Posts tagged "attitude"

Advice

Different Perspectives

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“Humans have the ability to shift perspective. We can experience the world through our senses. Or we can remove ourselves from our senses and experience the world even less directly. We can think about our life, rather than thinking in our life.” John J. Emerick

I meet a fair number of people daily, for business or on a personal basis . I find it most interesting that all of us have uniquely different ways of looking at the same thing. Over the last week I have had some interesting experiences showcasing how two people in the same boat can be looking at the picture in totally different ways.

I was coaching a team whose performance had been lagging in the last couple of quarters. During our one-on-one feedback sessions, one of the team members was constantly blaming external circumstances being the primary reason for his not operating at an optimum level. He blamed the organization for not providing an environment in which creativity and performance was fostered. He had hence decided, that he would stop giving his 100% and was just ‘making do’ in his current role. Another team member however, realized that even though the environment was not the best, he would not let it affect him negatively, instead he took on the responsibility to be the change he wanted to see in this environment. He started with his own team and department. Jim Collins refers to these as “pockets of greatness” (Audio).

There is no doubt this is an uphill task when one person is up against 9 others who share a different perspective. However he took up the challenge and after our coaching was completed he became a role model for the team and productivity and morale soared. Management began to take notice and some structural changes were made.

The lesson I learned was, each one of us has a unique perspective on life according to our inbuilt value and belief systems . Sometimes these systems are so strong that they cloud our judgement and refuse to let us look any other way. Being part of a startup or a multi national it is your responsibility to remain open and flexible about the view points of others. Don’t judge them, nor deliberately criticize them or blindly embrace them. Take time out to look at it from their perspective, what you see, may just pleasantly surprise you.

Advice Partnerships Teams

The Gym

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I recently started going back to a gym after a long break. Why is it that some of us get these spurts of energy to go to the gym which wears off soon enough after that initial boost of energy and enthusiasm? This is not an unusual trend for the gym, you set yourself enthusiastic new year resolutions to get into shape and 3 months down the road you quit for some reason or other. I did some research on this and found the following statistics:

  • “50 percent of all new health club members quit within the first six months of signing up, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.” Source: Wayback Machine Archived Webpage
  • 1 in 5 club members use their club at least twice per week. 40% of those who join health clubs stop going soon afterwards. Source: Health and Fitness Website
  • In the article Time Management Facts and Figures by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore, it says that 90% of those who join health and fitness clubs will stop going within the first 90 days.
  • The first quarter of the calendar remains the key period in the year for new member acquisition for the club industry. Link

There is a lot of evidence supporting those claims. I then looked back at all the times I have joined a gym or a health club and actively used their services regularly for at least an year. The one common denominator for when I had gone regularly, was with a gym partner. It is strange but true how the dynamics change when you have someone to spot you, talk to and even benchmark yourself to.

This got me thinking of the posts I have written about teams and partnering, and how essential that aspect is, not only from a business point of view but overall in life. This applies to whether you are choosing a life partner, a gym buddy or a mentor to help you along the way. Through partnering we can achieve extraordinary goals and greatly impact productivity and morale. All you have to do is choose your partners carefully.

Advice Sales

Sales and relationships

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“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ”Make me feel important.” Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” Mary Kay Ash

A couple of days ago on my way to a meeting I was stopped at a traffic light junction when a disabled man came to my car window, he was selling car cleaners . I didn’t need any, so he passed me by after asking. Moments later another disabled man who was selling the same came up to me. This was a man who has been selling similar merchandise at this traffic junction for the last 15 years and over the course of time he has sold many members of my family who pass this traffic crossing daily. He came up to my window,greeted me and condoled my grandmother’s passing away 2 months ago. The fact that he knew caught me totally off guard. He followed with casual chit chat regarding the health of the rest of my family and never once during this 5 minute exchange once mentioned whether I wanted to buy anything. You have to realize that we were at a traffic light crossing and were in a time sensitive situation. However, at the last moment, he casually asked whether I needed anything, I obliged and bought a fair share. Later on during my drive to the clients I began to think about what had just happened.

Sales is a very personal process, you are always more comfortable buying from or through individuals whom you trust or have a relationship with. Here was this man who had spent a large part of his life building a meaningful relationship with passer byes at traffic light junction . This continuous interaction on a relatively regular but short time frame basis had enabled him to build a relationship through which he could sell irrespective of whether you needed it or not. It wasn’t solely because he was handicapped otherwise I would have bought from the other vendors who attempted to sell me the same. It was only because of our relationship.

If you are running your own company or working at one where sales falls in your job scope I do believe the key to success is relationship building. I know it may sound somewhat cliched but just how many of your clients do you really know well. Truthfully, I need to do a lot more work in this area and this minor incident just showed me how strong a proposition you can build once you develop a meaningful relationship with your clients.

Advice

Life and Business

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“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.” Henry Ford

Over the course of last week I have come across some interesting incidents which I documented in personal off topic posts. This week I decided I would share 5 of them so that we could all get a different perspective as compared to the traditional views on business and entrepreneurship I have taken in the past.

Life is a fascinating journey and every morning I get up and look forward to the new challenges that I will have to face and learn from through the course of the day. You need to keep that perspective if you want to live your life fully. I keep telling everyone that life is too short for us to take things for granted. I often hear some of my investment banker friends telling me that they look forward to the time when they can actually stop doing what they are doing and start living. I could empathize with that view a couple of years ago but now it seems not to be the most optimal way to live life. I realize many people have responsibilities and valid reasons for sometimes sacrificing certain things early on in life to enjoy life afterwards. Just make sure that whatever you do it is something you feel deeply passionate about and you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day. You are one of the lucky ones if that is the case.

