Windridge - Identify. Develop. Retain.

One of My Favorite Weeks of the Year!

“Chronologically we’re at the end of the year but the beginning of the journey.”
Sarah Ban Breathnach

This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year! It’s the week between Christmas and the New Year and it’s a perfect time to take a short “time out” to pause and reflect. Even with family in town for the Holidays I’m still trying to spend snippets time thinking about the past year,what worked and what didn't, and then shifting my focus to the coming year and identifying what my “theme” for the New Year will be. When January 3rd 2012 dawns, after all the house-guests have gone home and the house is wholly mine again, I will sit in quiet reflection recording the challenges and successes of 2011 and all of my forward hopes and dreams for 2012..... Perfect!

If you don’t start, You won’t arrive… Anonymous

Use the questions below to map your course for 2012:

2011

• For the past year what was your overall theme?
• What were your three biggest wins personally?
• What were your three biggest wins professionally?
• What were the three top lessons you learned?
• What was the one personal quality that you developed in 2011?
• List the ways this quality helped you both personally and professionally.

2012

• Looking forward, what do you want the overall theme(s) of 2012 to be for you?
• What are your top three personal goals for 2012?
• What are your top three professional goals for 2012?
• What personal quality do you most want to develop in 2012?
• List the ways that this quality will help you move forward both personally and professionally.

May you take the challenges of 2011 (and there have been many) and move forward into 2012 with confidence and courage!

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Authentic Leadership is Driven by Values - Measured by Results

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define what can be. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.”
-Max DePree

People long for leaders they can trust, leaders who are authentic. These are the men and women who are willing to be real, who are willing to come alongside others and influence, empower, and encourage. Authenticity in leadership enables you to understand and feel the struggles of those who work for you.

Remember, leadership is about the people you lead, it is not about you!

Two questions to help you examine yourself:

1. As a leader, what does grace enable me to be?
2. Why does this organization need me?

Grace – a sense balanced perspective and a self-knowledge of what is right and proper builds authenticity. Grace enables you to admit: I am not perfect; I am here to help you succeed.

When we learn to share small pieces of ourselves, our wisdom and our mistakes, we then extend trust and authenticity to others. Sharing ourselves enables others not to feel so alone, and thus helps remove obstacles that limit productivity, communication, and trust. Sharing pieces of ourselves brings credibility.

Self awareness, trust, and communication are critical precursors for any successful organizational change. When openness and trust are extended a greater willingness to communicate about feelings and about problems will ensue.

Always strive to maintain open communication and authentic dialog in your day-to-day conversations with those around you. Remember, we can’t change others we only have control over ourselves, so we need to be conscious of how we verbally are acting, or re-acting.

Building trust comes from listening first, then focusing on how to help. Sometimes this will mean our opinions or fantastic ideas really don’t matter. What does matter is creating ownership and confidence in those who are doing the work—your direct reports. Helping these people develop their best ideas and applications will build a stronger workforce and will also make you a more respected and influential leader.

Before blaming or disciplining others, first scrutinize your own performance and contributions. You might find that you are consistently micromanaging, overriding or disrespecting the very people you are trying to influence. As a leader, please make sure to keep your ego in check!

Workers are successful when leaders have these three characteristics:

• Properly equip workforce
• The ability to pick the right people for the job
• Model confidence and optimism

Look at the leadership responsibilities named above and ask yourself these important questions:

• Proper equipping – Are you equipping your workforce with the tools and support they need to be productive and successful?
• Do you make sure they have the training necessary for the job?
• Do you communicate when work is done well?
• Does your workforce know that you are there for them if they need you?

Authenticity coupled with grace lets you bring your best self to the work that you do. And grace coupled with competence, character, and intent will bring positive and productive results. Leaders who provide the necessary support and who have confidence in their people, will find that as trust increases - results will follow.

 

 

Learn From the Past and Move Into the Future

Chronologically we’re at the end of the year but the beginning of the journey.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

One of my favorite weeks of the year is this week between Christmas and the New Year. For some reason it seems the perfect time to take a “time out” to pause and reflect.  I’m spending this week thinking about the past year, successes and challenges, and then shifting my focus to the coming year and identifying what my theme for the New Year will be. Then on January 1st I will sit in quiet reflection and record all of my thoughts..... Perfect!

