Kairology

by Steve Betsworth

Success

Success is what everyone wants, but how can you get it. There are three key strategies to ensure your road to success. You first need to acknowledge that as the cliché states, ‘Success doesn’t happen overnight.” Success is a process and not a singular event in time, so you must embrace the journey of discovery that is the finding your own personal recipe for success, success is something that once you think you have obtained, you can go on developing, so it is also not a destination. Success is about growing as a person, so you need to go through that process, which may take time and patience. Acquiring skills and traits that attract success is part of the process and expanding your skills base will only lead to personal and even spiritual growth. Prepare yourself for success. You must be ready to travel the road. As long you recognise that it is a process then you can better adjust for disappointments along the way, which there will be. But once you start seeing the benefits of your personal investment, you will recognise that you are starting to success in attaining your goals.

Leadership 

By fine tuning your leadership skills you stand a significantly increased chance of achieving tangible success in the workplace. Here are a few tips on how to improve your personal leadership attributes. There are always lessons to be learned from every situation, and if you can focus on those learned form previous experiences the next time something happens, then your personal performance will improve each time. Sharpen the performance of your people. People are the most important part of any organisation and time spent maximising their potential is time that is rarely wasted. An employee who feels valued will work harder for you and the company. Clear communication is the key to maximising time and performance. If people know what you want then they will deliver a better produce, mixed messages make for an unpleasant atmosphere is uncertainty. Clearer communication will improve the self-confidence of those around you to perform better. 

Attraction is important

If you want other people, employees and clients, to like you, then you have to begin to like yourself first. Being liked is important no matter what you think. You are less likely to get the contract if they people on the other side of the desk don’t like you. This does not mean pander to them and appear weak, it means being genuinely self-confident in your reflections on your own self. The key to success here is reading the other people and treating them as you would like to be treated yourself. As you build self confidence in this area, you will see your success increasing proportionally. Don’t think that all people will like you, all of the time, this simply won’t happen. If someone appears not to like you, it may have nothing to do with you as a person; it may merely be a misconception of the environment you are working in. Focus on the positives and make them work for you.

About the Author

Steve Betsworth is an Internet Marketer who runs a website which currently offers a free five day e-course and an introductory video which explains not only the principles in this article in more detail, but more methods of finding success. The website is wealthmindmap.com

This month I have selected three articles which have a theme around personal style in relation to others. If as leaders we want to get the best from people, we have to value them. That means ensuring they feel included, that their confidence and skills are being built, and that we lead others as we would like to be led ourselves. Leadership comes from position, knowledge and character, and we should be prepared as leaders to demonstrate all three. That includes being attractive and likeable – I know firsthand that people leave leaders, not organisations. Don’t be shy of wanting to be liked! Why else would people want to be around you?

Keep watching Kairology.com for a range of articles on these personal values and leadership styles.

By Ken Long

You are in a leadership position in your workplace and a combination of internal and extra pressures demands that your organization changes to remain relevant in your marketplace. What roles do you see for yourself as a manager in leading and managing the required change? If you decide that you need training and education to help your people through the transition time, what should you look for in an effective change management program?

This article will shed light on both of these important issues for you and help guide your initial steps in the process. 

It’s extremely important for managers to support both the change management process in the final form of the change as decided by the organization and its leadership. Hopefully your process for change management will include a lot of input from first-line leaders and your workers because they are in a position to know most about the likely impact of the change. They will also be in a position to find innovative ways to implement the change for best results. That said, your role as a manager is extremely important.

Your role in supporting change should include:

Helping your people to understand and interpret change and the impact on team members.

Encourage them to view change and the anxiety it can cause team members as natural and inevitable.

Be a source of strength and encouragement to assist team members as they adjust to change.

Make sure that your process will involve team members in the process of change.

Be sensitive to your people’s needs in order to help team members make the change.

Make sure that you follow up on the initial meeting to make sure adjustment to the change is going as planned.

Your active participation in the change management process especially as applied to these six areas will ensure that you get the best possible results going forward. Your team relies upon you to ensure that our process as well as our results are a high-quality experience.

Ken Long, Chief of Research, Tortoise Capital Management : www.tortoisecapital.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Long http://EzineArticles.com/?Leadership-in-Times-of-Change—How-Can-a-Manager-Protect-the-Team?&id=1434452

Ian Williams caught up with Shelley Holmes at www.align-lead-inspire.com.

Whether you want to accelerate your personal development, improve working relationships, develop your team or improve the culture of your organization you’ve just tapped into materials that have the power to ignite you, your people, fast-track your career and still get home at a decent hour!

