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Tony Robbins is offering a free 18-page workbook called The Power of Momentum: 7 Steps to a Fulfilling 2006, to help you set your 2006 goals if you haven’t already, or to use for next year (just update the years in the book if you print it out and save it). The 7 Steps are:

1. Get Clear.
2. Get Certain.
3. Get Excited.
4. Get Focused.
5. Get Committed.
6. Get Momentum.
7. Get Smart.

Via: Steve Pavlina

Technorati Tags: Personal Leadership, Personal Development, Leadership Resources

An article by Robin Ryan, in the CrossRoads Newsletter, highlighting the following career killers, based on a survey of hiring decisions made by top executives:

• Lack of results. “not producing measurable results on the job is the sure-fire way of ending your career rise.”
• Not working at a job you’re passionate about. “People float through life as if it were boring, drudgery or a nuisance – often complaining, yet never determining what would fulfill them,” noted a nonprofit director…… The true key to success is discovering your inner passion and then finding a way to work in that arena.
• Not having big enough goals. “A key career stopper is setting your goals too low or not being willing to put in the time it takes to reach goals,” noted CEO Randy Sheparo. ….. Don’t pay any attention to those well-meaning naysayers who warn you that you can’t do it. Assume anything is possible, and then do it. Take risks, try new things, initiate and learn and grow from your mistakes.
• Thinking that money is everything. A great salary doesn’t equate to happiness.
• Having a bad attitude. The CEOs surveyed noted that “Nothing moves you ahead faster than the enthusiasm of a great can-do attitude.”
• Gossiping and playing office politics. “When you get enmeshed in gossiping or office politics, you forget about the goals, mission and getting the job done. It’ll lead to a lack of outcomes – a career killer every time.”

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Career, Business, Management

The phrase “Goals are the key to success, not happiness” from a post on the blog “Idea Garden” caught my eye. This started me thinking, we all have started setting our goals for 2006, I this process we need to understand that there is a difference between success and happiness. These two issues are closely related in our culture and thinking, usually we end up thinking “If I had more money I would be happy” or “If I find the right person or job I will be happy”. In thinking this way we end up confusing success with happiness. Looking at success and what it means I’ve found the way Curt Rosengren from The Occupational Adventure describes success useful. Curt describes success as:

• Career passion - I want to be energized by the work I do. I want to feel engaged and compelled to do it. I want to feel alive in the activity that takes up the majority of my waking hours…..that feeling of passion for what I do is in turn fuel for more success.
• Financial abundance - “It simply means a feeling of having “enough,” ensuring that my energy isn’t drained by the anxiety of needing more.”
• Time abundance - “to have time to live the full scope of my life in 360 degrees, not just work.”
• Love - “to be around people for whom love, care, and respect is a standard way of interacting.”
• Health - “health really is a strategic resource. The healthier I am, the better I treat my body, the more energy I have to put into whatever I do - work or play…..How is my diet? How is my exercise? How about time to relax and center?”
• Being present - “I know getting caught up in “something else” at the expense of the here and now happens to me more than I would like to admit. Whether that is because of a focus on something I’m trying to do, anxiety about something that will or won’t happen, or just an overload-induced feeling of scatteredness, that obsession with “something else” robs me of the opportunity to fully experience life.”
• Meaning - “meaning comes from making a substantial positive impact on people’s lives”

So this gives us a good idea what success looks like. What about happiness will having the success ensure that we become happy? Let’s look at some research on happiness. An article in “Psychological Science” entitled “Who is Happy?” by David G. Myers’ and Ed Diener provides an interesting summary of research conducted into happiness which includes: The Traits of Happy People

• Self-Esteem: “happy people like themselves. On tests of self-esteem, they agree with such statements as ‘I’m a lot of fun to be with’ and ‘I have good ideas.’ Indeed, happy people often exhibit a self-serving bias by believing themselves more ethical, more intelligent, less prejudiced, better able to get along with others, and healthier than average.”
• Personal Control: “happy people typically feel personal control. Those who feel empowered rather than helpless typically do better in school, cope better with stress, and live more happily.”
• Optimistic: “happy people are usually optimistic. Optimists-those who agree, for example, that ‘when I undertake something new, I expect to succeed’–tend to be more successful, healthier, and happier than are pessimists”
• Extraverts: “happy people tend to be extraverted. Compared with introverts, extroverts are happier both when alone and with other people, whether they live alone or with others, whether they live in rural or metropolitan areas, and whether they work in solitary or social occupations.”

