Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Too often we are our own worst enemy, and our harshest critic.

There has always been a lot of pressure to follow the golden rule:

“Treat others the way you want to be treated”

The irony is… we are rarely as hurtful to others as we are to ourselves.

We say the nastiest, most unkind things to ourselves. Things we would never dare utter aloud to anyone else.

It’s time to stop the harsh words and eliminate the judgment. It’s time to give ourselves the same benefit of the doubt, the same caring support, the same kindness that we give others.When we do that, we lift ourselves up and begin to see ourselves with new eyes. We start to recognize our best qualities instead of our perception of our worst qualities. We start to acknowledge that we do have strengths and skills and contributions to make. We see that in fact, we do a lot of things right and we have valuable contributions to make. Our world starts to look a little brighter and our results start to improve. We start attracting more of what we want in our life and releasing what has been holding us back.

Embracing the golden rule is good. It’s the golden rule! Embracing the inverted golden rule is good too! By treating ourselves the way we want others to treat us we bring out our best self every day — and you can’t go wrong with that!

Navigating the ‘soft-side’ issues of succession planning and exit strategy. Building a framework for a very powerful and rewarding future.

The Perfect Hiding Place

When we were kids, we hid from chores, we hid from friends during a game of hide-and-seek, and on occasion ( if we’d really stepped out of line), we hid from our parents.

It wasn’t until we became adults that we learned to hide from ourselves.

People hide for different reasons, but we all do it…

and our work can be the perfect hiding place.

The trouble is, we are rarely called out.

Why?

Being busy is admired… even revered…

It’s easy to wear our busyness like a badge of honor instead of seeing it as a telltale sign that we are hiding.

Maybe we are hiding from something, or someone or maybe we are hiding from ourselves.

We all need balance between the intensity and demands of work and the intensity and demands of life. It’s the space in between that we crave. That space that grounds us in who we are and what makes us special. That space between that enables us to discover what ignites our spirit and what drags us down.

If you don’t have it, you need to build it in.

Come out, come out wherever you are…

Are you living the life you want or hiding from the one you don’t? It’s time to discover or rediscover what ignites your spirit.

Your Employees Want to be Accountable

Do your employees truly know what is expected from them? Desired results don’t just appear out of thin air. The first step to accountability is providing clear expectations.

When you give your team clear expectations, the people that truly belong on your team have a strong desire not only to meet expectations, but to exceed them. They want to do work that is purposeful, work that gets noticed.

No one looks forward to falling short of expectations so use this to your advantage.  You can start with the assumption that they have the skills and desire to succeed, and as an effective leader, it is your responsibility to map out the path to success.

In turn, it is your team’s responsibility to take the journey set before them.

If there is an employee on your team that is not meeting your expectations, it’s time to act. I know you don’t want to – nobody does. But as a manager, you need to.

Schedule a time this week to talk to them to see if their perceived expectations match yours.  If not, you need to re-set your expectations. This is a key point. Setting or re-setting expectations well requires you to be very specific. Include the outcomes you expect, the measurable goals, where appropriate, include timelines, milestones, boundaries, and the resources they can tap into to get the work done (people, money, etc…).

If you don’t do this step, sadly it’s unlikely that you will see the outcomes you want. It is the single most important thing you can do for lasting results.

Don’t send them on their journey alone. Be there along the way, providing expectations, encouragement and constructive adjustments. It’s worth the trip.

Who do you need to talk to this week?