Say It Like It Is the Whole Truth

I can talk about leadership development and companies can hire me as an executive coach to encourage more advanced and successful leadership but I may as well be a lorry driver (a secret fantasy of mine since the Yorkie advert era) and they may as well torch their people-investment spend if we can't talk about the truth. The WHOLE truth. Here's some of what I've been processing with various executives this week:

We're definitely committed to your part in the company's succession planning - but we are making a round of redundancies and it's unconfirmed as to who's in that mixWe value your experience and your results are unparalleled - however, we can't invest further in your team to free you up to do what only you can doIt's just the culture of the company - the systems are established and can't be changed. It's too big a conversation over too long a period to take advantage of the opportunity that's presenting itself right in this moment

Here's why change takes SO long to put in place in some large corporate...because even the finest leaders find it challenging to support a concept that may result in them losing their job!

I'm not saying that leaders, MDs, board members and directors don't have exceptionally valuable experience to offer to the corporate mix... in the majority of cases, of course they do! But if you keep telling the story that 'the next stage of how this company can serve its clients (readers, listeners, customers, patients, subscribers) has to be designed to keep me in the picture' you may be limiting your service to the company, making decisions from a place of fear and lack as opposed to freedom and abundance.

The truth will set you free means that:

when you sense something is right and purposeful - trust that you will be respected and rewarded by speaking it out and boldly enabling the most enlightened solutions to come to passyou may have to learn to communicate at a much higher level - and trust that chaos and 'pruning' are part of the process of developing a healthier, more flexible, transparent and authentic way of doing future businessYou stand up and take action with 100% integrity - even when speaking out the tough parts requires humility - and by doing so, in today's world of corporate leadership you will set yourself apart

I leave you with some word from one of the biggest rule breakers and new thinkers of our recent corporate business heritage, Steve Jobs:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Jennifer Broadley is the Success with Soul Coach. She works with corporate leaders and women entrepreneurs. She specialises in success coaching, prosperity coaching and using the law of attraction. She coaches, speaks, writes and runs seminars about personal, business and global raised awareness. You can call, email or message Jennifer from executive leadership coaching

Original article

How To Take The First Steps To Success

How to take the first steps to success? Now that is a huge question!

Most people get caught up in their fears and consequently a state of overwhelm when they simply begin thinking about this question.

This piece will discuss the following three aspects of fear, which usually leads to procrastination, overwhelm and action paralysis.
1. Figuring out what your specific fears are and what causes them.
2. Understanding why subconsciously reacting to your fears tends to cause them to come true. (This is the vicious cycle of fear).
3. How to overcome and move past your fears.

What are some of the reasons an individual will start asking herself this question?

It could be when they've finally figured out their passion but aren't sure how to go about taking the steps to monetize it.

Maybe they've lost their job and are scared out of their wits as they have realized they need to do something else.

Maybe their income has gone down as a direct result of the depressed state of the economy or are finding it hard to meet their budget as a result of increasing prices.

So, how do you begin to figure out the answer to "How To Take The First Steps To Success?"

It begins with awareness of yourself and that in order to succeed you must begin to work on yourself, to become a leader. This means "Let the transformation begin!"

Realizing you have faults or need to improve a skill-set is the very first step to being able to do something about it.

Without this first step, no one will be able to figure out how to take the first steps to success.

This really describes most people. You know them, those individuals who are mired in such a comfort rut that they'll never take action to overcome their fears to make progress to change their lives. They are permanently stuck.

How about you? Are you satisfied, or more importantly, are you happy with your status quo?

If you find yourself dreaming of a bigger success, then your answer to this question is a resounding "No!"

I hope this is you!

Begin by reflecting on the things that have held you back. Don't blame anyone else.

There is only one true cause to any "problem" and one true "solution" to the same problem.

The biggest irony of all that the answer is the same: "YOU!"

Once you recognize that you are where you are because of you, and you alone, what are you going to do to find or come up with the solution?

If the answer is not "Whatever it takes!", then you may be in for a rude awakening. (This means taking action within the realm of integrity, honest, values and ethics).

Begin with figuring out exactly what it is you want and when you want it.

This can be a magical exercise.

If you make a truly resolute commitment, this can be a truly magical and fruitful exercise!

Do some homework. Talk with other leaders, within or outside of your current industry.

Learn. Mastermind. Develop a specific Plan of Action!

And be sure to TAKE ACTION. If you do nothing, nothing will change.

Action is the cure to hesitation, procrastination, fear, overwhelm and spinning your wheels and going nowhere.

Take consistent, small steps every day. Be patient and keep moving forward. Make sure you have an optimistic mindset.

Experience the progress and don't look back.

Peter's passion is to inspire and empower to unleash potential.

He is a top 2% Author for Internet Marketing Category!

Looking For A Proven Comprehensive Step-By-Step Mentorship System?
Click To Get Information >>> Find Success With Peter

To schedule a 10 minute Unleash Potential consultation, send an email to: peterinnercircleace@gmail.com or call Peter's office at 314-266-7750.

