The Content Composer Org

I can’t help feeling that using the phrase ‘work/life balance’ reinforces the problem it seeks to address. To describe a need to balance work and life implies that work is not part of ‘life’. If that’s the case then approx 50% of the average persons hours on earth are devoted to non-life – surely that’s dead.

People are not asking ‘how can I balance two opposing areas of existence?’, but ‘how can I live a holistic life; where all aspects of life co-exist and compliment each other and do not oppose each other?’ Balancing things puts them in opposing positions – we reinforce a problem as oppose to deal with it. We need integration not balance.

If you are living a non-integrated life then perhaps you need to make some major changes. Some escape home by going to work and others escape work by going home. Some people feel like two different people. The person at work is not the person at home. If that’s the case, both your team and family are missing out. For some this is so extreme they keep the two parties at arms length. They feel that if the two meet there will be some kind of implosion of realities and life will end. Actually – it’s at that point that life begins.

I believe it is my reasonability as a leader and employer to care for my team. Yes, we have goals, vision, dreams and commitments – but they are meaningless if we destroy lives, demoralize people and deny children their parents input.

Leaders lead people not projects. If we do not care for our people they will not stay around.

Southwest Airlines (the most successful airline in the world!) has some ways they help people live integrated lives. How do they do this? Their office corridors are lined with photos of team members’ families, wedding photos – they even have an area devoted to pets. Their people don’t leave. They are committed to the business because the business is committed to them

I suggest that we need to focus on integrating all aspects of life and not attempt to balance them out. People will happily work overtime to meet a deadline when they know there is a commitment to them as a person coming back.

For more infomation go to the Generous Leadership website – http://generousleadership.com

Steve Holloway is the founding leader of a registered charity with a team of 40+. He is also a professional speaker & author – for more information see generousleadership.com.

You’re the boss, and you have every reason to feel good about your organization.

You’ve built a great team.

You’ve put strong players in every spot.

You have clearly defined procedures for every part of the business.

You have incentive, safety recognition, and bonus programs.

But something doesn’t seem quite right.

Somehow, there seems to be a sense of unease. You can’t put your finger on it exactly, but you know it’s there. It’s what you wake up at 2 a.m. worrying about.

What are the symptoms?

Well, it’s not that precise. It’s the little things. Like, well, you spend too much time monitoring your workers – checking time sheets, correcting behavior problems, and dealing with attitude problems. People seem to be “doing their own thing” instead of being a part of a team.

Sound familiar?

It should, because getting optimal team performance is a common problem for business owners, from the largest corporation to the mom and pop business. Building a strong team provides the foundation for good performance, but that is only part of the process. As the manager, you need to encourage behaviors that create positive business results.

A powerful tool for encouraging these behaviors is the use of targeted positive reinforcement within a well defined performance management system. Much has been written about the use of positive reinforcement in recent years, but many managers and business owners still struggle with how to apply it appropriately. One reason many people do not get the results they hope for is a misunderstanding of how reinforcement strategies really work.

Much more than “pats on the back”, “atta-boys”, and “warm fuzzies”, the effective use of positive reinforcement strategies in a structured performance management system relies on knowledge of your business systems, understanding the effect of specific employee behaviors on business results, and precisely targeted behavioral reinforcements.

Creating a strong performance management system starts with understanding why people do what they do.

One model of explaining human behavior says that an individual’s behavior results from the consistent pairing of antecedents (situations or events just prior to our behaviors) and consequences (situations or events created by our behaviors).

For example, we enter a dark room and flip the light switch to “On”. We do this because we expect light to be the result. Darkness is the antecedent. Light is the consequence. If we enter a room and consistently get no light by flipping the switch, we resort to some other behavior (light a candle, carry a flashlight, etc).

While this sounds simple enough in the example, in practice, it is often more difficult when we apply it in the workplace.

The key is to identify the behaviors that produce the desired business results; then create consequences for employees that will reinforce those behaviors. Any consequence that encourages a behavior to repeat is a positive reinforcement.

But there is a subtlety that is very important. We can encourage behaviors, but we cannot enforce them. Many companies try to enforce appropriate behaviors rather than encourage them.

Enforcing requires a high degree of supervisory input and nets only minimal standard performance from employees, but encouraging requires minimal supervisory input once the system is in place, and it usually results in superior performance.

