D. Trinidad Hunt

Raving Fans #4

Syrus couldn't hide his jubilation on the next visit. Rolling the flip charts out on the table, he said that he could feel the shift in each department. "More proactive," he said. "They are all working on projects that they initiated."

"So the next step is clear, Syrus."

"Not to me," Syrus countered.

"It's time to step in and acknowledge the progress of each of teams." I paused. "It's time to go on a walk about;LBWA"

"What's LBWA?" 

"Leadership By Walking About! It's time to begin a practice of personal engagement with the troops, Syrus. They want to see you and connect with you."

To make a long story short, as they say... Syrus began strengthening his relationship with his managers and his teams. From that time on our coaching sessions began to focus on the key indicators that make success in leadership as well as in life.

Based on the latest research, Syrus took the IQ, EQ, SQ Inventory and began developing the key traits necessary to improve his results with people. Over the next year, I taught him the art of tracking, a process that helped him make a distinction between the words and behaviors that served his purpose and those that didn't.

 The tracking process brought precision and clarity to his self-observation and Syrus began to increase his capacity to deal with what had previously been uncomfortable situations. We focused on enhancing and accentuated his strongest qualities so that his potential as a leader could be realized.

Over the next two, Syrus bought out two of his competitors and went on to take his company to the top in its sector. Today, his company still leads the field in results and service.

Self-reflection for the Week

  Look around you and begin to notice all the big and little things that people do for you, the organization, the department and the family. It's acknowledgment for little things that count. Remember that... What gets acknowledged, gets repeated. 

Ask yourself each day, "Who are the people in my personal and professional life that I need to acknowledge today and specifically what do I need to acknowledge them for?" Then act; thank the people around you for the contribution they make to those around them every day!!

Oops!

I am humbly reminded one more time of what it takes to make a new habit! You have to...

REMEMBER TO REMEMBER TO DO
WHAT YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO!

Instead, I forgot to remember to do what I said I would do and I was just reminded by Traci Toguchi's post on the Planetary Briefing Room site. I forgot to add a self-reflective question to my last blog and I said that I would do so every time. Thank you Traci for reminding me!!!

I think I will shift my intention. I will post a self-reflective question every week as a stand-alone. It will give all you Master Mind Partners and friends an opportunity to build it into your Weekly Focus or Thought for the Week.

So here is the question to complete this week...

In what ways am I stretching and expanding myself
beyond my comfort zone today?

Ask yourself this question every day and at the end of the day review your results when closing your day (Ala 4/7/09 post Close the Day) by asking

In what ways did I stretch and expand myself
beyond my comfort zone today?

and

How will I improve tomorrow?

And have fun with your expansion! I will be living with my question for the week also... So I look forward to hearing from you on your thoughts and results.

Do you have some thought provoking self-reflective questions? Send them to me. I'd love to add to my repertoire!

Raving or Raging Fans Lesson #3 - Break the Cycle of Complaints!

Syrus was not smiling when I returned for my third visit. Far from it. His brow was furrowed and and there was agitation written in his eyes. We exchanged the good morning niceties and then, unable to hold it back any longer, Syrus launched into a tirade. Phrases periodically fell into place as his words rushed toward me like an avalanche crushing my senses.

"People are so ungrateful!" "I knew this wouldn't work."  "Complaints - always complaints!"  "Why did I even listen to you?" 

When he finally paused to catch his breath, I signaled T with my hands. "Can I ask a question?" He shrugged and nodded. "Did your managers bring you the lists their teams generated?"

"They did," he pushed a stack of papers toward me.

"Good, so they did the assignment."

"Complaining all the way," he countered.

"Of course. It's an approval-oriented culture. Everyone gets along on the surface... but when you open the dialogue, a whole bunch of suppressed stuff comes pouring out."

"I think this is where I always get frustrated. It's where my follow-up and follow-through goes reeling off the track!" 

"It's actually pretty simple, Syrus. Can we move forward?"

"I'm going on a leap of faith," Syrus nodded and reached into his drawer. Notebook and pen in hand, "Ready!"

Ask your managers and team leaders to go back to their teams with the list of things they feel need to be improved. Ask them to engage their team members in dividing the list into two parts. They can do this on a flip chart. Syrus was writing furiously again.

Part 1 should be titled: NO CONTROL OVER (at this time).

Part 2 should be titled: CAN DO!

"Finally ask them to ask their team to prioritize the CAN DO list in order of easy to accomplish to hard to accomplish. Then ask the team to pick a 'WINABLE' to start on," I paused as he scribbled away. "A winable is something that the team can easily win at. This will motivate to keep on going."

"Time frame one week," Syrus completed his notes. "I can do this, Trin."

"I want to see the flip charts next time I come." I stood and moved toward his door. "I'll set a date with your secretary, Syrus."