Original article

How to Improve Work Performance Instantly

A leader must know how to improve work performance instantly no matter what obstacles get in the way. One of the biggest challenges a leader faces in their role has to do with making sure that they have enough qualified people to get the work done. It seems like every time they get a good employee, they either get promoted or they leave the organization to go explore a different opportunity. Over time, this can get very discouraging and start to affect the overall productivity and performance of the entire organization in more ways than one. The morale and motivation of people can drop and they can start to feel overworked. I have personally seen this happen time and time again and have finally figured out a way to solve this problem.

It really comes down to being proactive and when a leader can start to become proactive, they really know how to improve work performance instantly. I developed a concept called "Build the Team Before You Need the Team" which consist of three key components. They are to always be developing your people, empower your people to make decisions, and make it okay for your people to make mistakes so they can grow. By implementing this strategy a leader will never have to worry about whether or not they have enough people to fill any roles that become available no matter which ones they may be. Not only will the leader have little trouble filling positions, they will have improved work performance at the same time. Now let's jump right in and learn how to improve work performance instantly.

The first thing that I recommend a leader do to start building the team before he/she needs the team is by getting in the habit of always developing their people. This is how to improve work performance while obtaining several benefits at the same time. This creates a win-win situation for both parties because the more the people know, the stronger their skill set will become and they will be more prepared to take on both current and future responsibilities. The leader wins as well because the more he/she develops their people, the easier their job will become and they also will have people who are prepared to fill future job openings as they come up quickly. This is important because anything can happen at any given time.

Someone can give sick, get a serious injury, walk off the job, had an unexpected major life change that requires them to move to another state, and the list goes on and on. A leader wants to put the organization in the position to maximize profitability and the best way to do this is by staying staff of the best people. I remember when I used to run supermarkets as store manager. I built a reputation of always being fully staffed with an abundance of great people. If a job opening came up, I just about always had someone in-house that could step right in immediately and do a good job. I'll only reason why I was always able to do this was because I made it a priority to make sure that we will always developing people to backfill every position in the store.

I acted as if there were never going to be candidates that were qualified outside of my building and because of this mindset we hardly ever had a staffing issue. The other cool thing about this is that most of the time our people were developed so strongly that even if we did have candidates outside of our store; our people were better qualified for the position. I can't really think of another store manager in that company that took people develop their as serious as I did and it paid off. This stuff work's and this is how I know how to improve work performance.

The second thing the leader should do is empower his/her people to make decisions. This has a lot to do with what was just shared but empowerment in itself builds leadership skills. In my opinion, empowerment is one of the most powerful ways of developing people but at the same time one of the most under utilized concepts as well. People are so used to being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. There's nothing wrong with this but if you really want to know how to improve work performance at its highest level, a leader has to teach their people how to fill a leadership role.

Every once in a while instead of the leader telling their people what to do, the leaders should ask them what they think needs to be done next. The leader should also let it be known that if something happens and a decision needs to be made right away and the leader just so happens to not be around that its okay for someone else to make a decision. One of my mentors told me that making the wrong decision is always better than making no decision. That is so true and I still think and act on that statement every day of my life as well as teach it to others. I want you to share your comments about this on my blog as well as any questions you may have about this. Go there now why they're fresh in your mind!

The third thing that I highly recommend that leaders do is to make it okay for his/her people to make mistakes or even fail. They must be very careful with this tip because traditionally we are taught that making mistakes are bad. Think about it, every time students make a mistake on the tests they took back in school they lost points and if they make too many mistakes they end up failing the test. The truth is mistakes are good because they help people learn. The more mistakes people make the faster they will learn. Another one of my mentors by the name of Alex Mandossian said that "There is no such thing as failure, there is only winning and learning". What a great mindset to have!

Let's refer back to what we were just talking about earlier regarding empowerment. When a leader empowers someone to make decisions, there will be times where they make the wrong decision but the leader must support it. If they don't that person may not feel comfortable making a decision ever again in the future. So what the leader has to do after supporting the decision is to share with that person what they would have done differently if it wasn't the correct one. If it was the right decision, congratulate them and celebrate the win. Now in the future, they'll know how to handle that same situation if it ever comes up again. By doing this over and over again they will begin to develop the decision-making muscle of each person they empower.

In conclusion, knowing how to improve work performance instantly is simple when you know this strategy and is not used even close to as much as it should. "Build the Team Before You Need the Team" gets a leader into a proactive mindset of continuous professional development of the people within his/hers organization. People are a leader's number one asset and the more they focus on their development, the stronger their people will become and the stronger the entire organization will become. People want to learn and grow but they need a leader who is going to take the time to help them and when this happens they win, the leader wins, the customer wins, and the organization wins. Visit my blog today to post any questions you may have as well as any feedback on this information. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Rob Moore helps people in leadership positions get their people to perform better no matter what they do. Give him the people who are challenged with a lack of motivation, low productivity, under performance, poor attitudes, and he will turn them into top performers.

