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How Your Locus of Control Explains Your Thoughts, Actions, and Motivation
I was sticking to the back of the group with our slowest team member as we hiked up a remote unnamed peak in the Pelly Mountains in Canada’s Yukon Territory. At the time, I was leading a month long backpacking and canoeing expedition with a group of educators from across North America. Jane was moving steady but slowly. She was not in the best of shape, had limited backpacking experience and had never stood on top of a mountain before. She was determined to make it up the mountain but as things started to get tough, she began doubting herself and expressed many negative thoughts. I knew she was capable of making it to the summit and that she would be overjoyed when she got there. It would be a great confidence boost to her to help her through challenging moments during the rest of the expedition and more importantly, her life back home. When her speed slowed, my encouragement picked up. As we took our final steps to the summit, tears were streaking down from Jane’s eyes, and she belted out “Thanks to the lord, he got me up here!” I was surprised and frankly a little disappointed to hear her comment. In respect to her religious beliefs, I didn’t respond to the comment but I really wanted to say was “I just saw you dig deep and hike up the mountain on your own two feet. You were the one who physically got you here, way to go, awesome job. If you can do this, you can tackle just about any challenge, I’m so proud of you!...Encourage Your Team to Personalize Their Workspace
If you are reading this in your usual workspace, look around: what does this space say about you? Is it as bare as the day you moved into the space? Does it have the mandatory corporate flare of inspirational posters and the latest promotion? Or, is it decked out with family photos and your children’s artwork? When I have a meeting at a bank, I always notice how sterile their offices feel. There is never any personal effect on display, not even family photos. Last year, I was meeting with my account manager and we were talking about our families. As I looked around, I noticed the only thing on the walls were posters of the latest corporate promotions and on his desk were business cards and a holder for corporate trifold brochures. I had observed this for years but this time I decided to ask him why he didn’t have a photo of his family on the wall or his desk. I was shocked when he said that it was a corporate policy that employees were not allowed to display personal effects in their offices. I thought how sad that is. I am all for having a clean office to meet clients in but come on, you can’t even show a family photo. There have been many studies done on the benefits of having employees decorate their workspaces. If you can provide people with a comfortable workspace, they are more likely to be effective. When we are not comfortable, our attention is divided, not focused. When people customize their workspace they feel a sense of ownership, and an...
7 Ways to Make Someone Feel Great Today
As I was backpacking around the world, leading expeditions in my 20s, my grandmother back in St. John’s, Newfoundland, was always eager to hear from me on how I was doing. At one point, she actually told me to call her collect from anywhere, so I did. I called her from a remote village in the Himalayas, from an apple orchard in New Zealand and from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. She was shocked and thrilled each time I called. She would tell my parents how it made her day. The calls were short and usually revolved around the weather at home and where I was, but it didn’t matter. She appreciated the calls so much that each time I called, when I got back to my mailbox there was usually a $10 cheque from her saying thank you for the call. Think of a time someone made you feel great. It probably wasn’t because they gave you a huge or special gift. Most likely it was a small gift or no gift at all, just an action or an experience. Here are 7 ways to make someone feel great today: 1. Write random notes of thanks and support: We all love to be cheered on and we all love to be appreciated. An easy way to show encouragement and gratitude is by writing short notes expressing your feelings. This could be on a post-it note on a colleague’s desk or a well-written Thank You card sent by snail mail, it doesn’t matter. The act of doing is what’s most important. 2. Find out how they like...
Change Your Thinking – Change Your Goals Success Rate!
Writing goals down and sharing your goals with select people has been widely publicized for years as integral elements to goal achievement. But without the correct mindset, as you take on the tasks to achieve your goals, all your efforts of documenting and sharing may fall by the wayside. What you think about while doing the tasks that will lead to your goal can have an enormous impact on your chances for success. In the book Ultra Mindset, Travis Macy highlights research into goal achievement from social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson Ph.D. Grant suggests there are two main types of thinking you need to be more effective at for completing goal oriented tasks, be it challenging or monotonous. Thinking of your goals in WHY and WHAT terms will help you be more successful in achieving them. WHY When performing mindless, boring tasks, which don’t require much focus, think in ‘WHY’ terms. Keeping your attention on WHY you want to achieve the goal will help get you energized, stay motivated, or avoid temptation. The next time you are out for a walk in the cold or heat, raking leaves, filing paperwork, doing data entry and your motivation to continue starts to wane, focus your thinking on WHY you are doing it. I remember when I did my first Ironman. The day before the race, they had some guest speakers at the expo. One of the speakers was a world-class triathlon coach and he told the audience that we better know our WHY for wanting to complete the Ironman.He went on to say that there would be several times during the...
2016 Boston Marathon Race Report – Joy, Disappointment and Closure
(Note – this week I take a break from my usual leadership content in my post to share with you my experience running the 2016 Boston Marathon. There are many leadership and personal development lessons in this story but I will save those for another post. Enjoy!) The race didn’t go as planned – here’s the story I had mixed emotions about returning to Boston for the first time since I was 50 feet from the bomb shortly after finishing the 2013 marathon. (Related – 2013 Boston Marathon Race Report) I was mostly excited because I was in great shape, injury free, and would get to experience the event with my family this time, with my wife running as well and my kids along to watch. In 2013, I had crossed the finish line and just sat down in one of my favorite restaurants, Max Brenner’s, when the blasts occurred 50 feet away. This year, the plan was for my family to join some friends immediately after the race at the same restaurant to finish the meal I didn’t get the chance to have last time. Ready to Go! Coming into the race, I feel I was in the best shape I had been for any of the 4 previous marathons I competed in. For the first time this year, I worked with a specific running coach who was guiding me through a specific 14 week Boston Marathon training program. The training had gone well for me, experiencing only a few minor injuries along the way, nailing all my workouts in the last 6 weeks and achieving a new...
