Blog - Page 46 of 60 - Wheeler Coaching Systems

Oct

2018

What voices are you listening to?

I was in a leadership conference listening to a speaker as she shared a concept that I was familiar with, but with a different twist. I talk to people about “the rule of 5” . . . the five people closest to you most impact the person you will become. Not only is this true, but also what we allow in our mind and focus on impacts our results.

I have heard about John Maxwell’s Law of the Inner Circle in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership which states “a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him”. This speaker took this concept to a more detailed level and called them your “personal board of directors” which I will explain in detail in a moment.

Two days later I was reading a newsletter I receive about the challenges specific people of faith face in other countries. Now I am not trying to force my beliefs on you in any way, but this thought I encountered has relevance for all of us.

I will not go into detail about what led the individual to this thought, but you are welcome to reach out to me and I will gladly share. Here was a thought she had after getting out of a very challenging environment:

“We respond more to the beeps on our phone, I find, than to the Holy Spirit.”

As I reflected on this thought and the speaker’s statements I gathered a few leadership insights from both.

Slow down to listen and think. I know my phone or drive to have a clean inbox continually pull at me and keep me from being quiet and still enough to hear that quiet voice which guides me to know the next step. You don’t have to be a person of faith to agree there are times you get a “gut feel” on what to do, but if we are constantly busy we struggle to slow down, think, and tune into the “gut feel” or “spirit” or whatever you want to call it.
Have a counselor. As a leader is there someone in your life that helps you reflect and process the pain points in your life? A true counselor helps you reflect on the past, but a coach helps you think into the future. Both can be helpful, but a coach looks to the future while a counselor will help you dig out of the pain of the past. Whichever you need . . . or both. . . are these people on your personal board of directors as this speaker discussed?
Have a mentor. I have in my life multiple mentors who help me build my business. I don’t know all the answers and these individuals have been successful and are further down the path. What mentors do you have in your industry to help you grow?
Have a spiritual director. This speaker is a person of faith and this is important because the reality is we are all spiritual beings. You can define this however you want, but is there someone in your life that helps you when you are out of sync spiritually? Why is this important? We only have a short time on this planet and this person will help make sure you are leading yourself and others in a way that matters for the long haul.

These thoughts prompted me to evaluate the people closest to me and the thoughts I pay attention to. What about you? Maybe this is not the right make-up for your personal “board of directors,” but it resonated with me and I hope this helps you think into how to lead better at home and work. Who would be on your “board of directors,” let them know. Lead well.

Sep

2018

Three Ways to Help Your Mindset as a Leader

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” James Allen

Self-leadership. We all have to do it. Whether you lead at the highest level, own your own business or participate in an organization in various roles without a formal position of leadership. Even when we are not at work we have to do this. How are you doing in this area?

Each morning I wake up, somedays before the alarm goes off, but often shocked into reality by music blaring out of my alarm. Then what . . . do I snooze? Do I hop out of bed excited by a new day of adventure? Do I lay there thinking of all I have to do that day? Do I start worrying about the million things out of my control?

It depends.

One thing is certain, my mind is going and the battle is raging. What will be my first thought? After that will I feed it so it grows or dismiss it?

It depends.

For years I fulfilled a role as a strength and conditioning coach. My job each day was to get athletes to do what they naturally did not want to do . . . work hard on something they may not have seen the benefit in so they could be better at what they enjoyed . . . their sport.

Mindset is key. Carol Dweck in her research on this topic wrote a book about this topic. She highlights two types of mindset: growth and fixed.

Fixed – this is how I will always be and I can never change . . . these are the cards dealt to me.

Growth – I can change and evolve into a different person than I am today.

Both are rooted in our thoughts which directly impact our outcomes. Anyone who has spent time selling anything whether that is an idea, a product, or a service knows this is true. Whether we have doubt or confidence in what we are selling others will sense it.

Let me suggest a few ideas on how to get our mind set in a direction for success each day.

Gratitude. When I wake up each day even though I would rather lay back down I try to think of at least one thing I am grateful for. That may be “thank you for this new day.” Starting the day with thanks and gratitude will help set our attitude in the right direction.
Set the Agenda Beforehand. I find that if I set my agenda for the day, week, etc. the night before I am not waking up anxious about that day. By writing it down the tasks and goals are out of my mind and I can reference them when work time begins.
Think Time. Each day as I eat breakfast I read and journal. These may not be habits that work for you, but this is a great way for me to dump yesterday’s garbage and some of today’s poor thinking. I read something that will inspire me to live for more than just myself. For me that is the Bible, but for you it may be something as simple as a quote of the day on a tear off calendar. Taking time to clear my mind of the garbage and fill it with truth is critical to helping me have the right mindset.

This only touches the surface of this issue and in later posts I will dig deeper because as the quote at the top says, our thinking determines our character which impacts our results. Which of the three ideas can you implement to help your self-leadership? Need someone to help you think into your results? Contact me. In the meantime, lead well at work and home.