The website is really worth a look - and to give you a taste of what they offer, you can listen to Ian William’s interview online at kairology.com. In this interview Ian discusses the philosophy behind his new book as well as taking control of your life and your workplace.

Download Align-Lead-Inspire Interview (mp3 19m / approx 4m download) [alternate download]

By Andy Cox

In these times - tough times by anyone’s measure - it’s important to be seen as a contributor - a person who makes a positive difference in the success of their enterprise.

But having said that, when is the last time you read an article, or a book, on how to be a contributor to any enterprise? Go in any bookstore and see the books on leadership - rows of them. No titles on being a contributor. And yet effective contribution results in most of the successes in any enterprise - just ask the leaders.

So what does it take to be a top contributor? We asked some of the most successful people we know. Here are their answers: ten Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors. We offer these ten answers as a self inventory. As you read through what top contributors do, ask yourself where you see yourself.

1 - They do the work that’s recognized as the most important work by their organization. They identify what is most important by creating mutually shared goals. The secret to effective contribution is doing the work that is most important - and ensuring that is where the focus is. None of the other nine items is even worth mentioning if the important work doesn’t get done on time while meeting budget, performance, quality and other criteria. It’s not a matter of accepting what needs to be done - that goes without saying. Do the important work and get the opportunity to be seen as a top contributor. This sounds so basic - but it’s amazing how often it doesn’t occur.

2 - They practice personal leadership through self discipline. Being on time; meeting commitments; knowing when and how to say no; focusing on work and letting the unimportant go; maintaining emotional control; are all behaviors of top contributors.

3 - They accept the culture for what it is and adapt to it - or get out. There is no bigger waste of time than trying to change what exists to meet personal expectations. Better to leave or accept the culture - as long as it doesn’t require acting immorally, unethically, illegally or unsafely.

4 - It’s not about you. Top contributors know personalizing decisions and thinking of them in terms of self is a great way to lose motivation and commitment. Let’s face it, a lot of decisions will differ from what might be seen as optimal, but accepting decisions for what they are, not making them personal, and moving on to the next issue is top contributor behavior.

5 - They take pride in contribution. Top contributors are convinced of the importance of their work - if they weren’t how could they possibly see the value of their accomplishments? It’s like the story of the three bricklayers: when asked what they were doing, the first said he was laying brick; the second said he was helping build a school; and the third said he was participating in offering a better education to children through his best efforts. Which bricklayer best describes how you value your work?

6 - Be convinced that you have a gift to give - then give it. Top contributors don’t ration their efforts. They focus, they operate at top speed, and they get more done than they realized they could. And the next time they’re asked to climb that same mountain, it’s not nearly as high as the first time. And they can look for more - whatever more means to them.

7 - They realize interdependence beats independence in accomplishing anything. Group effort can seem like a pain at the beginning, but a top contributor knows the pain comes before the gain. Focused effort by a group is so much more powerful than individual effort in almost all situations. Acquiring the Personal Skills to work effectively in collaborations is key to top contribution.

8 - They have high ideals, but maintain realistic expectations. Peter Senge - in The Fifth Discipline defines a cynic in this way : “Scratch a cynic and you will find an idealist, someone who made the mistake of letting their ideals become their expectations.” Ideals are important - without them staying on course is impossible. But creating a failure scenario by making an ideal a goal is a sure recipe for frustration and a reduced sense of self worth.

9 - Top contributors are fixers, not blamers. They know establishing accountability for things that go wrong is necessary for the future. But they are much more focused on solutions than on placing blame. They know solutions behavior promotes communication and learning while blame behavior promotes defensiveness and error avoidance.

10 - They use a combination of personal and organizational goals to frame their work and their lives. The closer the alignment between the different goal sets, the better. Top contributors know relying on organizational goals to establish self worth and value is very limiting. Organizational goals can change unexpectedly and often - particularly in tough times. Personal goals, on the other hand, provide a “True North” perspective on what is really important.

Take the time, right now, to carefully look at your own contributions - and what can be done to increase your personal impact in your personal and organizational life. Then decide which of the Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors will help you achieve the success you want. Then act to make them happen - and watch 2009, even in the midst of tough times, be the best of times.

About the Author

Andy Cox helps individuals, teams and organizations identify and develop their Multipliers of Success - the unique set of Behaviors, Motivators and Personal Skills each client needs for success. Contact Andy at acox@consultgroup.com Visit his website for information on how he can help you discover and develop your Multipliers of Success. His website address is coxconsultgroup.com