Wisewolf Talking – Leadership and Change

Successful Leaders Need Mental Toughness And This Is Something Anyone Can Learn.

2011-11-29T04:34:00.000-08:00

My last post said that with practice you can learn to think positively and confidently about making changes. You can develop a resilient mindset. This post takes this further and offers help!

People with inborn talent may be good at what they do—but experience shows that only the mentally tough reach the highest plateaus in their field.

Mental toughness is something anyone can learn.

Director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals and a top-tier executive coach, Dr. Jason Selk knows everything there is to know about developing mental toughness!

Inspired on the vision of legendary basketball coach John Wooden, Dr Selk has developed a program that is as simple as it is effective.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

You will have to put effort in if you are serious about being successful.

But this is a great way to build up your mental “muscles.”

Dr Selk provides hands-on daily exercises for breaking old, self-defeating patterns of behaviour. You can replace them with the can-do attitude and positive behavior that would make Coach Wooden proud.

ExecutiveToughness outlines the three fundamentals for attaining high-level success:

ACCOUNTABILITY—admit to mistakes, correct them, and, most important, learn from them
FOCUS—on your strengths, on winning, on reaching your goal . . . for only 100 seconds per day
OPTIMISM—don’t just believe you can succeed, know you can succeed

Executive Toughness takes you through the steps of making these critical behaviours part of your everyday routine.

Practice your accountability, focus, and optimism!

Then,you’ll be on the path to attaining your goals!

Make them part of your mental “DNA” and there will be no turning back—ever.

ExecutiveToughness is your workout for success in your career and in your life.

US Link

UK Link

Wendy Mason works as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

She works with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement
wanting to do a mid-life review

You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44 (0)2084610114

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The Resilient Mindset – don’t let a fixed mindset defeat you.

2011-11-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

"Don’t change – stay right where you are"!

Nobody said change was easy. Personal change is hard, so is changing an organization. It is uncomfortable and risky.

That is why most of us don’t change until change is forced on us.

We don’t change; even when making a change could make a huge and positive difference for us and those about us.

Most of us have a mindset that favours staying put right where we are – a “fixed” mindset. And fixed mindsets lack resilience.

Standing still and staying where we are, can present far more danger and risk in the long term than making a change.

Changing that mindset

So how do you develop a resilient mindset?

You need to learn to challenge your own thinking.

Your fixed mindset will chatter away in your head, if you let it. It will fill your head with negativity and erode your confidence.

The nasty fixed mindset will tell you that even if you wanted to change, you can’t do it! You’re not bright enough! Your team isn’t strong enough! You don’t have the brains or the talent!

This time you are going to answer back.

“Well I’m certainly bright enough – if I see the need for change, I’m bright enough to do it. I can learn and I can find people who can advise me. I can learn and my team can learn!”

You fixed mindset will probably answer – “But what happens if and when you fail?

So here is your defence. “Everyone fails sometimes. But I’ll do it well and I’ll manage the risks – so I’ve got every chance of success”

“But” says your fixed mindset, “if you don’t make the change, you can’t fail.”

“No, but, if I don’t try, I’ve failed already!

Now your fixed mindset sneers and becomes cunning. “Oh so it is going to be easy for you then!”

You smile wryly. “No it isn’t going to be easy. Nothing worth having comes easy. I’m going to do it”

Back into the shadows!

If you keep beating it back, at some point your fixed mindset will slink away into the shadows. It won’t be dead.

It may emerge occasionally when you are feeling tired or frustrated.

But you have the upper hand now. You know you have to find the energy to take up your sword and beat it back into the shadows again.

With practice you can learn to think positively and confidently about your change. You will develop a resilient mindset

You can do it! You can make the change you desire – it is time to start believing. Reach for your sword and begin practicing.

Wendy Mason works as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

She works with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement
wanting to do a mid-life review

You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44 (0)2084610114

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Becoming A Leader Today - What to give up! (wisewolftalking.com)
Are you a resilient leader? (wisewolftalking.com)
Business: Change Your Performance Mindset (psychologytoday.com)

Appreciative Inquiry - making change truly positive!

2011-11-18T05:04:00.001-08:00

Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to change that focuses on the positive! It works on the principle that what is good now that can be built on to achieve a vision for the future.

When thinking about change people often focus on what is wrong now – what is deficient. This has been the traditional approach to change management

Appreciative Inquiry, which has its roots in Positive Psychology, starts the other way round. It looks at what is good and valuable now and then uses that as a foundation for moving forward.

Once the basis is established you can then explore the future possibilities with much greater confidence.

In all change, something will be lost but with Appreciative Inquiry you work to make sure that much of what is good remains. It allows people to honour the past and have confidence in the future!

Appreciative Inquiry was developed as a tool for changing organizations but, as an approach, it works very well with people and teams. It allows them to approach change with greater confidence.

If you work as a coach or consultant using Appreciative Inquiry, you work with a client to show existing strengths and successes so that you can then work together to bring about positive change.

Appreciative Inquiry uses a cycle of 4 processes that can work for people, groups or whole organizations,

DISCOVER: The identification of what works well now.
DREAM: Envisioning what would work well in the future.
DESIGN: Planning how to deliver what will work well.
DESTINY (or DELIVER): The implementation of the plan

You can read more in these books

Wendy Mason works as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

She works with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement
wanting to do a mid-life review

You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44 (0)2084610114

Trust (wisewolftalking.com)
Heroes - Gurus of Change [Wendy Mason] (ecademy.com)
Organizational culture, what organizational culture? (wisewolftalking.com)

Leader, Leadership and Leadership Styles

2011-11-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

According to Alan Keith of Genentech "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen”.

A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards a specific result. But how that person influences varies with the style of the leader.

Leadership styles can range from the autocratic (“I’m going to tell you what to do”) to completely free reign (“You do it your way but get it right!”). The easiest way to think of it, is in three main flavours.

Leadership Styles

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders provide rewards if, and only if, people perform as they require and are believed by the leader to work hard enough! This leader wants to contract with you in detail to set the exact reward you will receive for an exact amount of effort. This leader is unlikely to want to change how things are done or to listen to your suggestions for improving things; just make sure the agreed performance goals are met!

The leader will only intervene if they think something is wrong or the targets look threatened. Expect to be closely monitored, though, and expect this leader to look for problems.

This approach can be useful when people are new and don’t know the work. Then the leader can be expected to turn into manager and provide very detailed instructions.

When you know what you are doing, this kind of leader can make you feel very demoralised, stressed and de–motivated. This is particularly so when you know there is a better way of doing things.

Laissez-faire Leadership

This kind of leader leaves you to get on with things. Now this works when you are a highly skilled craftsman or professional. You take pride in your work you know you do it well; you drive on to achieve the objectives rarely needing help from anyone.

When you do need help, or another opinion, it may not be there for you. You may not receive praise because the leader may not know enough about the work to know whether it is good or not!

Sometimes these kinds of leaders don’t really understand what they should be doing and just hope you know enough to cover for them!

Transformational Leadership

These are leaders who motivate you to commit to the vision of the organization!

They become your role model and sometimes you feel you would follow them anywhere! (I’ve worked for them but not often!) These leaders know where they want the organization to go and share the vision with you,

They also allow you to share that vision making process! They let you join in the problem solving and decision making without you feeling they have exploited you. It is true sharing and involvement. They offer both challenge and support – they coach and they advise. Yes, you do have to work hard but you feel motivated to do so!

These are the leaders who believe your personal development matters as well as the organization of which you are a part.

Sometimes though, the style isn’t appropriate, for example, in real a crisis. But those occasions should be rare.

So, when you think about styles of leadership what kind of leader are you? And what kind of leader would you prefer to work with?

I am Wendy Mason and I work as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

As a coach, I work with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement

I am very good at helping you sort out what you want, overcome obstacles and handle change. Email me at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com for more information

Becoming a Leader Today - What is Leadership? (wisewolftalking.com)
Are You a Transformational Leader? (psychology.about.com)
What Servant Leadership Looks Like (chrislocurto.com)

Leading from Within

2011-11-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

"For me, leadership is a shared responsibility for creating a better world in which to live and work. It manifests in our passion to engage others in bringing about purposeful change." Leading From Within - Nancy Huber

Harvard Business Review on the Mind of the Leader

Emotion is not always given its due importance in leadership literature.

This is what the Harvard Business Review has to say about ‘The mind of the Leader’:

“If you are looking for leaders, how can you identify people who are motivated by the drive to achieve rather than by external rewards? The first sign is a passion for the work itself — such people seek out creative challenges, love to learn and take great pride in a job well done. They also display an unflagging energy to do things better and are forever raising the performance bar.”

Since we can’t all lead, all the time, it is emotion - passion for a particular work - more than intelligence - that can help us find who has the potential for leadership.

Characteristics of the Heart

There are four characteristics which Nancy Huber – responsible for the top quote - considers to be the foundation of good leadership. They are not traits which you are either born with or not. Nor are they attributes that you might acquire by learning more about them!

Nancy believes these essential leader characteristics are choices that we make.

She believes exemplary leaders choose to be passionate, authentic, credible, and ethical.

Purpose and passion go hand in hand. To be an effective leader, you must first care. When you care deeply, you have the fire inside that will sustain you through difficult times.
To be authentic is to be genuine. We speak from our own to the hearts of others and we are consistent. This means in our relationships we are genuine and trustworthy.
Credibility means you do what you say you will do. It begins with being authentic and is manifested in the actions that you promise and deliver. You are accountable for what you say you will do.
Ethical leaders have human worth and dignity at the centre of their value system. They make decisions and take action in accord with these deeply held values and beliefs.

Know who you are!

Being a leader means knowing who you are at the deepest level, choosing to have the right values and acting on those values in your working, as well as your private, life.

Wendy Mason works as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

She works with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement
wanting to do a mid-life review

You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44 (0)2084610114

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When things go wrong! Giving criticism and negative feedback! Seven Ways to Be!

2011-11-18T04:11:00.000-08:00

When things go wrong

Sometimes in leading or managing a team we need to give criticism or negative feedback. Not everything can be perfect every time. Sometimes things go wrong. And sometimes that something is down to an action or lack of action by a person or a group of people.

First and most important be sure of the facts. Try to find out exactly what went wrong and why.

To do this properly you need to have won the confidence and trust of your team. They need to know that you will deal with them honestly, fairly and with compassion. That does not mean that you will never give criticism when it is due.

Make sure that your criticism is constructive – it should be about getting things right in the future not about punishment or about scapegoats. It should not be about the personal qualities of people. You are not a parent, a school teacher or a judge in a Court of Law.

Dealing with discipline

If you think there has been a disciplinary offence then deal with it in line with your HR Policy. If necessary, take advice and if you are an SME don’t be afraid to have a word with an Employment Law Adviser. Getting it wrong can cost you a lot of money. If your team includes contractors be clear about the contract and where contractual responsibilities lies.

Giving Criticism!

Seven Ways to Be

How you sound, look and behave when you give the feedback often matters as much as the words you use. But the words are important.

Here are my eight ways to be when giving criticism.

Be direct! Get to the point and give the feedback in a simple straight forward way.
Be clear! Set out what you are criticizing, the change you want to see and why.
Be sincere! Say what you mean and mean what you say. Sincerity mean you speak with care and respect. Don’t send a mixed message – for example “I think you are all wonderful but there is just this little thing I’d like to mention”. This usually means the real purpose of the message gets lost. Putting the “but” in the middle just creates contradictions
Be serious! Express concern but do not become emotional. Getting angry and showing frustration will distort the message. Again remember you are trying to create awareness and improve performance not to create noise, vent or make yourself feel better.
Be objective! State what you have observed and the evidence you have gathered. Do not reinterpret the facts and add your opinion beyond stating the gap between what happened and what should have happened according to the standards set by you or your organization.
Be live! To have impact, feedback needs to be direct and person to person; not through someone else or through technology. Talk live to people face-to-face when you can or by phone if there is no alternative. If talking to a group be with them either physically or by a direct line.
Be on time! No I don’t mean don’t be late for the meeting, although you never should. Give feedback as close as possible to the event. When everything is fresh in people’s mind your comments will have far greater impact than further down the line when many may have forgotten exactly what happened.

Those are my Seven Ways to Be when giving criticism and negative feedback. Do you agree? Send me your thoughts and observations by commenting below.

Wendy Mason works as a Coach, Consultant and Writer.

She works with all kinds of people going through many different kinds of personal and career change, particularly those;

looking for work
looking for promotion or newly promoted
moving between Public and Private Sectors
facing redundancy
moving into retirement
wanting to do a mid-life review

You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44 (0)2084610114

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