Phil Knight; leaders who have left a powerful and long-lasting legacy.

What characteristics or qualities did that leader demonstrate that contributed to their success?

How did their organization fare after they left?

How is their vision carried forth today?

What can you learn from these visionary leaders that will ensure you are casting a compelling vision, one that will function as a compass for our organization even when you are no longer there?

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — Weekend Prep — D5, W3, M1 — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This is becoming our Friday routine. Did you anticipate it?

Are you ahead of this post and already have your weekend thought out?

As we come to the end of this third week on our Intentional Leadership journey, will you spend some time in reflection of the work you’ve done over the past week and how it’s going?

What about giving some thought to how you will spend the weekend?

Who do you need to spend time with?

Who needs to spend time with you?

What do you need to do for yourself this weekend — to relax, refresh, reflect, reinvigorate?

What do you need to do to prepare yourself for a great start to next week, preparing for Monday?

We have a play date to make Valentine cards for my son’s Kindergarten class.

I will read at least an hour of something fun and an hour of something on growth.

I will call my parents. I will respond to some personal emails. I will handwrite a couple of letters — one to a mentor and one to an old roommate.

I will spend at least two hours working through curriculum in the John Maxwell Online University and at least two hours on business accounting.

And I will spend some time preparing for Monday.

As we all know, Monday is going to arrive; it always does. Won’t it feel much better to be ready for it?

Again, what thought are you giving to things you have planned or need to prepare for or complete in the coming months?

On Monday, we will begin week four of our Intentional Leadership Journey.

Remember, success comes from taking steps and doing work each and every day, consistently over time. You’ll see the benefits of your efforts if you are persistent and consistent.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you on Monday!

Read Full Post »

Trumpeting the Vision — D4, W3, M1 — Intentional Leadership — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As we near the end of the week, let’s work on the communication plan you began to think about yesterday.

If you haven’t gotten that far, why not start with a plan for the next month?

Again, you’ll need to define the key messages — what do your people really need to hear, know and understand?

When do they need to know? Creating key messages tied to your key milestones will help you lay out your timeline.

What vehicles can you use to spread the word? Remember, anything printed or visual needs to be a secondary or even tertiary form of communication — reinforcing messages you’ve already shared in person. After all, if something is really important, shouldn’t your team/organization hear about it first from you? Then you can use memo’s, newsletters, posters, and other visual communication tools to reinforce what you have shared in person.

Define how you will reinforce the actions and behaviors you need your people to take and demonstrate.

Give some thought to the celebrations you will have (they don’t need to be super-spectacular spectacles!) as your team/organization reaches those critical, initial milestones.

Be sure to put all of these things on your calendar. As you know, if you haven’t made it a priority and blocked out the time to take care of it, all that other daily stuff will become your priority. It will be easy to get to the end of the month and realize you haven’t accomplished all you wanted to — so take the time to schedule your actions now.

Create your vision.

Articulate it simply.

Share your passion for it.

Demonstrate your own commitment to reaching it.

Reinforce the behaviors you see in others striving for it, as well.

Drive to completion.

Celebrate along the way.

Read Full Post »

Trumpeting the Vision — D3, W3, M1 — Intentional Leadership — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

So, what did you learn yesterday about the communication methods you are using to share your vision?

Spend some time today to reflect on what you’ve learned, what it means, and what you now need to do to communicate your vision more consistently and effectively, so it sticks, with your team/organization.

Is it time to refine your vision statement more clearly and simply?

Have you clearly articulated the “Why” behind your vision? What’s the compelling reason for you to strive for it? What will happen to your team/organization if you don’t reach it?

If you haven’t heard this already, it might be helpful to know that the most popular radio station in the world is WII FM (or What’s In It For Me?). You need to be able to help your people make the personal connection between themselves as individuals–then the team, then the organization–to your vision. If you can do this effectively, you will be way ahead of the game. And the way to do this is to really get to know your people, what inspires them? What motivates them? What do they want to do, be, or have more of?

Do you need to put different benchmarks in place to measure your progress along the path to your vision? If so, what are they? And what are the key milestones you will need to reach along the way?

