“DTE Infusion” High Impact Retreat Event – Coming in October

This just in! We’ve just secured the location and date for the first DTE sponsored, open enrollment, high impact one day retreat style event, the DTE Infusion. The date is set for Friday, October 24th in Lisle, Illinois, in one of the most beautiful settings you can imagine.

Stay tuned, I’ll be making announcements, offering calls and doing all sorts of that stuff, AND I wanted to let you know the date is set! So if you’re interested in participating in an event that will have an inspiring, lasting and immediately actionable impact on your business AND life…please plan on joining us on October 24th, 2008.

Space will be provided for 30 forward thinking, innovative, motivated and committed business leaders who want to take themselves, their businesses and their lives to the next level and would like a serious infusion of “daring to engage” to support them in doing so. This will be a full day devoted to YOU, your business, what you’ll need to do and who you’ll need to be (in your business and life AND with your people) to take it to the next level and create sustainable and progressive results. Stay tuned for futher details.

Know that this is for you NOW and want more information? Send us an email and we’ll get back to you shortly! Info@DareToEngage.com

You have to want it…do you?

How bad do you want it?

 

With every client I work with, I am reminded of three of the key elements absolutely necessary for success in creating change in our lives and organizations. We have to want it. We have to be willing to make the time, space and energy to do the work and hold the intentions to get it. And we have to take ownership for our results. No excuses. No blaming. No passing the buck. No “I’m so busy my goals have to go to the bottom of the priority list.” No “Somebody else has to change.” Nope, I’m talking, full responsibility and ownership for achieving the results we say we want. Period.

 

It’s okay if we’re not totally clear on what we want (in fact, much of my work is done helping people find that for themselves and, for some, it can take years to find “the thing” – so for those out there that are unclear, rest assured you’re not alone.) What is important is that there is a commitment and a yearning to be awake to the process, to see where we might be part of the “problem,” to pro-actively seek and take the time, to be willing to look and find the “no, not that’s” in our lives and to make conscious room in our lives to work on finding the big “YES.”

 

For when someone knows where they want to go and they truly want it, they can committed to that end result. They can move. I don’t care how hard it is or how big a dream, if the commitment is there and they’re willing to create a plan (which may change, btw) and stick with it, they’ll get there. Doesn’t matter so much that it’s the “perfect plan or goal” but rather that they’re actively heading in that direction. They’re doing something to get what they want. And THAT is fulfilling. Engaging the challenges, stepping out of comfort zones and dealing with the unexpected along the way, becomes easier when we’re connected to that deep want and the compelling reasons we want it for.

 

But you have to want it. And you have to take full responsibility for getting it. And then you can enjoy it….not just the result, but the process itself.

 

 

Executive Coaching Tip: Dare to Engage in Self-Care for More Effective Leadership

Engage your health, energy and stamina to create the vitality and presence you need for powerful conscious leadership. Buddha said “To keep the body in good health is a duty otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”

Some of the most important work I do with business coaching clients is in “clearing the decks”. By this I mean creating the space for them to stop for a moment, be present and get clear on what’s important to them. To actually get clear on what the impact is that they want to create. Doing this requires doing things to help themselves be as “clear”, focused and conscious as possible. One of these things is self-care.

I very often notice a common theme in executive coaching. It’s the issue and value of creating the space and the permission for one to engage in self-care. People tend to pass it off as “Not now, later. There are more important things to do.” Or, they will say, “My self-care can wait, this can’t.” Or, they will even more simply feel, “There is no time.”

There is always a reason for not engaging in self-care, sometimes even a really good one. Often executive coaching clients are not aware that self-care is an opportunity to create more energy, work/life balance and stronger leadership. The fact of the matter is, self-care is an opportunity.

Unfortunately, it is often not until an effective leader experiences a problem or a life-threatening issue, or witnesses a problem in someone else, that she will pay more attention to her health and personal self-care. Often, it is not until the pain of not doing it gets stronger than the pain of actually engaging it, that she starts to take action.

One of the stakes I hold for business coaching clients, whether they are working with leadership or personal issues, is that this piece must be attended to. Whether it concerns health issues, energy issues, holding boundaries, work/life balance or eliminating tolerations that are sucking their energy, self-care is essential.

It doesn’t matter what your agenda, taking the time to honor yourself and give yourself a bit of TLC will help clear the decks for more powerful and effective leadership. Imagine the possibilities.

When we take care of ourselves, eat well, move our bodies, stand tall, breathe, get rest and lead our energy, we can think more clearly, be who we really are and, in a nutshell, show up more powerfully. When we eat junk, stay static, become exhausted and don’t manage our energy, we undermine our work/life balance and we are less effective. Period. We walk around on “borrowed energy” in a depleted state, less clear and less focused.

• How can you make your most powerful choices and decisions from a place of exhaustion and depletion?
• How can you show up authentically and powerfully from a place of surviving vs. thriving?

It is essential that we take care of ourselves and our physical and mental energy in order to engage most effectively. Self-care is the self-respect and the fuel that will support and sustain you. Dare to engage in self-care by making a commitment today… and then reap the results of more powerful and effective leadership tomorrow!

Would you pay your people to quit?