The Relationships of Happy People - “People who can name several intimate friends with whom they share their intimate concerns freely are healthier, less likely to die prematurely, and happier than people who have few or no such friends.” “It seems that happiness is the key to success NOT goal setting!The “Flow” of Happy People - “For many people, work provides personal identity: It helps people define who they are. Work also adds to a sense of community: It offers people a network of supportive relationships and a ‘we feeling.’ This sense of pride and belonging to a group helps people construct their social identity. And work can add focus and purpose–a sense that one’s life matters…..Work is, however, sometimes unsatisfying, for two reasons. We can be overwhelmed: When challenges exceed our available time and skills, we feel anxious, stressed. Or we can be underwhelmed: When challenges do not engage our time and skills, we feel bored. Between anxiety and boredom lies a middle ground where challenges engage and match skills. In this zone, we enter an optimal state that Csikszentmihalyi (1990) termed “flow”…..Csikszentmihalyi conducted studies in which people reported on their activities and feelings when paged with electronic beepers. He discovered that happiness comes not from mindless passivity but from engagement in mindful challenge. Whether at work or at leisure, people enjoyed themselves more when absorbed in the flow of an activity than when doing nothing meaningful.” The Faith of Happy People - “The links between religion and mental health are impressive…..Across North America and Europe, religious people also report higher levels of happiness and satisfaction with life. Religious people are slightly less vulnerable to depression . The most striking finding, however, comes from the Gallup Organization, which compared people low in “spiritual commitment” with highly spiritual people (who consistently agree with statements such as “My religious faith is the most important influence in my life.”). The highly spiritual were twice as likely to say they were “very happy.” Other surveys, in the United States, and across 14 Western nations, found that happiness and life satisfaction rise with strength of religious affiliation and frequency of worship attendance.” In recent research the link between happiness and success was investigated by a team from the University of California Riverside, led by Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, this research seems to provide a link between these two seemingly contradictory concepts. An article from The Guardian, entitled “The Recipe for Success” summaries the research stating that:

“‘There was strong evidence that happiness leads people to be more sociable and more generous, more productive at work, to make more money, and to have stronger immune systems,’ said Prof Lyubomirsky…..The research shows that while success can put a spring in someone’s step, people need happiness in the first place to achieve success.”

It seems then that happiness is the key to success NOT goal setting! Technorati Tags: Goal Setting, Personal Leadership, Personal Development, Leadership, Happiness, Success

“The enemy often tries to make us attempt and start many projects so that we will be overwhelmed with too many tasks, and therefore achieve nothing and leave everything unfinished. Sometimes he even suggests the wish to undertake some excellent work that he foresees we will never accomplish. This is to distract us from the prosecution of some less excellent work that we would have easily completed. He does not care how many plans and beginnings we make, provided nothing is finished.” - St. Francis de Sales

Via: David Allen’s blog

Technorati Tags: Quote, GTD, Management, Project

Andre Martin’s research report, The Changing Nature of Leadership from the Center for Creative Leadership provides interesting insights into the changing nature of leadership. The report explains how leadership is changing and what leadership will look like in the future. The reason for the change in leadership, according to the report are as follows:

