One of the qualities that separates great leaders from good leaders is their commitment to being a True Professional.

What is a True Professional? Does it only revolve around a designation such as a Doctor, Dentist, Lawyer or Accountant? Back in the 90s when I was graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology, I thought that the definition of being a True Professional was possessing a professional designation. Upon graduation, when I was handed my “Iron Cross” ring that symbolized my Geologist status, I was so proud to be able to call myself a True Professional. I landed a job as a Geologist right out of school, but due to an economic downturn I was let go and found myself taking a sales job for a Reservoir Consulting Firm. Simply because I was no longer working in my area of expertise as a Geologist with the professional designation status, I thought I was no longer a True Professional.

This line of thinking got me questioning what a True Professional really is?

Being a True Professional is not in a designation, it is a Mindset!

A True Professional is a master of details in 4 key areas:

1. Image: The way you dress and show up for work each day (professional and polished) shows people you are committed to paying attention to the details.

2. Conduct: You conduct yourself with accountability, you have respect for all, and you have an abundance mindset (see possibilities rather than limitations).

3. Expertise:

• You have proven processes you follow to create consistent, reliable & quality results
• You ask quality questions
• Surround yourself with other experts
• You are a student of your profession
• Comfortable saying ‘I don’t know’
• Trusted advisor to your clients

4. Execution: You are respected by others for your commitment to being a person who honours their word and therefore is know for being a person who delivers quality results consistently.

STEP Energy Services is an example of True Professionals. Everyone in the company (office and field) is called a Professional and everyone takes their title very seriously, and has respect for each person and the tremendous skills they bring to the team. When everyone in the company is holding their colleagues accountable for being a master of the details in their role, the overall result is that the client gets an extraordinary product, service and experience!

As a leader, one of the fastest ways to differentiate your organization in the marketplace is by making a commitment to train all your people in the Mindset of being a True Professional.

Being a True Professional will endear loyal clients and make a significant difference in the culture and bottom line of the company – just ask the CEO of STEP Energy Services.

Learning Challenge:

Where can you step up your commitment to being a True Professional in the next 7 days – Image, Conduct, Expertise or Execution?

Great leaders differentiate themselves through disciplined practices. They are committed to living, breathing and acting out their practices of greatness, on a regular (daily or weekly) basis to support their performance and achieve extraordinary results.

6 Key “Practices of Greatness”

1. Meditation/Deep Breathing

Great leaders understand the importance of having quality mental-focus time everyday. Handling complexity, ambiguity and constant change requires a clear mind to make decisions. Great leaders see and experience the value of 10 to 30 minutes of daily meditation. The act of meditation supports creating mental clarity!

Check out this 5 minute YouTube video on Deep Breathing

2. Pause

Great leaders are aware of their emotional triggers. To avoid being controlled by their triggers they develop mental practices to manage those temporary moments of weakness. The Power of a Pause is simple, when you get emotionally triggered by someone, ask yourself this question, “Is this a Threat or Opportunity?”

When you pause for that moment and breathe you will be able to see the experience you are in is an opportunity to:

• Listen
• Ask questions
• Ask for support 

3. Learning

Great leaders believe in constant learning so they build the capacity (space) directly into their daily and weekly calendars. They schedule time for learning.

Question: “What are you committed to learning over the next 30 days to make yourself a better leader to those you support?” 

4. Deep Listening

Great leaders are masters of deep listening. One of the practices that deep listeners are committed to is preparing themselves for every conversation by asking this question:

“What is my intention in this conversation?”

• I will connect with the other person(s) and listen for what the other person(s) cares about
• I will let go of listening to protect my position of authority
• I will fix the situation!

Here is a great article to support your learning in becoming a Deep Listener.

5. Action

Great leaders are excellent at coordinating action, through others by making clear requests to others.

A clear request has 4 components:

• A clear communicator
• A committed listener
• A defined timeline or deadline
• A clear set of conditions for satisfaction

Want to create BIG action with yourself and others? Practice making unreasonable requests (requests that are above current expectations).

