Category: Leadership

7 Light-Weight Leadership Practices that Deliver Heavy-Weight Results

Tiny is huge.

“Manny” Yarborough held the Guinness World Record for the heaviest living athlete. He exceeded 800 pounds before his death in 2015. You might feel like a skinny kid facing “Manny” Yarborough, but there are light-weight leadership practices that provide heavy-weight results.

Don’t be impressed with size. Bees carry pollen. Worms dig tunnels that freshen soil. Hummingbirds would win the 100-meter dash against Usain Bolt.

Tiny leadership practices can change your life.

7 Light-weight leadership practices:

1. Exercise for 1-minute 3X a day. 3-4 minutes a day of vigorous exercise was linked to reducing the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by about 48%. (Time)
2. Write in a gratitude journal 3X a week to shift your attitude.
3. Take 3-minutes of quiet time before every meeting to refocus. 1-minute will do in a pinch.
4. Show up with an intention.
5. Learn one new thing every day. (Read Leadership Freak. It takes about 90 seconds.)
6. Read for a few minutes before you turn out the light for bed.
7. Practice self-reflection for less than 5-minutes a day.

Benefits of self-reflection:

A coaching client recently began a short self-reflection practice. He chose five questions to ask himself at the end of each day. It takes less than five-minutes.

Don’t let your mind wander during self-reflection. A wandering mind goes to dark places. Give your brain something to reflect on. My client chose:

1. I started the day with this intention (__________). Did it happen?
2. Why did it happen? Why not?
3. What did I learn?
4. What do I want to do differently?
5. What do I need to do tomorrow?

He says, “I feel more at ease with myself. I was reminded of positive things that happened and progress made. Challenges felt smaller after I wrote them down. I woke up more focused having done the thinking the night before.”

What light-weight leadership practices have elevated your leadership?

What self-reflection questions can you suggest?

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Master Your Inner Critic

I met a leader in California who said he didn’t have a loud inner critic. I think he was smoking weed.

We talk to ourselves all the time. It’s normal. Sometimes you’re harsh on yourself. You say nasty things you wouldn’t say to anyone else. But your negative inner voice is useful on occasion.

Gail Godwin wrote, “The Watcher at the Gate,” an essay about the restraining voice who lived inside her. She wrote him a letter and asked, “‘What is it you’re so afraid I will do?’ Then I held my pen for him, and he replied instantly and with a candor that has kept me from truly despising him.”

“‘Fail,’ he wrote back.”

#1. Notice the lies your inner critic uses:

1. “You’re getting fired,” after receiving corrective feedback.
2. “You idiot,” when you say something stupid. ‘Idiot’ is my inner critic’s favorite word.
3. “You’re a loser,” when customers choose another person for the job.
4. “Nobody likes you.” Your inner bully loves exaggeration.

When things go smoothly your inner bully sneers, “Don’t blow it.” But he goes nuts when you stumble.

Noticing is the beginning of freedom.

Tip: Your negative voice isn’t you. Mine is my mom’s voice.

#2. Remember Tool #48 in “Writing Tools”:

“Limit self-criticism in early drafts. Turn it loose during revision.”

You look like a drunk octopus when you’re a novice. Let yourself be a novice.

You can’t learn if you can’t look stupid.

#3. Give your inner critic a job:

When you’re competent ask your self-judge, “How could I be better?” Or “How am I holding myself back?”

When preparing for a project ask, “What might go wrong?” And “How likely is that?”

#4. Set 2 rules:

1. Low competence – light criticism.
2. High competence – focused detailed criticism.

The words you say to yourself shape your future.

When is your inner critic useful?

How are you putting a gag in your negative inner voice?

Still curious:

Your Brain has a Mind of Its Own: Brain Management Strategies

5 Ways to Expose Your Inner Critic

Six Limiting Beliefs That Hold You Back

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Leading edge companies are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience and create positive emotions for their clients. One of the key ways they do this is through the use of technology.

Technology.  AI-powered virtual assistants are an example. These tools allow companies to provide 24/7 support to customers, answering their questions and addressing their concerns quickly and efficiently. By providing immediate assistance, companies can reduce frustration and create a positive experience for the customer.

Personalization. By using data and analytics, companies can tailor their interactions with customers to their individual needs and preferences. For example, a company may use a customer’s purchase history to make personalized product recommendations or offer customized discounts. This level of personalization can make customers feel valued and appreciated, leading to a positive emotional response.

Enhanced experience. Customer tend to love companies that go above and beyond for them. For example, some companies offer “white glove” service, providing VIP treatment for their most valued customers. This might include things like expedited shipping, special perks or rewards, and dedicated customer support teams. By providing this level of service, companies can create an emotional connection with customers and make them feel special and valued.

Social Media and other digital platforms are another way companies are creating positive emotions by connecting with customers on a personal level. By responding to customer comments and messages promptly and in a personal way, companies can create a sense of community and belonging among customers. This can lead to positive emotions and increased customer loyalty.

Transparency and honesty. By being open and transparent about their business practices, companies can build trust and create a positive emotional connection with customers. This can be done through things like publishing customer reviews, providing detailed information about products or services, and being transparent about any issues or problems that may arise.

Extraordinary companies are use various technologies, personalization, going above and beyond for their customers, using social media and digital platforms, and being transparent to create positive emotions and enhance the customer experience. By focusing on the emotions of their customers, companies can build deeper connections and increase customer loyalty, ultimately leading to long-term success.

 

Mark Sanborn is an award winning speaker, leadership strategist and Leadership Expert in Residence at High Point University, the Premier Life Skills University. He also advises executives and professional speakers on how to speak more powerfully. For more information about his work, visit www.marksanborn.com. 

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA) and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Cavett Award, the highest honor the NSA bestows on its members, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the speaking profession. In 2020, Global Gurus named Mark the #5 Leadership Authority in the world.

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7 Ways to Advance Self-Care

Self-care was for weaklings where I grew up in Central Maine. Real men and women didn’t need self-care.

Reactive self-care is short-sighted. We didn’t think about wellness unless we got sick. You did what you had to do until you couldn’t.

Proactive wellness is smart. Don’t wait to get sick to take care of yourself. Robert Glazer’s book, “Elevate Your Team,” includes strategies for wellness at work.

This post focuses on Glazer’s suggestions for increasing physical capacity.

Self-care – 7 ways to advance physical wellbeing:

1. Don’t brag about hero hours. Leaders model the way. Your bragging creates pressure. If you brag about 80-hour work weeks, you set a standard for high performers.
2. Take time to unplug. Life will go on without you! It’s arrogant to think otherwise. Go on vacation with the expectation you won’t check-in.
3. Limit off-hour communication. Your 2 a.m. email creates pressure, even if you don’t expect an instant reply. Use the delay send feature to protect employees.
4. Set clear deadlines. High performers may assume high levels of urgency for something you don’t need until the end of the week. Help people set priorities.
5. Incentivize unplugging. Reward people for not checking in while on vacation.
6. Emphasize physical separation. Don’t put your home office in the bedroom. Change your clothes at the end of the day, even if you work at home.
7. Show, don’t tell. Prioritize your own health and let people know.

Capacity:

Glazer’s book, Elevate Your Team, focuses on four areas.

1. Spiritual capacity.
2. Intellectual capacity.
3. Physical capacity.
4. Emotional capacity.

“The best way for leaders to get rested, energized employees in their workplace is to help their teams create and sustain boundaries between work and home life.” Robert Glazer

How might leaders promote wellness at work?

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How to Clarify and Share Your Aspirations for the Way People Treat Each Other at Work

The difference between a great place to work and a job is the way people treat each other. The most important thing about us is the way we treat each other while we do the work.

It’s catastrophic when the tone of an organization happens by accident. You can’t set tone alone. But you must clarify and share your aspirations for the way people treat each other.

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” George Washington Carver

Clarify and share your aspirations:

#1. Identify ten words you want to characterize your organization in the future.

#2. Cut your ten words that describe your future organization down to five. Rank them in order of priority. How do you feel about your top three? What if your organization could only be described by your top word? If you’re not thrilled with your top three words, go back to #1 and start again.

#3. Write a vivid paragraph for each of your top five words describing how that characteristic will be manifested in your future organization. Conclude each paragraph by describing the essential character of each attribute.

#4. Make symbols that reflect the essential character of each word. For example, draw a lighthouse for an aspiration to shine in a dark world.

#5. Ask your team to do steps #1 – #4 for your current organization, not future. What do you notice?

#6. Ask your team to do steps #1 – #4 for their ideal organization. (Do steps five and six at separate times.)

#7. Schedule individual lunch conversations offsite with your leaders to listen to their aspirations for organizational culture.

#8. Begin conversations about current state. Share your aspirations. Start taking action.

What three words would you use to share your aspirations for an ideal organization? Why?

How might you share your aspirations?

Still curious:

5 Essentials of Culture Building

What Makes a Company a Great Place To Work

Move in the Right Direction with a Culture Champion

**This post is adapted from, Culture Rules Field Guide, by Mark Miller and Randy Gravitt.

If you would like to win a copy of, Culture Rules, click here and leave a comment before 3/12/2023. No strings attached.

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5 Answers for Resistance to Development

Some leaders refuse to change. You want them to rise. They offer resistance to development and cling to patterns that hold them down.

Resistance to development feels like pushing an unwilling rope.

You care. They’re not interested. You want them to step up. They step back.

5 answers for resistance to development:

#1. Validate their talent.

People don’t see their own talent.

Bob Herbold’s parents thought the guidance counselor was talking about the wrong kid when he scored high on an intelligence test. Turns out Bob was smarter than even he thought. Eventually he earned a Masters in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in computer science. He retired as the COO of a small software company you probably heard of, Microsoft (1994-2001).

Answer resistance to development by offering assessments like Strengthsfinders or VIA Character Strengths Survey (Free version of VIA is available).

#2. Raise their confidence.

Stretch assignments terrify high performing perfectionists. They don’t play unless they win.

Support when you challenge. Hire a coach. Provide training. Be a mentor. Tell them how you failed and what it did for you.

Answer resistance to development by providing a safety net.

Life is small when you’re afraid to fail.

#3. Lower their confidence.

Overconfidence prolongs incompetence.

The people you want to develop are already doing a great job. Perhaps they need a new lens.

Do a 360-degree assessment. Let them see what others see. Use empathy and compassion when you kick someone in the pants.

#4. Check your culture.

Do you punish responsible failure? Or do you honor high performers when they struggle but fall short? Cheer for people when they reach high even when they botch it.

You get what you honor.

#5. Go small.

Answer objections to development by lowering expectations. What small change represents growth?

An oak grows so slow you don’t see it.

What helps people overcome resistance to development?

Still curious:

Responsible Mistake-Making: You Suck Before You Shine

7 Ways to Give Support Without Prolonging Incompetence

5 Surprising Reasons for Poor Performance You Can Solve Quickly

How to Respond Skillfully to the Three Types of Failure

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3 Essential Culture Rules all Leaders must Apply

Book Giveaway!!

35 copies available!!

Leave a comment on this guest post by Mark Miller to become eligible for one of thirty-five complimentary copies of his new book, Culture Rules: The Leader’s Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage.

Deadline for eligibility is 03/12/2023. Winners outside the continental U.S. will receive an electronic version.

Be sure to scroll down and leave your comment and discover how you can schedule a 1-hour zoom call with Mark Miller when you purchase 11 or more copies of his book.

Every organization has a culture – either by design or default. 

Our team just completed a global research project which included more than 6,000 participants – leaders and front-line employees. When we asked the leaders about the importance of culture, 72% of US leaders said culture was the most important tool at their disposal to drive performance (globally the number was 67%).

Unfortunately, when ranking their priorities, creating and maintaining culture didn’t crack the top ten for these leaders.

Motivated by this jarring reality, we set out to demystify and simplify this idea of culture, while at the same time making it approachable and actionable by leaders around the globe. We discovered three essential Culture Rules for creating a High Performance Culture. 

3 essential culture rules:

Rule #1 Aspire:

Leaders must share their hopes and dreams for their culture. 

What are your hopes and dreams for your culture? Can you share them in a way that is clear, simple, and repeatable?

Rule #2 Amplify:

Ensure your cultural aspiration is reinforced continually.

There are countless ways to reinforce the cultural aspiration. Here’s where to begin – Start with your own actions. People always watch the leader. What are your people learning from watching you?

Rule #3 Adapt:

Always work to enhance the culture.

What enhancements could you make to your culture? Sometimes these enhancements will be targeted at eliminating toxins. In other instances, they will be focused on leveraging existing strengths or adding new capabilities. In any case, leaders must always work to enhance the culture.

How strong is your culture? Do people find it life-giving and performance enhancing or is it soul-crushing? No culture drifts to greatness… it must be led there.

Culture Rules!

Mark Miller discusses three rules for high performance cultures: aspire, amplify, and adapt.

If you could create your dream organization, what three or four words would you use to describe the spirit of its culture?

Mark Miller is a business leader, a communicator,…

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10 Ways Managers Maintain Credibility When Higher-ups Reverse Decisions

Promised promotions aren’t happening. Instead of increasing headcount you’re laying off. How can you maintain credibility with your team when upper-management changes decisions?

Your word feels like a promise to your team.

Broken promises corrode credibility.

10 practical ways to maintain credibility:

#1. Tell people what YOU are doing.

1. I submitted paperwork for your promotion.
2. I gave our proposed budget to my boss.
3. I explained that we need to increase headcount.

#2. Don’t tell people what you think higher-ups are going to do.

#3. Narrow the audience.

Give information to people who need it, not the whole team. Who needs to know you put someone up for promotion?