• Challenges are becoming more complex. - It is clear that the challenges are becoming more complex and therefore more difficult to solve.
• Greater reliance on interdependent work. The challenges leaders are facing go beyond their individual capabilities, and that these challenges result in a greater reliance on interdependent work across boundaries.
• Shifting reward systems. - Leaders would like to see their organizations shift reward systems to a balance of rewarding short-term, individual production and collaboration to reach long-term objectives. Specifically, teamwork will need to be a greater focus in rewards.
• The rise of a new leadership skill set. - Asking leaders to focus more energy on creating an environment where others can help them succeed is another important trend. This becomes apparent when comparing the individual skills deemed most important in 2002 with those expected to be important two years in the future. Participative management, building and mending relationships, and change management rose to the top in the future, replacing skills such as resourcefulness, decisiveness and doing whatever it takes.
• Viewing leadership as a collective process. - When examining an organizations approach to leadership from the past to the future, we see movement from more individual approaches (i.e., leadership as a position) to those that are more collective (i.e., leadership as a process). Specifically, respondents believe organizations will continue to move towards viewing leadership as a process that happens throughout the organization through interdependent decision making.

The leadership need for the future will also be different:

“There are some notable differences between the skills respondents thought were important in 2002 and the skills they believe would be most important in the future. The most striking
difference is the rise of what we might call soft skills, such as building relationships and participative management. Building relationships moved from the fifth most important skill to the second most important. Additionally, change management moved from seventh to third, indicating leaders expect the unpredictability of late to continue.”

This can be clearly seen in the chart below:

In a follow-up article on the report the Center for Creative Leadership the top four competencies are expanded upon as follows:

Leading employees, managing change, building and mending relationships and employing participative leadership are requisite skills for the leader of the future.
Leading employees. The number one required skill for leaders. Leaders who are effective in this area do the following:

• Delegate and develop. They are willing to delegate important tasks and decision making. This is done as an effective management technique, but more importantly, as a means to develop employees. Providing challenge and opportunity builds skill, experience, and confidence. As a result, effective leaders surround themselves with talented people.
• Give feedback. They are honest and consistent in communicating expectations and results. They provide prompt feedback - both positive and negative.
• Motivate. They reward hard work and dedication to excellence. They willingly explain, answer questions and patiently listen to concerns.

Managing change. Effective leaders are skilled at facilitating organization change and overcoming resistance to change. They do this by:

• Being a role model. Leading change by example sets the tone and pace for others. Effective leaders approach change in a positive and realistic way.
• Adapting. They are flexible, adapting plans as necessary. This includes adjusting management or leadership style to changing situations.
• Including others. They involve key people in the design and implementation of change. Aware of the impact change can have, they take into account people’s concerns.
• Being direct. They are straightforward about the changes and consequences of an expected action or decision.

Building and mending relationships. Effective leaders are skilled at interpersonal relationships. They are able to negotiate and handle work problems without alienating people. They show they understand others’ perspectives and needs and are able to gain cooperation, trust and respect. Managers who are successful at building and maintaining relationships:

• Keep their cool. They avoid creating adversarial relationships. Conversely, they can handle an unfair attack from peers with poise.
• Are diplomats. They get things done by finding common ground. They use good timing and common sense in negotiating - make their points when the time is right.
• Relate to all. They can develop rapport and relationship with all kinds of individuals - from shop floor to top executives.

Employing a participative management style. Strong leaders use effective listening skills and communication to involve others, build consensus and influence decisions. They effectively:

• Engage before acting. They involve others in the beginning stages of an initiative and work to gain commitment of others before implementing changes.
• Inform. They keep individuals informed of future changes that may impact them.
• Listen. They encourage direct reports to share and listen to individuals at all levels in the organization. They consistently listen to employees - not only when things are going well.

In addition to the research done by the Center for Creative Leadership, a similar survey, commissioned by the American Management Association (AMA), on “Leading into the Future” found:

“that the number one driver of changes that will have an impact on leadership is ‘increased global competition,’ followed by ‘the need to focus on customers,’ then ‘assuring operational efficiency’ and, finally, to ‘adapt to the accelerating pace of change.’”

The results of this survey describe the leadership competencies required now and in 10 years time are:

“‘strategy development‘ and ‘communication skills.’ That is, leaders have to figure out how to deal with global competition and then communicate, communicate, communicate. The ability to execute strategy requires both flexibility and an openness to change.