The same applies for business when you are selecting or working on ideas make sure your value and belief systems are correctly aligned with what it is that you are working on. Money is a valid driver but it shouldn’t be the only one. You must have other drivers which force you to push yourself harder and further. You have to choose to do something which you truly believe in and let it take its course. My last couple of posts talked about losing balance in your life in the early stages with startup ventures, make sure the sacrifice you are making is worth it. It should really be more than just money. Also if you are going to have an imbalance temporarily in your life make sure you have as few responsibilities as possible. When you have a life partner, children or a girlfriend/boyfriend your actions have a direct impact on someone else’s life. That is why I advocate getting into business as early as possible because you have a lot less to lose.

I look forward to a lot more comments and feedback during this week’s blog as the topics are a lot more abstract. A lot of us have very different perspectives on the topics which are going to be written about and I would really like to hear from as many people as possible.

Inspiration Leadership Teams

5 ways to get you and your team motivated

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“People often say often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar

Getting and staying motivated requires you to have the desire and faith to achieve remarkable things. It needs you to push yourself harder, test yourself, take risks and believe that impossible is nothing. We all have days which are far from being ideal. Such days test that intense desire to achieve what you have set out to get. The following lists methods to continuously sustain your motivational level and increase it when it begins to dip.

  1. Everything starts with you: Whether you are leading a team or are a part of it, it is your responsibility to bring your A game to work everyday. Identifying what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning is essential. Once you have identified these factors you will become a source of motivation for the rest of your team. To learn more about how you can identify your motivations please click here.

  2. Challenging goals: Creating smart goals for yourself and your company is critical to keep motivation at a high level. When you do not challenge yourself hard enough you tend to stand still. That is about the worst thing you could possibly do for yourself. To read more about setting challenging goals please click here.

  3. Progress motivates: Momentum has the ability to inject life into any project or venture. It is this remarkable energy which infuses teams with the ability to achieve the impossible. Motivational levels hit the roof when a venture has momentum on its side making it a key metric to be monitored continuously. To read more about generating momentum please click here.

  4. Motivational environment: Surrounding yourself with highly motivated individuals in an environment which caters to open communication and creativity is a sure way to keep the motivational levels in check. The environment and the people you work with have a direct impact on your productivity levels. Making sure you carefully monitor this metric will result in higher productivity teams, to learn more please click here.

  5. Rewards and recognition: A well planned rewards and recognition program can do wonders for the motivational level for yourself and your team. You first need to recognize what it is that motivates your team members and tailor a rewards and recognition program likewise. To read more about how to develop a rewards and recognition program please click here.

These are a few ways which have helped me keep track of the motivational level within myself and the teams I have worked with. I hope it helps others develop a framework for their own ventures and companies. Even though the ways outlined are very straight forward we need to continuously monitor them and see where we are lagging behind. I look forward to others adding to this list of ways they keep themselves and their teams motivated.

Inspiration Leadership Teams

Rewards and Recognition

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“No man, who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper rewards.” Booker T Washington

Rewards and recognitions are key motivational factors for teams. In the past, I thought rewards were primarily financial rewards. As I explored this topic more I discovered that different individuals required different types of rewards to keep them motivated. All that some needed was recognition by their boss for their contribution, others needed some affirmation from their team mates while others felt satisfied with their year end bonus. Your job as a team or project leader should be to find out what sort of rewards and recognition your team mates are looking for.

The tricky part with a rewards and recognition (R&R) program is to formulate it in such a way that is both fair and balanced. A badly constructed program could work against the organization and foster complacency and unhealthy competition among team members. When constructing an R&R program I usually involve all the individuals who will be affected by it to contribute their ideas and suggestions. Rather than constructing a standard bonus ladder you should aim to have a more dynamic program which keep things interesting while keeping the goals clearly in focus.

At a startup company, especially at the beginning ,when finances may be tight it becomes essential to structure an R&R program which gives team members necessary rewards and recognition and keeps the motivational level high. Some of the techniques which I have used have been providing training and development budgets, recognition awards and stock options, these have been helpful when working on tight budgets. If budgets are tight you should focus on developing a lot more creative non-monetary rewards. Tailor them according to the personalitiesand motivations of your team members . Learn what motivates your team members today and tailor an R&R program accordingly.

Related article: Rewards and Recognition for teams

Inspiration Teams

Motivational Environments

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“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.”     Earl Nightangale

Going to work everyday should be far from a chore, it should be the reason for you to jump out of bed in the morning. (Flash back) Seven years ago I finished high school and like quite a few of my classmates at that time, investment banking was on everyones mind. So when everyone was applying to B school programs I decided that I would take some time off before university and get a glimpse into what investment banking would be like. I interned at one of the larger investment banking firms and it didn’t take me very long to figure out that we were not a very good fit. Thats when I changed my majors and decided I needed to find something else. I am in no way downplaying careers in finance, its just that each one of us are unique and are motivated by different factors and environments, finding one that suits your personality is essential.

As startups grow larger we have to make sure we maintain similar environments that sparked the creativity in the first place. Two companies come to mind which have done a great job of keeping the balance in check, they are, Google and IDEO. Both highly creative companies which focus on the environment for their most important asset…their people. Creating and focusing on an environment which fosters creativity and inspires, enables people to think out of the box without fear and builds loyalty. It becomes easier to work as a team when you can communicate and help each other reach his/her goals. There is nothing worse in my opinion than having a ton of ideas on how to improve a service or product and not being given a platform to express them.

I am an advocate of keeping communication among the teams I work with as candid as possible. Knowing each others goals and roles enables us to do whatever it takes to help our group mates to succeed in reaching their targets. Make the motivational environment of your organization a key metric to be constantly measured. What is the morale level of your team?