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Enhancing Lives

Category: Mentoring

Creating A Team Culture

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Constructing a team is a good thing. Creating a “culture” of teamwork is much better. The post below from “The Balance” can give you important input about creating a culture for your team. These can make a difference in your team’s success.

Teams with a team culture are aware that every success of every individual is the success of the entire team, not just that individual. Share this philosophy with new team members right up front. Knowing that this is a team and collaboration is expected of them will speed their individual accomplishments.

Don’t be shy about reminding them of the value of the culture that drives their successes. Reward and celebrate teamwork and recognize it often. Emphasize that the amounts of their bonuses will depend on how effectively they operate within the team culture.

This post also offers some great tips for team building, itself. Team building is something you do every day. Together you can solve each other’s “real” work issues and problems. Build celebrations around successes and make team collaborations fun and make FUN part of every agenda.

The team concept has quickly become a popular tool for businesses everywhere. That suggests that more and more companies understand that “none of us is as good as all of us”. Make that your belief system and create an environment that has a “system” and allows that system to duplicate. Duplication provides a fast track to success.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-build-a-teamwork-culture-1918509

Giving & Receiving Leadership

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Good leadership is complex. At the same time, it is simple. The “flow” of effective leadership is both up AND down. Mentoring your team is, of course, your responsibility as a leader. You are the leader because you have unique knowledge and skills, so you must share them.

In addition, there is another dimension to leadership, accepting feedback gratefully and willingly. That is the most difficult part for most leaders. Those whom you lead have valuable experiences as well. A good leader recognizes that and respects that feedback from his/her team.

Saying you are open to that and really BEING open to that are two different things. Employees and team members can sense when you are genuinely listening and absorbing their input. This article below from Forbes will give you some valuable perspective. The best leaders don’t just listen to feedback; they solicit it.

To get the feedback you want, you must build trust amongst your team. They must feel safe in giving it to you. There are no negative consequences. If you act defensively you will get less and less constructive feedback. Remember, you and they are sharing wisdom and you will both benefit from it. Balance your leadership with positive (when it is deserved; no fake stuff) and with constructive interaction.

This dialogue will enrich the culture of your business and it will gain momentum, so it will occur more and more often. After your interchange has concluded, be sure and thank the person for taking the time to provide this information. Sometimes it is an advantage to repeat what it was that you have counseled about so both parties are on the same page. Good leadership will pay considerable dividends to your business. The best news is that it becomes easier and easier as you practice it.

www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/01/16/being-a-great-leader-means-giving-and-receiving-feedback/#6a42c223ebc9

Benefits Of Mentoring

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Mentoring is a practice that is touted by many contemporary companies. You have probably also heard it referred to as “coaching”. No matter what it is called, it is a practice that, obviously, is an asset to those being mentored (mentees).

But, have you stopped to think that there are also significant benefits to those doing the mentoring? The article below from “The Chronicle” helps point out some ways where the benefits of mentoring not only flow down to the mentee, but up to the mentor. You see it is not a one-way street.

The lessons you teach can serve as a relearning experience for the mentor. As you increase the confidence and the posture, it improves your own and reinforces the skills that got you to where you are. So as you remind your mentees to have confidence in themselves and their personal resources, take an inventory of your own realizations.

Mentorship forces you to step back to when you were being mentored. As they ask questions you will be faced with your own past experiences that will put their questions in the context of your experiences. How did I learn that? What helped me when I was in their position?

Just because you are now the mentor does NOT mean you are all-knowing. Keep perspective on the perceived hierarchy and remember you can learn from those that you mentor, as well. So keep an open mind and be willing to learn from them. They are usually younger than you are and have a much more contemporary perspective than yours.

Let your mentoring experience make you a better leader. Bear in mind that, as you help them, you should be helping yourself increase your leadership skills. And always be aware that the mentoring journey is all about them. What you get back is collateral knowledge. They are happy to share with you because of what they have gleaned from your relationship.

The company, with which I have associated myself, has established the mentoring (coaching) process as the cornerstone of owning and growing a healthy business that will pay “lifetime” dividends.  It is so integral to their culture; it has been incorporated into the Mission Statement. I keep it on my desk so that I am able to review it every day.

chronicle.umbmentoring.org/four-ways-mentoring-benefits-mentor/

Five Critical Roles In Your Business

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As you begin to establish your new business, there are critical roles that must be fulfilled in order to assure or at least give you a bigger chance of success. If you have the luxury of a large, quality pool of team members from which to choose, you may have these resources on your existing team.