6. Being Curious

Great leaders are excellent possibility thinkers. Being curious will support your ability to be an excellent possibility thinker because, you will naturally ask yourself and others disruptive questions.

A great example is when you are frustrated with your team’s performance and instead of asking, “Why happened, what went wrong, and who is accountable for the mistake?” ask, “What is missing? What is the gap to be filled, for the performance to be successful?  

Remember there is something missing when a performance doesn’t match the results you were expecting. 

The 4 components that could be missing are:

• Courageous Conversation (with myself or with others)
• Skill (ability)
• Commitment (dedication)
• Support Structure (people, processes/systems, practices, tools)

Learning Challenge:

Pick one Practice of Greatness and implement it this week and send me your insights from living the practice after 2 weeks.

One of the amazing qualities that every great leader has is their ability to see a moment as an opportunity to create a positive impact, where as most people would see the moment as a crisis and do nothing.

As you watch the following video of Maurice (Mo) Cheeks, ask yourself the following question – “What would I have done?” Stepped Up and Supported the young woman or remained silent?

Mo Cheeks National Anthem

At Awesome Journey, we coach people to become “Authentically Powerful Leaders” who can “Seize the Moment”. Whether in a team meeting, a one-on-one conversation with a colleague, or taking a call from an upset client, great leaders “Seize the Moment” and make a positive impact for all by applying the following four practices:

1. Be Mindful – present to the moment without judgement
2. Be Compassionate – support another person while they are suffering without making them feel small, judged or wrong
3. Be Courageous – take a risk even when you are scared
4. Be Self-Aware – trust your intuition and act on its prompting’s in the moment!

In the video, Mo Cheeks demonstrates the four practices and showed the world he is an “Authentically Powerful Leader!”

Your Weekly Learning Journey:

1. Self-Reflection Question:

“Where in the past did you miss an opportunity to Step Up and Speak Up to make an impact to support others?”

2. Empowering Question:

“Which practice will you commit to that will allow you to see and hear “Moments to Support” others causing you to have the courage to Step Up and Speak Up?”

5 Key Questions to Assess the Clarity and Strength of Your Strategic Growth Plan:

1. What is your company’s “Competitive Advantage?”

Is the whole organization able to articulate it to the marketplace consistently and powerfully to create action?

2. Is your company’s culture a key component to your company’s “Competitive Advantage”?

3. What is missing in your organization to be able to achieve the company’s strategic goals consistently?

• A conversation with self or others (feedback and communication)
• A skill (inability to do the tasks necessary)
• A commitment (resistance to taking action)
• A support structure
  • People
  • Processes
  • Practices
  • Tools

4. What is the volume and quality of information that you are receiving from your company’s “Listening Strategy”?

A well designed and intentional “Listening Strategy” allows your organization to capture quality insights from your clients, prospective clients and non-clients in three areas of interest to your organization:

CARE – What do your clients care about?

CONCERNS – What are your clients worried about?

COMPLAINTS – What are your clients frustrated by?

5. Is Your Executive Leadership Team bringing game changing ideas/value or identifying key trends to follow in support of the growth plan?

If you and your Executive Leadership Team (ELT) can’t answer these 5 questions above with complete clarity and confidence, then click on the two links below to start the process of building a Strategic Growth Plan you and your ELT can execute in 2017.

Great Leaders Have a Strategic Business Model

Creating a Culture of Deep Listening

Have questions or need some direction?

Contact me at darrell@awesomejourney.ca to start building your strategic plan!

Darrell Nimchuk, Director of Strategic Planning

“Simply Brilliant!” tells the stories of 15 great organizations that are doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. These companies are not high flying techies from Silicon Valley, but rather everyday companies who have found new ways to bring tremendous value to their customers.

The author, William C. Taylor, is the co-founder of Fast Company Magazine and this is his third business book, and it’s spectacular!

William’s research is top notch and his examples of companies who are transforming their organization’s come from all industries. One example is Metro Bank in the United Kingdom. Metro Bank disrupted the banking industry in the U.K. by taking their stellar customer service model from the U.S. and implementing it in the U.K. market where customers have distain for banks with poor service, limited hours, and slow response times.