Sep

2018

Lessons from Another Great Female Leader

I sat across from a woman who has experienced a great journey as a leader. This woman is no stranger to a diligent work ethic. While having two children under the age of three she finished her undergraduate degree in accounting. As if this wasn’t a big enough challenge she then completed her MBA while having three kids under the age of four.

Having three kids under the age of four is hard enough, but through great tenacity and persistence this woman accomplished what she did academically. This was only the beginning of what those traits brought to her.

Jo Biggers who now is the Vice President of Finance and Administration at CountryMark shared many lessons about leadership that I was able to learn during our time together. At the point in her career where she had four children at home she switched from public accounting to a role at Delco Remy and Magnequench where she served for many years until moving to MISO which eventually provided her the opportunity to lead as a Vice President.

I asked Jo what she would say are her top three leadership principles and through our conversation I gathered the following:

Lead by example. The hard work she modeled both at work and home transferred not only onto many of the employees she led, but also at home. She has hard-working adult children who are independent because of her example. Biggers believes that if she expects others to do something then she should be modeling that behavior and serve as the example. When leaders are modeling what they expect they will attract the kind of followers they desire.
Self-awareness. Ms. Biggers shared a challenging situation she encountered at one company. Through this situation she had the opportunity to see two very different approaches to leadership. Eventually this situation negatively impacted her. Through conversations with her coach and an increased self-awareness she realized the way she was leading was not how she desired. This became a pivotal moment in her career when she switched from being a micro-manager to a leader who empowers others. This occurred because she was open to growth and feedback that increased her self-awareness. Because of this revelation she builds an empowered team by asking them “who did you talk to?” to assure they have buy-in and are collaborating with one another.
Culture. Through her transformational experience over time at a previous company she realized the importance of culture in leadership. Previously Biggers believed people never do enough and are kind of lazy. Over these later years in her career she has realized she gets better results by trusting her people to do the job at their highest possible level of ability. When leaders create an environment of trust others are empowered and not living in fear of being fired or striving for constant recognition.

As we concluded our time together I asked her to share with me any thoughts she would share with female leaders and she had two major thoughts:

Let the guilt go. As a mother she struggled with guilt because she worked outside home. She is wired for that and that is ok. You are not an inferior mother because you work outside of the home. Use your strengths to lead well both at work and home.
Work hard. Similar to another female leader I have learned from Jo said you have to work hard and continually improve personally and professionally. Always be growing.

One final thought which I thought serves as a great reminder to all leaders was: “When in a position of power you have to be careful all the time.” Whether a coach, parent, teacher, CEO, Vice-President or whatever position of leadership we hold, people are always watching so use your influence in a way that will continually add value to others. Whether people see you or not, do the right thing and this will be a non-issue.

What about you? Do you micro-manage or do you lead? What does the culture of your organization or team tell you since it will be a reflection of your leadership? What example are you setting for those you lead? Continue to grow and become more self-aware so you can lead well at work and home.

Sep

2018

Three Leadership Lessons from a CEO in the Technology Sector

I am sitting in a chair at ClearObject across from CEO John McDonald, but I am not in an office, at least not in the traditional sense. McDonald has his “office” in the corner, but it is another cubicle like everybody else.

The chair I sit in is a comfortable, couch-like seat. We are across from each other with a coffee table in between us and behind him are two workspace areas. One is an open area in the corner where a group of employees are working on a project while the other is a glass enclosed space where two employees sit working on yet another project.

As we discuss what it means to be a leader everyone in the office is capable of hearing our conversation just like everyone is able to hear his daily conversations from his “corner office.” This environment is a picture of his leadership approach.

The leader of this Internet of Things organization located in Fishers, IN that creates digital products to replace physical products serves three primary roles as CEO in this fast changing industry.

Raise venture capital
Hire people better than himself at everything
Retain talent

Those three descriptions define his job, but three principles define how he leads within this role.

Vision. When I asked how he described this popular and important leadership concept, he described it as sailing. Company goals are like the skyline, an objective that is far enough and challenging enough that he can’t do it on his own, but close enough to see. As leaders we can paint a grandiose picture, but the vision has to be tangible enough that the team members can define their roles in fulfilling that vision.
Culture. McDonald defines culture as the unwritten rules about how things are done. As a leader with new employees, he finds the most important time in an employee’s experience is the first day. This new individual will naturally test the culture. When a leader has clear norms and expectations, that have been accepted, the team members will quickly clarify for new employees how to perform when they are not aligned with expectations. A leader must be intentional and purposeful in the culture he or she creates in the organization.
Accountability. Accountability at ClearObject is less about punishment and more about acknowledgement. During their Quarterly meetings John will celebrate successes as a means of holding individuals accountable. How does he do this? He sets the bar so people can overachieve. Does he have low standards? Absolutely not. He sets the expectation and gives employees the freedom to go beyond the expectation, thereby exceeding customer expectations and creating an outstanding experience for the client.

As I described the layout of the office and we see McDonald’s guiding principles I realize that everything aligns. An open office space creates open dialogue which is essential in the fast moving tech sector. This also creates a culture where people are approachable whether that is a customer coming in or employees within the organization.