One way to achieve a consistent pairing of results (consequences) and behaviors is accomplished through a targeted improvement process much like the processes advocated by ISO, QS, and TQM management systems. The steps in this process are:

- Identify the behaviors that create the desired results

- Measure the results of the behaviors

- Provide feedback to employees

- Positively reinforce the effective behaviors

- Evaluate the choice of behaviors and measurements – iterate to improve selection

As business people, we should all know that human behavior drives business results. Our daily behaviors create the results that either help or hurt our businesses. Learning to encourage behaviors that grow the business can make the difference between success and failure.

Copyright 2005, Guy Harris

You may use this article for electronic distribution if you will include all contact information with live links back to the author. Notification of use is not required, but I would appreciate it. Please contact the author prior to use in printed media.

Guy Harris is the Chief Relationship Officer with Principle Driven Consulting. He helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and other organizational leaders build trust, reduce conflict, and improve team performance. Learn more at http://www.principledriven.com

Guy co-authored “The Behavior Bucks System TM” to help parents reduce stress and conflict with their children. Learn more about this book at http://www.behaviorbucks.com

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

One common method in the problem identification and idea generation phase is the use of brainstorming. In fact, it is not unfair to say that whenever managers have a problem to solve, they are likely to herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct (usually an ineffective) brainstorming session.

There are a number of reasons why people hate brainstorming sessions. Further, there are a number of reasons why proper brainstorming management yields superior results.

a) Brainstorming dilutes ideas. Many individuals who think that they may be onto the something find that their ideas become diluted as a result of compromise.

b) The sum of ideas produced by individuals acting alone is greater than the sum of ideas produced by those individuals acting in groups. Thus proper brainstorming management includes asking participants to address the problem and generate ideas before the actual brainstorming session.

c) Large groups produce negatives such as groupthink, evaluation apprehension and status deference which causes people to shut down.

d) Idea generation is a cognitive process and relies on the team leader having the skills to elicit that cognitive activity from individuals. Often team leaders are assigned that role for other reasons.

e) Large groups are often dominated by higher status and more forceful personalities, thus lessening the impact of other participants. Often team leaders do not have the skills to manage all people.

These topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com.

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com.

Chances are if you’re interested in this post, you’re looking for a few tips to take your leadership and/or your life, up a notch or two. Read on for a few things that have really helped me make my leadership more explosive after first defining what C4 is.

First what is C4 the explosive: C4 is a high quality, very high velocity military plastic explosive. Your life and your leadership should be like C4: it should be of high quality and be high velocity.

Quality means taking the time to be authentic and to be there for your team, whatever that means to each person in your life and on your team. I make time for a one-on-one meeting with each member of my staff as often as they feel they need it to be. For some, it means a weekly meeting. For others, it’s every 2 weeks, and some only want to check in every month. I make the time at the end of the year and set the whole year’s schedule in early December, before projects and other fires take over my calendar. You have to make the time, it won’t magically happen. It’s so worth it though. I learn more in those meetings than I can observe the rest of the year combined. We talk about how they’re doing on their goals, what’s going well on the team, what tools are missing, and what we need to improve on. I have a weekly sheet that I ask that each person complete at least once a month, whether we meet that month or not, just to check in and make sure we’re not missing anything important.

I couple this with real time feedback about things that are going well and things that I observe to need improvement, and my review process is nearly complete for me, and no surprises happen for anyone on my team. I review the statistics every week to look for trends and talk openly and honestly with each associate to ensure we’re working towards our common goals together.

Velocity means being willing to change your style as needed to meet the needs of your team and the other people you serve. To change now and then is not enough in today’s world anymore. It’s important to change BEFORE you think you need to change, and remember that it’s not all about you! You need to change for the good of your team, of your clients, of your spouse, and for anyone else you serve. Don’t be afraid of change, expect it, and change quickly. The quicker you change things, the easier it is because you’ve spent less time doing that which needs to be changed.

Now I admit, living life while embracing the velocity of change is one of the hardest things for me to do. I know I need to change things, however sometimes I don’t, and it ends up hurting worse and for longer than it needed to. Nobody is perfect, but knowing what needs to be done is half the battle. You might have the same problem, so hopefully together we can hold each other accountable to uphold the standards we need to uphold.