William makes many great points throughout the book; here are a few of his best:

1. Great Leaders Care

Quote: “Organizations that perform at a high level for a long time don’t just think differently from everyone else, they care more than everyone else. In an era of big ideas and disruptive technology, simple acts of connection and compassion take on outsized importance.”

Leaders who are serious about differentiation are clear about what they care about. They are focused and they understand that when they focus on what they care about (culture, strategic plan, employee development, financial health, etc.) they will be rewarded.

2. Great Leaders Do What Others Cannot or Will Not

Quote: “The most successful organizations are no longer the ones that offer the best deals. They’re the ones that champion the most original ideas, and do things other organizations can’t or won’t do.”

Leaders who are successful are constantly practicing the art of possibility thinking to differentiate and stand out. They understand that the best way to lead the industry is to always be one step ahead and always thinking beyond the borders that hold other companies back. 

3. Great Companies Do the Extraordinary With the Ordinary

Quote: “Organizations that make the most dramatic progress are the ones that invite ordinary people to make extraordinary contributions, and whose leaders are as humble as they are hungry.”

Leaders who are constantly supportive and open to their teams taking small but calculated risks on an ongoing basis create an environment and culture of innovation that leads a company to long-term, sustainable GREATNESS!

Your Weekly Learning Journey:

We are such fans of this book that we are offering to send a FREE copy of “Simply Brilliant” to the first 5 people who request it!

All you need to do is include a comment below about why we should send you a FREE copy and promise to send us your thoughts and feedback once you have finished the book.

We look forward to hearing from you!

A TED Talk by Lars Fæste

Lars Fæste helps CEOs transform their businesses, and over the years he’s noticed something troubling: Managers tend to get comfortable during times of success and fail to be on constant lookout for ways to grow. Yet with today’s unprecedented rate of change, constant transformation is the norm, and adapting to it is the key to staying ahead of competition and volatile market trends. In other words: if it ain’t broke, fix it.

Source

A TED Talk by Jim Hemerling

Who says change needs to be hard? Organizational change expert Jim Hemerling thinks adapting your business in today’s constantly-evolving world can be invigorating instead of exhausting. He outlines five imperatives, centered around putting people first, for turning company reorganization into an empowering, energizing task for all.

[ted id=2601]

Source

In today’s over stimulated 24/7 world, many leaders struggle to leverage the power of their mind to focus and concentrate because they have not developed “Mental Hygiene Practices” to support having a “Healthy Mind”. Although they use their mind every day, they are not “Taking Care” of their mind.

When you become intentional about “Mental Hygiene Practices” to build mental strength you will see a significant improvement in your ability to truly make an impact to support your goals.

Top 6 Mental Hygiene Practices We Recommend to Leaders:

1. Meditation: 20 minutes of meditation daily is a great practice to support developing mental muscle to focus and concentrate. If you’re new to mediation, avoid being discouraged by started small with just 5 minutes a day. Consistency is key!
2. Get Rest: Be intentional about having quality sleep by “Designing” one hour before going to bed to slow down your mind through:

• Relaxing music
• Quiet time to reflect
• Stretching
• Minimal interaction with negative media

3. Study/Learning: Allow time daily for studying and learning. This is a mental practice to stimulate the mind by learning something new or taking time to ponder ways to create new possibilities.
4. Self-Reflection: Allow time daily for self-reflection. Here are two great questions to ask yourself at the end of the day:

• What is one thing that inspired me, engaged me or moved me today?
• What is one thing that irritated me today?

5. Exercise Your Imagination: In your mind, practice having generative conversations (action-orientated) with yourself about how you perceive and view “The Unknown Future”. Instead of telling yourself how scary it is, use your internal voice and imagination to talk about all the new possibilities you and your team can embrace.
6. Remove Technology Distractions: In an excellent article in the New York Times on Nov 19, 2016 it said this, “Quit Social Media – Your Career May Depend On It”. The article speaks to the need for people to disconnect and practice being intentional about making time in their day to focus and concentrate on creating high quality value and impact from their expertise and knowledge.

Your Weekly Learning Journey:

Pick one “Mental Hygiene Practice” and do it for 7 days. Take time to reflect and be aware of your increased ability to create “Quality Value and Impact” around you.

As Executive Leadership Coaches, we see a lot of companies who struggle with developing effective innovation strategies to find new markets, create new products, design new business models, or implement new delivery systems.

One of the leading experts in Innovation today is Clayton M. Christensen a professor out of Harvard Business School. In his new book entitled,

“Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice”, he and his team share a new discovery about what companies who are consistently successful with innovation are doing that others are not.

In his book, he states a specific Disruptive Question that is enabling companies like Ikea to have sustainable success with innovation:

“What job is your client hiring your company to do for them?”

In his book Clayton asks the question: “Why does Ikea not have any major competition?”

There are many other companies that sell furniture, but Ikea is in a league of their own. Clayton responded to this by stating that since Ikea is not focused on bringing products and services to market (they already believe the market will buy their offerings), they instead asked a different question:

“What job are our clients hiring Ikea to do for them?”

The job Ikea is being hired to do for their clients is to fulfill the need for space that is useable tomorrow.

From that insight, Ikea’s management team built a complete logistics system to make it easy for their clients and potential clients to think of Ikea first when the problem or issue of needing space up and useable tomorrow arises in their life.

From his book, Clayton outlined his belief that if you want to become consistent at bringing innovative ideas to market that will differentiate your company, you need to build your foundation on the pursuit of understanding the jobs your customers need filled. Once you have done that, your strategy will no longer need to rely on luck.

When you take the time to ask the right questions, you get access to insights that will support moving your organization forward!

“Understanding customers does not drive innovation success. Understanding customer jobs does.”  – Clayton M. Christensen

 To get a snapshot of this transformational question, check out Clayton Christensen’s video Understanding the Job that explains his insights about innovation by applying this powerful question.

This Week’s Learning Journey:

Take half an hour and ponder – “What job is your client really hiring your company to do for them?”

Initiate a dialogue with your team about what they believe is the reason your clients are hiring your company.

Book Recommendation:

“Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice” is a great book to go through with your staff to create new future possibilities for your company. We Guarantee It!

Great Leaders are committed to being intentional about awakening every member of their team to their greatness. They recognize that getting to know their people and understanding what makes them tick is vital to empowering them to perform at their highest level.

Question: As a Leader, how deep is your Listening to Understand and Connect with your people?

Here are 10 key things that you can look for, identify and hear when listening to your people:

1. Do they speak using the Language of Accountability: I can, I will, I choose, or I am versus a Language of Non-Accountability: I’ll try, I should, I guess, or I assume?
2. Are they are speaking in a Future context versus a story that happened in and comes from their Past?
3. Are they Stuck or in Action?
4. What are their Gifts of Greatness and how can leverage these gifts and strengths?
5. Do they have a Fear of, example:
   • Looking incompetent?
   • Rejection?
   • Not being liked or accepted?
   • Imposing or being seen as demanding?
6. What are their Core Values and how do they guide the person in their life?
7. What do they Care about personally and professionally?
   • Personal examples: family, hobbies and/or travel
   • Professional examples: career advancement, learning & development and/or security
8. What is their current Mindset?
   • Abundance i.e. what’s possible and what can be created
   • Scarcity i.e. not enough time, money or ideas
9. Do they speak to Fix and Rescue others or do they speak to Empower and Support others?
10. What are they Concerned about i.e. what are their frustrations, worries, problems, and roadblocks?

As you focus on being intentional about growing your people, and you take the time to get to know, understand and connect with them through ‘Deep Listening’ practices, you will be able to empower your people to harness their ‘True Potential’!

Want to expand your Deep Listening skills?

Check out this article by Tony Zampella titled “Commitment of Listening”

Your Weekly Learning Journey:

Pull out a piece of paper and a pen, and for 10 minutes this week write down how much you know about two members of your team based upon the ‘Deep Listening’ areas outlined above.