Are You Allowing Your Integrity to Be Reflected in Your Actions?

integrityAlbert Einstein has said, ““Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

Integrity does not depend on circumstances! You either have integrity or you don’t. It doesn’t matter the size of the issue, or who is watching. Integrity is your actions based on your values.

Officially, Integrity is defined as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

Your integrity should be visible to your team. Here are three thoughts about allowing integrity to be reflected in your actions:

1. Check your motives. Make sure your motives also reflect your moral and ethical principles. Sometimes moral and ethical actions can be driven by the wrong motives. What appears to be right is driven by the wrong reasons. Always review your motives for taking action.

2. Align with your values. Your actions are just a reflection of your values. You can be misguided by short term objectives. How would your actions be viewed by others? Do your actions match who you are? Strive to match your actions with who you want to be. You can grow to be the best version of yourself.

3. Be honest. Be honest always. You are either an honest person, or you are not. Honesty is a choice. If you tell a lie to someone, and they determine it is a lie, you will never be honest again in their mind. There may be times when it is better not to answer, than to tell the truth. You must determine if the truth will endanger or hurt another person. Honesty is the number one characteristic people seek in their leaders. You can establish integrity by always being honest.

Do not think of integrity as your reputation. Your reputation is what other people think of you. Integrity is within you. You can reflect your true level of integrity with your actions.

5 Reminders to Keep Your Team Motivated

motivated

Sometimes you can be so busy that you fail to recognize the importance of your actions. If you don’t have time to talk with one of your team members, the motivation level of your team can plummet.

Poor actions can destroy a team’s motivation faster than it can be built or rebuilt. Even with high performance teams, maintaining motivation must be an ongoing priority.

Here are five key actions to place on the top of your priority list if you want to keep your team motivated. These are areas that are easy for us to make mistakes if we don’t manage our priorities. Put your people first.

1. Be accessible. No matter how busy your day, if you are not available when your team needs you, they will feel abandoned. Take the time to check in with your team members on a regular basis. Make sure they know you are available if needed.

2. Be decisive. Some decisions get delayed because we don’t have all the data or the time to evaluate the data. If the team is slowed down because they are waiting on your decisions, they will feel leaderless. If you don’t have time to make decisions in a timely manner, empower your team to make more decisions.

3. Show Concern for the Team. Slow down and show your team that you care. A team member will never give you 100% unless they know you care about them as a person. A team is built of individuals with different strengths and different challenges. As the leader, you must pull together the individuals. You must connect with each one individually to maximize the ability of the team.

4. Never Tolerate Poor Performance. Performance issues are best addressed immediately. Every delay, for whatever reason, effects the entire team. A leader can struggle in this area if they are not able to see poor performance as an opportunity to improve. You probably have been on a team where one team member was not pulling their weight. It can be very demotivating. Take action as soon as possible.

5. Focus on the Positives. We can become blind to the opportunities that are created through failure. By keeping attitudes positive, it is possible to discover a higher level of success. But if we focus on criticisms and punishments, no one will look for opportunity, and no one will be highly motivated.

There are many ways to destroy motivation on a team. Some are so basic, you should never have reached a leadership position if you struggle in these areas. These include being dishonest, taking credit for another person’s work, criticize someone in public, showing favoritism, and poor communication.

If you want to impact your team today, be positive, be available, be decisive, address performance issues promptly, and show them you care! Don’t just be their manager, be a leader.

 

When You’re Working, Work at Your Best

bestHave you ever thought about how you could always work at your best? When you are at your best, doing what you need to do, what does it look like, feel like, sound like?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you were always effective at 100% of your capability? I thought I would try to capture what my best felt like. I completed a short exercise where I started writing my ideas about my productivity. I started with the sentence, “I am at my best…” and captured my ideas on being my best. Here they are.

I am at my best…

  • when my energy level is high (mornings)
  • when my attention is focused
  • when I have a clear goal with a clear deadline
  • when achievement of the goal supports a bigger purpose
  • when I am in a comfortable and quiet environment
  • when I am not overwhelmed or behind in my tasks
  • when I can be creative
  • when I have time to think about strategic options
  • when I don’t worry about what others think
  • when I plan my actions in advance
  • when I am intentional with my actions
  • when my attitude is positive
  • when my work reflects my personal values
  • when I over-prepare
  • when I am helping others
  • when I am listening
  • when I take time for exercise
  • when I am learning
  • when I have data I trust
  • when I am working with people I trust and respect
  • when I truly value the people I am with
  • when I embrace failure as a process required for success
  • when I tackle the hardest tasks first

This was a great reflective exercise for me. It defines what is required of me every day if I want to be at my best.

Your list is different. Take a blank piece of paper and challenge yourself to define when you work at your best. What does it feel like for you?

Are You Ready for Your Next Opportunity?

preparationIt was Benjamin Franklin who said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” When opportunity arrives, it is too late to prepare for it. The time to get ready is now.

Personal growth is a choice. However, John Maxwell tells us that growth is the great separator of those who succeed long term from those who do not.

To take advantage of an opportunity it is not enough to be in the right place in the right time. You need awareness and preparation. So what are you doing to prepare yourself for your next opportunity? Here are a couple of things to consider:

1. Set aside time to grow in your calendar daily. Growth requires effort. Growth doesn’t happen automatically.

2. Decide on your areas of growth. What will help you achieve your dream? Your purpose? Where is your passion?

3. Apply what you learn. Growth is not effective without application. Integrate what you learn in your daily life. Take risks. Stretch yourself. Embrace failure with a plan to learn and grow.

As you grow take advantage of the opportunities as they come to you. Larger opportunities usually appear through taking smaller opportunities. If you are waiting for the perfect opportunity, you miss many opportunities that could lead to your success.

This approach seems so simple and necessary. It makes me wonder why more people don’t prepare. If you need help getting started, let’s talk.