XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “Life brings out the best in me today.” I chose this one because I fall short of this often and today was another one of those days. I got upset with something and not only couldn’t let it go but carried it along for a while to other situations. Oh well … a work in progress.
• This situation matches one of my affirmations on my happiness list … ”I recognize my emotions for what they are … teachers of my inner wisdom.” I know what the situation that triggered this emotion - an important meeting in the morning. The emotion is fear - specifically the fear of rejection. I need to remember what I’ve recently told others. Rejection is God’s protection. I’ll find out whether I’ve met a leader who is passionate about personal and cultural transformation, which is my #2 passion.

Breakthrough Goals – It’s all about change!

I hit a breakthrough goal for myself this week. I’ve been working on in it this time for the last five years - more steadfastly the last 18 months. It’s weighing 165 pounds and now the continuation of this goal is keeping my weight under 170. I mention it because it took every coaching tool I have at my disposal to make the weight and will take them all on an ongoing basis to maintain this goal.

For me, weight gain and loss has been a life-long energy drainer and distracter. I have gained and lost up to 50 lbs (usually 20 – 30) at least a dozen times. The reason I mention it here is for you to pick a breakthrough goal and consider the following steps that I have taken to realize it. Here’s how this happened for me.

Step #1: The Passion Test. My #1 passion in 2006 was to “bring peace and happiness to myself and those I love”. One of my “markers” was to lose 20 lbs and keep my weight under 170 lbs for the rest of my life. At the time, I didn’t call this a breakthrough goal. I’ve lost the weight so many times, I figured it would be no problem. When October 2008 came around and I had gained 10 more lbs, I was very discouraged.

Step #2: My Vision Board. I was flying to Aruba for vacation when I saw a picture of Dr. Jeff Life in the USAirways magazine. It was his bare-chested picture in jeans that caught my eye. He had a chiseled physique and he was 67 years-old! When I got home, I found his picture on the internet and put it on my Facebook and desktop vision boards.

Step #3: Continuous Learning. I read a couple of books: The Influencer and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Out of the latter book came the ideas of a peer coach and what I now call your happiness list. Out of the former book came the research about to 2 – 3 key behaviors that make the difference in any change initiative - personally, professionally and/or organizationally. Weight loss was one of the topics and their research drew the following conclusion. Those people who lost weight and maintained that weight loss did the following: weighed themselves each morning, ate a healthy breakfast and exercised in some form at home every day. That statement is now at the top of my happiness list.

Step #4: Persistence & coaching. I did well for a while (lost about half of the weight) but wasn’t making enough progress. I then reframed my goal to “fitness” on top of the weight loss goal. When my son (a devoted “gym rat”) was home for Christmas break, I asked him to coach me. I joined a gym and he set me up with a series of five focused weight training routines that I have kept up religiously. He’ll be home for the summer, and he’ll help me get to the next level. I also began coaching others to better “fitness” which will keep me on track. I also took my own Dr. Life picture for my vision board with the caption “give me another year!”

Step #5: Psych-K. Before my last weight loss push in mid-March, an Isagenix 30-day cleanse, I had a Psych-K consult with a colleague of mine who is expert in this change methodology. In a nutshell, it is a way to change subconscious beliefs that keep us from accomplishing our goals. I took his “Part I” workshop a couple of years ago but didn’t practice it with regularity. After his consultation, I sense a profound change in my approach to this goal. Now that I have achieved it, I believe that changing this belief with help me sustain it. I am going to Halifax for his “Part II” advanced workshop next week and committed to integrating this technology into my coaching practices.

Step #6: My next breakthrough goal. Writing my book – XLR8 The Passionate Leader. I’m pulling out all the stops. It will be the focus of next weeks’ Psych-K work - what subconscious beliefs are keeping me from accomplishing this goal? Stay tuned!! If these things work for this work in progress, they will work for you!

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “I watch what I think and what I eat and my life improves.”
• First of all, I hope you had a Happy Easter if you celebrate this Holiday. We had a big family gathering with waaaay too much food, and I certainly ate too much. Not as much as I would have in the past, I might add, since my renewed focus on fitness. I made sure I did my exercising and thought about eating smaller amounts of the many wonderful dishes and sweets available. So how about you? More importantly, what are you going to do tomorrow?
• Well, as I’ve stated in the past, I’ll read the #1 item my happiness list tonight and again in the morning – “I weigh myself, eat a healthy breakfast and exercise at home and it motivates me.” I know what I weighed this morning, it will be more tomorrow, but I will be motivated to not let up next week until it is back to today’s number. Join me!

Team Zebra: How 1500 Partners Revitalized Eastman Kodak's Black & White Film-Making Flow

I recommended this book to a client recently. It was written by a friend and mentor of mine - Steve Frangos. He is retired now, but Steve was one of my “believe in you” people. He always said that I’d do great in this business. He’d tell me and I wasn’t sure I believed him. How could he know that?! It turned out he was a very wise man. Thanks, Steve.

Anyway, I’m not sure why I asked my client to read it, but it seemed to fit his situation. His area had been the “dark hole” you were sent to and often never emerged out of. However, several years of new leadership and hard work and numerous changes had changed that. The only problem now is that the next wave of changes is making the previous changes look small.

Well, Steve Frangos faced the challenge that if Black & White Film didn’t turn around, Kodak was going to sell that division. While there were many lessons in Steve’s book, my client took these three as being most important is his situation:

1. Communicate, communicate, communicate and then communicate some more. He felt this was particularly important beforehand. After what was considered massive changes, we often get a little timid to say there is more on the way. However this time, there needs to be everyone’s involvement before and during the changes.

