Posts

Where is your “here” and what “there” are you striving to reach?

IMG_0165Several months ago, I participated in a Mastermind Group / Book Club exercise with some people from an organization I belong to called Outside Counsel. The books was What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. I loved it!

Goldsmith describes 20 behaviors that cause people to get stuck in their careers (although work life is really the focus on the book, Goldsmith acknowledges these behaviors permeate all aspects of a person’s life), even though the behaviors may have actually served the person well at an earlier point in his/her life.

This made a lot of sense to me, as I have lived it. I grew up in circumstances that drove me to become a very self-sufficient, independent, over achiever. I did everything myself, not expecting or accepting help from others, because I had learned — from experience — that you couldn’t necessarily count on others to be there when you needed them. The behaviors I built around these beliefs served me well for a long time in my younger years, and even for a while when I entered the working world after college.

I reached a point, however, when those behaviors no longer served me and, in fact, became destructive. You see, it’s not possible for one person to be completely self-sufficient, to be all things to all people, to be an expert in everything. And, frankly, it was exhausting!

I eventually went through some painful experiences that caused me to become more self-aware and to effect some significant changes in my life. I changed my thinking about needing other people, inviting them into my life and my work, asking for help, and understanding that the end result of working with others is much more than I can accomplish solo.

This is the foundation for a keynote presentation I gave today at the Mid-Ohio Valley Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Women in Leadership Luncheon. I used my story and intertwined it with the concepts Marshall Goldsmith so eloquently outlined in his book, and offered it to the ~160 attendees as a learning opportunity. It was truly the highlight of my week, so far. I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to this day for some months now, as I felt so lucky when the Chamber’s Executive Director accepted my suggestion for using it as the theme for the luncheon.

I had a great time working with the luncheon’s planning committee; a diverse group of talented, creative, focused women who planned and presented a great day of learning and connecting opportunities for the business women of this area.

My intent was for each person to have at least one aha! moment, one new insight, a new perspective, and that when they left the conference center today, they could say without a doubt, “Attending this event was truly worth the six hours of my life that I spent on it today.” You see, I do strive to entertain people when I have the opportunity to speak, but more than that, I want to make people to think, to learn, to grow. I want to share something that will have changed someone’s life, even if in just a small way.

I hope I didn’t disappoint!

I encourage you to take a few minutes right now to think about your current “Here”…not your physical location, but where you are in your work, your learning, your relationships, your growth, your career. Then give some thought to the next “There” you long to get to. What will it take to get you there? What skills will you need to develop? What behaviors will you need to stop demonstrating? What behaviors will you need to cultivate?

Click here to see the newspaper coverage.

Please, share your stories!

/by

Intentional Leadership — D2, W4, M4 — Focus

Today’s the day to spend some time with yourself, reflecting.

Answer the following questions to help you explore the results of focus:

Have you ever finished several separate mid-size tasks in succession to one another? What were they and what was accomplished in each one?

When you focused on and finished these tasks, what effect did it have on you, on others, and on your company or organization?

What influence or trust did you gain from your peers for finishing these tasks?

When you finish tasks well, how can that build trust with others and create momentum to open up future possibilities for you?

The quality of the time you spend on these questions will define the quality of your answers, which in turn will affect the quality of your results.

As always, you will get out what you put in!

/by

Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M4 — Focus

Step back in time, briefly, and think of a time when you were focused on a task and then became distracted. Now, get out your journal and write about what happened. Describe the circumstances and the factors that led to the distraction.

With this new level of awareness, what recurring factors easily distract you when working on tasks or projects? What are your top three most frequent reactions?

Awareness is the key, so now that you are thinking clearly about your most common distractions, you can develop a system that will allow you to manage them.

Depending on what your distractions are, your management system may be about starting some new behaviors, stopping some existing behaviors, or implementing new behaviors.

For example, if your distractions are emails, phone calls, and unexpected visitors, perhaps you could create a different environment for yourself to work in, uninterrupted. Log-out of your email. Turn off the ringer on your phone and/or send it straight to voice mail. Close your door — with a “Please do not disturb” sign on it.

I worked with someone once who used “traffic lights” on his office door to let his co-workers know if it was ok to enter his office. If the light was green, he was working on things that wouldn’t be negatively impacted by an interruption. When the light was yellow, he was interruptible if the issue was really important (he defined what that meant for him and his team). If the light was red, that meant he should be interrupted ONLY if there was imminent danger of death and destruction! Of course, this system took some educating within his team, to understand what the lights meant and how to determine if what they were about to interrupt him with was really important in the grand scheme of things, or was important only to them in that moment.

So, what is your plan for retaining your focus and dealing with common distractions? Develop a plan that will work for each of your most common distractions. Once you’ve mastered the top three, refocus your attention on the next most common distractions. Over time, you’ll be amazed at how much more focused you are and how much more control you have over how you spend your time, rather than how you may fall victim to distractions.

/by