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

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

By Michael J Beck

When I ask workshop participants about characteristics of both good and bad leaders, the list never includes issues of intelligence, technical skills, or effective decision-making! Instead, the list is full of people-related traits - good listener, respectful, good communicator, develops others…

Effective personal leadership can be summarized as being competent in these skill sets:

• •Becoming Influential
• Facilitating Teamwork & Collaboration
• Being a Catalyst for Change
• •Managing Conflict
• Developing Others
• Having & Communicating a Compelling Vision

Unfortunately, improving one’s competency in these areas is often a challenge. Let me explain why…Unlike factual information, which gets processed in the neo-cortex of the brain, people-related skills are processed in part of the brain called the Amygdala. This portion of the brain regulates emotional insights and responses rather than logical insights and responses. Improving the leadership skills set forth above require one to break old habits/responses and form new ones, and we aren’t able to do this simply by learning and acquiring knowledge. That’s the difference between the neo-cortex and the Amygdala. 

There are a couple of inherent challenges with this process. Pretty much everyone acknowledges that they have room for improvement. The first challenge is knowing which areas to improve. We all have blind spots. We’re aware of some of our shortcomings, but usually not all of them. Secondly, breaking habits and forming new ones requires commitment, persistence, and time. It usually takes support from others - people who can point out when you’ve acted in a way contradictory to your intent. It’s important to use a reliable assessment to identify areas of growth opportunity. From those results, we can develop a plan of development which bolsters weaker areas and leverages stronger areas. The final aspect of a successful personal development plan relies on having one or more people who can support you, give unbiased, non-judgmental feedback, and help you make course corrections.

Organizational Culture

The foundations of a strong organization are:

1. Developing a clear and compelling Purpose

2. Identifying the organization’s Mission to achieve the Purpose

3. Agreeing on a set of Values by which to carry out the Mission

4. Adopting a Servant Leader attitude throughout the organization

An organization’s Purpose is the “Why” of its existence. It’s not what it does as much as what it is striving to accomplish. It is a statement of the greater good it is attempting to achieve. It answers the question: “Why are we here?” and helps give clarity and focus to each person in the organization. It is the yardstick by which decisions are measured.

An organization’s Mission is the “What” of an organization. It is a definition of what the company does to achieve its stated Purpose. It begins to define the core proficiencies of a business and helps keep it focused on achieving its Purpose.

An organization’s set of Values is the “How” of an organization. It defines what an organization most values in the execution of its Mission. It’s not an all encompassing list of possible values as much as a statement of what the organization most values in its people and their conduct. It defines behaviors and culture within an organization. It helps set the guidelines of what is and is not acceptable.

At the core of Servant Leadership is the premise that the customer is the most important person to the organization. As a consequence of that premise, it only follows that the most important people to the customer are the frontline staff. They’re the people who customers interact with on a daily basis. This understanding leads to the philosophy that the job of the manager of the frontline people is to make their jobs as easy and effective as possible so the customer has the best experience possible. The result is an organizational chart that looks like an inverted pyramid. This servant attitude focuses leaders on developing those around them. It leads to people working together in a collaborative, solution-oriented environment.

How does one go about developing Purpose, Mission, and Values? Falling back on our understanding of Servant Leadership and the importance of everyone in the organization, the creation of Purpose, Mission and Values requires input from people in all areas of the company. They (the Purpose, Mission, and Values) need to be relevant to all involved, they need to be consistent with one another, and they need to be used consistently as a yardstick for decisions and policies. There’s nothing worse than developing Values and just paying them lip-service by not living them day-to-day. A practice like that lacks integrity and actually becomes a demoralizer.

In summary, when we combine personal competency in all areas of leadership skills with an organizational culture which supports people, their development, and their success, we end up with exceptional leadership which, in turn, inspires the best effort in others.

Written by Michael Beck, Executive Coach and Trainer.  He can be reached at 866-385-8751 or http://www.clientmonkey.com  Get your free program on Power Recruiting & Prospecting at: http://www.powerrecruitingandprospecting.com

Permission to reprint with full attribution.  © 2008 Exceptional Leadership, Inc.