Character is Key

If you ever get the opportunity to be on the reality TV series Survivor, know this: those who swear their allegiance to you by anything or anyone are the ones that you should not trust.

Those who use phrases and / or idioms to emphasize their intent typically demonstrate duplicitous qualities.

• Swearing by (someone or something) to show true sincerity.
• "Cross my heart hope to die," to accentuate honesty.
• "I really mean it," when used to emphasize audacious statements.
• "Just kidding," when it means, "I am really serious but I just saw the look of offence on your face and need to backpedal because I am afraid you will be angry with me."

The brutal reality is: how we do anything is how we do everything. Our intuition informs us to be reluctant with trust towards those who feel the need to "swear by" and put extra emphasis on their oaths. Deep down inside we instinctively know that what we hear in their words will translate to their actions. Those who are wise heed their intuition and are cautious. Anyone that has had their trust violated will realize in hindsight that they ignored their intuition about that individual. Our intuition is a powerful thing and will help to avoid many problems – listen to it.

Am I saying that everyone who says these types of things has an insincere character? Yes, actually I am. And no I am not kidding. Start examining the character of those you know who make these types of statements, either you are already suspicious of their character or you have been ignoring your intuition.

Leaders will be forgiven for almost any mistake except for those that stem from weak character and behaviour that destroys trust. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil. Mathew 5:37

Character is Key

Work / life balance

Why do we work? To make money, to contribute, to find purpose are all reasons that we would hear. I think a colleague of mine stated it best, "we work to improve our personal lives." There are those that work for the sake of work (work is everything) whom I feel sorry for, them and their family (if they have managed to hold on to), but this [improve my personal life] is the reason that I go to work and do my best everyday.

The challenge / problem for some is that they have failed to draw a line in terms of when they will work and when they will stop working, each day / each week.

Parkinson's law:
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

To state more succinctly:

The amount of time which one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task.


The reality is that if we have clear goals, putting limits on the amount of time that we allocate to achieve those goals will result in enhanced productivity. We will get the work complete, and have more time for our personal life. We can determine the deadline to complete the work. For example: a project that must be completed by Monday morning could be completed by Friday night at six if we so choose. 

Outlined in the book "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek, a construction company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana actually measures work life balance: employees are required to clock in between 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. and clock out between 5:00 – 5:30pm. Stay any later and they are taken out of a bonus pool. Because they know they have to leave by 5:30 p.m. wasted time has dropped to a minimum. Productivity is high and turnover is low.

Decide when you will start / stop work and which days you will work. Make these restrictions to time dedicated to work a personal commitment to yourself. Most importantly, don't break that commitment. If you break commitments to yourself, it becomes easier to break commitments to others. How you do anything - is how you do everything.

Ultimately, the issue is rooted in our values and we are choosing to cheat. We cheat either our time at work or time with our family.

Work / life balance

How can I improve my success?

I know very little about horses, with the exception of two very important facts. The first is some wise advice given to me: when walking behind a horse, ALWAYS put your hand on their behind, this prevents being kicked. It is important to remember that this only applies to horses, do this to a women and you will get kicked.

The second: where the head goes, the horse goes. A horse must go in the direction of their head. When riding a horse, pull the reins in the direction that you want the horse to turn. In order to rear up a horse must throw its head backwards; a strap tying the head to the saddle eliminates the ability to throw its head back making it impossible for the horse to rear up. If a horse is lying on the ground, it must throw its head up to stand up. It is possible to prevent a 1500-pound horse from getting up by just putting your foot on its head.

This principle is identical with us, except that it is our words that control our direction. What we say, and have been saying, is the direction that our life is going. If we say, "I always seem to run out of time to complete my projects," we have determined what will continue to happen. "My people never seem to be able to deliver on the expected results," will most likely continue to come true (likely? they can overcome our negative speaking with their own positive words). Speaking negatively will take our life in a negative direction.

The good news is that we can change our direction by changing our words. "I will find a way to get this project done on time and it will be the exceptional work," "I will help my people deliver on results and together we will find a way to get it done," are statements that will cause us to become proactive and successful. 

This is not an easy thing to change; first start by listening to what you are / have been saying. Of course, this is rooted in what you have been thinking.

Use words that take you in the direction you want to go and it will force your thinking to change.

 

How can I improve my success?

It’s the people of the business . . .

The level of enthusiasm of your guest experience can never rise higher than the enthusiasm of your OWN employees - Joel Manby

Difficult to imagine anyone disagreeing with this, but for many this is just head knowledge or intellectual knowledge, known but not acted on or used. Why? Great service is difficult to measure, particularly any link to the bottom line, and far too many organizations have the bottom line as their vision or purpose.

"But don't organizations exist to make a profit?" you may ask. Profit is the positive outcome of whatever it is your organization does. The organization didn't start with the sole purpose of making profit. Sure, it [profit] was a motivator, but the true reason was the product or service offered.

If you actually want enthused employees, there are two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic.