The next most highly ranked leadership competencies are related to the ‘development and recruitment of talent‘ and to the ‘fostering of creativity and innovation.’ Indeed, the most impressive shift over the next 10 years is the fact that fostering innovation becomes an even more important competency than talent-related issues. Respondents think that innovation will be an absolute key to staying competitive in a fast-paced global marketplace.

Then there are two other overarching leadership competencies: ‘know the business well enough to drive results‘ and ‘model the values of the organization.‘ This means that leaders must be able to cope with those nitty-gritty business issues on the ground even while modeling the ideals-including the ethics-of the company. What’s more, the ability to model values and show ethical leadership will grow more important over the next 10 years, while the need to know the business will become a bit less important.

In addition to being excellent strategists and communicators-tomorrow’s leaders must be nurturers of creativity, expert developers and recruiters of talent, upholders of corporate values, and drivers of business results. In short, they’ll have to be well-rounded people characterized by a potent mixture of both soft and hard leadership skills, and they’ll need to know just how and when to move from one role to another.”

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Strategy, Business, Management, Innovation, Research, Future

In the complex world in which we live leaders need to be able to think systemically. The concept of systems thinking was popularised by Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline(add here), describes systems thinking as “a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots.” System thinking helps to see the inter-relationships and connections that create the events occurring in our organisations. When we refer to a system we mean:

“A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole.” - Answers.com

The core assumption that underlies a systemic approach, is that in this complex world, we live much of life is systemic, a mess of relationships and interaction. This means everything interacts with everything else. This makes introducing change, complex and is the reason why change often produces an array of unintended consequences, “The Law of Unintended Consequences holds that almost all human actions have at least one unintended consequence. In other words, each cause has more than one effect including unforeseen effects“. If we want different results from a situation we need to change the underlying system, which is creating the situation, and in so doing create different results. One of the best tools I use to help me see things systemically is the Iceberg Model. The iceberg model, is a common way to explain systems thinking and helps me think through complex problems, this helps me in the following way:

• To move focus away from events and symptoms and toward system structure.
• To elicit and articulate mental models, then expand them by accounting for feedback, time delays, non-linearity, and other components of complex systems.
• To develop shared mental models within teams and communities.
• To understand where leverage points are and are not.
• Better mental models lead to better decisions about how to lead the transition to sustainability.

A systems perspective is an effective means for helping leaders gain an understanding of the underlying structure that shapes their organisations. The iceberg model is illustrated below.

“A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions-as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.” - Friedrich NietzscheThe first thing to notice about the “iceberg” is that approximately two-thirds of an iceberg is under water, as the captain of the Titanic quickly discovered! The majority of the iceberg remains hidden from view beneath the water. This is true of the system we interact with daily, much of their structure remains under the water, much of the action occurs beneath the waterline. The key to navigating in systems, life and indeed icebergs, is to see the whole system. Not just the individual parts. Walking through the various layers of the iceberg we find the following:

• Events - This is the surface level of the iceberg, usually we can easily see the “events” happening, answering the question ‘what happened?’ Linear thinking causes us to see the world as a series of events. This is not a bad way to see the world, however it does not provide a leveraged way to introduce change. A fixation on events often leads to attributing cause and effects that are superficial, limiting our understanding and our ability to introduce change.
• Trends and Patterns - As we string events together we beginning to recognise trends and patterns, this provides a deeper level of understanding and along with it increased leverage, giving us the insight that ‘this event has happened before’.
• Structure - After a trend or pattern is identified, the next step is to look for the systemic dynamics that creates them. There is some interpretation and theorising needed to develop and understand the structure. However, structure needs to be assessed based-upon the information provided by the trends and patterns. The structure creates the foundation, which supports the trends and patterns, resulting in events. Structure is important as it gives us a deeper understanding of the system and can help us to predict systems behaviour.
• Mental Model - Systemic structures, in turn, are frequently held in place by the beliefs or “mental models” - beliefs may be undiscussable theories, residing in the minds of leaders, on what constitutes quality, service excellence or customer orientation. These beliefs may also affect interpersonal dynamics - such as approaches toward conflict, leadership or the best way to introduce change.

