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Transformational Presence Series: Part One – The Three Questions

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Our last blog was focused on Alan Seale’s Transformational Presence approach to leadership and its application to navigating a complex world. If you missed it, please click here.  In that post, we announced a four-part series dedicated to exploring a tool or framework of Transformational Presence in each of the next four months.  Read on for Part One.

The Three Questions

Let’s start with a focus on the three foundational questions upon which the Transformational Presence approach is built.
1. What wants to happen?
2. Who is that asking me to be?
3. What is that asking me to do?

On the surface, these seem like pretty simple questions. Yet, the beauty of these simple questions is their power to tap into our heart intelligence. Too often, we rely solely on our intellect which is incredibly good at analyzing situations, solving problems and keeping us safe. Our heart intelligence is more visionary.  It can take in the big picture and show us the next step to take. One is not better than the other – which is a huge relief to me since I’ve spent most of my life relying primarily on my head. It’s using the head and heart intelligence in concert with one another that is the key.  Incorporating our heart intelligence helps to break through overwhelm and complexity and find an element of clarity that can show us the way forward.

A Discovery Process

Let’s take a brief look at each of these questions.

When we ask “What wants to happen?”, we’re open to discovering what the shift might be that wants to take place or what the opportunity or breakthrough is that is waiting to emerge. We are recognizing that there is a message in the situation or circumstance we are faced with and that something “wants to happen” or evolve.

As we look at question #2, “Who is that asking me to be?”, we are exploring how we choose to “show up” in relationship to “what wants to happen”. What are the qualities and personal attributes that we want to express?  For example, this might mean being more playful, forthright, resilient, open, etc.

“What is that asking me to do?” is our action question. Rather than this being a question where we try to figure out what to do next, instead we are inviting “what wants to happen” to reveal the next step to us. Then, after we take that next step, we go back to question 1 and repeat the cycle.

While we navigate the complexity of our world, we typically go directly to the third question and try to figure out what actions we need to take and how will we execute on them.  Yet, if we begin to consider that every situation or circumstance we encounter might have a message for us, we can start to develop a new approach.  No longer is it reasonable to plan far out into the future. Our world is changing too quickly for that. Instead, if we apply these three questions to everything that we do, we can be shown the way, one step at a time.

An Exercise to Get You Started

Here is an exercise that Alan shared with us in our recent Transformational Presence – Leadership in Action course. I invite you to experiment with this as a means to begin applying this approach to your own life and work.

  • Bring to mind an opportunity available to you, personally, or to your company or business right now.  Then, ask yourself The Three Questions. Really listen, sense and feel the answers that come.  This is a no judgment zone – let whatever experience you have with these questions be okay.  It does take practice to quiet our minds so that our heart can be heard.

Then, please feel free to share your experience with us in the comments section.  And, if you’d like to learn more, you can purchase Alan Seale’s book here.

Derived from: Seale, Alan. Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World. Topsfield, MA: The Center for Transformational Presence, 2017. Used with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Navigating a Complex World

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Our world is becoming increasingly complex and the ability to navigate ambiguity is now, more than ever, a critical leadership and life skill. We all have challenges we face throughout our life and work. Often, we react by focusing on finding someone or something to blame for our circumstances.  Then, if we can move beyond that initial reaction, we bring our skills and knowledge to bear, look for ways to fix the problem, put a plan of action together, and execute on a solution.  Our goal is to get the problem off our desks so that we can move on to the next item on our to-do list.

In some cases, this approach will work, at least for a little while.  Yet, many times, the same circumstance will arise again a few weeks or months down the road.  We find ourselves solving the same problem over and over again.  Our complex world cries out for a new approach. Alan Seale, master teacher and mentor, and the founder of the Center for Transformational Presence, offers an approach to leadership that helps us to navigate this rapidly changing world in powerful ways.

According to Alan, “Transformational Presence is not a model or a formula. It’s a way of living, leading, and serving – an approach that provides a strong foundation for conscious living and conscious leadership. Transformational Presence is also a practical set of skills that, when developed together, build and expand our capacities for awareness, understanding, perception, and effective action – capacities that are essential for navigating today’s rapidly changing world.”