Once the measurements have been clearly defined, how will you celebrate when you reach them? And how will you reward your team members for their efforts?

Next, it’s time to thoughtfully map out your communication plan: Audience, Key Messages, Vehicles (primary and secondary), Timing, Owner, Outcome, Status, and Review. Successful leader-communicators consistently spend 80% of their time (with respect to communication) planning the communication and only 20% actually communicating. While it may seem counter-intuitive because it’s so easy to open our mouths and speak, truly effective communication does not just happen!

Your plan is nearly finished! Now, outline the key action steps needed to implement the plan, including who owns each action, what the expected deadlines are, and what the outcomes should be.

Now that you have an initial draft of your plan put together, who can you ask to review it? Find a trusted advisor or mentor and ask for their candid feedback before you take the plan to your team/organization.

It may sound like a lot of time-consuming effort, but I promise you the time you spend thoughtfully considering and planning your work will pay off in the end, with a more thorough, thoughtful, carefully crafted approach and it will show in the results.

Read Full Post »

Trumpeting the Vision — Day 1, W3, M1 — Intentional Leadership — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Welcome to week 3 of our Intentional Leadership journey!

Today, we will focus on the incredible volume of messages the average person is exposed to in a day — anywhere between 247 and 3,000 — depending on which source you pull the research from,  and those sites are focused only on commercial (advertising and marketing) messages; what might the number be when you factor in all the personal and directly-related business messages we deal with in a day? Hard to wade through, aren’t they?

This is one reason we must “trumpet the vision” as we are working to inspire and motivate our organization. It’s oh-so-critical to make your vision as crystal clear and simple as possible, and then to say it over and over and over, and celebrate it, and link it to action… many times a day, every single day.

It probably sounds boring and tiring, but it’s true. People need to hear things a minimum of 12 twelve times, through a variety of different mediums, before they truly begin to notice and attend to a message. Repetition is critical. This does not mean you need to say exactly the same words the same way every single time.

Indeed, what will be more effective is to weave your vision into messages at a variety of levels. Connect it to the major initiatives your organization is undertaking. Tie it into what lower level teams are working on. Draw the lines to how individuals are helping your organization move closer to the vision.

Don’t necessarily be subtle and don’t assume they will quickly see all the connections you see. Draw them the picture over and over and over. Make the connections for them.

Today’s exercise is to spend some time considering how your vision has historically been communicated and reinforced. What has worked the best?

If you’re not sure, spend some time talking with your people today and ask them what the vision is. If they can’t tell you simply, you have some work to do.

If that’s the case, take some time to articulate your vision and really consider if it’s simple enough to grasp quickly. Think about how you can make it more real for your team or organization; what picture do you need to draw for them so they get it?

Who can help you? Remember, you need not be the only vision ambassador; you know the people who get it — enlist their help in communicating and reinforcing your vision throughout the organization, in a variety of different ways.

Let me know how I can help you.

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — W2, Day 5 (M1) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

And it’s Friday, again. Did you take the challenge last week of planning for your weekend?

How did it work out?

What are your plans for this weekend?

As we come to the end of this second week on our Intentional Leadership journey, it’s time, again, to think about how we will spend the weekend. If you are like many, you will heave a sigh of relief of having made it through another whirlwind, hectic week.

I’m here to encourage you — again — to think about your weekends differently and consider the value to be enjoyed by thoughtfully planning how you will spend the time. As you do that, consider how you want to feel on Monday and take the steps necessary over the weekend to set yourself up for success with that.

As I said last week, it’s not my natural tendency to plan for the weekend unless traveling, but I’m trying it out. So, here’s what’s on my list:

I will take my son to arts & crafts, then on to the crafts store to buy supplies so he can make homemade Valentine’s for his Kindergarten class (I’m no Martha Stewart — there’s an easy to follow pattern in the latest issue of Parents magazine). If the snow that’s predicted actually comes, I’m sure we will spend considerable time playing in it!

I will make cranberry pot roast for dinner — mmmm yummy! Again, good food, nice dinner time, and cooking is very relaxing for me!