"Trinidad," he looked up from his desk as I turned. "Thank you." The look in his eyes said it all.

I nodded. "You're welcome, Syrus."

Morning Meditation

I got up especially early today. I could feel the joy and discovery available in the morning coming over me and I didn't want to miss a moment of it. I wanted to watch the colors of the day emerge across the ocean. As the birds began to stir, I saw the sun cast its dayglo orange and pink across the sky and then sank into a silent meditation of the soul.

Twenty minutes later I opened my eyes to this scene. I grabbed my camera because I knew that I wanted to share it.

My heart was filled with gratitude - for the scene, for the colors of the day, for the sea and for the trade winds that whispers to me all day long in my home above the sea.

Syrus' story will resume soon. I just could not let the joy of this morning go unexpressed. It's nice alone. It's nicer still to share the images and feelings of the heart.

Reflection for the day:
What are three things in your life that are giving you joy today?

Questions Are More Powerful Than Answers

I thought that I would ask a powerful positive question with every blog entry that I do from now on.

This new addition was inspired by Traci Toguchi, Miss Hawaii 1995. Traci just joined our Planetary Briefing Room (http://simrooms.ning.com/) and I went to her website to check her out and say Aloha and welcome. You too can check out her website at ... http://www.tracitoguchi.com/photos.html

Traci's site reminded me of something I said in my book The Operator's Manual for Planet Earth: "Questions are more powerful than answers."

Even though The Operator's Manual is fiction my work has always been based on research. And the research tells us that questions open our brain, our mental files, and force them to pull out an answer. So positive questions keep our brain focused on delivering positive answers.

And because every thought carries with it a neuro-chemical signature, the signature of a positive answer is a boost to the immune system. It also over-rides the primary instinct of the old survival brain to defend itself and focuses the Reticular Activating System (RAS) on looking for the positive.

This is a mighty smart thing to do in a challenging time! It will help you keep your IQ, EQ, and SQ (Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Qualities) focused in a positive direction. As you focus on answering positive questions your mind will be focused on delivering positive answers. In other words, look for the positive, you will find the positive all around you.

So here is the question I'd like you to answer for yourself today. Look for as many answers as you can. This will keep your mind searching through the positive territory of your life. Continue to ask yourself this question at the beginning, in the middle of, and at the ending of every day for the next few days. And as you do, you will anchor your mind on the positive regardless of the challenges the day may bring. 

What are all the things in my life that I am grateful for?

I came up with more than 150 answers when I was doing this the other day. I invite you to beat me at it... and have fun with it...

Much Aloha, Trinidad

Raving or Raging? Lesson #2 - Kaizen

I returned to Syrus' office at the appointed time a week later to find him at his desk with notepad ready. He was eager to share. "I had an insight of my own over the last week," he said. "I reflected back over my last five years in the company and realized that you were right. People aren't motivated by being told what to do'. I flashed on incidents that have occurred and saw the subtlety of resistance and sabotage that occurs when people aren't fully engaged in their own process." Syrus hesitated. "I'm just not sure how to approach making the shift in a consistent manner."

I was obviously puzzled. "What do you mean by, 'consistent manner'?"

"You know," he said, "It's the follow-up and follow-through stuff that I'm not good at. I've gotten people involved in fits and starts. But I've never really carried through on the process. In fact, I'm not sure that I even know how to do that," he said finally.

"That's why I'm here, Syrus," I reassured. "But again, we're going to take it a step at a time. And this step is called KAIZEN."

Syrus asked for the spelling and wrote the word KAIZEN on his notepad. "What is it and what do I need to do?" he asked.

"Kazen is constant never-ending improvement," I answered. "And we'll chunk your action plan into small achievable action steps."

Step #1: Call a meeting with all of your department heads.

Step #2:Frame the conversation by giving them an overview of what we're doing and why including the morale issue the company is facing and why you think that might be the case. Explain that the goal is to get people involved and motivated so that team members experience a stronger sense of ownership regarding their work and the company.

Step #3: Ask them to meet with their team members and engage them in a conversation around the following two questions:

1. What are we doing in our department that is really working well. In other words, what do we do well?
2. What do you feel we could improve in and do better at? Or, where are we lacking and where do we need to improve?

Step #4: Ask your team to generate two lists and bring the lists to your next meeting with them. Then set a date for the next meeting. It should be within 2 weeks of your first meeting to enhance the sense of urgency.

With that said, Syrus and I adjourned. I set an appointment with his secretary to reconvene in 10 days so that I could give Syrus the next step for his team before he met with them a second time.

To Be Continued...

Raving or Raging Fans? The First Lesson!

Syrus Lenco, CEO at a large company said he was having morale problems in the ranks. He asked me to assess the corporate culture and deliver a report.

