ITLP Tuesday Readings

Thank you to Chris Wilkins in Iowa for this quote:

"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." ~ Cricket umpire Bill Copeland

Are you busy? Is the effort running you around or getting you what/where you want? What do you want? Make a list without thinking about why you can't have it.

What can you do to take steps closer to that goal? Make a plan and do them, no matter how small. Set a goal and focus on it, make a plan, act and enjoy your success!

Have a great 2012 by making those resolutions happen!

Posted by Jim Hall at 1:17 PM | Permalink

Today's Tuesday Reading "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently" was posted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and originally from the Harvard Business Review blogs. The author is Hiedi Grant Halvorson, motivational psychologist and author of Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals.

Halvorson notes that we are all very successful at reaching some of our goals; and not so successful at reaching others. And, we don't understand why. Our author reports that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are not very good at understanding why they succeed or fail. Research on development suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often how they go about their work on goals.

Dr. Halvorson has nine suggestions for us in this regard:

1. Get specific. When you set a goal be as specific as possible. Give yourself a clear idea of what success looks like.

2. Seize the moment to act. Decide in advance when and where you will take each action step on the path to successfully reaching your goal.

3. Know exactly how far remains for you to go. If you don't know how you're doing you can't make the necessary adjustments.

4. Be a realistic optimist. Believing in your ability to succeed is very helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good.

6. Have grit. Commit and persist in the face of difficulty.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is like your other muscles. It becomes weaker without exercise. To build willpower be intentional about doing something you really need to do but honestly don't want to do.

8. Don't tempt fate. Respect the fact that your willpower is limited. Don't push it beyond its limits.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do.

Halvorson's paper expands on these nine practices that successful people do differently. So, do take the time to work through the paper and then reflect first on what you've been doing right all along. Then, work to identify those things that have derailed you and which you need to work on. Finally, resolve - after all, it's time for New Years resolutions - to work on these issues in the new year.

Have a wonderful holiday with time for family and friends. Tuesday Readings will return on January 3, 2012.

. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 2:28 PM | Permalink

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Do you put limits on your goals and dreams? Do the circumstances of today make you say the word "can't"?

What impact does it have on you when others say "can't", "won't", or "not possible"? Dream and then ask, "What can I do to move past the barriers and closer to my goal?

Posted by Jim Hall at 11:23 AM | Permalink

Today's reading is "3 Paradoxes of a Well-lived Life" and comes from the blog of Box of Crayons, a Toronto, Canada, consulting company that helps organizations, teams, and people do less "good work" and more "great work." I learned about this piece from Kika Barr, an IT Leaders Program alum from the University of Wisconsin.

In this blog, Michael Stanier, senior partner of Box of Crayons, notes that too often we look for simple solutions - 5 steps or 3 ways to ... - whatever. To reinforce this Stanier quotes H.C. Mencken: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Stanier points out that as we work problems we often encounter paradoxes. For example, as Box of Crayons continues planning for 2012, it is wrestling paradoxes associated with the tension between intimacy and impact. They want both. But intimacy implies a small group and deep relationships while impact implies a larger group and less deep relationships. How are these opposing forces "balanced"? As Box of Crayons looked at the issue, they saw three paradoxes in this tension that have application to each of our lives:

• Fast - Slow

• Big Picture - Details

• Me - We

and gives each of us an opportunity to examine each paradox at work in our individual lives.

Take a few moments (or, actually more) and follow Stanier's lead and see yourself in each of these three paradoxes. I think you might learn some new things about yourself and just, perhaps, change some of your behaviors.

. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 4:22 PM | Permalink

"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails." ~ John Maxwell

Which are you? How do you know? Listen to yourself.

Are your comments about what won't work or what might work? Ask others to give you feedback on how you come across.

In all situations ask yourself, "What can "I" do to make it better?"

Posted by Jim Hall at 2:25 PM | Permalink

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out." ~ Art Linkletter

Was your Leadership Journey all above the line and positive? Then why do people expect the future to be that way?

Have have you handled misfortunes in the past? How do you handle when others make mistakes or don't meet your expectations?

When things don't turn out as expected ask yourself, "Were my expectations realistic?" "What lessons am I supposed to learn?"

Posted by Jim Hall at 12:10 PM | Permalink

This week's Tuesday Reading, "Three Questions for Effective Feedback", comes from the pen of Thomas J. DeLong, the Phillip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior area at the Harvard Business School. His research focus is on the challenges facing individuals and organizations in the process of change.

No leader improves without getting regular feedback on his or her performance. DeLong proposes that leaders adopt a simple mechanism he learned in graduate school; it's called SKS. SKS is a process where you, the leader, ask others - for example your team members - what you should stop (S), what you should keep (K), what you should start (S) given a particular role you have.

DeLong says that asking others for feedback using the SKS tool can be important to personal growth. The questions really are simple:

1. What should I stop doing?

2. What should I keep doing (or do more of)?

3. What should I start doing?

In its original form, each question was to be answered with a simple statement with no more than three bullets.

Why not give it a try with your team. And, while you are waiting for the responses, take some personal time to reflect and to give yourself feedback using the same approach.

Summarize what you learn from all the responses and make decisions as to what you will stop, keep, and start. Share what you learn with your team and give the team permission - no, urge them - to help you hold yourself accountable to your commitment.

Give SKS a try. I believe it will give you important new actionable information.

. . . . jim

A THOUGHT: "Whatever business you're in, it's going to commoditize over time, so you have to keep moving to a higher value and change." ~ Ginni Rometty, CEO, IBM

Posted by Jim Hall at 11:31 AM | Permalink