March 25, 2014

39 Ideas to Lead and Grow

Embrace that there are many things you don't know. Focus on your strengths.
Help something without their knowledge. Teach others. Waste no time with naysayers. Skip email for a day. Build a mastermind group. Take time for you.

Let others make time to them. Be known for something. Surround yourself with smart people. Quality not quantity. Collaborate often. Remove negative people from your life. Have a flexible strategy. Avoid playing favorites. Leave politics to politicians.

Adopt an open-mind policy. Be true to you. Be clear on your beliefs. Let your team take credit. Surround yourself with people who improve you. Communication consistently. Say thank-you often. Learn from others. Identify specifically what you want. Don't compare yourself to others. Clearly define your boundaries. Turn off your phone.

Believe in you. Do what you say you will do. Recognize the efforts of everyone on your team. Disconnect at least once a day. Don't pull rank. Take one think day every month. Pay it forward. Read and seek knowledge daily. Imagine often. Never stop learning.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

ashladan

March 21, 2014

Conquering Our Fear

There’s an old acronym for fear that is false evidence appearing real. If you were face-to-face with a great white shark that would be real fear. If your car is careening over a cliff, again real fear.

But how much of what we identify as fear is false evidence? How much do we dream up in our heads to stop us from trying? When do we feel a pang in our gut that paralyses us from moving forward, attempting that idea, and realizing new boundaries?

Going Blind in Space

Retired Canadian Astronaut, Colonel Chris Hadfield began his journey and dream when he was 8 years old. There was never doubt in his mind and heart what he wanted to do with his life. I've read his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, it is brilliant. Get yourself the audio version as well. It's about space exploration, his life, leadership, life lessons, and so much more.

Colonel Hadfield shares his thoughts on fear and recognizing the difference between what’s in our heads and what’s in front of us.


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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Chris Hatfield | TED

March 14, 2014

There is No Owner's Manual

We live in a plug-in-play world. The gadget comes with an instructional manual but few of us take the time to read it. Our collective impatience is too strong. We want to open the box and start using it. If there’s a problem, we’ll call someone or research the answer online. But what do we do when we can’t figure out how people work?

There is no owner’s manual with human interaction and relationships. Decades of experience can only give us a guide but each person is wired and motivated differently. We can’t simply apply one rule for all yet often the business world tries to do just that.

Leadership is Complex

If you have kids, you may have taught them how to ride a bike. At first, you put on training wheels, and then over time you raised them off the ground so your child could slowly learn how to balance.

Then the day came when the training wheels were removed. You may have stood nervously as they started to pedal off without your help or the help of two extra wheels. That’s trust in them, the system, and yourself. You gave them the tools but eventually had to let them find their way.

Without investing time in people's motivation, we may never know how the gadget works.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

istock

March 9, 2014

Springing Forward: Does it Help?

The debate over daylight saving time – which affects much of the planet – has been going on for a couple of hundred years. Does it save energy? Does it give us more time to do things? Does it help our lives? Governments can’t get more than a third of the registered voters to cast a ballot in any election, so the chances of the entire planet agreeing on this issue would be zero. So we can move on.

We know our most precious resource is time yet how often do we spend it unwisely? Discussions about the pros and cons of moving our clocks an hour happen twice a year. The rest of the time we grumble about how busy we are doing busy things being busy. Time flies, life moves fast, and suddenly we reach a point where we take stock and try to calculate how much of our finite time we actually spend enjoying this experience called life.

It's just clocks and money?

David Thackston wrote: “A positive effect that Daylight Saving Time has on the economy is that it gives people the opportunity to spend more time outside of their homes in the evenings, attending sports events, shopping, and in most all cases, spending money.”

As leaders, how can we ensure the entire team is spending their time wisely rather than doing busy things that make us all look like we’re progressing? Perchance we should take a moment to pause and reflect how we are spending our time together. We may not need that additional meeting this week. Perhaps we should afford people more time to grow and think and create.

Or we can continue to complain that we have no time.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

timecenter

March 8, 2014

Celebrate International Women’s Day



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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Kiva

March 4, 2014

Name. Living. Difference.

mo • ti • va • tion 
The process of giving someone a reason for doing something.

Webster

There is an entire industry focused on it, thousands of websites catering to it, millions of conversions discussing it, conventions modelled toward it, but what is motivation? What gives us a reason for doing something that will move us to our desired goals?

“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.” 
Abraham Maslow

There are many motivating factors to life. Maslow called it the Hierarchy of Needs which include; food, water, shelter, intimacy, and safety. He also wrote about self-actualization which is more intangible. We use words like potential and passion when describing how we can be our best.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs

Here’s something you may want to try. Find a moment today to write down three words; name, living, and difference. Think of them as steps in your life.

Make a Name 

Write down all the things you want to do, to become more recognized in your field. It’s not about fame – few make that a priority – it’s about appreciation. I haven’t met anyone who claims they want to be known as the worst at what they do, so write it all down – even if it feels uncomfortable.

“An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless an external force acts upon it.”
Isaac Newton

If you want to be the best investment advisor in your firm, write it down. If your goal is to serve the best burgers in town, write it down. If you wish to create a charity, write it down. If it's something that has been nagging you to try for years, write it down!

Make a Living  

This goes beyond paying the bills. That's a paycheck. Few avoid getting stuck by money (or current lack of it) on their way to a living but we’re dreaming for a bit so go for it. Don’t let your current situation slow you down.

When this draws to an end, I doubt either of us will be tallying up the possessions we had in our life. We will be focused on the experiences and perhaps the chances we didn't take.

Make a Difference 

Write down all the things you do and want to do that will make a difference in others’ lives. These don’t have to be grand gestures – in fact, the small ones are often the most powerful. You don’t have to raise millions for disease research or build the new wing on the hospital.

“If you can't get a miracle, become one.”
Nick Vujicic

How do you want to make a difference in someone’s life? How do you want to give back and help others? The challenge remains for us to take the actions in order to make a name, make a living, and make a difference. I don't know many who focus on the name part, but there's no reason we can't make a living while making a difference.

Let’s take our three steps right now.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

earthpm

March 2, 2014

We are Outliers and Mentors

Think about your mentors, those people who have helped you and your career along the way. They found somewhere deep inside to motivate your strengths and help you realize your goals. They didn't make it about them, they didn't impart their goals on you. They pushed you to be a better you.

Malcolm Gladwell opines in his book Outliers there is no such thing as a self-made person. Those who have come before us have afforded us opportunities to succeed. None of us does this alone no matter how it may appear. Marcus Buckingham reminds us that we need to stop working on our weaknesses and focus solely on our strengths.

Imagine an organization where your good work is encouraged and your shortcomings are turned into prospects for others on the team who thrive where you may not.

Asking the Right Questions

How are you preparing your team for success and leadership? Is it a collaborative atmosphere or one of fear? Are strengths celebrated more than weaknesses highlighted? Does everyone have a clear vision on culture and objectives? Is your mind open to their opinions and ideas?

Balance and fairness look good on a well crafted business plan but in the heat of the battle, they can be tough to maintain. But they must remain top priorities because without them, you will be left with managers and bosses while leadership will be accidental at best. Success will left up to guesswork. If you are in a lead position, make time for your people or watch the very thing you are working to build begin to crumble.

Leadership is not on an organizational chart or an email signature. It resides within every member of your team, so maintain an open-mind policy.

The results will astound you.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

webster
 
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