I have had the privilege of attending several of Alan’s workshops and programs over the last decade.  Most recently, I attended the Transformational Presence Leadership in Action program in Connecticut. We explored the latest tools and frameworks from Alan’s most recent books, a two part set: Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference in a Rapidly Changing World and its companion, Transformational Presence – The Tools, Skills and Frameworks. During those days, we had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in applying the work to our own circumstances and challenges.  I came away with a renewed commitment to fully integrate Transformational Presence approaches in my own life and in my work with individual clients and organizations.

When I was first introduced to this work, eight or so years ago, I have to admit that it felt a little foreign to me.  After years of working in large corporations, I had developed a strong set of skills that allowed me to solve problems and execute on goals. While I longed for what the Transformational Presence approach offered, I wasn’t quite ready to take it on board.  My logical mind was a little bit skeptical about whether I could actually see myself using the skills and tools with my clients.  Yet, something has continued calling me to this work and in the last couple of years, there has been no denying that Transformational Presence will allow my clients and me to make the kind of difference in this world that we long to make.

To support Alan Seale in his mission to share this work, the next four blog posts will each focus on one tool or framework of Transformational Presence. As we start off the tool series in our next post, we will explore the three foundational questions of Transformational Presence:
1. What wants to happen?
2. Who is that asking me to be?
3. What is that asking me to do?

Please stay tuned over the next few months as we explore a few selected components of Transformational Presence.  No matter what your role, if you are interested in helping to create a world that works, this will get you started.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Trust: A Foundational Element to Leadership Success

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Trust Fosters Engagement and Motivation

Consider your career for a moment. Like me, you have probably had the joyful experience of working with people you trusted as well as the dreaded experience of working with those you had to guard against at every turn.  Now, put yourself in each of those situations.  When did you feel most engaged and motivated?  I can place a pretty strong bet that working with and for people you trusted elicited the greatest engagement and motivation.  Now, let’s turn the tables. How well have you built trust with your team and colleagues?  Imagine the impact of creating a trust based workplace on your quality of life as well as on your organization’s success.

The importance of trust seems to be showing up more often, especially recently, with leadership clients as well as in publications. In July’s Success magazine, there was an article by Melissa Balmain that I particularly enjoyed. I’ve summarized her 8 Steps of Trust-Building below. You can read the full article here.

8 Steps of Trust-Building

  1. Be open
    Set clear and realistic expectations with your team. Help them to see the alignment between their goals and the impact on the organization.
  2. Walk Your Talk
    Reflect on your most important values and principles and whether you are actually living by them. Tie the actions you are taking with the values and principles that drive them. Even when you make difficult decisions that not everyone agrees with, you will be respected for staying true to your beliefs.
  3. Listen First
    Stay present with what the other person is saying. Ask powerful, open-ended questions that elicit insight and are thought-provoking. Acknowledge that you’ve heard the other’s message by paraphrasing what they’ve said to check for understanding. Then, share your own thoughts, openly, honestly and without defensiveness.
  4. Say What You’ll Do, Do What You Say
    As the article states, “Nothing boosts others’ faith in you like doing what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it”. Therefore, don’t overcommit. Be realistic when you make a promise to someone.  This not only reduces your overwhelm because you won’t be working all hours to deliver on time, but also allows you to build trust, through actually following through on your commitments.
  5. Admit Your Mistakes
    If something goes wrong, the worst thing to do is to try and hide it. Instead, share what happened and identify a solution to resolve the situation.  By doing this, you encourage others to be open when things go awry and to use those situations as opportunities to learn and grow.
  6. Be Sincere
    If you are talking about someone else, pretend that they are present to the conversation. Nothing destroys trust faster than wondering whether someone is going to say bad things about you behind your back.
  7. Avoid Stereotypes
    Stereotypes exist for just about everything from gender, to race, to generational differences, etc. Ignore them. The reality is that we all have more in common than we think. Treat each person as an individual and trust will grow.
  8. Dive in
    This is not about blind trust but what is referred to as “smart trust”. Stephen M. R. Covey states that “smart trust means weighing your impulse to trust against other people’s credibility and the opportunity and risks at hand”. Overall, the chances are pretty good that your smart trust in others will be worth it.