As we move down the iceberg we gain a deeper understanding of the systems and at the same time gain increased leverage for changing the system or it’s results. One of the key tools we have to help gain an understanding of a system is the art of asking questions. Using the model we can ask probing questions, moving from the level of events down through the pyramid to the mental model level, as follows:

• Ask questions to identify key events: ‘What’s happening?’ or ‘What has happened?’
• Ask questions that surface patterns of trends: ‘Has this happened before?’ or ‘Is this problem similar to other’s we’ve had?’
• Ask questions that leads to the structure: ‘What structure is driving this problem?’ ‘Why do you think that?’ ‘What effect has the delay had?’ ‘What explains this?
• Ask questions to understand belief systems and assumptions: ‘What is your understanding?’ ‘What are out beliefs about this?’ ‘What assumptions are we making and why?

Why do all this questioning and analysis you may ask. Well to identify and act upon the system’s leverage points. Leverage points are those places in a system where a small change creates substantial change. This is part science and part art and as leaders we will need to practice moving our thinking from event to structures, by improving how and what types of questions we ask. Develop a theory as to what the structure must be and the beliefs driving the structure and then take action. Realise that the parts of systems do not exist in isolation, everything is connected and little actions can have large effects. Wait for feedback and make further adjustments. For us to learn in the system we need to act.

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Strategy, Systems Thinking, Management, Change, Tool

Looking through the list of goals and projects I would like to complete in 2006 it seems I have more things to do, than time to do them. This means that I have two choices, either I eliminate some of my objectives or increase my productivity. In the end I would probably need to do a bit of both! I thought I’d share some of the steps that I’ll be taking to improve my productivity, they are:

1. Use a comprehensive idea capturing tool - I often find that I get many ideas and insights in places other than work or at a computer, without a means of capturing the “at source” they flitter away and later I’m unable to recall them. I therefore need a portable-always-with-me tool, to will help collect all ideas and insights I have, at any place and at any time. Here is a collection of some Idea Recording tools that one can use. “If you are not 100% unavailable for at least 2 hours a day, you probably aren’t getting much done that’s of any importance.” - ChristopherHawkins.com
2. Results Focused Goals - Based upon the research, achieving our goals means having specific and well-defined goals. The more specific the outcomes and results we expect from out actions and projects the better we are able to respond to the feedback of the situation and modify our actions to improve the quality of the results. I’m focused on setting clear goals, to me this means my goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-based goals (SMART). I’m trusting that this will improve the quality of my moment-by-moment decision helping to create the results I want.
3. Improve my GTD System - David Allen’s system for Getting Things Done (GTD) is an excellent system, I have been using it for two years now. Last year was really hectic, and I ended up reacting instead of responding to life. Responding is the goal of the GTD system, a state David calls “mind like water”, described in the book using the following simile “imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond. How does it respond? The answer is, totally appropriately to the force and mass of the input; then it returns to calm. It doesn’t overreact or underreact”. In the rapidly changing world we live, awareness of our environment, rapid response (not a reaction) and adaptability are the keys to superior performance. To achieve this I will be sharpening up my GTD skills.
4. Focus, Focus, Focus - This means focusing on achieving my goals even if it means that at times I’m unavailable or that I neglect some urgent issues. Focus means sometimes saying, “No” to things that distract us or are not core to the achievement of our goals.
5. Develop and Review a Master Task List - I have started in a new position, as IT strategist, and being new I need to keep focused on the key essentials required to be effective and add value in this role. I got the idea of the Master Task List from Michael Hyatt from Working Smart. Michael states that “Master Tasking” is the process of identifying your five to seven most productive, most important work-related tasks. A Master Task List is similar to a job description but more useful. It answers the question, “What was I really hired to do?”. I’ll review my master task list on a weekly basis as part of my GTD “weekly review”. Michael lists the following as some some characteristics of master tasks:
   • They are usually important but not urgent.
   • They spell the difference between success and failure.
   • You have a hard time getting to them.
   • They are things you usually do on your own.
   • They can be scheduled but usually aren’t.

Technorati Tags: Goal Setting, Personal Leadership, Personal Development, Leadership, GTD

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