If you don’t start, You won’t arrive… Anonymous

Use the questions below to map your course for 2011

2010

• For the past year what was your overall theme?
• What were your three biggest wins personally?
• What were your three biggest wins professionally?
• What were the three top lessons you learned?
• What was the one personal quality that you developed in 2010?
• List the ways this quality helped you both personally and professionally


2011

• Looking forward, what do you want the overall theme(s) of 2011 to be for you?
• What are your top three personal goals for 2011?
• What are your top three professional goals for 2011?
• What personal quality do you most want to develop in 2011?
• List the ways that this quality will help you move forward both personally and professionally

''Don't be too cautious; take a chance! If you wait for perfect conditions, you may end up living a timid and diminished life. The prospect of failure always exists and it is painful and often embarrassing when we do fail. But it is better to fail while striving for something adventurous and uncertain than to say, ''I won't try, because I may not succeed completely.'''' Jimmy Carter

May you take the challenges of 2010 (and there have been many) and move forward into 2011 with confidence and courage!

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” Ivy Baker Priest

Ten Things Not to Say When Firing an Employee

Letting people go is always difficult and it’s easy to sometimes be either too blunt or too open ended. I like Jonathan A. Segal’s list of what not to say in this uncomfortable situation.

The top 10 comments to avoid uttering

Here are 10 things you should never say when terminating an employee:
While these comments may not be evidence of an illegal motive, they may produce anger that results in the employee's visiting a lawyer to determine whether a viable claim exists.

1. "This was a job elimination and had nothing to do with your performance."
Do not say this when a discharge had everything to do with an employee's performance. Your desire to protect an employee's feelings—or your own—can later be used as evidence of pretext if the employee brings a discrimination claim.

2. "We have carried you for many years. It's just not possible to continue to do so during these difficult times."
Don't trash the past. It is not only insulting to the employee, but it may be inconsistent with the employee's prior evaluations. Remember, pretext alone wins cases.

3. "We have no choice but to terminate your employment."
There are always other options. Why not tolerate mediocrity a little longer? Termination need not be the only viable option, so don't suggest that it is.

4. "You have no one to blame but yourself. You just did not try hard enough."
Hold employees accountable, but don't impugn their integrity. When employees feel personally attacked, they fight back.

5. "This is just as hard for me as it is for you."
There are few absolutes, but it is absolutely true that it always harder to be fired than to fire. Don't ask an employee who is looking at unemployment to feel your pain.

6. "This is not the right job for you. When you get the right job, you will thank me."
That may make you feel good, but it will make the discharged employee bristle. The "thank you" may come in the form of a complaint.

7. "I am sorry, but you are fired."
You may mean: "I am sorry we have come to this situation." The employee may hear that you think you are wrong. It's not a good time to have a conversation about the meaning of "I am sorry." Avoid apologies, even though you may genuinely feel badly.

8. "I know how you feel."
Unless you have been fired recently, you don't know how the person feels. If you have been fired recently, now is not the time to share that experience.

9. "You will always be a part of the corporate family."
Trust me. This will make the fired employee think: "Oh, good. Will I still get the newsletter after I sue you?"

10. "Pardon the e-mail, but you are fired."

Keep this list in mind next time you are faced with having to let someone go….

Full article in Business Week

Stages of Personal Change

Changing one's behavior is not easy, and it is not instant. You must start thinking now about what you can do differently today that will get you where you want to be at 80....

Life is a journey - not a destination.

Stages of Personal Change:

1. Unconscious Incompetent
   "I am unaware that I don't do this well"
   (blind spot)
2. Conscious Incompetent
   "I know that I don't do this well"
   (self-awareness of the need to change)
3. Conscious Competent
   "I do this well only when I think about it"
   (transition from awareness to action by modeling others who do this well)
4. Unconscious Competent
   "I do this well all the time"
   (permanent personality change -- high performance by reflex)

Start now!