Most new businesses do not have the advantage of having existing team members that can accomplish these tasks, so the alternative is that you must fill these roles yourself with an eye to recruit with these necessary roles in mind. The below article from Forbes tells us that these roles must be filled and identifies what they are and why they are indispensable.

You are the “de-facto” leader as a founder of your business. As its primary coach, you must lead in a way that creates love and respect for the way that you lead. Your first task is to find an “expert” who knows the industry, the market, and the products and is able to communicate those to the rest of the team.

The financial guru who keeps track of the income matrices and expenses that the team deems worthy of taking on. This person may be domestic to the team or be an external resource. Most entrepreneurs are busy with the everyday tasks of being leaders, so there is a need for a strategist who is skilled at navigating the future and guiding the enterprise into a profitable and fulfilling enterprise.

Finally, there is a need for the executer that takes ownership of the company’s plans and monitors their progress in the day-to-day operation. The executer understands, fully, the company’s expectations and how they are performing from one day, one week, one month and one year to the next. The executer knows what needs to be done, when and how.

As we have said, earlier, sometimes in start-up and new business endeavors these roles must be filled by the founder with an eye to the future as you recruit for your team. A lot of work in the beginning and the use of some outside resources that are available to you can fill those roles in the short or even the long-term and can lead to great things in your business.

www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2013/03/30/five-critical-team-members-for-business-success/#1f775e42ad90

Facing Fear

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Fear (and not facing it) can degenerate your ability to succeed, in life, in business, and in your personal relationships. Fear is not the enemy, your inability to face it and challenge it is.

This article from “Help Scout” helps explain how fear can actually be your friend and how facing it often can be one of the greatest tools to achieving all the things that you consider success.

You have heard the term “comfort zone” numerous times and it is understandable that we all tend to cuddle in its’ warm embrace. IT IS COMFORTABLE. At the same time, that feeling of “being OK” is not that at all.

Fear is actually your friend. We all feel fear. It is NOT unique to you. Conquering it is the gateway to business success and life’s quality achievements. The fearful are punished as often as the bold. The difference is the bold gave themselves a chance.

Fear actually makes us do the opposite of what is best for us. The pain that facing fear causes is nothing compared to the gratification that facing and conquering it generates. Facing that needle, so that I may be immune to an illness or making that phone call for the appointment that can convert a new customer are better for me in the long-run and the long-term benefits far outweigh the prick of the needle or the anxiety that your finger dialing that number cause.

www.helpscout.net/blog/do-things-that-scare-you/

Lessons to learn from water

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Water a most important resource. Important because it is needed for life to exist. Yet only 2.5% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and more than two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. That means almost all of the water on Earth, more than 97 percent of it, is seawater in the oceans.

Water is also quite powerful. Longtime coastal community residents know the danger of water and storm surge all too well. If you ask coastal residents, ones who’ve experienced dozens of ocean storms, what their memories are of the most destructive storm surge or water events, you likely won’t hear them rattle off any hurricane names. It’s the large winter ocean storms that release a flood of bad memories.

Water can be a deadly enemy, yet it still serve as an essential component in our lives because over 70% of our body is made of it and we can’t survive a week without it.

Since  it is a vital part of life, we can learn a few lessons from water to apply to our everyday lives. Here are six of the best:

    1. Boiling water softens potatoes and hardens eggs.
      Its about what you’re made of; not your circumstances.
    2. Don’t water the concrete. Nothing grows there.
      Stay focused on doing what matters most.
    3. Don’t water yourself down, because you’ll be less palatable to yourself and cheating those who matter. Don’t water yourself down, simply because someone can’t handle you pure, undiluted and 100% proof.
    4. At 211 degrees fahrenheit, water doesn’t do very much, but at 212 degrees its boils and produces steam which can power trains weighing over 500 tons. That’s a change in temperature of less than half a percent. Small differences in behavior can create huge changes in results.
    5. Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. They sink because of the water that gets in them. Be careful who you let into your head.
      And finally…
    6. When life pees on you, remember the words of Billy Connolly who said, “Todays rain, is tomorrows whisky.”

Inter-independence

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From the time that we were children, we were encouraged to learn and BE independent (self-reliant). As we move forward in our professional lives we may find that it doesn’t work as well as our parents intended.

You may want to explore some alternatives that actually make your search for business success and satisfaction more efficient and effective. Inter-independence is the combination of being independent while also being interdependent. The new economy, as the below article from “Authentic Organizations”, is discussed in some detail.

Even if you only examine the contemporary phenomenon of social media, you will find that we always depend on others and their input and information. It is a matter of the “you” and the “me” are becoming less important and the “we” is becoming the emphasis. In order to achieve your goals more effectively, it becomes more important to work WITH each other and HELP each other.

The company I’m associated with regards the dimension of helping others as so important it has incorporated it into its’ mission statement. In today’s new economy, even for a small business, independence is a myth and self-reliance is a bad strategy. I am an “independent businessperson”, but I am totally reliant on other independent business people with whom I work doing their job so that I can achieve my goals.

http://authenticorganizations.com/harquail/2012/06/15/self-reliance-versus-interdependence-in-the-boost-economy/#sthash.phsOMvIF.dpb

I am an entrepreneur.⠀

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For some, hearing this word sparks many different thoughts, feelings or emotions.
As an entrepreneur, we endure quite a few things. Some good, many not so good.

All we ask is that you be nice to entrepreneurs. We are out there creating and building something for our families. Not all of us are money-hungry ogres. Use your judgment. We’re working hard, love what we do and are sharing it with others.⠀Just like any other career choice, entrepreneurship requires us to do the work, put in the effort and show up. Most times more work and effort than other positions.⠀
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This is a very EMOTIONAL field. How? Well, We will deal with many types of people who will do their best to derail our success. Sometimes unintentional, yet often intentional. People will be rude, disrespectful of our time, and can be unsupportive.⠀
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We are required to put in hours at various times of the day. We go to bed in the wee hours of the morning and wake up a few hours later. We often work during holidays, sacrifice family functions, vacations, outings and milestones. Most of the time, we realize the sacrifices are temporary and must be made to achieve our long-term goals.⠀
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We are continually tested. We have many days we want to quit and go back to what seems like the “norm”, but we soldier on.⠀
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This path isn’t for everyone. Many  quit even before they start. You have to ask yourself if the time, effort, sacrifice is really worth it? For many, the answer is no. For the select few, the answer every time is YES!!!⠀
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At the end of the day, you have a choice – build your future or work for someone else and help them build theirs.⠀
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The choice is ours.

Helping Others Helps You

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The fastest (and easiest) way to achieve your own goals is by helping others reach theirs. You’ve heard it said since you were a child, “it is better to give than to receive”. The article below from Forbes Magazine points that out in some detail.

Whether it is sharing the knowledge of how the products your company offers can help them or listening (instead of talking) in order to discover what is important to them or sharing the resources of a website that you subscribe to that can assist them in their business, these things all constitute helping them achieve their own goals.

You can also help others by making them aware of opportunities that they may not have considered. Giving them valuable feedback about your observations of their own activities, in a non-critical way can improve their effectiveness. Show them how “advocating” for their own company’s brand, in a “whole-hearted” way, can improve their own posture and that of their company, as well.

Don’t be reluctant to share your own networking connections. They may be able to nurture some new connections. And offer and give freely of your time, whenever you can. Remember, also, to recognize their achievements in a genuine way. Finally, keep your attention out for a particular “gift” (not expensive) that would be meaningful to them in a personal way.

Helping others can be inconvenient at times. It takes time and requires subordinating your own goals in the short-run. In the long run, it will pay significant dividends as you strive for your own goals. Never, never be reluctant to help, you will gain and you will feel better about yourself and that AWAYS makes YOU better.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2013/05/26/10-ways-to-help-others-that-will-lead-you-to-success/#3c9e72ac2bce

http://www.workingwhileliving.com/?barbarahay

 

Whether it is sharing the knowledge or listening, you can assist others in their business, to achieve their goals.

Being Coachable

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You have probably heard it most in connection with sports; he or she is “coachable”. While it is certainly relevant to the sports model, have you considered how it also applies in the business environment as well.

It’s not complicated. Listening and learning should be an everyday activity as you grow and develop yourself and your business. Being coachable has a lot to do with linking yourself with one (or a few) trusted mentors. It involves absolute trust in the lessons they provide, just as in sports. Even if it sounds unreasonable or doesn’t make sense, it will as you grow in your business.

We aren’t saying your  ideas and concepts don’t have relevance—they do—but the experience of those you choose as your coaches offers a history of success. That history  is why you chose them.

As you grow and expand personally and professionally, you’ll find a plethora of people and information that are relentlessly trying to influence you and your decisions. This “white noise” must continually be filtered and your coaches can help you sort them into “What is true” and “What isn’t true” categories. This is an ongoing practice.

I have attached an article from INC. to clarify some of information you need to make sound decisions. Choosing your coach or a team of coaches is an indispensable part of your own success. Vett their credentials carefully. What have they accomplished? Do other business people have good things to say about them? Are they focused on you and your goals and not their own? You have an obligation to yourself to be selective and scrupulous in choosing those whose lead you will follow. Remember good leaders are coachable themselves. Now go play the game to win.