As a leader of your organization or team what kind of culture are you creating? How are you holding yourself and others accountable? Is your vision bigger than you, but still within sight? What is one way you can use these principles to help you grow as a leader at work and home? Comment below or contact me if you want help thinking into your personal or team leadership results.

Sep

2018

Confessions of Bad Leadership

The morning was still cool and the sun had barely come up so the atmosphere was not too thick with humidity. I was excited though because I got to tear up things.

I am the early riser usually in my home and I got to go to the local Rotary garden that our family helps take care of. Today was a little more enjoyable because I got to dig up the broccoli that had been planted and harvested over the past four months.

At first I was yanking the broccoli out of the ground by hand, but my back and body quickly reminded me I am no longer in my twenties so I retrieved a shove to help the process. As I was pulling out the broccoli plants and tossing them into a pile to haul off I was struck with a question: why is it as leaders we find it much easier to tear down than to plant and allow time for growth?

As I pondered this question a few ideas why I find tearing down easier than allowing growth to occur came to mind:

Impatience. Quite frankly I can be extremely impatient with the process of planting seeds and waiting for them to grow. When I used to coach athletes on a daily basis it felt much more efficient to yell across the room for them to be quiet and stay on task. It may work for a moment, but I found if I took the time to understand what motivated that individual who often was off task and planted seeds to help them see a bigger picture I got improved results.
Selfishness. Let’s be honest, we like to see results and when we pull up plants or tear down a building for a construction project the results of our work are quickly evident. There is nothing wrong with wanting to see results, but what if we are trying to get results at the expense of another person’s well-being. Daniel Goleman coined a phrase called the “amygdala hijack.” In simple terms this is when we blow up at another person and we behave completely irrational. Selfishly we may feel better because we “blew off some steam,” but in the long run we will have a lot of messes to clean up from our over-reaction.
Ease. The process of tearing down an object is much easier than building or allowing time for growth. I did not have to think about what plant to pull up or where to put it. The labor was fairly mindless. On the other hand when planting the garden you have to bend down and put the seeds in a particular area and dig up each hole. You have to think about where to plant the seeds and how to space them. I know, not too physically laborious, but it requires more mental energy.

As a leader launching a project or program or planting seeds of growth in the lives of those we serve either at home or work requires energy. Tearing people down, unfortunately, is quite simple while creating an environment for growth takes great planning, care, and persistent work. As leaders do we plant seeds of growth with the people around us or unintentionally tear them down? What is one way you can create fertile soil to develop great leaders by creating a culture of patience, selflessness, and comfort with being uncomfortable? Need help thinking into that? Contact me and I’m glad to help. Lead well at work and home.

Aug

2018

Being Mentally Tough

Maybe you have heard the phrase “be tough” as a child or even as an adult. What comes to mind when you hear this word? Is it some braggadocios, loud-mouthed individual who listens to no one? Maybe it is the silent, stoic, emotionless individual with a cowboy hat just for effect. Maybe you see an unflappable individual amidst emergency such as a firefighter urgently, yet calmly racing to fight a fire.

This concept is discussed in homes, at work, and definitely in the sport arena. Former Duke basketball athlete Jay Bilas wrote an entire book entitled Toughness. The book is full of concepts related to the idea of toughness as it relates to trust, preparation, communication, commitment and more. His legendary coach said the following about toughness:

“We are not born tough,” Kryzewski said. “We may be born into a great family situation, or a difficult family situation that forces or conditions you to be tough, but we aren’t born that way. Toughness comes from how you handle your experiences, what you learn from them, and how you are guided through them by others in your life.”¹ p.5

Coach K suggests that toughness comes out of how we respond to our situations and how we learn from them.

Toughness appears to be a mindset we develop over time as we learn through the challenges of life.

This concept has been studied on a more objective level. Angela Duckworth spent years both in management consulting and education. After years teaching seventh graders math, she went to graduate school to study who is successful and why. In her book Grit she discusses what she found which seems to agree with Coach K on some level. She found a “gritty” person is someone who has a combination of passion and perseverance. IQ did not determine nor a person’s upbringing or background as she studied Scripp’s Spelling Bee participants, West Point students, and at-risk youth she had worked with.

a “gritty” person is someone who has a combination of passion and perseverance.

In her TED talk² in April 2013 she says in order to build grit one must have a growth mindset. This is an approach to experiences and life similar to what Coach K talked about above. When challenges come, what will you learn from them?

As a leader, how do we grow in grit? Similar to how one grows a muscle. . . get uncomfortable. Put yourself in situations that force you to exercise perseverance. Surround yourself with people who have similar passion, but think differently and will stretch your thinking. Bring people in your life who will help you process your challenges and learn from them such as a coach or mentor. Continue to pursue your vision with great passion and never give up just because the road gets bumpy. As a friend of mine once told me about relationships, “enter the mess.” When we enter the mess and stay we will grow in toughness and as a person.

What do you need to do to become tougher at home and/or at work?

Bilas, Jay. Toughness. Penguin, New York. 2013.
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?language=en accessed Oct. 11, 2016