You are a Role Model for More Than You Think
As spring is taking shape here in Calgary, it’s great to see so many parents out riding their bike with their kids. The one thing that isn’t so nice and drives me crazy is seeing the kids wearing helmets but the parents’ riding next to them not wearing a helmet. I wonder what they say when their child asks them why they are not wearing a helmet. Are You A Role Model? In a workshop of senior managers I conducted a few weeks ago, I asked them to write down the people they feel they are role models for. Most wrote the names of their younger family members and a few employees. They were not long lists. Then I asked them to write down the role models they have had in their life. The lists were much larger this time. I asked them how many people on your list of role models do not know they are a role model for you? This was an a-ha moment for many of the participants. You see, more people look up to you than you imagine. The quicker you realize this, the sooner you start holding yourself up to a higher standard and start making yourself more accountable for your actions. As a workplace leader, project manager, volunteer, and/or parent, you are a role model for more people than you realize. People look up to you and are watching your every move. They watch how you communicate to them and others verbally, in emails, and in social media, etc. Have you ever been asked for advice on a topic that has caught...
The Thrill of Achieving Personal Goals – Why I Run
Next week I will be running my second Boston Marathon, in lite of which I thought I would address the question I often get: why do you run? (Related – 2013 Boston Marathon Race Report) One of the most emotional moments I have ever had in achieving a goal was completing my second marathon. No it wasn’t finishing my first Ironman or the Boston Marathon with thousands of people cheering me on at the finish line. In fact, it was completing the St. John’s Marathon with a dozen or so spectators at the finish. The reason for my emotion was that I had achieved a long time goal of mine, i.e. running a marathon under 3 hours. I didn’t hoot and holler at the finish. No one around would have known the enormity of the moment for me as I choked up and that was just fine. I achieved a massive personal goal that I had worked my ass off for years, that only I cared about, and that is the joy of it. For me, running is a personal goal I have direct control over. A run is completed by only me and for the most part the success and failure I achieve is directly from my actions, not anyone else’s. Many of the other goals in my life revolve around other people, namely business and family goals. Sure, I can have a significant impact in these areas but the results also hinge on the desires and actions of other people. I have sales goals and audience growth goals for my business but at the end of the day, I can’t directly control if someone buys from me or signs...
Who Needs A Coach? 15 Reasons Why Me and You Need a Coach
The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. Between my wife and me, we have 5 coaches in our life right now, focusing on areas of personal and professional development and that’s just the ones we pay. On the surface, it may sound like we are people whose lives are a mess and need a lot of help. Fortunately, it’s the contrary. We have coaches because we are driven people who want to be the best person we possibly can in getting the most out of our careers, talents and passions. Perhaps your life, business, career, and relationships, are already good, but you want it to be much, much better. Coaching isn’t a crisis intervention. Nor is it a substitute for psychotherapy, or advice from a professional, such as an attorney, accountant, or physician. If things are basically good, but you know they could be a lot better and you are ready for that to happen, it’s a great time for you to hire a coach. For example, I am a good runner and can run a respectable marathon time running my own plan but I don’t believe I will reach my full potential without the guidance of an experienced coach. To be the best me, I need a little help and you may as well. There are many types of coaches. There are traditional athletic coaches, executive coaches, life coaches, gardening coaches, nutrition coaches, and dating coaches, the list is endless. There are coaches for just about every aspect of life and hobby in the world. The one thing they have in common is...
What Google Team Building Research Revealed: Turns Out The Feelings Do Matter
A few years ago Google set up a research team to find out the elements that create high performing teams. What they found and the length of time it took to find it surprised them. For several years they studied over 150 teams working within Google. Many of the senior executives in the company believed that the best teams developed when the best people were put together on a project. After gathering an enormous amount of data, the researcher found it was almost impossible to find meaningful patterns. In an article recently published in the New York Times’ Google’s lead researcher on the project Abeer Dubey stated, ‘‘At Google, we are good at finding patterns. But there weren’t strong patterns here.’’ The people comprising the team didn’t seem to matter. This finding didn’t surprise me. Leading wilderness expeditions for years with new teams, people would often ask me “what do you do if you get a bad team and you are stuck with them for a month in the mountains”. Strangely enough, that was never a concern of mine. As I gained experience leading, I came to realize that leaders play a more significant role in creating effective teams than the people who make up the team. Frustrated with the lack of patterns in the data they collected, the researchers delved further into reviewing past academic studies on how teams work. In the literature, they discovered that psychological and sociological research kept using the term “group norms” when describing successful groups. Norms are the traditions, behavioral standards and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather. It...
You’re Not the Boss of Me – 3 Ways to Lead without Authority
“When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves’.” Lao Tzu I had reached my limit with a team member. I had tried everything to integrate him into the team and become a productive team player. His disruptive behaviour had gone on for weeks and was threatening to derail the expedition. I decided the only option left was to remove him from the team but I had no authority to do so. Chatting with many project managers and team leaders, I am often asked the question “how do you lead with little or no authority”. The quick and easy answer to this potential complex question is “the same way you would lead with authority”. If leadership is performed correctly, little authority should be needed. Increasingly today, projects and events are undertaken in environments where the leader had little formal authority. Significant portions of project work are done by contributors who work for other managers, often for a different company. Project and event managers have high expectations placed on them, demanding a high level of leadership. They are looked to as the go to person to see a project from beginning to end and have all the right processes, metrics and people in place that will allow for successful completion. There are many ways to lead when you have little or no authority, here are 3 of them: (RELATED – Why Teams Truly Succeed or Fail One Relationship at a Time) 1. Metrics: “If you don’t measure something, you can’t change it. The process of leadership is one of painting a vision, then saying how...