• Extrinsic motivation is the reward from outside sources such as pay, benefits, promotion etc.
• Intrinsic motivation is internal, the feeling of accomplishment and gratification that we derive from doing a good job.

Pay your people well. Pay them at the high end of the scale for your industry and hold them accountable to your clear expectations. The accountability part is key, you will attract many to your organization but the accountability will "weed the garden" so to speak and retain the very best.

Infinitely more important is tapping into intrinsic motivation. People want to matter, to contribute, to be empowered, to be autonomous. They want responsibility, to work independently, and provided with freedom to show ingenuity. If you treat your people like "cogs in the wheel," you will get "cogs" and your guest experience (any interaction with customer) will be just about as routine, flat and un-engaging as using an automatic gas station pump, self-checkout or ATM machine.

Focus on the people of the business vs. the business of the people.

It’s the people of the business . . .

Technology Addictions

Imagine if we could bring someone from the past, say . . . 200 years ago, into the present day. Consider just the ability to communicate today compared to the year 1812. The capability to know in mere seconds the answer to any question and news from anywhere on the planet from a device that fits in the palm of the hand. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible for them to comprehend. Now give them a job in a modern work environment — disaster. This would however, make for a great movie.

The work environment has become overwhelmingly complex. Some of it is necessary and beneficial, but most of it is counterproductive. Consider the deception of multi-tasking that provides people with the false sense of belief that they can accomplish more by doing more activities at once. It is a lie. See here for more explanation.
The modern trend of multitasking is largely a result of technology; I can pretend to carry on a conversation with you while texting both my kids and my wife, read email while driving my car with at least one hand and listen to Meagan (the lady in my GPS who is always patient with me) guide me to my destination. The fact is that I am not doing any of these things well (most have negative consequences . . . to not doing them well).

We plan less effectively, communicate less succinctly, and listen less attentively because of technology. What would we do if it [communication technology] suddenly disappeared? What if we considered a "fast" of sorts ─ some restriction ─ on the use of technology and everything that gives us the false perception that we can do more by doing many things simultaneously.
Imagine how the following would make everyone in your organization more productive:

• You can only work 40 hours per week, but your compensation depends on results; use your time wisely.
• You can only send 10 emails per day ─ no exceptions ─ choose your words wisely.
• You can only spend 2 hours per week in meetings ─ make sure your objectives for meetings are clear.
• You can only talk on your phone with a blind fold on . . . radical yes, but think what behaviours would change.

There should be a purposeful and continuous goal to hold technology in the place of a help vs. the master. There era of carbon paper did have some advantages.

Technology Addictions

Time to Think

Recently, I missed doing something that is obvious and has always been second nature to me. Upon reflection considering how I could overlook this simple but important detail, it was immediately apparent – too busy! Too many priorities, emails, initiatives, problems, phone calls and meetings. Have you ever found yourself happy for the night only because you know the rest of your world is not at work and likely won't call or send an email?

The only reason I was able to identify the problem — slap myself in the face to get out of the hypnotic state of executing busy work — was that I reflected. I took some time, if only a brief moment, to think. Leaders must set aside time to think. This is not a suggestion of a good idea, it's mandatory and failure to do so will stagnate all upward progress – you will merely be a manager of other's initiatives and requests. And, sorry to be the one to break it to you — if this represents your life — they can pay someone a lot less money to do what you are doing.

Rags-to-riches millionaire and philanthropist Peter Daniels has created successful ventures around the world. In The Power of Focus, authors Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt write, "When asked what turned his life from triple indebtedness to unprecedented success, he (Peter Daniels) replied, 'I scheduled time to think. In fact, I reserve one day a week on my calendar just to think. All of my greatest ideas, opportunities and money-making ventures started with the days I took off to think.'" http://www.make-it-fly.com/ar-0606.htm

 The first step toward providing regular time to think is to give yourself permission: it is ok not to fill up your entire day – it is ok to schedule time that has no tangible or measurable activity other than to spend time pondering, reflecting, brainstorming and dreaming.
The next challenge is to eliminate all distractions . . . perhaps this is why some of my best thinking is done while in the shower. Watch now someone will come up with a waterproof Blackberry.

Time to Think

The Secret to Success

Why are some successful and some are not: some perform well while others struggle: some are rich, some are poor?

Education is certainly a factor, there is direct correlation between level of education and level of income, but there are plenty of well-educated people on both sides of the issue.

Place of birth in terms of country or city due to limited or abundance of opportunity definitely plays a role, but again, plenty of people born in free societies struggle and fail throughout life.

Good looks, luck, being born with a silver spoon in your mouth etc. all increase ones chances of success, wealth and continuous promotion but do not guarantee it. The one element that is common among the most successful and wealthy is excellence. Excellence in virtually everything they do; in appearance, in manners, in behaviour, integrity, style and work ethic and most importantly, excellence in their craft. They stand apart and look different, we get a unique feeling from them that somehow attracts us to them and causes us to want to be like them. We often can't explain exactly what it is about them, but we intuitively know that it is good, right and the secret to their success.

Excellence is the common denominator – the secret ingredient.

The Secret to Success