Category: Leadership

Three Keys to Earning Trust

Trust is given to us by others. We have to earn it, and we usually don’t recognize its importance until it is gone. So how can we increase the trust that others put into us?

Why do you trust the people you trust? Trust is gained by being consistent, being competent, and being positively connected with others.

One way to make yourself more trustworthy is to develop your character. Your character displays to others the traits that make you trustworthy.

1. Consistency: Your decisions and actions are driven by your values. Knowing your values and following your values will make you more consistent.

2. Competency: Without developing the required skills, people will find it difficult to trust you. Would you have dental work performed by someone that has not developed the proper skills? In the same manner, people rarely follow people that have not developed their leadership skills.

3. Connection: Trust is all about how people see you. Putting other people first, and creating a positive relationship will enable the connection you need for trust.

Practice becoming the person you want to be, and people will identify you as being trustworthy.

Utilizing the Perspective of Time to Achieve More

Rarely do I have a day that goes perfectly. I doubt that the perfect day really exists. When I am having a really bad day, I sometimes examine my actions from the perspective of time to see if I can get back on track.

Here is what I mean, and three simple ways to look at your day.

Utilizing the Past – We achieve more by utilizing knowledge, experience, lessons learned, and from the performance of others. The question I ask myself is, “Am I taking the time to learn from the past, and applying those lessons effectively?” If we don’t take the time to learn from our history, the path for success will be very long.

Utilizing the Present – There are days when my focus of the moment is not as precise as I would like. Do you ever feel like your routine is just that, a routine with no purpose or effect? That can be a feeling I have if I am not paying enough attention on the actions I am performing. When we lack focus, we lose the effectiveness of the present moment. It is a moment that we can never get back. So the two questions I like to ask myself are, “Am I being intentional in my action? What is distracting me from being focused?”.

Utilizing the Future – I have always believed that it is difficult to achieve a future that you cannot visualize with a high level of detail. If your dream for the future is fuzzy, it helps to spend time bringing clarity to your goals. Only then can you be sure you have the right daily actions defined to to move you closer to achieving your longer term objectives. The question I like to ask myself is, “What specifically do I want to be different tomorrow compared with today?”

When I am struggling to meet my goals, normally I discover that I have ignored one of these three time perspectives in the plan for my day. Once I recognize where I am failing, I can adjust to make sure I have considered all three. It amazes me how quickly this exercise can get me back on track.

When you find yourself falling behind, what triggers you to adjust your day or week?

P.S. – If you want to read some interesting analysis on time perspectives, here is an article by John Boyd, An Overview of Time Perspective Types.

One Key Lesson in Effective Goal Setting

Lean manufacturing drives improvement through continuous data driven analysis, experimentation, and problem solving. It is a never ending process. Two of the main targets for manufacturing improvement are cycle time and cost.

One example, from my manufacturing history, was the discovery of a new cleaning process for a lens on a laser welder. This lens required replacement after a fixed number of production cycles, and it was expensive. Through a development process, we were able to implement a new cleaning routine that extended the life of the lens. It also proved to improve the weld reliability by reducing variation in the process.

Another example, was a nylon fixture used in a punch press operation. Nylon was used for specific characteristics, but it wore quickly in the process. The base of the fixture needed replaced at least every month. It was not expensive, but we had multiple machines and fixtures. To reduce cost we were able to redesign the base so that it could be reversed and used on the opposite side after the first side was worn out. Effectively we doubled the life of the base, and cut our monthly costs by 50%.

Goals at work can be very clear. Usually they are data driven, measurable, and have financial impact. Goals at home are quite different.

If I were to apply work goals to my house, I would vacuum my furnace filters every week so I could use them longer without replacing them. Would it work? Sure, but why would I spend my time doing that?

At home, cost effectiveness and efficiency are important, but they are not the most important.  What is my point?

We can accomplish great things. We have minds that are creative and imaginative. We have a human spirit that perseveres hardships and obstacles. But if we don’t have a clear sense of what we want to achieve, we are going to waste our potential.

My big lesson in making a goal more effective came through understanding the perspective through which the goal was set. 

When is the last time you evaluated your goals? For me, it is an exercise worth completing every six months.

Are Your Angry or Sad?

Media headlines are designed to evoke our emotions. This week I have been asking people if the recent events (the Dallas shooting in particular) has made them angry or sad.

When you first heard about the Dallas sniper that shot and killed five police officers, what was your initial reaction? For me, it was grief, sadness, and a touch of bewilderment.

Based on feedback from many people, I think this was a common reaction. In fact, not a single person told me their first reaction was anger. Yet it seems the media is always able to capture a feeling of anger.

My prayers are with the victims, and families of this tragic incident. We will never understand why it happened. But because of our media, we can be sure that it will be repeated. There will be someone else that steps forward to copy this crime.

I wish our freedom of the press was used for better purposes.

I encourage you to evaluate all situations not only from the perspective of others and the media, but from your own perspective. What is the true emotion that comes from within, not planted by someone else? Our world needs empathy, not anger.