Category: Leadership

Creating Positive Momentum

As my friend John Maxwell has written, “Momentum is a leader’s best friend”. Positive momentum makes everything easier. Negative momentum makes everything more difficult.

So when we are faced with slowing momentum or even negative momentum, we need to focus some energy to get things moving again. Here are some ideas that I use.

1. Find a small win. Take advantage of some small wins to get yourself moving in the right direction. It helps you pick up speed.

2. Review your bigger goal, and set interim milestones to achieve. Define a goal that you can achieve now, this week. Then set one for next week. Then the week after. Achieve those goals every week and you will find your momentum building towards the bigger goal.

3. Find new support or resources. If you are working within a team, swap some members with another team. Add talent or ideas to rejuvenate the team’s passion  by finding a new spark in additional team members or other types of support.

4. Increase your learning effort. Getting stuck can sometimes be triggered by not having enough knowledge, or by being reluctant to act on the knowledge you have. Which is affecting you? Figure it out and then move past this stumbling block.

5. Find and reflect on the positives. Momentum slows when your team is challenged and you feel like you are not making progress. Make it a regular habit to celebrate the achievements. It can be the fuel that keeps your team moving.

Momentum is your friend. When you can harness the energy, everything becomes easier.

A Friend at Work?

Friendships at work can be difficult. But research also shows that having a friend at work can greatly enhance the work experience and results. So how can you be a better friend at work? If you want to make better work friendships, I suggest looking at Tom Roth’s book, Vital Friends.

Friendships fill many needs in our life. Our friendships at work are the same. But in a work environment, we are more effective in our strength zone. So if you learn how you can be a better friend at work, you can focus on your strengths as a friend.

Here are, according to Tom, the roles friends fulfill:

1. Builder. Builders motivate their friends.

2. Champion. Champions stand up for their friends and sing their praises to others.

3. Collaborator. Collaborators work closely together with their friends on shared interests and goals.

4. Companion. Companions are always there for their friends. They are there through the good and the bad.

5. Connector. Connectors are bridge builders for their friends. They help them achieve by connecting them to people and resources they need.

6. Energizer. Energizers are fun friends that always provide a boost. They can change their friends attitudes by walking in the room.

7. Mind Opener. Mind openers challenge their friends and open their minds to new ideas.

8. Navigator. Navigators are friends that provide their friends advice and guidance.

As a friend, you do not fill all eight of these roles. You are probably very good at a few of them, especially in a work environment. If you know the roles that provides the basis for your at work friendship, doesn’t it follow that, you can strengthen your friendships by strengthening yourself in the roles you play?

5 Steps Towards Being a Better Mentor

Maybe you were assigned a person to mentor in your job, or you just decided on your own to mentor someone. Either way, congratulations! Of course you want to be a great mentor., but how? Practice. Here are five steps that I have learned in my experience as a mentor that you can apply:

1. Get your mentoring sessions on the calendar. Put your mentoring sessions on your calendar and stick to them. It is easy to cancel a session when you are under a time crunch, but to be successful, make mentoring a priority. Follow through on your commitments to mentor.

2. Get out of the office. Mentoring is best done in a neutral environment. Get away from the stress of the office, and dedicate time to focus on the conversation.

3. Have an agenda. Mentoring is more than a conversation. Make sure you have goals for each session, actions between sessions, follow up, and feedback. Put your discussion plan in an agenda. You don’t need to print it or email it, but it helps to organize your thoughts. An index card with notes may possibly help you on stay track. Don’t go to the meeting unprepared.

4. Coach, don’t tell. It is tempting to relate your experiences to your mentee to help them navigate their challenges. The truth is your challenges are different than theirs. It will be more helpful to listen and ask questions. Coaching provides a process for them to clarify their options and select their own solutions.

5. Care about your Mentee’s success. You should mentor for one reason. You must truly care about your mentee. Your desire to mentor must be founded in the desire you have to see them succeed. It has nothing to do with you, but all to do with them.

Following these five steps have improved my mentoring, and can hopefully help you. Take time today, to plan your next successful mentoring session.

Get Out of Your Head

We have a story that is always playing in our mind. It is like a theatrical play, but it is real. It is our life. When we are thinking, we are creating that story. We fill in the blanks between what we see, hear, taste, feel, and smell with our thoughts.

If we are only listening to our own story, then we are not able to understand fully what is happening around us. Because all those people in the same room as you, they have a story as well. We have to force ourselves out of our own story and into the moment. When we grasp their story, we see a different perspective.

We can relate someone else’s story to our own. We can connect. Before you shift the story back to your perspective, think about the possibilities for collaboration. Take time to truly listen.

When we work in a group, we want to have the answers. But it is more powerful when we can help others find their own answers. What may be right for us, is not always right for someone else. When we step out of our head and connect, we usually find a better solution. When we listen, we build influence. Only when we have influence, will people truly listen to our ideas. Then true collaboration can begin. Today, take a moment to get out of your head.