Take the challenge to Make it Great! Be explosive! Increase your velocity and your quality today!

Make it a Great Day!
Phil

Phil Gerbyshak publishes the Make it Great! blog at http://MakeItGreat.blogspot.com. It’s updated many days with thoughts about how to take control of your life and stop letting it take control of you! He also has a personal website at http://Gerbyshak.com. Feel free to stop in anytime or give him a call at 414.640.7445 so he can help you make it a great day!

As a leader, your success depends upon your ability to get things done: up, down and across all lines. To survive and succeed, you must learn four essential skills of persuading people. You must convince others to take action on your behalf even when you have no formal authority.

Persuasion is an essential proficiency for all leaders, requiring you to move people toward a position they don’t currently hold. You must not only make a rational argument, but also frame your ideas, approaches and solutions in ways that appeal to diverse groups of people with basic human emotions.

Preparing the Way

Any direct attempt to persuade may provoke colleagues to oppose and polarize. Because persuasion is a learning and negotiating process, it must include three phases: discovery, preparation and dialogue.

Before you even begin to speak, consider your position from every angle. Presenting your ideas takes planning to learn about your audience and prepare your arguments.

Dialogue occurs both before and during the persuasion process. You must invite people to discuss solutions, debate the merits of your position, offer honest feedback and suggest alternatives. You must test and revise ideas to reflect colleagues’ concerns and needs. Success depends on being open-minded and willing to incorporate compromises.

Four Steps to Successful Persuasion

Leading through persuasion requires you to follow four essential steps:

1. Establish credibility. Credibility develops from two sources: expertise and relationships. Listen carefully to other people’s suggestions. Establish an environment in which they know their opinions are valued. Prepare by collecting data and information that both support and contradict your
arguments.

2. Understand your audience. Frame your goals in a way that identifies common ground. Your primary goal is to identify tangible benefits to which your targeted audience can relate. This requires conversations to collect essential information by asking thoughtful questions. This process will often prompt you to alter your initial argument or include compromises. Identify key decision makers, stakeholders and the organization’s network of influence. Pinpoint their interests and how they view alternatives.

3. Reinforce your positions with vivid language and compelling evidence. Persuasion requires you to present evidence: strong data in multiple forms (stories, graphs, images, metaphors and examples). Make your position come alive by using vivid language that complements graphics. In most cases, a rock-solid argument:

- Is logical and consistent with facts and experience

- Favorably addresses your audience’s interests

- Eliminates or neutralizes competing alternatives

- Recognizes and deals with office politics

- Receives endorsements from objective, authoritative third parties

4. Connect Emotionally. Your connection to your audience must demonstrate both intellectual and emotional commitment to your position. Successful persuaders cultivate an accurate sense of their audience’s emotional state, and they adjust their arguments’ tone accordingly. Whatever your position, you must match your emotional fervor to your audience’s ability to receive your message.

In today’s organizations, work is generally completed by cross-functional teams of peers, with a mix of baby boomers and Gen-Xers who show little tolerance for authority. Electronic communication and globalization have further eroded the traditional hierarchy. People who perform work don’t just ask “what should I do?” but “why should I do it?”

Leaders must answer the “why” question effectively. Persuasion is an essential proficiency for all leaders who want to succeed in the 21st century organization.

Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. writes articles for business and executive coaches and consultants. She provides articles on leadership and executive development for sale, and formatted into customized newsletters. Get Patsi’s Secrets of Successful Ezines 7-Step Mini-Course to learn what you need to know to publish a successful ezine. http://snipurl.com/Ezine_MiniCourse

Great leadership is timeless, always in vogue. The world has been hungry for great leaders from time immemorial. In times of chaos and war, environmental and social upheaval, great leaders often emerge pointing the way toward peace. In times of tranquility, calm and prosperity, great leaders have emerged to maintain the systems of order and to challenge apathy.

Great leadership is always popular, but in times of enormous need, how do we differentiate the great from the greedy, the strong leader from the despot? The principles are ancient and have stood the test of time. Great leaders always move out in front, establishing direction, insuring order, and providing correction and regulation as needed. Always passionate about their followers, great leaders are eager to live their lives in service to their needs.