It’s an interesting concept. In yesterday’s Chicago Tribune there was an article about Zappos.com and how they make sure they have the most engaged, committed and customer oriented employees…they pay them cash to quit. That’s right, they literally give them the opportunity to “take the money and run” one week into their training with the company.

After the first week of new employee training, they offer new hires a good chunk of change to leave if they feel it’s not the right fit. Interestingly enough, most people don’t quit. They stick. And they like it. The impact: employees who are engaged,  highly motivated and committed to their jobs, providing fantastic customer experiences. And that means greater revenue and profits which explains this organization’s rapid growth and the attitude quoted by many of “You couldn’t pay me to quit.”

Makes me wonder what happens behind the scenes in that first week that has people stick so well. I make up that even the bold gesture of offering this kind of “choice,” inspires employees to be even more a part of something innovative and connected. Even the act of saying “We want you to feel really good about being here, and if it’s not the right fit, we want you to go, and here’s additional compensation for your time and energy and giving it an honest shot” speaks volumes to the organization’s commitment and the environment they intend to create.

With their creative ways of building an engaged workforce, I expect we’ll be seeing more and more of them. I’m new to Zappos AND just knowing how they’re engaging people behind the scenes makes me want to buy shoes or a bag or wallet from them…

Would your people quit if you offered them cash? How do you engage them, making their job so meaningful, fun and rewarding, that they’d turn down cash to leave? Think about your team right now…Do they care about what you’re up to? What the company is up to? Do they see the connection between the work they do and how it impacts the bottom line? Do they know you full heartedly want them to full heartedly be a part of the team? What’s one thing you can do to raise engagement? One thing that would invite them to elevate their commitment to you, your organization and what your team is all about? It’s worth thinking about.

Performance Improvement: Dare to Elevate Engagement

Did you know that 21% of the global workforce considers themselves actively engaged in their work right now (loyal, passionate, positive, enjoying their work)? 38% are actively disengaged (meaning they’re complaining, bringing morale down or looking for another job). And the remaining 41% aren’t sure where they stand. Wow!

Does that surprise you? Surprised me, but then not too much because I’ve watched chaos, scheduling, technology, travel and the demand for instant results increase dramatically over the years. We are busy! We can get a hold of each other in ways now that make one dizzy. Technology in many cases is replacing face-to-face contact. Travel on Sunday for a Monday morning meeting is becoming quite the norm. So, as an executive coach, it doesn’t surprise me that we are bumping up against the following performance improvement challenges.

Some of the biggest concerns reported in the ‘disengaged and unsure categories’ are:

• Lack of a good work/life balance.
• Lack of understanding of how one’s work is important or how it impacts the bottom line.
• Not being matched up with roles that evoke passion and strength.
• Not being recognized or engaged by leaders enough.

As an effective leader in your organization, would you like to do something about that? Studies show that if you can move a ‘disengaged employee’ to be an ‘engaged employee’, you get an instant twenty percent increase in productivity. Not bad performance improvement. Seems to me that would be worth doing. How about you?

So what to do?

Here are four tips by which you, as an effective leader, can address personal sustainability, engagement and performance improvement at the same time.

Performance Improvement Tip #1: Design ‘Personal Sustainability Time’ into the day.

Some rules to support this tip are: schedule regular breaks for your team, schedule workouts, bring healthier choices for food into meetings, provide a ‘decompression’ or ‘renewal room’, or do whatever feels like a good next move towards work/life balance. Just taking regular ten-minute breaks every 90-120 minutes can do wonders.

Performance Improvement Tip #2: Link people’s jobs to the bottom line.

Challenge your people to link their roles to the major goals, outcomes and initiatives in the company. Help them see the importance of their work in relationship to what the team and organization is accomplishing. In this busy world, it is quite easy to disconnect from the, “Why I’m doing this work and what’s important about it?” Reconnect with that, and you’ll be reconnected with some passion and purpose.

Performance Improvement Tip #3: Are your people matched up with the right roles that excite, invigorate and give them a place to shine?

Are your people passionate about their work? Are they in roles that best use their strengths and energy? Do you showcase their gifts and talents? If not, it’s a fabulous opportunity to see where things can be rematched and leveraged. If I’m not loving my work and passionate (or aware) about my purpose then I’m not playing to my strengths. I’m probably not going to be giving it 100% and I’m definitely not going to be as engaged as I could be.

Performance Improvement Tip #4: Finally, assess how engaged your people feel with you.

Do they feel seen, acknowledged, respected and honored? Or not? Connection to human beings is not only a key element of feeling engaged, it’s also key to the human spirit – we want to be connected to others. If even in a quiet way for work/life balance, connection is important.

Yes, ideally, it takes two to engage, and as many of my executive coaching clients hear me say, “The best place to make an impact is to be the first to engage.”

Make it a point this month to fully engage daily with at least ten different people in your life. If even for two minutes, dare to fully engage. Notice your impact, and see what shows up.

These are all ways you can begin to engage your work/life balance in one way or another today. So pick one thing or four, whatever feels meaningful and do-able. Something that you can write down (right now) and with which you can create a tangible action plan.

You may not see the full impact immediately. But stick with it! The performance improvement will be there. Imagine the impact you can have on one person, and what impact they’ll have on another, and then another.