I will read at least an hour of something fun and an hour of something on growth.

I will call my parents. I will respond to some personal emails.

I will spend at least two hours working through curriculum in the John Maxwell Online University and at least two hours on business accounting.

And I will spend some time preparing for Monday.

As we all know, Monday is going to arrive; it always does. Won’t it feel much better to be ready for it?

Then take some time to think about the big things you have planned in the coming weeks and review your planner to ensure you have the time set aside to prepare for and meet whatever those commitments are.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey — we have now finished month one – week two, of our Intentional Leadership Journey. Remember, success comes from taking steps and doing work each and every day, consistently over time. You’ll see the benefits of your efforts if you are persistent and consistent.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you on Monday!

Read Full Post »

Organizational History — Intentional Leadership — W2, Day 4 (M1) — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , on January 24, 2013| 2 Comments »

It’s Thursday already — Wow! Time for a little reflection.

As you’ve taken some time this week to consider your organization’s history and vision, and to talk with and listen to your employees’ thoughts about the history, its significance, and how it relates to your vision, what did you learn?

Do you see any gaps or inconsistencies?

Did you hear something that left you questioning commitment levels to your organization’s vision?

What could you be doing to encourage higher levels of engagement and commitment among your employees?

How could you help them to see and understand the organization’s vision more clearly?

What do you think it would take for them to take greater ownership?

After you’ve spent some time on these questions and their answers, spend some time considering the vision you have for your team.

Have you articulated it clearly to them?

How committed to it do you think they are?

If you think there’s a gap in their commitment to your vision — either for your organization or your team — keep this in mind: They have to buy-in to you first, before they will buy-in to your vision.

Plainly speaking, have you established yourself as a true leader — are you:

  • Mature — knowing it’s not about you.
  • Intentional — your service to them is thoughtful, not an accident!
  • Consistent — you’ve demonstrated over time that people can count on you and know what to expect from you.

In short, you have demonstrated yourself to be a person of integrity. If you’ve done this, and your vision is intriguing to them, they are all the more likely to commit to helping you achieve it.

Read Full Post »

Seeing the Bigger Picture – Intentional Leadership — Week 2, Day 1 (M1) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on January 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

It looks like this week we are going to focus more on organizational vision than personal vision. Week two is focused on Seeing the Bigger Picture.

Leaders are often defined by the size and scope of their vision. If you know the story of the McDonald brothers, you will remember they were brilliant in terms of anticipating and responding to the desires of their market, and even more so at developing the assembly line process in terms of food production. They attempted to sell franchises, but the concept never took off. In fact, when one franchisee in Phoenix wanted to name his restaurant McDonald’s, the brothers said, “why, no one will know who we are in Phoenix!”

Enter Ray Kroc, a milkshake machine salesman who did business with the McDonald brothers. He could see the bigger picture. He envisioned McDonald’s franchises all across the country. He worked with the brothers, eventually buying the rights to franchise, etc., and his vision built the global corporation we know today.

He was convinced he was on the right track and confident in his ability to be successful. This is not to say it didn’t require years of hard work and sacrifice, but he saw the potential and made it a reality.

Break now to the story of Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google fame and fortune. They started with the challenge of linking the growing data connections on the internet. As they became more engrossed in their project, they quit school to follow their passion full-time, starting Google in a garage in 1998. By 2008, Google was processing nearly five billion web searches per month. Page says he learned something in college that drove them forward; it was this phrase:

Having a healthy disregard for the impossible.

As I’ve noted in an earlier post, while there are many out there stating certain things are impossible, there all too regularly seems to be someone, somewhere who is doing the impossible. Man on the moon. Rover on mars. Printing out human kidneys on an ink jet printer…The stories are out there to be found each and every day of someone achieving something once thought impossible.

The point here, having great vision and setting the audacious goal is a hallmark of visionary leaders.

What is the vision of your organization?

Is it big enough?

Does your team see  and understand it?

Do they believe it’s possible to achieve?

Are they as passionate as you about achieving it?

Me, I’m out to change the world one person, one experience at a time. Yes, it’s huge…and for today, at least, it’s just me (I have yet to build a team). That’s not a deterrent, though. I’m fully confident in my ability to succeed.