When considering highly regarded leaders throughout both world and personal history, we seem to perennially return to the analogy of the shepherd. We deem it the supreme accolade to characterize a leader as shepherd. There is much to learn about great leadership from this analogy. Through an examination of the traits and attributes, perspectives on the shepherd’s approach will move us to next level leadership.

1. The shepherd recognizes the sheep are not his to do with as he pleases.

He understands the sheep are not a tool, a means to an end, but a resource charged to his care. He is empowered, entrusted by another; responsible, and answerable to one who has greater authority. As an effective leader, he understands not only what it means to be a leader, but what it means to follow as well. Understanding and acceptance of the cycle cultivates and reinforces character.

2. The sheep hear, recognize and follow the voice of their shepherd.

People naturally navigate to the familiar. Trust develops with experience gained in relationships. We have often heard that familiarity breeds contempt, but it also breeds trust and, with time and consistency, strengthens expectations.

3. The shepherd knows the sheep intimately and is able to call each by name.

Shepherds use a system of sounds, clicks and hisses to call the sheep, slightly different for each of the sheep in the flock and every sheep knows and responds to the specific sound which is his. Consistent caring proximity is always recognized and always produces results. Relationship is the key – there is no such thing as an absentee shepherd.

4. The shepherd always leads the sheep into the safest, most beneficial conditions available and always away from harm.

Strategically, he goes out before them, out of harm, into safety – but always maintaining the lead. He never expects the sheep to move into circumstances he is not willing to withstand among them, rather always expecting more of himself than he would of those in his charge.

5. The shepherd is willing to put the immediate needs and well-being of the sheep before his own, often at great personal risk.

The well-being of those entrusted to him is paramount to the shepherd. This singularity of purpose encourages his decisions to be always grounded in integrity. The shepherd is prepared to lay down his life both literally and figuratively.

6. There is a difference between a hired hand and a shepherd.

A hired hand is motivated by compensation. A shepherd has a deep and committed interest in the sheep. He is one who is responsible for what is not his – - by his own choice. And his relationship is characterized by longevity and consistent presence, with or without significant compensation.

The shepherd is at all times ready to lay down his life for the sheep. How much more the leader for the people entrusted to him. People are a sacred trust and serving them is an awesome commission.

The true shepherd understands the critical difference between power, often stolen and generally imposed oppressively upon the unsuspecting, and authority, which speaks of responsibility and answerability to a higher power.

The picture is a simple one, possibly too unsophisticated for the best business schools. But as we turn to the simple, we find that common sense, in its crystal clarity, is at its base, and as Victor Hugo observed, “common sense is in spite of, not as a result of education.” Hopefully that is changing, so we will turn out a generation of leaders who are both educated and wise, simple and passionately dedicated.

Copyright 2005 So-lu’shunz Management Services

Karin Syren is a certified coach specializing in EffectivenessCoaching, with a concentration on issues facing women in leadership. Karin has helped leaders at all levels to clearly identify issues facing them, coaching them through the steps to gaining, regaining & maintaining control of the intense demands and transitions facing them. She offers guidance in discovering mission, creating vision and designing goals, increasing effectiveness through increased awareness. Visit her website to take a sample of her unique Personal Awareness Questionnaire at http://www.solushunz.com

There is a crisis today not just in the United States, but all over the world. The crisis is a lack of leadership in virtually all of out institutions and organizations. People want and need individuals who are honest, competent, forward-looking, and inspiring. They want and need leaders.

People want and expect their leaders to be credible and trustworthy. But how do leaders earn the trust and confidence of the people they serve? They do it by standing for the commitment to a common cause.

The world community is very diverse and it has very high expectations of its leaders. People today are more demanding and harder to please than at any time in history. Surveys show that the majority of people are very disappointed in the lack of leadership in all their institutions. In fact in most modern institutions the very notion of strong leadership has been shattered and cynicism has taken its place.

Make no mistake about it: people still need and want leadership now more than ever. They want leaders who hold an ethic of service and are genuinely respectful of the intelligence and contributions of the people they serve. They want leaders who will put principles ahead of politics and other people before self-interests.

Still, leaders cannot do it alone. Neither can companies, communities, or countries. Everyone, leaders and the people that they serve, share responsibility for getting extraordinary things done. Leaders need the energetic involvement of the people around them just as much as the people need the vision, courage, and conviction of their leader. Responding to the demands of a highly diverse population is a social challenge and a personal struggle. Respect must run both ways.

Think about the two issues that top the list of concerns for business leaders: they are improving quality and enhancing customer service. Regardless of the industry, sector, or region, these to have been the top two items on most surveys of critical business challenges so far in the 21st century.

Superior quality of products and services alone will not guarantee that businesses, public agencies, nonprofits, independent sector organizations, and communities will be successful in this new century, because the demands and expectations of people are constantly changing with time. It will be the quality of leadership that will allow these organizations to anticipate and commit themselves to meeting the requirements of future years.

The ambitions for high-quality products, services, and leadership share a common foundation: they are all supported by an even more powerful force that shapes people’s decisions to follow leaders willingly and remain loyal to businesses’ products or services.
Business leaders must understand and strengthen this foundation if they’re going to be able to anticipate the future and be a successful leader.

The foundation is the customer, because it is the customer who decides if a product or service has superior quality. If a customer decides that a product or service meets their expectations, helps solve their problems, and satisfies their needs, they are much more likely to make another purchase from the same company. The same is true of leadership. If employees come to the same conclusions about their leader, they’re much more likely to support the leader’s vision for the company’s future.

Successful leaders look ahead at what the future will be like, especially if the visions they’ve held in the past have been fulfilled. Leaders are highly skilled interpersonally, always asking questions, and listening to advice. They know their values, beliefs, strengths, and weaknesses. Most of all true leaders have a broad network of support from the people they lead.

Tragically, around the world today, people have lost faith in their institutions and the individuals who lead them. We see this on the news every night, we read it in the newspapers, and hear it on the radio. As we hear this people have to ask themselves an important question; have people lost faith in their leaders or in themselves?

An important quality of all optimistic people is the common belief that one individual can make a difference. Yet in today’s turbulent and uncertain world people don’t seem to be as sure about this as they once were. People today are not as sure as they once were that they can achieve any goal they set or be whatever they want to be.

Perhaps there is good reason. The extraordinary dislocations caused by the shifting economic, political, and social forces happening today seem to be completely beyond our control. How can we possibly matter in the larger scheme of things? How can we possibly influence the powerful institutions and special interests that seem to pull the strings?

Before we give in to defeat and cynicism, let us remember that we have already made a difference. The product and service quality initiatives that now occupy the successful businesses all over the world are there because customers demanded it. Consumers have said that they will not buy products and services of poor quality or pay more than they think the product or service is worth. It is the customer, the people that caused these changes.

We can do the same with leadership and with all working relationships. By holding leaders accountable, we can improve the quality of our leadership and at the same time by holding ourselves accountable, we can enhance the quality of all our working relationships, thus renewing our faith in each other.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

Are you feeling frustrated because you are just not able to fit everything into your day? If this sounds like you, then consider spending 15 minutes every morning before you start work making a plan. Before you go home, spend 10 minutes assessing how the day went.

Make a list

Start by making a list of all the things you would like to get done today.
Break the list into three parts:

- Scheduled tasks such as meetings or appointments.

- ‘Must do’ tasks or everything that must be completed by day’s end.

- Other tasks. These are important but don’t have to be done in a day.

Allocate the expected time each task will take. Beside each ’scheduled task’ and each ‘must do’, task note the time it will take to complete each task. Remember that individual tasks often take longer than expected to complete so be generous in the time you allocate. Once you have done this, you can work out how much time you have left in the day to complete some of the other tasks.

Schedule

Schedule the day’s tasks in Microsoft outlook or in a diary. Allocate some time at the end of the day to assess how you went in completing all tasks.

Self-Assessment

Spend 10 minutes at the end of each day to assess your performance. Did you get everything done? If not, did you underestimate the time it took to complete certain tasks? What were the time wasters? Come up with strategies to avoid or minimise time wasters. For example, if you are getting a lot of phone calls and your job does not require you to take these calls, divert unimportant calls to your message bank and return them at a time that is suitable for you.

By following this process each day, you will continually refine and improve your time management skills.

Qualities of Good Time Managers

Good time managers are able to accurately work out how long a given task will take and then to structure their day in such a way that minimal time is wasted.

For more career advice visit http://www.onlinecareercoaching.com

Copyright 2006

Lisa O’Brien is the online Career Coach for Cosmopolitan Magazine Australia and is the author of e-booklets “Goal Setting Coach”, Interview Coach” and “Job Seeker Coach”.