2. Values-driven, not rules-driven, because it’s the right thing to do. Several policies had recently been changed giving people more responsibility and opportunity to do the right thing according to the company values rather than punish them for breaking the rules. If the changes are to be successful, this trend needs to continue.

3. Measurement: Scoreboard with reasonable expectations. He liked the sports analogy about watching any type of sporting event without the scoreboard working. If you don’t know what you expect from your people, you are sure to get it. A much higher degree of process and outcome measures will be visible to everyone in the future.

So even though Team Zebra was written in 1996 about what happened in Kodak’s Black & White film divisions in the early 90’s, it’s lessons are timeless. Just thought I’d let you know that, Steve. Thanks again!

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “My work is deeply fulfilling for me. I follow my higher instincts and listen to my heart in all that I do.”
• Of course this has to do with the “L” in my formula for happiness – “loving yourself by doing what you love in service of those who love what you do.” We are coaching several people who are stuck in jobs they don’t love mainly for financial security. All I can say is … I left a six-figure job in 1996 with three kids - 17, 14, & 8 - to do what I love. I would hate to think how I would see my life now if I hadn’t done it. At 63, I am now ready to do it again! Don’t play it safe, you are playing small!!!
• Another great example was today’s CBS Sunday Morning. Joy Behar, at 68, says she is at the pinnacle of her career. I don’t care what you think about her “views”, but at forty, she knew many things she wasn’t good at. She finally had the courage to do what she always knew she was meant to do, stand-up comedy. You must believe it, then you’ll see it. Once you do, the world of opportunity opens up. This is best described by a quote from one of our new clients who noted that our leadership retreat was one of “the best weeks of my life.” He went on to say that “if you don’t go within, you’ll go without.” Brilliant!

How do I do better? XLR8Forward

We are now catching up to those participants from our last leadership retreat week from early March. A few weeks ago, I spoke of the question that ranks lowest from the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) 360⁰ assessment.

#16. (He or she) asks for feedback on how his/her actions affect other people’s performance.

One of the ways to get feedback fast worked great at the retreat. It is based on Marshall Goldsmith’s “Feedforward.” (Click to see 4 minute video) One of the participants said it was like “speed dating”. After reviewing the DISC self-assessment, each participant chose one area that they would like to improve on and followed Marshall’s process. In 2 – 3 minutes, they received a few ideas as well as helped their partner with a few ideas. In 10 – 15 minutes, they had multiple perspectives and a handful of great ideas.

The second way is a little more involved. We call it XLR8Forward. First, you pick a particular issue from the 360⁰ assessment that you’d like more insight on. Second, you write a short paragraph (preamble) saying why this is important to your leadership development. Third, you think of a time when you actually did it and detail why it was a memorable experience. It is now very easy to think of more ways you could demonstrate this particular behavior or action. (If you’d like a template, e-mail me.).

Lastly, when you share your 360⁰ data with your raters, you share your story and hand out an XLR8Forward so they can fill out in the future. One new client just did so around the LPI question “supports decisions other people make on their own.” When reviewing this with one of his direct reports, his direct report said he does it sometimes - but not enough. This led to a very open discussion about what both of them needed to do in order for this to happen more. My client said that without XLR8Forward, his direct report would not have had the courage to open up to him. Over the next several months, he will have a new story ready for each monthly leadership meeting and encourage his folks to do the same, while offering ideas for him to do better so that every day he can give his best.

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “Life is simple. What I give out comes back to me.”
• At our kick-off Leadership Retreat for the XLR8 YOU!! Leadership Excellence process, we read a book summary: Napoleon Hill’s Golden Rules – The Lost Writings. He was most known for his book: Think and Grow Rich, which was one of the first audio-book sets I purchased. He is the first and foremost motivational author of all time, whose books have sold over 60 million copies worldwide.
• He interviewed hundreds of successful people in the early years of the twentieth century to distill the rules of success that still apply today. One was that Law of Reciprocation will cause people to treat you as well, or as poorly, as you treat them. We are all trying to get people to do what we wish them to do. If you want them to dislike you, you can treat them badly. If you want their respect, their friendship and their cooperation, you can extend them your own respect, friendship and cooperation.

The Law of Reciprocation & The Leadership Challenge:

In The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, Model the Way is the first leadership dimension addressed. If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message. So this begs the question, who do the people who report to you think is the most important leader in your organization? YOU!!! When asked, people would like to work in an average organization with a great boss, rather than in a great organization with a lousy boss ~ unless, of course, they can transfer out!

You are more likely than any other leader to influence whether people will stay, perform at their best, wow customers, or be motivated to share the organization’s vision and values. Lots of evidence supports this claim.

1. According to Kouzes and Posner, longitudinal studies of corporate executives reveal that the single best predictor of career success is the relationship they had with their very first supervisor. The character and quality of that relationship – for example, the expectations that your first supervisor had about your work potential – are more important than where you went to school, what grades you got, what your studied, who your parents were, what field or industry you were in, and the like.

2. When asked what contributes to the ethical behavior in your organization, the most frequent response from employees – managers and individual contributors at every level – is “the behavior of the boss.” When asked what contributes most to the unethical behavior in your organization, the most frequent response is identical – “the behavior of my boss.”

So, if you are not getting what you want from your employees, first look in the mirror. They are just giving you what they are getting! The Law of Reciprocation never lies.