#4. Show empathy toward your team and upper management.

Unthinking bobble heads lose credibility. Explain why decisions were changed and express empathy. “It feels disappointing.”

#5. Communicate changes with optimism. “I know it’s disappointing, but we’re going to keep doing our best.”

#6. Speak up for your team. You lose credibility when teams feel like sacrificial lambs.

#7. Don’t minimize challenges. Empty-headed cheering lowers credibility.

#8. Model the way.

The best way to lose credibility is to grant yourself exemptions while holding others accountable.

#9. Build relationships.

#10. Apologize.

Make things right and do differently next time.

Credibility…

1. Has trajectory. It’s always being validated, gained, or lost.
2. Opens doors but doesn’t give permission to drift.
3. Enables people to predict how you will act.

Credible people enjoy opportunities untrustworthy people lose.

You maintain credibility in the present.

Still curious:

The Secret to Credibility, Influence, and Impact

Personal Frailties and Leadership Credibility

7 Effective Ways Leaders Can Establish Credibility in the Workplace

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The Power of Values-Based Decisions

Life is a series of decisions. Eating broccoli instead of pudding is a decision. So is hitting the snooze button, going to the gym, or stealing office supplies. Decisions are a dance with short-term benefit and long-term value.

You make decisions all day. The issue is values.

Values-based decisions include:

1. Choosing an electric vehicle even when charging is slower than pumping gas.
2. Giving money to non-profit organizations.
3. Listening to a child’s story even when you want quiet.
4. Serving people when it feels easier to exploit them.

Expedient decisions: 

Expedient decisions fulfill immediate needs. It’s expedient to live next to Joe’s Pizza if you love pizza. We live 20 minutes from the closest pizza shop because we value country living, not because it’s expedient.

Values-based decisions:

The decision to tax gas guzzlers and subsidize solar panels reflects values-based decision-making by government.

Expedient decisions provide immediate benefit. Values-based decisions reflect long-term advantage. Fast food satisfies your need for speed, but you choose fresh salad and yogurt for long-term benefit.

Values empower you to prioritize and set boundaries.

Values-based decisions set us free even when they’re not expedient. You might choose to make less money to spend more time with your children, for example.

You can’t make good life decisions until you know who you are.

Values-based decisions reflect internal pull. Expedient decisions are responses to external pressures.

You choose what YOU want when you live by values, even when it makes life difficult. For example, when you value service you choose meaning over ease. Serving is seldom convenient. It’s a matter of the heart.

How are expediency and values driving decisions in your world?

Still curious:

Decision-Making for Leaders: Beyond Pros and Cons

Making Decisions When the Path is Uncertain and Confusing

Fascinating decision-making book: Think, Fast and Slow.

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Believe in People: The Vitality of Authentic Leadership

You’re a drummer without a band – annoying – until you believe in people.

Humanity is essential to…

1. Communicate effectively.
2. Solve problems optimistically.
3. Delegate thoughtfully – in ways suitable to an individual’s talents and aspirations.
4. Hold yourself and others to commitments consistently.
5. Seek and give feedback constructively.
6. Inspire vision expectantly.
7. Challenge people and processes courageously.

Leaders infuse vitality into stale leadership skills when they believe in people.

Let me tell you a story about the best gift I ever received. It was December 25, 2022.

The best gift ever:

I love E.B. White’s writing, so I was delighted to receive several of his books for Christmas last year. My wife also gave me Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark and some moleskin journals.

I love everything about my gifts. I love the words on the pages. I love smelling the paper and filling the pages in my journals. But no one saw the best gift that day except me.

The best gift ever is knowing my wife believes I might actually be a writer.

When you believe in people you help them believe in themselves.

Symptoms you don’t believe in people:

1. Lack of trust.
2. Micromanaging.
3. Doing everything yourself.
4. Finding excuses to lower the bar.
5. Blaming and backstabbing.
6. Fear of innovation.
7. High turnover.

Help people believe in themselves:

When we lack self-belief, we manufacture dragons that prolong pain. We don’t dare grow and change. Instead, we cling to discomforting realities like an abused woman afraid to leave her abuser.

When you believe in people you:

1. Energize the heart.
2. Elevate compliance to engagement.
3. Activate courage. And everything meaningful requires courage.
4. Enable endurance.
5. Infuse satisfaction into life.

Questions:

What do you believe about the people on your team?

Can you say…

1. “I’m counting on you.”
2. “You’re the person for this job.”
3. “I believe in you.”

Belief transforms people.

How might leaders infuse people with belief?

Still curious:

The Insane Side of Self-Belief

16 Practical Ways to be an Inspirational Leader

How to Build Confidence in Others

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