Lisa is also the founder and owner of CareersCoach (http://www.onlinecoaching.com) an organisation that offers a range of e-booklet and telephone Career Coaching services to clients at all career stages.

Lisa is passionate about supporting her clients and readers to recognise and achieve their own potential through goal setting, career planning and effective communication.

OK, I know this title sounds self-serving and hard nosed, but the article isn’t! Whether it’s buying a car, asking for a pay rise, saying ‘no’ to a friend or renting an apartment – at some stage in our lives we all are going to need to know how to negotiate. Yet, so few of us know the basic skills before embarking on life changing purchases or decisions!

This article is written for those TIMID folk who want to feel more confident in the basic skills of negotiating. These are the skills I have learnt that have made all the difference in the world to my approach to asking for what I want. Being the ultimate ’server’ (i.e. always helping others) and ‘pacifier’ (i.e. always smoothing over conflict) I figure there are plenty of people who would like to know these skills which, believe me, don’t come naturally to some folk! Yet, they can make a significant difference to your sense of confidence when you learn them.

Here are 8 keys to learning how to negotiate well (for timid people who hate conflict).

1. Know the outcome you want.

Do you want a win-win outcome where both parties benefit? Or a win-lose outcome where someone (presumably the other party) is not happy with the result?

It is important you know what type of outcome you want because that will affect the long term relationship you have with the other party. Win-win outcomes are beneficial where you have an ongoing relationship. For example, when you negotiate a pay rise, you don’t want your boss to feel he/she is the ‘loser’. However, if you are buying a car from a car lot, you may not be so concerned about whether the car salesperson feels as though they ‘won’ in the negotiation!

2. Know your ‘position’.

How important is this deal to you? How much do you need it? Could you walk away from the deal? What alternatives do you have? What is your “bottom line” and what (if anything) are you prepared to concede? You should not start negotiating until you have thought through and considered all of the consequences for all of the different outcomes that may eventuate.

3. Know your counterpart’s ‘position’.

Try to work out what is important to them in the deal. When you know that you have an advantage. Try not to reveal what is important to you! Keep a poker face and play your cards close to your chest.

4. Work out different scenarios ahead of time.

Being caught by surprise will NOT strengthen your position! Think through all the different possibilities which may eventuate and plan for each and every one of them. It is useful to brainstorm and write down on a piece of paper what could possibly happen. For example, if they said, “XYZ” – I would respond with, “ABC”. This way you can be prepared for just about anything that may happen.

5. Know yourself.

Know your own weaknesses. If you are a more gentle personality your natural aversion to conflict may toss you into concessions that aren’t necessary! If this is you, learn about yourself and take counter action. If you are overly stubborn and never give way to minor points, know this about yourself. Your stubbornness, holding out for 100% your own way, may cause you to lose a really great deal!

6. Back up your position with logic.

If you negotiate from a purely emotional position, emotion will sway you from your position. Fear of loss, sense of failure, conflict, pressure, sentiment! All can be applied to sway you from sticking to what you really want. When negotiating for a pay rise know what similar companies are paying for similar work. When placing an offer on a house substantiate your lower offer with the costs of repaving the driveway, renovating the bathroom, retiling the entrance….or whatever you see needs doing. This is a much stronger position than plucking a number out of thin air!

7. Work out what you can concede.

Find something in the deal that for you will not be important but for your counterpart may be of significance. This will be like gold to you! A ’sweetener’ can be what clinches the bargain in your favour. You will need to be poker faced and pretend this is a big deal to concede! Save this item for the final offer you make.

8. Have an exit strategy.

If everything goes against you, you will be saved by your contingency planning! If you don’t feel in control, stop talking. Immediately!!! Make sure you are listening to the other person. If you are doing most of the talking the chances are you are doing most of the conceding. Offer to break the meeting and reconvene at another time when you have been able to consider what has already been put forward.

Skillful negotiation takes time and practice. Armed with these basic skills it doesn’t matter how reticient you may feel towards negotiating an outcome you want! By applying these keys you will be well positioned to improve your negotiation skills and feel more empowered when approaching tricky situations.