Show Up, Step Out, & Shine!

http://www.leadershipperformancetips.com/

Original article

Men in Ministry Fighting For a Generation

As Men in Ministry it is our responsibility to reach the generations around us. Whether the generation is Generation X, Generation Y, the Baby Boomers or the Greatest Generation. Not my job, I have children, that is enough, I do not know how to talk the language; all good honest excuses but they are excuses. Here, let us talk about reaching Generation Y. This generation is referred to by a number of names. Some of the names are The Facebook Generation, The Millennial Generation, Generation Next or the Echo Boomers. Whatever the name we give to Generation Y it is generally agreed to be the age demographic between 14 and 29. The generation in America numbers about 70 Million it is the largest segment entering the work force.

To fight for Generation Y let us take a look at some of the characteristics of the generation.

Tech Savvy: This generation grew up with technology in full swing. They are likely plugged in 24 hours a day. Email is a passé text messaging and Facebook Communication is prevalent. Frequently they relate by being part of a group, in fact going on "group dates" rather than the one on one night out is a norm.
Family Centric: The fast track in business though working long hours and all the days has lost its attraction. They look for family and a better work life balance. Meaningful work is important and the generation is good at questioning authority. We may think of the "why question" as a moniker of Generation Y.
Achievement-Oriented: The generation is confident, ambitious and achievement oriented. They have high expectation of their leaders. The generation Y is not afraid of new challenges, truing and not succeeding is much better for them that not trying at all. They will try often to succeed.
Team-Oriented: Generation Y is comfortable on a team. They grew up in play groups, team sports and may have earned their advanced degree by working on a team throughout the experience.
Attention-Craving: Attention in the form of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being informed as a form of attention. Generation Y will benefit from a mentor to guide them and help them develop spiritually, socially and professionally.

This should give us some fundamentals for how to reach out to Generation Y and become a relevant part of their life.

Let us not read too much into this but I would say being real, living real in the ministry is very important to Generation Y. Be the example, by living the life we profess. Hypocrites need not apply for the army to fight for Generation Y.

Iron sharpens iron rings true for reaching Generation Y, as we need to live what we are promoting be the sharpening iron. Given this, which should be obvious in all our life. Let us look at a possible formula to reach and fight for Generation Y.

Communicate in the way they are comfortable communicating; text and Facebook will have to be a large part of the communication activity. The communication will likely be in short specific spurts. Work together with them on challenges, assist don't tell and encourage success all along the way to the goal. You are a partner not a dictator.

The hard part is helping them realize that the life the way the world prefers, and all or most of their friends prefer, produces the results, which they may not prefer. Showing through real example that living for Jesus will produce a life with no regrets and a fabulous future. Hopefully you can be that example.

In Glad Tidings Mens Ministry International active men in ministry making a difference is our goal.

Our vision is to love God, Love our families, love each other and love the community of San Francisco, CA. It is our mission to demonstrate this love in all aspects of our lives.

Original article

Leaders Must Ask The Right Questions

Effective leadership requires a leader to be both able and willing to listen effectively, and then to ask relevant questions. Only by doing this can a leader put himself into a position to provide the value that today's members and prospective leaders are seeking. This reality was succinctly stated by Albert Einstein, "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning."

1. Leaders must study the past to learn important lessons. What was done in the past is not sufficient knowledge, but rather understanding the nuances, what was successful (and why), and what had far less success, is essential information for effectiveness and responsiveness. Leaders must question the reasons that programs, efforts worked, and likewise why they might not have. They must also examine how the organization has changed and been transformed over the years, and ask the important questions related to the factors that may have been involved.

2. How has the organization been evolving in response to changing times and needs? What proactive measures might be taken to improve results, and provide greater value for its members, donors and sponsors? Why have certain individuals continued their involvement, while others let their membership lapsed? Has anyone ever conducted any types of surveys, and if so, how valid was that survey, and the questions asked?

3. Great leadership comes about when it learns its lessons well from the past, and used those lessons to provide wisdom in terms of how to operate and conduct business today. It is essential to effectively communicate with members, potential members, and those who have lapsed, in order to fully understand what they want, expect, need, and what their priorities are. Positive attitudes provide uplifting and motivating discussions, that result in true communication. Only by providing value (both real and perceived) can an organization flourish.

4. How will today's actions impact the future of the organization? How does the present course of action jive with the organization's mission, as well as the leader's vision for the future? How well is leadership really listening, and communicating, to enhance the group, and maximize relevance?

Every one is not set out to be a truly great leader. Some will truly lead, while others only hold some sort of position or title. No one has all the answers, but the effective leader must have the ability and willingness to question on a consistent basis. This is not usually necessarily a matter of right and wrong, but rather about learning needs of others, to be able to put yourself into a position to succeed.

With over 30 years consultative sales, marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience, Richard Brody has trained sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars, appeared as company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs. He's negotiated, arranged and organized hundreds of events.

Richard's owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, and Director of Development, as well as a consultant. His company Website is http://www.plan2lead.net/, and he can be followed on Twitter @rgbrody. For great information on many topics, visit PLAN2LEAD's Facebook page and LIKE ( http://www.facebook.com/Plan2lead )

Original article