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership – Day 5 (M1, W1) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Ah, another Friday! Are you prepared for the weekend?

As we come to the end of this first week on our Intentional Leadership journey, it’s time to think about how we will spend the weekend. If you are like many, you will heave a sigh of relief of having made it through another whirlwind, hectic week.

Would it surprise you to know that some people actually thoughtfully plan for the weekends – before the weekend arrives? It’s true!

I must confess, I’m not one of them – at least not 99% of the time. If we plan to go somewhere for the weekend, I am more mindful about the need to plan the time; it’s kind of a requirement when traveling with small children. But, if we are staying home for the weekend, I don’t plan, much to the frustration of my husband.

Oh, I do have a list in my mind of the various things I need to accomplish, errands that need to be run, and chores to complete, but I definitely don’t have a schedule mapped out. And, no surprise to anyone, I’m sure, many Sunday evenings arrive when I still have a bunch of things I did not get done. You know what they say about having good intentions…The good news (for me, at least!) is I’m aware of this pattern of behavior, which gives me the opportunity to rethink it and experiment with new processes that may provide a smoother rhythm to my and my family’s life.

What do you say we try another tactic on this journey we are on?

What if we thought about the weekend differently going forward?

What if we were intentional about defining our needs for the weekend and making time to meet them?

For example, if you work a traditional Monday-Friday schedule, the weekend is typically a time for rest, for fun, for spending with family. How much more satisfied would you feel on Sunday evenings if you actually approached the weekend with these needs in mind, with a plan?

Let’s start this week and see how it goes, ok?

I will meet family time by taking my son to an arts & crafts class, working on his homework, watching at least one episode of Blues Clues, and reading, at a minimum.

I will cook a turkey dinner for my husband, for the two of us to enjoy after he returns from hiking with a friend. This will serve double duty…with the cold, gray weather we’ve been having, I’m craving comfort food and cooking is very relaxing for me!

I will read at least an hour of something fun and an hour of something on growth.

I will call my parents. I will respond to some personal emails.

And I will spend some time preparing for Monday.

This is important! You know Monday is going to arrive; it always does. Take some time to think about how you want to feel on Monday, and what you need to do to feel prepared to start your new week off on a positive foot. Then take the steps over the weekend to set yourself up for success.

Finally, have you given much thought to the big things you have planned in the coming weeks? Are they in your planner? It’s been proven by so many people before us: Successful people are intentional, planning their time focused on their priorities. It’s a simple enough process, but requires focus and commitment. Are you ready for that? If not, get your calendar out and write it down.

Congratulations on making it through month one – week one, of the Intentional Leadership Journey. Next week we’ll focus on Seeing the Bigger Picture.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you on Monday!

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership – Day 4 (M1, W2) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on January 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As is key in improving your effectiveness with most any endeavor, reflection on this journey is critical. Today, take the time to reflect on your vision.

Write it down.

Paint a vivid picture of your dream.

Then, as a communications expert once explained to me, it’s time to “reduce the sauce.” He was referring to the process in cooking when you’ve put all the ingredients into the pot, mixed them together, and have to keep cooking until it has condensed, and reduced…as you know, you end up with something more concentrated than what you began with.

So, reduce the sauce. Keep rewriting your vision until you can state it concisely and clearly in just a few sentences; no more than one short paragraph. When you reach that point, see if you can condense it down to one sentence.

Paul Martinelli, President of the John Maxwell Team, often says, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Give yourself the time to do this. Be patient with yourself. Try the words on for size. Let them roll around on your tongue to ensure they are your words and you are comfortable speaking them. Authenticity is important. Notice how your body feels as you say the words and declare your intentions. Trust your intuition when it says, “That’s just right; you can stop now!”

When you are finished it should be obvious who you are and what you stand for.

I spent years working on this one; refining it time and time, again. And it’s changed over the years, as I’ve learned more and reflected on my experiences. That’s the beauty of the journey.

I can’t wait to hear your vision statement…I hope you will share it with us here.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »