Tag: leadership styles

In this episode we are going to be talking about how to make your people feel important and why it is so crucial to your leadership.There are some really simple techniques that you can employ when you engage and communicate with your team or even other people, your clients or anybody that you’re engaged with. If you can learn to make people feel important, that will encourage them to buy into you as a person and buy into what you want to say. Ultimately, if you are leading, you want people to buy into you and be able to follow you in the direction that you are leading them and one of the great ways you can do that is making people feel good about themselves and making them feel important in your estimation. So here are a couple of tips before we get into them.

This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the Video, Click here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Ug3QXt_bY

So here are a couple of tips before we get into them.

1. Learn to compliment and praise

The first thing is this, learn to compliment and praise your people regularly. Look for little ways that you can compliment and praise people. If you notice them doing a job well, compliment them on it and say, “Hey you did a great job there, I love what you did here”. If you notice something that they have taken the initiative to do, say, “Hey well done! That is really fantastic”. Complement little things or notice little things like hair color or outfits. Compliment them on their appearance.

Be generous with your compliments and be generous with your praise. When you lead with praise and compliments you are actually building people’s self-esteem, you are making them feel good about themselves and when they feel good about themselves they are going to feel good about you. They are going to feel connected to you, they are going to appreciate it and they are going to want to actually buy into you and work with you.

2. Show appreciation

The second thing is this, show appreciation. Whenever somebody completes a task for you, make sure you always thank them. It is a simple thing but take the time to thank them. If it is a big thing then thank them publicly, thank them in front of people and show your appreciation, even thank them at the end of the day. One of the habits I have gotten into with the organization that I lead, which is a Church and not-for-profit organisation is this; whenever somebody says goodbye to me I thank them for their hard work that day and say, “Thanks for the great day today, I appreciate all your hard work”.

By showing appreciation on a regular basis whenever they do something for you, it gets them to really know that their work is noticed and it is valued. They will work harder for you and they will go over and above for you.

One of the things that was recently said to me in my organization was said by a gentleman that works with us. He is an elderly gentleman and he has worked in a lot of industries. He said “I have never felt more appreciated than I do here.” Being appreciated meant the world to him and he actually works so hard for us and does so much for us. But the fact that we appreciate him on a regular basis is what really makes a difference for him. He expressed that after 50 years of working in various jobs in different companies and careers, he expressed that my appreciation was very much appreciated by him and as a result, it makes him a very valuable member of our team.

3. Learn people’s names

The third one is this: learn people’s names and learn to use them. There is an old saying that says “A person’s name is the most beautiful word that they ever hear.” People like to hear their own name. People respond when you use their name; their ears prick up and they notice when you are using their name.

Learn people’s names and always use their name when you are greeting or talking to them. Use their name in an affectionate or polite way and you will find that people actually feel more important and valued, especially if you have a large team or a large organization that you work in. I work with a lot of people and sometimes I forget people’s names and so the simple thing is to just say, “Hey please help me out I have forgotten your name, please can you tell me again so I can remember?”

Even making an effort to remember shows them that you value them and that they are important to you, so learn people’s names and use them when you are talking to them or greeting someone.

4. Acknowledge people

The fourth thing to make people feel important is this, acknowledge people when they are trying to communicate with you. Now this can take on a couple of different forms so for example, if you are in a conversation and you see somebody off to the side who is waiting for you just a simple nod of the head a smile, saying, “Give me one minute,” this will make them feel important and make them feel like you are noticing them and they are happy to wait. If you do not acknowledge them and at least say “Hey I’ve seen you and I can see that you are waiting for me,” that would discourage people. It will make them feel like they are less valuable than the person that you are talking to and it does not make for good relationships.

The second area that I see as being a real problem that is really simple to remedy is in emails, text messages and phone calls. If somebody calls you, sends a text message or an email, acknowledge it. Now if you miss the call and you can not respond immediately that is ok, most phones now have a little button where you can say, “I can’t talk now I will give you a call back.” That is a simple acknowledgement. If it is a text message and you can not give them the answer immediately say, “I will come back to you tomorrow or I will come back to you next week.” Do not  just leave them hanging just because you do not have the response or you have the time. If it is an email that you need to respond to,  say the same sort of thing, those simple gestures mean the world. It frustrates me immensely when people do not give a simple reply. If they just go silent and they do not tell you why they haven’t replied, that can be really frustrating and quite disrespectful.

If you receive an email especially from somebody important and you need to show them a level of respect, then always acknowledge. Acknowledge even if you cannot respond with a definite answer in the moment, you have to acknowledge receipt of the communication. It is such a simple thing to do but it is amazing how many people do not do it. I would encourage you, if you want to be an effective leader and you want to make people feel important and valued, take the time to do it.

So these are four tips to help people feel important. I hope that was really helpful for you. Don’t forget, if you want to learn more about leadership, check out our course “Leading for Success.” The link will be in the description below.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details. https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

In this episode we are going to be talking about communicating for connection. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the Video, Click here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgXzAbvEIVs

In this episode, we are going to be talking about communicating for connection. Now, what do I mean by this ? I mean using your words and using your communication skills to engage people, to connect with them on a meaningful level so that they will actually want to follow you and engage with you.

So what are the four steps to communicating for connection ?

Know why it is important to Connect through Communication

Before we get into the 4 tips, I want to talk about why it is so important to connect with people when you communicate. Our language and our use of communication has to be more than just disseminating information or communicating what we want people to hear or want people to do. Communicating has to be about building relationships. The reason why this is important to understand is because people will not take what you are saying seriously or act on it with any kind of conviction if they haven’t bought into you as a person.

You really need to learn to communicate in a way that causes people to buy into you. If you can do this, they will take what you say seriously, they will want to act on what you say and they will want to follow you in the direction that you are leading them. This is why you need to communicate in a way that is going to engage people positively so that they want to follow you in a meaningful way. 

So what are the four steps to communicating for connection ?

1. Learn to talk with people, not at people.

Here are four tips on how you can connect while you are communicating. The first one is this, learn to talk with people not at people. Now, this is a skill that I had to develop because I tend to be a fairly pragmatic get-down-to- business type of person. A lot of my conversations with people day to day would often be just straight to the point, “Hey can you do this for me or I need this done by this time.” I would lead with my request rather than leading with an interest in the person. My emails and text messages can be like this as well. I can tend to be very direct and say “Hey can you do this for me or have you done this for me?” When I do this, I just talk at the person about what I need.

Something that I have had to train myself to do over the years and have seen it help me immensely, is I have learnt to lead with an interest in the other person. For you pragmatic types out there, I know chit chat and small talk may be frustrating for you. You may feel that this is annoying and counterproductive but it makes a huge difference when you are trying to engage and connect with the people that you lead.

Lead with an inquiry about them, “Hey how are you doing or were you able to finish that task that you were working on?” Inquire about what they are going through or what they are experiencing. Do not assume that everybody drops everything just because you walked in the room. Assume that they have tasks and they have things that they are trying to get done as well and so lead with an interactive conversation rather than a direct straight to the point comment that implies, “I am the one that is talking and you are the one that is listening”.

If you just take a moment to ask them how they are, just a small interaction will invite them into a two-way conversation and they will be more willing to listen to and act on the communication that you need to give them. So do not talk at people, talk with people and you will find that they connect and engage with you a lot better.

2. Get them talking about themselves.

The second thing is this, get them talking about themselves. What I find is that if you can just take a few minutes to get people talking about themselves in any kind of conversation rather than leading with talking about yourself, this is a very powerful way of building relationships. The second point is slightly different to what I said in the first point. The first point is just leading with an inquiry about how they are doing, being friendly. This one is more about when you sit down with people and you are trying to actually build connections.

So when you are trying to build a connection, what you need to do is ask them, “How did you go on the weekend, what did you do?” One of the things I try to do every day when I am in the office is, I take a moment to walk around and greet all of my staff and just pause. I sit down in their office and ask them what’s been going on, I inquire about them. I take the time to talk about what is important to them before I get on with the task of the day or having a meeting. Start meetings by just going around the room and saying, Hey tell me about your day, what was good about this week?”

Let people talk about themselves. It is a really good way of getting them to engage with you and connect with you. If you get into the habit of doing this on a daily basis or whenever you are interacting with your team you will find that they actually value you for that.

3. Do not assume that everybody understands what you have said and agrees with you.

Number three is this, when you do communicate do not assume that everybody understands what you have said and agrees with what you have said. Take the time to ask for their feedback or their interaction on what you have said. So if you have given a direction, then ask, “Did you understand what I was asking you to do? Is there anything I need to clarify, is there anything that I need to provide for you to be able to do this job effectively?” That is something I ask my team all the time. “Is there any responsibility that I must take to make sure the job gets done?” I also ask for their opinion. Give them the opportunity to talk.

When you give people the opportunity to talk they won’t always say anything, they won’t always open up to you but what you are doing is developing a culture where you communicate to your team that it’s safe to disagree, to have an opinion and to give you feedback. If your team feels safe to give you feedback and safe to disagree they will actually be more open with you, more transparent and more willing to go along with what you are asking them to do.

4. Ask lots of questions

The fourth thing for communicating with connection is this: ask lots of questions. If somebody is talking to you about what they are engaged in or what they are having trouble with, don’t be too quick to respond. Do not jump in with an answer but instead ask lots of questions. Try to understand what they are going through, try to understand the motivation behind what they are saying or what they are doing. Try to understand the things that may be frustrating or causing them difficulty. If you can take the time to ask questions you will actually show them that you care about them and you care about what they are going through and you will find that they are more engaged and more connected to you through that process.

So these are four ways that you can communicate for connection, which is really important when you are leading. I hope that was really helpful for you.

Don’t forget, if you want to learn more about leadership, check out our course “Leading for Success.” The link will be in the description below.If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details. https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

This is part three in “How to Establish Yourself as a Leader.” Here are 3 ways in which you can establish yourself as a leader, if you are not currently a leader, if you are aspiring to be a leader and you want people to start giving you opportunities. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the Video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oraV8yGwoFA

If you missed the first two parts you can find them on my Youtube channel or on our website. The first part I talked about was learning to build the skills of a leader before you become a leader so work on yourself before you get the opportunities. Learn from others, get a mentor, learn from your peers and also learn from the people that you mentor. The third thing is this, learn to manage your mindset, believe in yourself as a leader and other people will start to believe that you are a leader. In Part two I spoke about needing to step up. Learn to step up, volunteer to take on extra tasks, take on extra projects to give yourself an opportunity to show your worth as a leader.

The second thing is to speak up, so share your ideas with the group, speak up in team meetings so that people know you are a team player and you are willing to contribute to the success and the benefit of the team. The third thing was to listen up, make sure you do not just do all the talking, make sure you listen actively and listen intently to the people that you are working with and the people that you lead as well.

Here, in part three, we are going to be looking at 3 things you can do to begin relating to people. Let’s say you have been given an opportunity to lead a team or lead a project or whatever it might be; what are some of the things that you can do to make sure that the leadership experience is positive for everybody involved and it helps to establish you as a leader in your cohort or in your environment.

1. Learn How to Delegate

The first thing is this; you need to learn how to delegate tasks within a team. Just because you are a team leader, do not try to do everything by yourself. For one, it is impossible for you to lead effectively and do everything but secondly, you will actually limit your success because you are going to limit the scope of others in the team who can contribute. On the other hand,if you are the type of person that just thinks they need to do everything themselves because you know what to do,  you will find that you get a poorer outcome. While you need to involve other people, do not just delegate all the crap jobs that you do not want to do. 

Learn to delegate according to your team’s skill levels and gifting levels. You will have some people in your team that are good at certain things and so if they are good at certain aspects of what you are doing, let them take it over. If they have a skill that you do not have, give them that task so that it gets done at the best standard rather than doing a sub-standard job yourself. So learn to delegate and share responsibility within your team.

2. Learn to Show Respect

The second thing is this; learn to show respect to everybody that you work with. You can not demand respect unless you show respect. Show respect to the people that lead you and show respect to the people that you lead. This simply means just treating people with dignity. Treat people the way that you would have them treat you. Do not engage in office gossip or talking negatively about your boss or other people because people who are willing to gossip about others with you, will one day talk to them negatively about you so you don’t want to get into that. So learn to respect others above and below you and you will find that people start to respect you.

3. Learn to be Yourself

The third thing is this, learn to be yourself. As a leader you do not have to compare yourself to other people or try and mimic them. Learn to be yourself. As long as you are being respectful, decisive, clear in the direction you are going and you are taking the team with you, then there is nothing wrong with your personality. If your personality is such that you run people down or make them feel inferior to you, then refrain from doing that. Work on changing that habit but just use your own personality. Do not try and be somebody you are not, just be yourself. Your style of leadership will shine through as long as you are thinking of people first and you are working to your skills and your strengths. That’s really important.

Work in those areas that you feel strongest in and where you know that you can contribute significantly. Do not try to work in areas that are not naturally conducive to your strengths. Find other people to work on those areas so that you get the best outcomes from  your team.

These are three things to practise to achieve good outcomes if you are leading a team. Learn to delegate the responsibility. Give out tasks according to people’s giftings and passions. Learn to show respect to everybody that you are working with whether they are above you or below you. Do not engage in negative conversation or innuendo about other people. Thirdly, be yourself, do not try to be someone else and do not try to do tasks that are not within your sphere of giftedness. Learn to do what you are good at and learn to find other people that will help you do the things you are not good at.

That was part three of the course. Do not forget to check out part one and two. I hope that was really helpful for you. Don’t forget, if you want to learn more about leadership, check out our course “Leading for Success.” The link will be in the description below.If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

This is part two in “How to establish yourself as a leader.” 3 ways that you can establish yourself as a leader if you are not currently a leader, if you are aspiring to be a leader and you want people to start giving you opportunities. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the video, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYljy4vb5AY

This episode is part two of my series on establishing yourself as a leader. This is especially for aspiring leaders and leaders who are not yet in positions of influence, so here are some of the things that you can do to get people to notice you and give you opportunities in leadership. 

If you have not checked out part one make sure you go and check that out where I gave you 3 tips on how to establish yourself as a leader,  which was 

1. Recognize Your Skills & Work on Developing Them

2. Learn from Others

3. Learn to Believe that you are a Leader even before you become one

Now in part two, we are going to look at another 3 skills in establishing yourself as a leader, so here is the first one,

1. Learn to Step Up

Learn to step up, do not be somebody that sits in the background and does not step up or does not put their hand up to contribute to what your team is doing. If you are somebody that steps up, if you are somebody that volunteers to take on ownership of tasks, what it does is that it shows that you are a team player and it shows that you believe in the cause. It also shows that you believe in what your leaders are doing and it gives you an opportunity to showcase your leadership ability. When you step up or volunteer to do things that are being asked of a team, what will often happen is, you will be scrutinised.

Your leaders will watch you to see how you handle yourself. They will look at the outcomes and if you do it well and if you show yourself to be effective in leading well, that will lead to different opportunities or more and more opportunities, so make sure you put your hand up in those group meetings, put your hand up in the staff meetings. Do not just sit there quietly and count down the time till you clock out. If you want to be just an employee that’s fine but if you want to be a leader you have to be willing to step up and put yourself out there and learn to do the extra work to get yourself noticed.

2. Speak up & Share your Ideas

The second thing is this, speak up, learn to share your ideas when you are in a group situation. When you are problem solving do not keep your ideas to yourself, share them with the group even if you do not know if your ideas are good. By sharing them, what it shows is that you are trying to problem solve, you are trying to be part of the team, you are sharing your knowledge for the benefit of the team and that is a leadership skill. It is not about keeping ideas to yourself so that you get the credit, it is about sharing your ideas so that the whole team benefits from it. So learn to speak up, learn to give your feedback if it is asked for and if people are sharing their ideas do not be critical, be encouraging and share your ideas as well.

3. Learn to Listen to Others

The third thing is this, learn to listen to others. Do not just be somebody that talks, do not be somebody that just gives your ideas but is never willing to listen to other people’s ideas. When somebody is talking to you, learn to practice active listening, focus on them, give eye contact, suppress your need to respond to everything they say with an anecdote of your own experience. You do not need to say everything that comes into your head. Learn to actively engage in what they are saying, give them cues that you are listening, repeat back to them what they are saying so that they know you are listening properly and they know that you are listening effectively. 

If you become an effective listener what you will find is that people want to actually listen to you a lot of the time. When people do not want to listen to you it is because you spend more time talking than you do actually listening to others. So it’s really important that you take the time to listen to others as much as you contribute to the discussion.

So these are three little tips that you can use to establish yourself as a leader, if you are looking to get opportunities or establish yourself in an environment where you do not have a leadership position. Firstly, step up, volunteer to do the work that is being asked, volunteer to take on projects, volunteer to take on tasks that may be over and above what you normally do and that gives you an opportunity to be noticed. Be a team player, speak up, share your ideas and make sure that you are engaging in conversation in team meetings and staff meetings so that people know that you are a team player and you have got something to contribute to the team. Lastly, listen up. Do not do all the talking.

Make sure you listen to others when people are sharing their ideas or they are trying to explain something to you. Make sure you actively listen and show them that you can actually hear and not only talk.

These are three things that you can do to be a more established leader and to get people to notice you. I am going to do part three, so look out for that. That will be coming up soon and the best way to get updates on when my part three comes out is just subscribe to our youtube channel and you will always get updates on when I release the videos every week.  

I hope that was really helpful for you, don’t forget if you want to learn more about leadership check out our course “Leading for Success” the link will be in the description below.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

In this episode, I am going to teach you three ways that you can establish yourself as a leader or if you are an aspiring leader and you want people to start noticing you or recognizing you as a leader, these tips are going to help. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the Video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfKUVqvMX1M

Here are three tips on how you can establish yourself as a leader if you are an aspiring leader or want to be noticed as somebody that should be given more responsibility or be given opportunities to lead. This is part one of a series I am going to do, I am going to do three parts on this, so this is part one and these first three tips are absolutely essential.

1. Recognize Your Skills & Work on Developing Them

The first thing is this, you need to recognize and work on the skills that you need to develop. So if you want to become a leader, start preparing yourself to be a leader. Do not prepare yourself once you become a leader, you prepare yourself before you become a leader. Do the work to actually learn and understand how to be a more effective leader.  Read, do some courses, go and study, whatever it might take but do the work to develop the skills you have to become a more effective leader so that when the opportunities show up you will actually be ready for them and you can jump in rather than saying, ” I want to be a leader but then when the opportunities come you fall flat on your face because you were not prepared.”

It is always better to be prepared, so when the opportunities come you actually excel and you will actually show people that you deserve to be there.

2. Learn from Others

The second thing is this, learn from others. Do not be somebody who thinks they know it all. Humility as a leader is absolutely crucial.  Find people around you who are ahead of you on your journey and learn from them. Look for mentors, look for people who can speak into your life, people that can impart their wisdom and impart their experience into your life. Also learn from your peers. Your peers can teach you a lot and just because they are on the same level as you or on the same journey as you, it does not mean you cannot learn from them. So have peers whom you trust, that you can get advice from and that you can spend time talking through your challenges with.

Also take somebody under your wing so as you train others you will actually learn. I have three stages of mentorship where I try to find somebody that speaks into my life, someone who is ahead of me, somebody that is above me that I can converse with and somebody that I’m mentoring or training. That is how you learn from others around you.

3. Learn to Believe that you are a Leader even before you become one

The third tip is this, learn to believe that you are a leader before you become a leader. Leadership is very much about mindset. There was a study done on Fortune 500 leaders and they found that 80% of the leaders that were in positions of influence actually got to those positions predominantly because of confidence not competence. The way you walk into a room, the way that you greet somebody, the way you shake their hand conveys a sense of confidence in yourself and who you are as a person and as a leader. If you want people to follow you, people want to know that you are actually confident in your own ability. If you are hesitant, if you speak in halting tones, if you speak with an articulation that sounds like you are unsure of yourself, if you do not look people in the eye, then all of those things convey a lack of confidence.

You have got to be able to convey confidence in your own ability before people will start believing and trusting you and that all starts with believing in yourself. You have got to learn to tell yourself that you were born to be a leader. Tell yourself that you are developing as a leader, that you have the skills to do the job that is required and you are going to do the work to develop whatever skills you do not have. Start with your mindset, if you have a positive healthy mindset about your own leadership people actually start to believe you because they will see it in your face, they will see it in your body language and they will hear it in your tone of voice.

So these are three ways that you can start to establish yourself as a leader, if you are a young leader or a beginning leader and you want people to start giving you opportunities. So the first thing is to put in the work to build the skills that you require to become the leader that you’re aspiring to be. Secondly, do not assume you know everything, learn from others, find mentors, learn from peers and mentor others so that you can also learn as you teach. The third thing is to start to change your attitude about your leadership. If you lack confidence, if you lack self-belief then you need to work on that and start believing you are a leader before other people will believe you are a leader. 

I hope that was really helpful for you, don’t forget if you want to learn more about leadership check out our course “Leading for Success” the link will be in the description below.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details. https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

In this episode, I want to talk to you about legacy and how you can develop a legacy in your leadership. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_0HI5W5LOA&t=2s

We are going to be talking about legacy, why it matters and how you can develop legacy in your leadership. This week I had the privilege of attending the funeral of my great aunt, she died at age 89 and what amazed me so much at this funeral was listening to the story of her life and the imprint or the legacy that she left on the lives of others. She was a school teacher and when the eulogy was read, some of the points that came out about her life as a school teacher was that she always taught with kindness. She invested in children, she was a funny teacher, she was an approachable teacher and she built relationships with her students.

After hearing the eulogy there were some tributes that were read out and you know a number of tributes that came in were from children that she had actually taught decades earlier but they still remembered her. They talked about the impression that she had left on their lives and the legacy that she had left on their lives in their time with her as their teacher and it really got me thinking about leadership and how we leave a mark on the people that we lead.

When it is all said and done,when you hang up your boots and you move on, all that is left of your leadership is the imprint that you left on the people that you led, that is your legacy. It is not the things you built, things that are built can be pulled down but the imprints and the relationships that you make and the impact you make on people, that is what you will be remembered for, so legacy matters. As you lead you have to be thinking about what legacy you are creating ? Ask yourself, “Does my style of leadership build a legacy or leave an imprint on my people that I actually want to be remembered by ? Does it leave an imprint that makes people remember me in a poorer light or perhaps not remember me at all because of the way in which I led?”

I have three things that I think really lead to developing a positive legacy in your leadership and investing into people who are coming behind you.

1. Prioritize relationships

The first thing is this, prioritize relationships. In leadership, relationships are the absolute key. Do not underestimate how important they are. You have got to keep asking yourself if all the relationships that you have with the people you lead, are leaving an imprint or a memory of you that is positive ? Is it going to leave a lasting impact on their lives ? Is it going to have a positive impact on the next steps in their future? Are the relationships I am building, investing or sowing the seeds for the future development of these people just built around what I can get out of them or what I need from them? 

Investing in and prioritizing relationships, positively builds a legacy where people are lifted up for the future and that is really key. So the first thing is this, prioritize relationships. Get to know your people, learn what makes them tick, take an interest in them, take an interest in their hobbies, in their families, in their life. Learn to know how your people live. As you do that, you will develop positive wholesome relationships with your people, this will leave a lasting impression and legacy.

2. Lead the Whole Person

The second thing is, you need to lead the whole person. Leadership is never just about outcomes, it is never just about spreadsheets, it is never just about numbers, it is about the whole person. Sometimes the way people behave or the way they perform is tied up in a world of experience, in a world of pain, a world of disappointment that we do not see that is all beneath the surface. If we just look at what a person did that might have disappointed us or what happened that maybe did not meet the mark,  we may miss being able to invest in and lead the whole person.

Take the time to converse with your team if they are not meeting standards or if they are not performing the way you would like them to before you jump on them and criticize them or reprimand them. Take the time to just inquire, “Hey how you doing? What’s going on? I noticed this did not get done. Is there something that I can help you with? Are you worried about something? Are there any challenges you’re facing in your private life that might be impacting your work life?” Take the time to lead the whole person.

When you understand what motivates people’s behaviors, when you understand what drives them to do the things they do, you can very often address the problems more effectively rather than just targeting the result or the person that was responsible for the result. You can actually get beneath the surface and actually lead them towards greater outcomes.Then they will feel valued because you took the time to inquire, they will feel supported and they will actually come away from that experience wanting to work harder for you and perform better for you. So lead the whole person, do not  just lead for outcome or results.

3. Lift people up for the Future

The third thing is this, lift people up for the future and invest in your people. Train them to learn new skills, train them to be better at what they do, pay for them to go to courses or training, why ? because as you lift people up for their future you are not just investing in what you are doing but you are investing in their future so that they can be  better individuals. You are making more opportunities available to them, as Richard Branson once said “Train people so well that they actually have to leave you and go on to better employment but treat them so well that they actually want to stay.” This is what relationship and legacy is all about.

You invest in your people, equip them to be the best they can be, equip them to outgrow their jobs and their positions. Do not hold them back, do not stifle them, do not stop them from using their creativity or stretching themselves, release them, let them grow but then build such positive relationships with them that they actually want to stay and they actually want to be a part of what you are doing. When they understand that they are building not only a legacy for you but they are also building a legacy for themselves, people will invest in your vision and they will invest in what you are asking them to do with greater enthusiasm. 

So these are my three reflections about legacy. I’m just reflecting on my great aunt and the legacy she left and imprinted on the lives of the students and the people that she worked with throughout her many years. I want to encourage you to do the same. Look beyond today, build for the future, prioritize relationships, equip people by leading the whole person not just for outcomes and make sure you lift them up and invest in them to be better for their future as well. 

I hope that was really helpful for you, don’t forget if you want to learn more about leadership check out our course “Leading for Success” the link will be in the description below.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details. https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

In this episode, we are talking about navigating the winters of your life. It has been winter in the southern hemisphere right now and it’s been cold. So I just want to talk about what it is like when you are going through “winter” experiences in your life. When things do not feel as easy as they normally are or perhaps they feel challenging, how do you navigate those situations well and lead well and grow through those experiences?

This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

Prefer to watch the video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyEbedMoSwA

So we are going to look at how to navigate the winters of your life, four steps to working through challenging situations and difficult seasons in your life. Winter is a time when things slow down and it is harder to get out of bed. Maybe you are somebody that loves winter, I am personally not somebody that loves winter.

I live in a sub-tropical climate and I much prefer the summer or the spring but in winter it is hard to get out of bed, it is hard to get motivated and get things done, especially if it is dreary or it is raining, I have found that sometimes our lives can be a little bit like that. There are seasons in our lives when things do not seem to flow as well, they do not seem to feel as easy. There is a lack of energy or motivation. Perhaps there are obstacles in your life that you are finding challenging and you are trying to overcome.

I have found that in those times there are some really easy steps that you can take to navigate those situations well, so that they do not overwhelm you and set you back but also that you can grow through them and you can come out the other side having learned and flourished despite the experiences that you might have. I do not know what winter looks like for you in the metaphorical sense, I do not know what you are going through. If you are facing an obstacle right now, maybe a family crisis or stress that you have from work, maybe it is a challenge you have got with your team or your organization that you are trying to lead. Whatever it might look like, the first thing we need to understand is that winters happen.

Winters Happen

Winters come every year, they are a part of the cycle, they have their purpose, Winters are times of rest, times of introspection, reflection and  preparing for a new season of growth. If you think about it, in nature winter is the time when the ground rests before spring and summer when new growth takes place. Winter is the time when animals hibernate and they restore their energy before emerging again and doing what they do. I guess metaphorically for us, we have those seasons when things are not working the way that we want them to work, maybe they are not growing the way that we want them to grow.

Maybe you are feeling a little bit stagnant,  like in winter, being closed in.  Do not see it as a bad thing. Accept that those times are necessary and they are a reality. Those are the times that you can actually prepare for really exponential growth in your leadership and in your life. They are also the times when you can rest. We live in a 24-hour society where it is very hard to shut down and we need to use those times to actually really regroup, to regenerate and to take stock of what is important and make sure that we are pouring our energy into the right priorities so that we’re not just go go go without any evaluation of what’s going on.

So first things first, let’s accept that winters happen, seasons happen, difficult times happen and you are not going to escape them. Trying to escape them or trying to avoid them or minimize them is just not reality but what you can do is,  walk through them really effectively.  

I want to give you four tips that I actually got from the book “Fish.” If you have never read it, I recommend you go and check it out. It is a really short book.  I’ll leave the link in the description for you. 

Here are four keys that I find so helpful when I am going through seasons where I am doubting myself or I am feeling like it is a struggle. 

1. Choose Your Mood

The first one is this, choose your mood ! You get to choose the attitude that you bring into every day. Your thoughts control your emotions, your emotions have a direct impact on your choices and the actions that you take in your life and those actions will create your reality. That in turn, will create the experiences that you have. You have to learn to choose your mood every day. I used to be a really moody, grumpy person when I woke up in the morning. I used to say,  “I am not a morning person at all. To a point I am still not a morning person but what I learned is that when I wake up grumpy and get up on the wrong side of the bed, I am not only affecting me, I am affecting all the people around me.

What this does is, it sets off a chain reaction of moody people or disgruntled people. You might take your mood to work, you might take your stress or your frustration out on your colleagues or somebody that works for you. What that does is, it just fosters an attitude of resentment, discouragement and frustration among them. So, if you want to start changing your experiences during those times, then  recognise that the change starts with you. It starts with the mood that you bring into the day. You get to choose the attitude and the mood you bring into the day.

So now I choose to get up in the morning and be in a good mood.  I am not always perfect of course but I make every effort not to bring a bad mood into my home and  my family or into my workplace. I always start the day in my workplace by greeting people, by talking to people and trying to inject some life and some energy into the day for other people because I know that the mood will have a knock-on effect for everyone and everything else. So learn to choose your mood. Your experiences do not have to dictate your mood. You might be having a bad time but you can choose to be in a positive mood.

Here’s a little anecdote from many years ago when I was in my 20s. I used to work in a nursing home and one of my jobs was to take the elderly residents out on their morning walk and drive the bus, every morning I would have somebody coming to the bus complaining about the weather. I would ask, ” How are you today?” and they would say, “Oh it’s cold” or  “Oh it’s raining today” and they would always be complaining about the weather. I found that the weather never changed, there were always rainy days, there were always sunny days but they always had something to complain about, except for one man named John. John was the oldest man in our group, he was 98 years old and whenever he came to the bus I would say, “Good morning John, how are you?” His reply was the same no matter whether it was raining or sunny. His reply was always, “I am fantastic, what a great day it is.” He chose his mood every day and he enjoyed it. It probably had a great deal to do with how long he lived, well into his 90s and so there is just a little example of how you can be somebody who just observes what is going on around you and comments on it negatively or you can choose to see the good in your experience and in your day. Choose your mood positively.

2. Learn to Have Fun

The second thing that you can do is this, just have fun. Learn to “goof off”, learn to tell jokes, learn to just not take yourself so seriously.  I have had to learn how to do this, I used to think I was a little bit too cool for school. I did not feel comfortable mucking around and goofing off but what I found is, that when I can muck around with my kids I tell dad jokes and laugh with the people I work with and make little humorous comments, not to denigrate anybody but just to be humorous or laugh with others,  it brightens the atmosphere for everyone.

Have a laugh at your own expense. If you make a mistake do not get serious about it, just laugh at yourself, tell a joke about yourself. If you learn to have fun you will find that the people around you have fun. They enjoy what is going on and they will start to adopt that attitude into their experience.

3. Make Somebody Else’s Day

The third thing is this, make somebody else’s day. Make a decision that every day you will find a way to make somebody else’s day, lift someone’s spirits, encourage somebody, give a gift to somebody, just do something that will lift someone’s spirits. I remember when my youngest son was about four years old and we were on a ferry boat.  We were crossing a river and halfway across the river the ferryboat captain stopped, he turned around and he looked at my son. He said “You, come over here and drive the ferryboat.” He called him up to the wheelhouse and he stood up there supposedly driving this ferry boat across the river. This was every little boy’s dream, to drive a boat. 

His grin was from ear to ear but do you know what happened because of that small act of kindness that the ferry boat captain showed my son? It affected the whole boat. Everybody stopped what they were doing. They started taking photos of this little boy that was driving the boat. They were all laughing, pointing and smiling about what a cute thing it was. The ferry boat captain was having the time of his life because he was making someone’s day. He was enjoying himself! This could have been such a boring job, ferrying people back and forth across the river, yet he chose to make somebody’s day and find a way to make it more interesting and enjoyable for everybody around. 

4. Invite People into your Experience

The last thing is this, invite people into your experience. If you are struggling, if you are finding things difficult, if you are facing obstacles, talk to somebody about it. Invite people to have a say or to help you out. You might know the old adage “A problem shared, is a problem halved.” It is very true, when you share what is going on in your life, not to be negative,  but just to say hey I might need some help here, what you will find is the stress or the burden of it becomes lighter and it will actually help you to navigate those seasons far more effectively.

Winter does not have to be a time where you just go to ground, where you hide, where you get discouraged, where it feels overwhelming, Winter can be a time where you grow, make a difference and you can come outside ready for anything.

So these are just four simple things,

1. Choose your mood. 

2. Learn to have fun. 

3. Make somebody else’s day. 

4. Invite people into your experience.

I really believe that it will help you to lead better, it will help you to feel better in yourself and it will help you to grow more effectively in whatever you are doing. I hope that was really helpful for you. Don’t forget,  if you want to learn more about leadership check out our course “Leading for Success” the link will be in the description below.

our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

In this episode, we are going to be talking about the power of the greeting, how you can build rapport with only a little bit of effort, why you need to prioritize spending time greeting people and how it is going to help you as a leader and you will see some incredible results.

Prefer to watch the video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T015Q98pnWw

The Power of the Greeting

It is often talked about in leadership that we need to prioritize relationships. Building good relationships with our teams and our people is crucial to having them want to trust us, know us, like us and follow us. I think most leaders understand this but one of the common bits of feedback I get from a lot of leaders is that it takes time to build relationships. Sometimes we are so under the pump or we are so busy and do not get the time to spend with our team, building that relationship the way that we need to. I understand this.  I am a leader of an organization, I get busy and sometimes I do not get the time I wish I could have with my team.

“Bite Size Conversations”

One of the things that I have learned over the last few years is how to build relationships in bite-sized pieces. You do not have to deep dive every time you have a conversation with somebody. Sometimes your conversations can be very short and to the point. What you will find is that if you consistently engage with people in these bite-sized moments, over time, you will deepen the relationship. 

Let me explain this to you. One of the practices that I have adopted in the organization that I lead, which is a Church- a not-for-profit charity-  is that the first hour of my morning when I am in the office is all about going, seeing and saying hello to all my staff and volunteers. So all I do is simply put my stuff in my office, I do not sit down at my desk, I do not open my emails or anything like that.  I just go from office to office greeting people. I will usually stop long enough to say “Hey how are you ? What’s going on with you today ?” I might spend five to ten minutes, sometimes it is only two or three minutes, they do not have to be long interactions but what I am doing is just touching base with each of my volunteers and staff members to let them know that I actually care about them.

Learn People’s Names

One of the things that you need to do is learn people’s names.  When you are talking to people or when you are greeting people make sure you know their names. The power of knowing someone’s name should not be underestimated. When people hear their name it shows them that you care about them, it shows them that you see them as an individual.  You will find that they want to respond to you when you learn their name so that is the first thing.

Ask How They Are

The second thing is asking how they are, inquiring about their personal well-being but there is a little trick to this. When inquiring about their personal well-being you have to stop long enough to actually hear from them. Most people will want to share something with you whether they are not well or they have got a family member that is not well or maybe they are doing great or going away on a holiday, whatever it is they are going to have something they want to share with you.

A lot of the time what we do is we use, “How are you” as a greeting and we never stop long enough to hear the answer. If you can get into the habit of stopping, greeting somebody by name, asking them how they are and then waiting to hear the response, what you will find is that it shows the person that you are greeting that you actually care about them. It shows that you are not just doing a throwaway greeting but you are actually stopping long enough to say, “Hey tell me about you.” Over time, these brief interactions will build a bigger picture of the people that you work with. 

Every time you talk to them they will share a little snippet of information and the more often you do it the bigger the picture you get about them. They will tell you about their weekend, they will tell you about their children, tell you about their upcoming holiday or their sick grandma, whatever it might be and this helps you to build a bigger picture of the person. So every time you greet them you can say things like “Hey how is that situation you told me about yesterday ? Did you get a result?” or “How is your mom doing, I heard she was sick?” By doing so, you are asking meaningful poignant questions about their well-being. 

John Maxwell says “They won’t care what you know until they know how much you care” 

This is a really easy way to show that you care. When you greet your people on a regular basis, when you know their name and you ask them how they are and wait long enough to hear the reply, you are showing them that you care about them as individuals and that you want to know more. The more you build that trust with your people the more they will share with you and the more they will grow to like you.

Very regularly since I have come to this organization I have people saying to me, “We love the way that you just come and say ‘Hello’ “. When I first started, I was not trying to do anything special. I was just trying to get to know everybody but the feedback has been overwhelming and people have really responded and said,  “Hey we love that you come down and spend a couple of minutes with us and talk to us.” The result is that it has helped to build loyalty within the organization, it has helped to build trust between me and the people that I lead and it has helped me to get things done a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently. 

When you have got a team that is behind you and trusts you, they are not going to resist any changes or the things that you are leading them towards as often or as ferociously as they might if they did not trust you. So do not underestimate the power of the greeting. Take half an hour out of every morning to just walk around, talk to your team, get to know them, greet them, listen to what they are going through and you will find that it builds great relationships. Over time it builds great trust and it will make you a far better leader because you will have influence, you will have their backing and you will have their support.

I hope that was really helpful for you, remember if you want to dig deeper on leadership I have got an online leadership course called “Leading for Success” and that takes a deep dive into how you can be a more effective leader wherever you are leading. Check out the link in the description below and if you are viewing this for the first time hit subscribe and then you will actually get to see what we are doing each week and you will be able to share it with others who may benefit as well. 

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success. 

If you prefer to watch the Video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II5LLcj997I

I have been renovating my house this weekend, we had a plaster out this week to help finish the walls or for my North American friends that say “dry-walling.” So he was here, I was in helping him and he gave me the task of filling in the screw holes and showed me what to do. When I first started I felt like a little child, I felt like I had no idea what I was doing because what he made it look so easy, for me was really difficult because I had not done it before.

With any kind of personal development or personal growth, the process of learning is so crucial to get to where you want to go. If we do not go through the process of learning we never actually become all that we can be.

See, my friend who is the plaster has been plastering for 10 years. Of course it looks easy for him. I have never done any sort of plater work before so of course it was going to be difficult for me the first time. If we take the time to go through the process of learning, only then we will actually be able to come out the other side, better and more skillful for it.

Never worry about process, or get upset by the process because the process is what gets you to your destination. You are not going to get to your destination overnight, it is going to take time. Stick at it and you will get there.

I am Tarun Stevenson reminding you, you can lead no matter where you find yourself in life. Let me know what you think and share this with a friend if you think they need to hear it.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, check out our FREE Goal setting guide: https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success

This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success. 

Prefer to watch the video, Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsW008MNf3M&t=23s

Ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus said “Don’t spoil what you have by desiring what you don’t have. Because the things you have are the things once have hoped for.”

Gratitude is the essential part of doing life well. When we learn to be thankful for what we have it actually gets us focused on the things that matter in life, it gets us tapped into the source of good in our life.

I was in San Diego yesterday waiting for a car to pick me up for the airport. The car service never arrived and I was running late for the airport… I was frustrated so called a taxi. The taxi driver turned up and he was happy and amiable, wanting to help and wanting to have a conversation. So as I sat in the cab on the way to the airport, I started chatting with him, I asked him about his family and he told me that he was from Congo. His family was still stuck back in Africa and he was going on 10 years without his family. Although he had approval to bring them out to the States, he had not been able to do so because of the corruption and the war in his own country.

Ten years without your family!

You know I have a hard enough time being away from my family for 10 days and I can not even imagine what that would be like. All of a sudden the perspective of my own life kicked in. While I was frustrated and annoyed and wishing I had a better experience with my pick up for the airport, here was a man who had far more to complain about, yet he was happy, he was amiable, he is wanting to be positive about life…

It got me thinking about gratitude, how important it is to doing life well and tapping in to the source of good. When we are focused on good we make great choices and we can do more and be more in our live.

Find something to be grateful for in your life today and thank somebody who makes your day a little easier, do that and you’ll find you enjoy the present far more and spend less time wishing the future would arrive to change everything you are unhappy with.

I am Tarun Stevenson, reminding you that you can lead well no matter where you are in your life.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work: https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

Online Leadership Course:https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success