At the end of a few weeks I came to him with the results. "You don't have a morale issue, Syrus. You have a leadership issue."

"What do you mean,"" Syrus was perturbed. "I'm pleasant. I get along with my staff. We work well together." 

"At least on the surface," I answered. "Have you ever noticed that your staff usually agrees with you and goes along with what you say?"

"Why wouldn't they?" he shrugged."I told you we work well together."

"It does appear that way, doesn't it," I insisted gently.

"I don't get it," Syrus leaned forward on his desk. "What are you saying?"

"You have an approval oriented culture, Syrus," I answered.

"What's that mean?"

"Your people avoid conflict so it appears that most of the relationships in your organization are pleasant. Everyone gets along... at least superficially." I was getting a bit bolder now. "People keep their mouths shut when they have a differing opinion, but inside they're quietly raging."

"I always tell my team members to speak up," he said. "I tell them their ideas and opinions count." He was reflective. 'They just don't say very much to say so they go along with what I want." 

"That's the point." I could see he was beginning to get it.

"I thought it was because they had nothing to say." He was thoughtful now.

"They have a lot to say, Syrus, but at some level they are seeking security in their relationship with you and probably with each other. As a result constructive differing and the free expression of ideas has been dampened."

"What am I going to do?" He fell back in his chair.

"Let's just take this a step at a time," I offered. "Write this down," I said.

"LESSON #1: PEOPLE ARE NEVER MOTIVATED BY BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO.      PEOPLE ONLY GET MOTIVATED WHEN THEY HAVE AN INSIGHT, AN AHA EXPERIENCE!"

Syrus picked up a pen began furiously writing on a notepad. "You see," I continued, "Insight is accompanied by a chemical signature that moves people to action."

Syrus finished writing and put his pen down as the alarm on his phone went off. Time out he signaled.  "I have a meeting," he said. "Besides, this is a lot to digest. Can we meet in a few days to continue with our conversation."

"That's great," I agreed. "But I'd like you to look at life through the lens of the following statement and share your insights with me at our next meeting."PEOPLE ARE MOVED TO ACTION BY INSIGHT," I said, as I shook his hand. "I'll make an appointment with your secretary." And I left for the day knowing that Syrus and I were at the beginning of a great adventure.

To Be Continued...

Copyright: D. Trinidad Hunt 2009

The Creative Edge

Today more than ever before we need the creative ideas and efforts of everyone on the team. We don't need a team of 30 people with only 1, 2 or 3 contributors.

Creativity and innovation do not spring eternal from the heart of organizations. When we do see creative and innovative endeavors springing forth from people you can rest assured that those in positions of leadership nurtured it.

Here's a quick checklist of things you can do to inspire creative and innovative ideas and developments from your team:
1. Make the atmosphere and environment safe for open dialogue and discussion. This does not mean positioning and posturing but true and authentic exchanges regarding improving our results.

2. Ask people for their ideas. Engage in an annual or biannual 'Ideas for Improving our Results' brainstorming session. Prioritize the ideas once you've done the basic generating work. Then take action on the "winables" first and the more challenging items as you get better at the game.

3. Welome new and outrageous ideas, engage with them and hear them out. We don't find new paths by continually revisiting the old.

4. Make experimentation acceptable. The best way to do this is by a controlled method of testing. Experiment within a small group or department and analyze the results. Tweak from there!

5. Make it fun!!! Nobody wants to participate in drugery. People want to be successful, make a difference, and enjoy the process. This doesn't mean all of our work is fun. But it does mean we can lighten up and turn creativity and innovation to our advantage!

Goals in the Nano-second Realtime World

I was just reminded by two of you who participated in our Australian seminars that the best of intentions, goals and commitments often fall prey to the daily exigencies of life in a nano-second real time world. The comfort zone and old habits often kick in and then lots of To Do items, e-mails, customer and boss requests emerge demanding immediate attention and diffusing our focus.

So the short and the quick of the question they were asking is, "How do I keep my long range goals and objectives in site and moving while getting my daily stuff done effectively?"

 Here is my personal strategy for consistent success...

1. Read your top 5 goals every night before retiring. This sets up my super-conscious and subconscious dream time.
2. Review these goals every morning.
3. Pick 1 'winable' goal to work on and chunk it into small achievable action steps.
4. Integrate these small action steps into your weekly plan.
5. Tick off 2 or 3 of these and celebrate your small completions weekly. This fuels the fire of inspiration and motivation to keep going.

What goal are you working on this week? I would love to hear of your progress. Is there any challenge you are facing? Is there a block or barrier that has crept in to challenge your intention?  What is your formula for achieving success?

Remember that Winston Churchill said, 'Continuous effort not strength or intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential.'