(c) Kim Beardsmore

Kim Beardsmore operates an international marketing business. We are looking for people to join our expanding team of work-at-homers. If you are serious about earning money from home and are willing to work (this isn’t ‘get rich quick’), then we’d like to help you grow a profitable business. We offer complete training, online and offline resources and a partnership for success: http://free2liv.com/?refid=ngtat-567885474

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Plato

As the New Year approaches, I’d like to recommend taking a brief moment of pause from your hectic holiday pace to examine your life and reflect on where you are and where you’re headed.

Whether leading yourself toward a higher path, leading a family, community, congregation, or an entire organization, this is a good time to reexamine your leadership effectiveness. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself as a leader? Leadership effectiveness, what I like to call LQ or Leadership Quotient, is primarily determined
by a combination of Physical Intelligence, Mental Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, and Spiritual Intelligence. These four areas (Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit) are essential toward the making of a whole leader. Let’s explore the key leadership factors that bring wholeness:

1. Inspire with Integrity (Spirit or Conscience)

2. Initiative and Innovation (Body and Mind)

3. Impactful Influence (Heart)

An easy way to remember this is LQ = 6I (Inspiration, Integrity, Initiative, Innovation, Impact, and Influence). This exercise will only take about fifteen minutes in which you answer some questions and honestly rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each factor.

1. Inspire with Integrity (Spirit or Conscience)

Are you energized with a larger than life vision or transcendent goal that serves the greater good and inspires others, or is your focus limited to only your own immediate needs? Are you aware of your highest purpose?

Great leaders subordinate their ego to their spirit or conscience by putting the needs of others before their own and finding a cause or purpose that’s greater than themselves. This gives a leader the moral authority to lead others.

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Inspiration _________

Do your actions reflect your vision, beliefs, and values? Do you do as you say and honor your word? Andrew Carnegie once said, “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what [people] say. I just watch what they do.”

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Integrity ___________

2. Initiative and Innovation (Body and Mind)

Once you know what your highest purpose and core genius is, how well do you execute on your vision and key priorities? Are you focused on doing the right things, what’s important, or are you spending too much time on urgent but not important activities and doing things right?

Leadership is about doing, taking initiative, and getting things done. Do you usually wait for things to happen and wait for others to initiate, or do you make things happen and initiate things on your own?

Additionally, the body is the temple of the spirit. Are you taking care of your body by exercising regularly and eating healthy so you have enough energy to take lots of action, or are you often succumbing to whims of the day?

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Initiative ___________

Are you continually growing and innovating as a leader in the never ending pursuit of excellence, or are you settling for mediocrity by being comfortable with the status quo?

Are you using your creative problem-solving skills and imagination to become a change-agent by experimenting with new ideas, solutions, and technology, or are you continually in fire-fighting mode by being frequently blindsided with change?

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Innovation ___________

3. Impactful Influence (Heart)

Are you reaching out to people and making an emotional impact in their lives? Are you getting to intimately know people in your circle of influence and taking the time to find out their fears, desires, challenges, and goals? Are you touching people’s lives by serving? The old adage, “people don’t care about what you know, until they know you care,” applies here.

The hero’s journey is about following your bliss and doing what you love doing in service to others. Interestingly, through the heart, by making an emotional impact in people’s lives and serving, the spiritual dimension is tapped. Rabrindranath Tagore once said, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” In other words, service is spirit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Impact ___________

Finally, influence is a measure of your character that comes with time and experience. How wide and impactful is your influence? Are people seeking you out for your leadership, mentorship, and guidance? What is the quality of people you have attracted in your work and life?

We are in many ways the sum total reflection of the people in our circle of influence. Look around you. What type of people have you attracted in your sphere of influence? The majority of people you attract in your life, whether negative or positive, bright or ignorant, are mostly a reflection of your own character. If you’re not happy with the quality of people in your circle of influence, it’s time to work on yourself.

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Influence ___________

After you’ve rated yourself for all six factors (Inspiration, Integrity, Initiative, Innovation, Impact, and Influence), add all the scores
and divide by six. This indicator will give you a rough idea of your total LQ and where you need to make improvements. Make it a goal
in the New Year to raise the bar in every category. But don’t wait till the New Year. Start NOW!

Sharif Khan (http://www.herosoul.com; sharif@herosoul.com) is a professional speaker, coach, and author of, Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing people’s leadership potential. To contact Sharif directly, call: (416) 417-1259