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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Category Archives: Advice from a Life Coach

July 5, 2012 The Key to Business Success Is All Around You

By Margaret Smith, UXL:
SPEAKER | CAREER COACH | CERTIFIED INSIGHTS DISCOVERY PRACTITIONER

I was surprised to discover two really helpful articles in the recent USA Weekend insert written by Stephanie Weaver (usaweekend.com) in my Stillwater Gazette. I decided to share some of the most important ideas with my readers.

The first article deals with building a successful business, and offers the key to this success: Build the perfect team. Does it sound like a great solution? Sure. Does it sound like an easy solution? If you’ve ever worked on a team, then your answer is probably a little less definitive.

Have you ever found yourself assigned to a group project at work, and caught yourself dreading it? This is probably because there’s some work to be done not on your project, but on your team. “Team building is a way to be in control of your life.” says Robyn Benincasa, world champion adventure racer and author of How Winning Works: 8 essential leadership lessons from the toughest teams on earth.

Build your team, and gain control of your life. A rather interesting concept, right? I couldn’t help but recognize the truth behind this insight. The less out of control or imbalanced your team is, the more weight each member has, and the more democratic things become.

Benincasa had a wide variety of experiences to thank for such great advice. She left the corporate world to take on expedition-level competitions that ask participants to hike jungles and mountains, cross lava fields and survive rapids.

Who crosses the finish line first is as much about who you’re with as how you train, she says.

Although you may not be inclined to enter the world of extreme sports in search of wisdom, you may be interested in stealing some of her tricks:

Play to the Strengths
Recognize one another’s strengths and weaknesses (we all have them) and tap into them by divvying out tasks accordingly. Leave egos at the door.

Stop the Finger Pointing
Nothing defeats team spirit more than singling out someone’s flaw. All teams—whether work or personal—are built on respect.  “Lead by strength, not title”, and squash any negative remarks as soon as they come up.

Take Benincasa’s Test
Do you look at people as potential competitors or potential teammates? If you’re trying to compete, flip a mental switch. The world is full of potential teammates.

After reading great teambuilding tips from a revered adventurer, I decided to consider the challenge of teambuilding with my own set of tools and experiences. About a year and a half ago, I discovered a personal assessment tool that’s brought teambuilding to a whole new, easy to understand level:  Insights Discover.

Insights Discovery is a great tool for building team respect and eliminating competition. The program does this by helping teams to recognize the value and skills that each person offers, no matter how different they from you. A well-balance team is the key to seeing all perspectives and getting work done on time with reduced conflict and stress. If you’d like to explore the benefits of Insights for your work group, please contact me today.

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June 25, 2012 Tally-Ho! June Newsletter: 13 Ways to Look at a Leader

13 WAYS TO LOOK AT A LEADER | UXL, JUNE 2012

What’s the secret behind great leadership? There’s no “right” response to the question; All of us will answer differently because there are a multitude of different leadership styles.

Recently, INC MAGAZINE published an article outlining 13 DIFFERENT WAYS TO LOOK AT A LEADER. Before you inspect the list below, take a moment to consider an exemplary leader who you’ve experienced personally. What were the things that made this person strong and valuable?
Click Here to Read More!

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June 13, 2012 Are You Weighed Down by your Stuff?

By Margaret Smith,
SPEAKER | CAREER COACH | CERTIFIED INSIGHTS DISCOVERY PRACTITIONER

I’d like to start this blog post with a question:

What stuff do you have weighing you down?

What do you mean by “stuff”, you ask?

I was confronted with the idea of stuff overload in an article published recently in Parade Magazine. This article, titled “Is Your Stuff Weighing You Down?”, tackled the issue of actual physical clutter—the lamps, mugs, ointments, clothes, supplies, and other objects that fill our closets and our attics.

The concept presented in the magazine slowly grew into a larger issue in my mind. It all started the other day with a search for a guitar amp. Now before you get confused, let me assure you that the guitar amp was not for me, it belongs to my son who had returned home in search of a few items.

Because my son is in his mid-twenties, he’s been out of the house for some time now. This adds a special challenge to locating his stuff. While he may have remembered what closet he left his amp in, the closet itself had been overrun with miscellaneous piles of my “work stuff”. He opened the closet door and optimistically expected to see his amp. Instead, he faced perilous stacks of my documents, envelopes, gadgets, and more.

He returned downstairs to find me in the kitchen. “Mom, what is all that stuff?” he asked.

My honest reaction was mutual confusion. “You’re right,” I said, “what is all that stuff?!” I then trudged upstairs to tackle my clutter. As I dealt with the tangible stuff, I started to think about the less tangible stuff that may not fill my closet, but sure fills my mind and weights me down.

So now I bring this tough but amazing question to you. What are the sources of guilt, obligation, and responsibility that you feel weighing you down? Are some of these items actually the “stuff” or responsibility of other people that you’ve taken on yourself?

You may find that you’re bogged down in stuff because you’re saying “yes” too often, and that these items distract you from your real goals. (Now would also be a good time to ask yourself, What are my real goals?)

Here’s a great way to measure the way you use your time:

1. List the 3 things that you value most (spending time with family, learning, etc..)

2. Make a list of the things you’ve devoted time to in the last week

3. Give each area you devote time to a percent out of 100 for the week (perhaps your work ends up constituting 70% of your time, volunteering 5%, etc)

If your use of time conflicts with the things you value most, consider rethinking your life balance.

If your issue is that you have trouble gracefully declining the requests of others, take a moment to visit my handy list of creative ways to say “no”. I promise you won’t regret it!

image: scanned from Parade Magazine

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