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Posts Tagged ‘Success’

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Change the World, Goals, Intentional, Success 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?

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Dreams, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Life Plan, Planning, Prioritizing, Purpose, Reflection, Success 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!

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Commitment, Communication, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Planning, Prioritizing, Success, Taking action, Vision 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.

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Communication, Consequences, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Planning, Prioritizing, Reflection, Success, Taking action, Vision 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.

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Trumpeting the Vision — Day 2, W3, M1 — Intentional Leadership — Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged Communication, Goals, Leadership, Success, Taking action on January 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As we spend this week contemplating what tools and with what frequency we are communicating our vision, let’s spend today really digging into what we’ve been doing and how it’s working for us.

Take some time to ask yourself the following questions:

What methods have I been using to communicate my team’s/organization’s vision?
How effective have they been?
What measures do I have in place to determine effectiveness?
Do I need to consider other measures?
Have we been celebrating activity linked to our vision?
If so, how?
If not, why not?
How do I connect with the vision and demonstrate it in my actions?
Do I need to be doing something differently?

The answers to these, and other questions that will no doubt arise as you go through this exercise, will allow you to recognize if changes are needed in your strategies and actions, or confirm you are on the right path.

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Communication, Intentional, Leadership, Success, Vision 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.

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Intentional Leadership — W2, Day 5 (M1) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged Goals, Intentional, Life Plan, Planning, Prioritizing, Purpose, Reflection, Success, Taking action 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!

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

Posted in Leadership, tagged Character, Commitment, Goals, Intentional, Reflection, Success 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.

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Organizational History — Intentional Leadership — W2, Day 2 (M1) Vision

Posted in Leadership, tagged Goals, Reflection, Success on January 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Happy Tuesday! Today we focus on organizational history and its role in achieving your vision.

There are some schools of thought that say when it’s time for an organizational transformation, you should let go of history and move forward with a fresh start. It sounds good, but is not so easily done. And may not be a great idea, anyway.

After all, there is some legacy in history, there is wisdom to be gleaned, and there are probably pieces of history that will provide invaluable context for your future. In fact, your organization’s values and culture are deeply rooted in history. The important point is that your organization’s history need not define its future.

If you study business history, you will find numerous stories of companies that had a well-defined vision and were quite successful in making progress in that direction. Then, as is inevitable, the market changes and companies adjust what they are doing to keep up with the market. This is fine to a point, but when you have changed what you offer so many times just to keep up with change, you will dilute your original purpose. The end result, a company that is moderately good at doing a few things, but is not the best in any of its markets.

In these situations, history will prove invaluable in helping the organization to refocus on its original purpose and concentrate on the things it does best. After all, we know that a person cannot be everything for everybody, nor can an organization.

Take a few minutes today to consider your organization’s history and vision. What lessons are there to be learned?

As you do this, it might serve you well to rate these areas. 1 = weak and 10 = strong.

How well versed are you in your organization’s history?