Your Trust Building Tips

What trust building tips have worked for you?  Please feel free to share, in the comment section, both those that you’ve observed as well as ones that you have implemented yourself.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Inspiring Leadership

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Are you in need of some inspiration?  Have you been wondering why your team isn’t more invested in their work? Are you struggling to describe your service or product in a way that captures attention? If so, then, please set aside a few minutes to watch Simon Sinek’s TED talk on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”. Through his work, Sinek recognized that all great, inspiring leaders and organizations, think, act and communicate in the same way.  This led to his discovery of what he calls “the golden circle”, which is a simple but game changing insight.

The Golden Circle

Imagine three concentric circles. Why? is in the inner circle. How? is in the middle circle. What? is in the outer circle. Every person and every organization knows what they do. There’s usually no doubt around that. Some can also tell you how they do it.  Sometimes this is referred to as the value proposition or what makes them unique. However, a very, very small percentage can tell you why they do what they do. Contrary to popular belief, the “why” doesn’t have anything to do with making money, though monetary success tends to come to those who can uncover the “why”.  The “why” is about the answers to the following questions: What gets you up in the morning? What’s the belief that drives you each day? What is your purpose?

When we aren’t clear on the “why”, then we communicate from the outside in. We focus on the “what” and the “how”. Honestly, the “what” and the “how”, by themselves, aren’t very inspiring. When we think, act and communicate from the inside out, like those inspired leaders and organizations, we connect with others who believe what we believe and we capture other’s minds and hearts. As Sinek states, “people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”.

Implication for You

So what is the implication for leaders? No matter the size of your team or the company you work in or own, true leadership involves inspiring and energizing those with whom you work and interact. I invite you to get in touch with your “why”.  What is it that you believe in that gets you up and out every day?  How will you share this with your team – to inspire deep commitment?  How will you share this with your customers – to inspire long term relationships?

To hear more directly from Simon Sinek, including business examples and the science behind his theory, please click on this link.

Call to Action

If you’d like to share your “why”, please do so in the comments section.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Do You Take Responsibility?: True Leadership Starts with This

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“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.” ~ Jim Rohn

When was the last time you complained about a person or a situation?  When have you had anything turn out differently than you wanted, either at work or at home, and you found yourself blaming someone else for the outcome?  Come on, be honest. I know I’ve done it and still catch myself doing it. It’s likely that you have blamed or complained at one time or another. It’s a common response and one that most of us learned as a part of growing up. Yet, how would your success in life be enhanced if you took full responsibility for your results?

The Power of Choice

In every moment, you have a choice. Recognizing that you are always at choice and that you are responsible for your results leads to personal empowerment. Think about it. If you believe that your results are in the hands of external circumstances, then you give away your power to create what you want in every aspect of your life, including your work as a leader. While studying Jack Canfield’s Success Principles, I chose to develop an on-going practice of incorporating the principles into my life. Principle #1 – Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life – sets the foundation. Understanding this principle intellectually and fully embracing it are two different things.  I am still a work in progress on this myself and I continue to integrate it a bit more each day.

A Leader’s Story

Here’s a simple example of not taking full responsibility. John was asked to take on a new, exciting project.  In order to free up the time to devote to the new assignment, he delegated another important project to Tom, a member of his team. Tom is experienced and has the skills needed to handle the project. So, John spends a minimal amount of time outlining the project and expects that Tom has what he needs. Three weeks later, John gets a phone call from a very unhappy customer who is checking in on the delegated project and wants to know why they haven’t received the agreed to deliverable. The customer, who highly values dependability, tells John that they are going to seek a new vendor for future projects.

The Responsibility Formula

Many years ago, Dr. Robert Resnick introduced Jack Canfield to a simple formula that illustrates 100% responsibility remarkably well. The formula is E + R = O or Event + Response = Outcome. Let’s look at this example through the lens of E + R = O.

In this situation:
E = John had an opportunity to take on an exciting new project which required a delegation of something else on his plate to free up time.

R = John selected an experienced person, Tom, to take on the delegation and spent a small amount of time passing the project over.

O = An important deadline was missed and the company lost future business with the client.

Clearly, John wasn’t happy with the outcome. He has two choices when he encounters an outcome he doesn’t like:

  1. He can blame the event (E) for his lack of results (O). So, in this example, he could blame his boss for the timing of the new project that caused him to have to delegate in the first place. He could blame Tom for not delivering on the delegated project. Perhaps he finds a way to blame the economy, the weather, his dog, etc.  You get the picture. There are many influences that can impact results or outcomes but if those influences determined success, then no one experiencing them would succeed. Yet, there are countless examples of those who experienced similar circumstances and were successful. So, the event itself does not lead directly to a particular outcome.
  2. John could change his response (R) to the event (E) until he reaches his desired outcome (O). In the future, for instance, John could take a more deliberate approach to delegating an assignment. He could set clear expectations and ensure alignment, build in periodic check-ins, work together to develop a plan of action, ask Tom where he feels he needs support, etc. In any situation, John can control his response. So when the choices you make don’t lead to the results you want, you can seek to understand what occurred. Then, you can determine what steps to take to get back on track versus blaming or complaining. Also, as events occur, you can proactively determine the outcome you’d like to achieve and respond accordingly.

Call to Action

While this principle may be easy to understand, it is not easy to implement.  It’s an on-going journey of paying attention to the results you’re producing and what responses have led to those results.  Ask yourself:

  • What did I do or not do that led to that result?
  • What do I need to do differently next time to get the result I want?

Since taking 100% responsibility can feel rather daunting, start with 5% more.  Ask yourself, if I were to take 5% more responsibility for my leadership effectiveness, I would… and jot down your answers. Then, put an action plan in place to follow through on your commitment. Over time, this will naturally become a part of who you are.

Join me in the practice of integrating this core principle into your life and watch your results.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who helps you create consistent, optimal performance using all your capacity and potential in both your work and life. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

 

Relationships and Value: Considerations for Entrepreneurial Success

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Recently, I read Gerard Adams’ article titled “Social Currency and Your Circle of Influence”.  Adams defines social currency as “your value to the world” and your circle of influence as the people you spend the most time with.  It’s a great reminder that to grow our entrepreneurial success, we must pay attention to both.  So, it prompted me to share some ideas to help you take action.

Evaluate Your Relationships

Let’s start with your circle of influence.  While the notion that you begin to take on the traits of those you surround yourself with makes complete sense, how often do you really evaluate the quality of your relationships?  As the saying goes, “old habits die hard”.  There is often a tendency to continue to hang out with the same people out of habit or because it’s comfortable rather than to take notice of whether it’s a positive relationship or not.

Call to Action – Relationships

  • Define what a positive or healthy relationship means to you in both your personal and professional life.
  • Make a list of the key people you spend time with in both environments and note whether they are part of your personal or professional life.
  • Evaluate each relationship against your definition(s).
    • Which ones lift you up?
    • Which ones bring you down?
  • For those that lift you up – identify strategies to continue to nurture and grow each relationship.
  • For those that bring you down – you have 5 choices
    • Stay in it, as is
    • Change it
    • Change your view of it
    • Accept it
    • Leave it
  • Work with someone you trust to help you put a plan in place to grow the positive relationships and effectively manage or shift the negative ones.
  • Notice what happens as you consciously focus on crafting your circle of influence.

What’s Your Value?

Let’s move to your social currency or the value that you bring to the world.  You may be able to immediately articulate the gifts and talents that bring value to those you interact with. If so, go right to the call to action below and jot them down. In some cases, however, you might find that pinpointing the value you offer is more difficult – not because you don’t have value but because it is something that is so easy for you to do, you discount it and don’t see it as valuable.  If this sounds like you, enlist the help of those who are positive members of your circle of influence to help you answer the questions below.

Call to Action – Value

  • What natural gifts, talents and strengths do you bring to your business/work?
  • What is unique and different about you?
  • Listen to your emotions while you work. What activity or activities bring out your passion and make you happy or satisfied?
  • Share your value within your circle of influence and with all you encounter. Shine your light and watch your business grow.

Make a commitment to surround yourself with those who energize and inspire you and leverage your strengths while continuing to grow and develop. The combination will play a key role in your success.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who helps you create consistent, optimal performance using all your capacity and potential in both your work and life. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

A Blueprint for Leadership Mastery

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

Core Leadership Skills 

Fundamentally, there are a collection of key skills that prepare someone to step into a leadership role. These include things like the ability to:

  • communicate effectively,
  • influence others,
  • be adaptable and flexible,
  • drive for results,
  • build cohesive teams,
  • delegate and empower,
  • make decisions and problem-solve,
  • think strategically and
  • develop talent.

While every leader should have the opportunity to learn and build skill in these areas, skill-building alone is not enough to create leadership mastery.  Have you ever noticed that regardless of your skill level, there are some days you’re “on” and some days you aren’t?  There are some days you are filled with confidence and others where you question your ability? Some days where you crank out the results you want and others where you’re distracted and have difficulty staying focused on a project or goal?

What is Leadership Mastery?

All of the challenges that you face as a leader, no matter how skilled, come down to one thing.  The one thing that changes everything is the understanding of, implications for, and ability to control the energy of performance.  You know as well as I do that your competency level doesn’t shift from day to day. Your energy, however, is fluctuating all the time.  Your energy is what determines how well your skills and competencies are expressed in any situation and what your outcomes will be. Leadership mastery, then, is about:

  • understanding the nature of the energy of performance,
  • utilizing that knowledge to create the conditions for optimal performance, and
  • making any necessary tweaks as any specific situation unfolds.

The energy that a leader presents in any situation is influenced by a number of different elements.

  • Mental ability that allows for clarity and focus
  • Emotions that are experienced throughout each day
  • Social factors that relate to your interactions with others
  • Environmental factors that relate to the conditions in which you are performing
  • Physical factors related to your level of health and wellbeing
  • Spiritual factors that speak to the connection you have with a sense of purpose, meaning and motivation.

When your energy is out of alignment and you’re feeling a bit “off”, you might experience anxiety, fear, worry, lack of confidence, or lack of motivation to name a few.  How often do you actually get the outcomes or results that you want when this is going on?  Likely, not very often.  So how do you turn this around and have your energy work for you rather than against you?

Your Blueprint for Leadership Mastery

There are 5 key components to unleash your full leadership potential. Whether you run your own small business or you are leading a large organization, the foundation of your performance is built on these components. These 5 components make up COR.E Leadership Dynamics.

Component 1: Creating Your Plan
Self-awareness, a clear vision and specific goals are the essence of this component.  Having a complete picture of the performance you want to create is critical.

Component 2: Establishing Your Energy and Performance Foundation
Energy fluctuations create inconsistent results. To sustain consistency and performance excellence, you must learn to manage your energy.  Explore leadership mastery, understand the energy of performance, and identify and address blocks that stand in the way of your potential.

Component 3: Finding and Harnessing Your Performance Influencers
Earlier, I mentioned the 6 elements that influence your performance in any moment. Recognizing and understanding the impact of those influencers in the moment allows you to make immediate adjustments that keep you firing on all cylinders or get you back on track if things are going awry.

Component 4: Mastering the 10 COR.E Disciplines
Successful leaders have developed a personal approach or philosophy that keeps them motivated, resilient and aware of opportunities that present themselves. This component helps you to develop your own philosophy, built on the foundation of the 10 COR.E Disciplines, that will tap into your true leadership potential and performance.

Component 5: Optimizing and Sustaining Your Leadership Success Formula
An important element of this component is to embrace the need to evolve your approach over time.  The world is a rapidly changing place and developing the capacity to be flexible and adaptable in the face of uncertainty is key to success.

My Invitation to You

If you would like to learn more about how COR.E Leadership Dynamics can help you to maximize your energy and optimize your performance to be the best leader you can be, please click here.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who helps you create consistent, optimal performance using all your capacity and potential in both your work and life. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

 

Forget Resolutions: Tips to Create the Life You Want in the New Year

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A fresh new year is before us. Sometimes that might feel a little daunting and other times it can be filled with excitement. Which is it for you?  Instead of creating New Year’s Resolutions which, let’s admit it, we often don’t follow through on anyway, how about trying a different twist? One of the most effective ways to kick start the year with enthusiasm, engagement and excitement is to establish a clear vision.  When was the last time you gave yourself the luxury to dream about what you’d like to create in your life?  There’s a saying that “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”. Not having a vision is like expecting a GPS to get you to a specific destination without entering the address. You might find some interesting sights along the way but you have no idea where you’re going to end up. So get comfortable and follow the tips below to do a little dreaming!

Creating Your Vision

Focus on What You Want
Describe what you want as clearly as possible. Write in the present tense, as if what you want has already occurred.  Describe what it looks like, feels like, sounds like, etc. Catch yourself if you start describing what you don’t want and shift your focus back to what you do want.  Our brains are powerful creators and are programmed to go after what we focus on. What you attract into your life will be in alignment with what you give your attention to.

Think Holistically
You are a multi-faceted human being with many dimensions to your life. As you describe what you want, be sure to consider the following eight dimensions:

  1. Business, Job and Career
  2. Personal and Professional Relationships
  3. Finances
  4. Health and Well-Being
  5. Fun Time and Recreation
  6. Personal Development
  7. Contribution/Community
  8. Spirituality

Establishing Powerful Goals and Actions

Once you have created your vision, the next step is to set specific goals and objectives that will bring that vision into reality.  In each of the eight dimensions, write down what needs to happen and by when, in order to reach your desired destination.

Finally, we must break these goals down into action steps. Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one”.  Determine the specific next action steps required to meet each of your goals.  It can be helpful to think in terms of what steps are necessary to be completed 6 months, 3 months, 1 month and one week from now to get you started.

Following Through on Your Commitment

How do you want to stay true to your commitment to yourself?  Telling someone what you plan to do is a proven method to help you stay on course.  Just putting it out there and sharing your vision and goals with someone else makes it more real. You might consider telling a family member or friend. If something a bit more formal works for you, perhaps you can team up with someone else who is committed to their own vision and schedule brief check-in calls either daily or weekly to help you both stay on course. Working with a coach can provide you with one-on-one support to help you stay on track and develop strategies to navigate any obstacles that might arise.  Whatever method works best for you, be sure to have something in place that will motivate you to accomplish at least one thing per day toward the vision.

To your success!

What’s Your Perspective?: The Impact Your Level of Energy Has On Your Performance

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Have you ducksever noticed that different leaders can experience the same situation, at the same time, and react or respond in completely different ways?  Ever wonder why?  It all has to do with our core energy. Bruce D Schneider, Founder of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), defines core energy as “the energy that is at the core of thoughts, emotions, and actions that relate to how people see themselves, those around them, and the world itself.”

Recognizing the impact of different levels of energy allows us to make conscious choices in the moment that support or influence our performance in every area of our lives. Let’s use a scenario, which most of us have probably experienced at some point in our lives, and see how energy plays out and impacts performance.

Scenario

You are walking down the corridor at work, on your way to a meeting, and you see your boss coming your way.  As he/she approaches, you smile and cheerfully say “good morning”.  Your boss doesn’t acknowledge you and continues walking right past you.

What’s the first thing that runs through your mind? As you read the potential reactions/responses at each level, see which perspective sounds most like you.

Perspectives

Level 1: “My boss never pays any attention to me. I can’t do anything right. I don’t think I’m ever going to get ahead. Maybe I should just look for another job.”

Level 2: “ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! I go out of my way to say “good morning” and she completely ignores me!”

Level 3: “That’s strange that he didn’t say “hello”. Maybe he didn’t hear me.”

Level 4: “Wow, that’s so unlike her. I hope she’s okay.  I’ll check in with her after my meeting and see what’s going on and if there’s any way I can help.”

Level 5: “He must be totally focused on that new deal we’re going after. I’ll swing by later and offer some of my ideas on how we can collaborate with this potential partner. I know we can make this a huge win for both of our firms!”

So, which level did you resonate with the most? Can you feel that what happens next will be completely different given the perspective this leader takes?

Shifting Your Energy

Our level of energy can bounce around all day long as we experience a variety of situations. At what level does your reaction tend to fall?  In what type of circumstances do you experience Level 1, 2, 3 energy, etc? How empowering would it be to know that you can learn to recognize different levels of energy in yourself and others and choose the response that will support you most effectively in any given situation?

When your energy is working for you and you can tap more frequently into higher levels of energy, you can expect to experience…

  • Inner certainty
  • A sense of calm amidst change and chaos
  • Ease in making and committing to choices
  • A broader perspective
  • Being more present in the moment
  • Taking the initiative and fully engaging in every aspect of your life.

Working together, you’ll discover the nature of the energy of performance and be able to take steps to proactively create consistent experiences and make quick adjustments in the moment if things go awry.

If you’re intrigued and would like to discuss how this process can help you create your personal leadership formula for success, please contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who helps you create consistent, optimal performance using all your capacity and potential in both your work and life. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

5 Key Tips for New Manager Success

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staff-meetingAre you a new manager or know someone who is? The transition to a first time management role can be exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Soon, you often realize that the strengths and skills that made you successful in your previous role are not what will spell success as a manager.  To help you navigate this transition, here are five key tips to keep in mind.

  1. Keep learning and growing: The functional and/or technical skills that allowed you to excel at an individual level are still important. Yet, they are not sufficient to lead a team successfully. Take advantage of leadership courses, tools and resources that your company or local continuing education program provides. Then, look for opportunities every day to apply those skills as you lead your team. The more you practice, the more you will seamlessly integrate the new skills.
  2. Inspire and empower: Get to know the people on your team. Learn what they are passionate about. Paint a vivid and compelling vision of the future and ask for input and feedback. Align individual skills, strengths and passion with the vision and objectives for the team as a whole. Create a clear line-of-sight between each person’s contribution and the overarching desired result.
  3. Set clear expectations: It really is true – you do get what you expect. Establish yourself as a positive role model who exemplifies the behavior you would like to see in others. Expect that others will work well both individually and within the team and deliver high performance. Don’t assume that team members will intuitively know what you want them to do. Establish clear expectations, provide support and hold people accountable for results. You’ll be amazed at how motivating it can be to your team to know that someone believes in them.
  4. Develop your people: Change can be challenging and sometimes we hold onto the work that we most enjoyed because it feels comfortable. It’s time to take the leap and delegate key responsibilities to your team members. This frees you up to focus more of your time on your new role and develops the skills of your team. Make sure that you provide a level of decision-making authority and support that is appropriate to the skill level of the team member and the complexity of the task. When in doubt, err on the side of less authority and more support. You can always give more authority over time but you never want to have to take it back.
  5. Establish credibility as a manager: If you’ve been promoted within your current organization, you may now be supervising former peers. This can lead to an uncomfortable situation for both you and your colleagues unless you address the shift directly and quickly. Give up on the idea of being liked by everyone and staying best buddies with your former peers. It’s hard to be viewed as being fair and objective if you are continuing to socialize after work and have lunch every day with your close friend who now works for you. While it’s not an easy conversation to have, it is an important one. You might start off with something like, “Our friendship is important to me. As a manager now, I must ensure that the team feels that I’m being fair and unbiased. In order to do that our work relationship needs to be different.”  You and your former peer will be glad you discussed your new dynamic.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Management and Career Coach and Facilitator who helps you create consistent, optimal performance using all your capacity and potential in both your work and life. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.